中美大学治理对谈

A Comparative Study on University Governance in China and the USA

大学治理是世界高等教育变革的共同趋势,也是中美两国大学发展关注的话题。由于不同的文化、传统和环境,中美两国大学在治理上表现出明显差异。从治理结构看,中国大学实行党政统一领导管理,党政机构是治理结构的核心,学术委员会等发挥补充作用;重心在学校,院系缺乏办学自主权;美国大学享有法定的自治权,教师、行政和董事会形成较为均衡的分享治理结构,重心在院系。从利益相关者的作用看,两国大学都注重多元利益相关者参与治理,但中国大学党政领导权力发挥主导作用,教师和学生等的影响微弱;美国大学行政领导也具有很大权力,但行政与教师是协商合作关系,教师发挥着重要的影响,学生和其他群体的作用有限。从治理变革趋势看,中国大学治理日益受到国际化、市场化和社会专业组织的影响,但经费的影响不是主要的;美国大学治理则受国际化和社会组织的影响较小,而更多地受到经费紧张的影响。

University governance is a common trend of higher education change in the world as well as a topic attracting greater and greater public interests in terms of Sino-Arnerican higher education de- velopment. There are significant differences of university governances in China and in the USA due to different cultures, traditions and environments. Firstly, from the perspective of governance structure, universities＇ leadership and administration in China is unified and controlled by the Party and presiden- tial bureaucracy, in which the Party and the presidential administration is the core role and the academic committee plays a supplementary role. And the attention of governance structure is paid at the institu- tional level, while faculties and departments lack autonomy. On the contrary, American universities share legal autonomy with faculty staffs, administrative departments and the academic committee. In contrast to universities in China, university governance in America focuses on the departmental level. Secondly, from the perspective of stakeholders, it should be admitted that participation of multi stake- holders has been seriously taken into account in the procedure of university governance both in China and in the USA. Nevertheless, in China, while the Party and the administration play a dominant role, faculty members, students and other stakeholders hardly show any impact. Contrarily in the USA, e- ven though the administration department has a large scale of power to govern a university, faculties still hold an important role. This is because in the USA the faculty-administration relationship is coop- erative. Thirdly, from the perspective of international climate, university governance in China is in- creasingly influenced by internationalization, marketization and professional organizations, but the im- pact of budget and funding is not the major influencing factor. However, the major factor which mostly impacts university in the USA is funding, rather than international and professional organizations.