Analytic Quality Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2004–8, Analytic Quality Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/
This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for amendments or additions.
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Autonomy
Autonomy is being able to undertake
activities without seeking permission from a controlling body.
explanatory context
In higher education, autonomous
institutions can establish their own programmes of study, have control over
their own finances (once received) subject to normal auditing procedures, grant their own degrees. However, this has been argued that
this is only relative, rather than absolute, autonomy (see below).
analytical review
For Consejo
Superior de Educación (1996), Autonomy is defined as ‘the ability to
offer freely all kinds of degrees’, without external monitoring of any kind.
Snyder (2002) states:
At first glance, the
definition of autonomy seems clear enough. Derived from the Greek words for
"self" and "law or customary usage," the word describes the
practice of self-government that we consider the right
and responsibility of colleges and universities. But the issue is not so
simple. … autonomy
is always relative. What colleges and universities should seek… is reasonable,
not absolute autonomy. Total autonomy, total independence and separation from
society, is simply impossible. The degree of an institution’s autonomy varies
according the nature of its relationships. Perhaps, then, it is most useful to
think of multiple autonomies or degrees of autonomy. …
The issue of college or university autonomy inevitably raises the
question of the purpose of autonomy and the purpose or purposes of colleges and
universities themselves. Institutions of higher learning have always served
their societies; they have never been the isolated "ivory towers" of
popular imagination. Since their inception, they have engaged the issues of
their day, discovered and distributed whatever was at the time deemed
"useful knowledge," and established various, often idiosyncratic,
financial relationships with patrons, donors, and governments. These
relationships suggest varying degrees or types of autonomy.
Luc E. Weber argued in his 2000 contribution to Responsiveness, Responsibility, and
Accountability: An Evaluation of University Governance in
Dlamini (1997) noted:
The definition of autonomy
that has become a classic not only here, but has also been quoted with approval
in numerous American cases, is that it entails the freedom of a university to
determine for itself on academic grounds only who should teach, what should be
taught, how it should be taught and who should be admitted as students.
Although this definition has later been found to be narrow, it still remains a
useful guideline in demarcating the limits of legitimate autonomy. The limits
of this autonomy are important, because some people have problems as to how an
institution that is subsidised by the government can claim to be autonomous
from the government. Is it not true that he who pays the piper calls the tune,
they ask?
Notwithstanding this view, there is no doubt that a university needs autonomy and a measure of freedom for its academics if it has to play its role of generating and disseminating knowledge effectively. Academic freedom is important because it enables academics to think freely, to speculate and to experiment with new ideas. Important developments have been spearheaded by those people who think freely and creatively. Knowledge generated through this creative and critical thinking is important for the development of society. Academic freedom is also important because it allows for critical scrutiny of all aspects of society, social, economic and political, and facilitates re-evaluation and renewal. Knowledge is advanced through critical inquiry and not through encouraging orthodoxy or adherence to accepted dogma.
related terms
sources
Consejo Superior de Educación (CSE),
1996, Boletín Oficial, Normas Generales, (
Dlamini, C.R.M.. 1997, Academic Freedom and the Autonomy of
Tertiary Institutions, http://general.rau.ac.za/aambeeld/june1997/academic.htm,
Based on the author’s unpublished LL.D.
thesis, University Autonomy and Academic
Freedom in South Africa, UNISA, 1996
Snyder, M. D., 2002, A Question of Autonomy: The View from