Institutional diversity and autonomy of universities and their measures

Abstract

The paper discusses the question of institutional diversity and autonomy of universities and the possible measures to determine their degree. The reasons for the need of increase of institutional diversity are presented and its different kinds are discussed, including the distinction between external and internal diversity, with a special stress on the necessity to apply the diversity to the notion of diversity itself, leading e.g. to the necessity of talking about differentiated excellence according to the kind of university mission and adopted strategy. In this context, the different aspects of a possible division of higher education institutions e.g. in at least three types, of a kind more or less proposed by M. Kwiek and his Team are briefly presented. The need of introduction of a new concept of university groupings in the new Polish law on universities currently prepared, as it is the case on France: federation of universities/federal university, is presented. The question of institutional diversity is closely related to the (degree) of autonomy of universities, in the normal situation the autonomy of universities is a condition for their diversity, and the general idea of university autonomy is discussed, stressing also among others the point that university autonomy and deregulation are also determining each other. The different degrees of university autonomy in Europe analysed in EUA Autonomy scoreboard are presented, with a special stress on the difference of the scores of Polish universities and UK universities. The author reminds of the necessity to take into account these circumstances and to prepare accordingly an appropriate legal framework for a greater institutional diversity of Polish universities and their greater degree of autonomy in the new Law 2.0 on Polish universities that is currently prepared.