Graduate?employability is the top priority for university board members across Europe, a new suggests, irrespective of whether they come from an academic or external background.?

Academics in Finland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden designed and distributed a questionnaire to university board members in their respective countries, receiving almost 800 responses. The four countries were selected, the researchers explained, in order to ¡°represent different governance traditions and university-society relationships¡±.

Both Poland and Portugal, they added, ¡°have experienced authoritarian regimes that made universities centres of political resistance¡±, while in Sweden and Finland, ¡°universities have mostly been instruments of economic and regional development¡±.

The questionnaire respondents were asked how important they considered seven principles or priorities to be in university governance: national policy priorities, regional development agendas, the United Nations¡¯ sustainability goals, competitiveness and rankings performance, maximisation of external funding, student employability and academic freedom.

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

¡°Board members are by far the most understudied group of individuals whose views and actions have a significant impact on the strategic development of universities,¡± said co-author Dominik Antonowicz, professor in higher education and science policy at Nicolaus Copernicus University

¡°It¡¯s both intriguing and important to find out what, in their views, are the strategic priorities in university policy.¡±

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

On average across all four countries, student employability was considered the most important principle, chosen by 81 per cent of the respondents. Academic freedom was close behind, at 80.7 per cent, while national policy priorities and ranking performance were tied in last place with 47.8 per cent. In Poland, Finland and Portugal, more than four fifths of respondents considered student employability to be an important priority, with the figure dropping to almost two thirds in Sweden.

In Poland and Sweden, academic freedom was the top priority; both nations, the study authors noted, have had recent controversies in the academic community over government influence on universities. Student employability topped the list in Finland, while regional development agendas and UN sustainability goals came in joint first place in Portugal.

¡°This is an interesting finding, considering that the global academic community is primarily engaged in prestige-maximising activities that typically accompany research rather than teaching or service missions,¡± the study authors wrote.

¡°From the board members¡¯ perspective, graduates struggling to find a quality job is a concerning issue which may undermine the added value of higher learning and, eventually, the very rationale and meaning of universities.¡±

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

Another notable finding, Antonowicz told ̽»¨ÊÓƵ, was the high levels of agreement between the perspectives of internal and external board members. ¡°Both internal and external board members envision[ed] universities¡¯ principles and role identically within their respective national contexts,¡± he said.

University boards, and external board members in particular, have often been depicted as ¡°alien to academic culture¡± in Europe, the study authors explained, perceived to prioritise ¡°an economic approach to the strategic agency of universities over traditional academic values, such as the freedom of teaching and research¡±.

Instead, the findings suggested that external board members¡¯ perceptions were closely aligned with those of their internal colleagues. This ¡°may be attributable to the fact that individuals selected to university boards are already well-acquainted with core academic values,¡± the researchers wrote, while acknowledging the potential for self-selection bias, with board members ¡°already align[ed] with fundamental university values¡± perhaps more likely to respond to the survey.

¡°Alternatively, external board members may have been socialised into these values over the course of their service,¡± the study authors theorised, resulting in ¡°a more profound appreciation of the university¡¯s distinctive role and character.¡±

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com