Integration or

Fragmentation
of a University
Prof. Georg Winckler
Rector, University of Vienna, Austria

UNESCO Roundtable, Zagreb, May 8, 2009

 Integrated or fragmented university: not a
goal per se, but a means to perform better

 In any case: responsible to whom?

accountable to whom?

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Historical context

 (Anglo)American tradition: undergraduate

college, professional schools, PhD education

 French tradition: „écoles speciales“

 German tradition: the Humboldtian university

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Modern University (1):
The relevance of „open science“ for knowledge societies
In knowledge societies, the bulk of new knowledge should
be generated and disseminated freely (via rapid publication
by giving up the rights over it).
That:
- facilitates the generation of further knowledge
- helps students to be equipped with the best and latest
knowledge
- allows to feed the latest results into the innovation system.
„Open Science“ is justified by huge positive external effects.

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Modern University (2):
Coexistence of „Open Science“ with academia-business
relations
 How, do academia-business relations influence scientific
productivity?
 What is their influence on funding and status in
academia?
 Optimal degrees?
Incentive problem
 How to reward the researchers who are active in „open
science“ and/or in academia-business relation? How to
design monetary and hierarchical rewards?

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Modern University (3)
Definition
 Universities are effective institutions to manage „open
science“ and to link this with relations to society and
business
 Universities solve principal-agent problems in creative
work (non-observability of the efforts of academics and the
value of their output); universities design monetary and
hierarchical rewards
 Universities need academic, organisational, staffing and
budgetary autonomy in order to act as autonomous agents
in the knowledge society
 Universities choose their own profiles, missions and
values
 Modern governance structures („fit for purpose“)
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Universities in a changing environment
Wide range of growing demands:
 increase and broaden access
 concentrate research/respond to regional need
 be more local, more regional, more European, more
international
 provide compatible curricula across Europe / but be
more learner centred and maintain cultural diversity
 be more autonomous/but conform to Bologna
 be more competetive/and be more socially inclusive
 cut costs and find new sources of revenues (tuition
fees)
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Universities in the 21st century
(Modernisation Agenda 2006, EU Commission)
1. broaden access on a more equitable basis
2. reach out to more research excellence
3. break down the barriers surrounding European
universities
4. provide the appropriate skills and competences for the
labour market
5. create genuine autonomy and accountability for
universities
6. reduce the funding gap so that 2% of GDP will be spent
on HE by 2015 (besides 3% of GDP spent on R&D) and
make funding more effective
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Current Challenges

 downstream strategies (developing potentials of the

existing research and teaching capacities)
versus
 upstream strategies (identifying new areas of activities,
hiring top people from abroad, invest in a focused way,
reallocate resources)

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Optimal size and structure of a university

 size (US definition): a good research university needs at

least 1000 researchers and 1000 mio USD as annual
budget
 governance structure
institutional research strategies (upstream strategies!)
institutional learning strategies (learning across faculties,
especially in the BA and PhD area)
institutional policies with staffing and budgets
institutional quality management
choice of profiles, missions and values

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University structure in Austria (University Act 2002)

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