Research Forum 2002

Peter Eckel
American Council on Education

Capitalizing on the Curriculum:
Challenges for Shared Governance and Administration

In response to technology, competition, globalization and constrained fiscal realities institutions are turning to their teaching and learning activities to generate revenue. This raises new questions and challenges for university administration and particularly for shared governance. When the curriculum becomes a capital resource, what are the implications for campus governance? This study charts this unknown territory and surfaces difficult questions that must be addressed, particularly as they relate to pursuing strategic alliances and for-profit endeavors. The study questions the governance structures of strategic alliances between (a) traditional universities, (b) traditional universities and for-profit organizations, and (c) traditional and foreign universities. While identifying the role of traditional academic senates as they initiate and govern these efforts that capitalize on the curriculum, the study examines the critical issues related to the oversight and decision making of strategic alliances. Furthermore, the study aims to explain how institutions cope with the involvement of atypical partners (including “shareholders”) in strategic alliances that generate revenue based upon teaching and learning capacities.