Comparing university governance models in four countries

The change in governance patterns of the higher education system will undoubtedly leave extensive changes in other components and elements of this system. A brief look at the evolution of the university governance system shows that today, new governance models such as the market-oriented model have attracted the attention of many higher education systems worldwide, and different countries are moving towards the market-oriented and society-oriented governance model in terms of their legal, scientific and developmental frameworks. The present article, by examining the transition of university governance models in four countries including France, Iran, Germany and Italy in the form of a comparative study, tries to answer the question of what changes have been experienced in the governance of universities in the mentioned countries during the past three decades. Another question that this article seeks to answer is which of the mentioned models or a combination of them creates more functionality and benefits for the higher education system. Research findings show that university governance models can generally be classified into 4 general categories including market-oriented, government-oriented, academic and hybrid governance models. Also, these models can be compared with each other from the 12 dimensions of university governance. Another finding shows that in the transition from one model to another, the tendency to change from the government-oriented model to the academic model and then to the market-oriented models and finally to the combined model can be seen. Of course, this process has not been the same in all the countries examined in this research, and for this movement, legal and structural changes in the university governance body are very important.