去科层化悖论:疫情下英国高等教育治理的逻辑与困局

The Paradox of De-bureaucratization: the Logic and Dilemma of British Higher Education Governance under the Covid-19 Epidemic

新冠疫情加剧了英国大学面临的财务风险,暴露出高等教育治理中的科层化痼疾。为此,英国政府出台长期政策,延续新公共管理路线以减轻研究与创新的科层负担,推动大学与社会经济复苏。然而,自英国实施新公共管理改革推进去科层化以来,高等教育治理体系不仅未能消除科层化弊端,反而更加科层化,表现为去科层化的悖论。究其根源,去科层化的实质是对科层制的修正而非推翻,在矛盾的外部环境与社会需求下,科层化与去科层化并存。但是,疫情下的新政也为应对这一困局提供了契机。为此,有必要澄清分化的科层化性质,划定问责边界,塑造多元的资助模式。

The COVID-19 epidemic has aggravated the financial risks faced by British universities and exposed the bureaucratic problems in the governance of higher education.The British government issued a long-term policy to continue the new public management route to reduce the bureaucratic burden of research and innovation and promote the recovery of universities and the economy.However,rather than eliminating the problems of bureaucracy,the higher education governance system in the United Kingdom becomes more bureaucratized with the implementation of the new public management reform aiming at promoting the demarcation of bureaucracy.This is the paradox of de-bureaucratization.The reason is that the essence of de-bureaucratization is to modify rather than overthrow the bureaucracy.Under the contradictory external environment and social demands,bureaucracy and de-bureaucratization coexist.However,the new policies under the epidemic also provide an opportunity to deal with this dilemma.It is necessary to clarify the bureaucratic nature of differentiation,delimit accountability boundaries,and shape diverse funding models.