Contenu du sommaire : L'administration des Universités.

Patent and latent University problems. While the post-68 University has increased participation by various parties in decision-making, the new structure has multiplied conflicts and has to face quite a number of new problems. It is true that recent reforms (such as the status of the teaching staff, research organization) have brought some relief, yet the main, complex issues are here to stay.

Remarks on the university set-up. After recalling the implementation of university structures prior to the Higher Education Guidance Act of 12 November 1968, the author spends some thoughts on present structures to State that notwithstanding the law-maker's clear intent the traditional structural rigidity has not given way to flexibility and steady adjustment. Paradoxically enough, the old frame appears strengthened in the process, since on the one hand university alone can change things and, on the other, it is more dependent on the UER than the reverse ; thus university is stuck with stability. As regards its vital bodies, it appears that reality has turned out quite differently from the conceptual framework the legislator had in mind. Indeed it seems as though higher education cannot be guided the way one can guide agriculture or town-planning. University can only get self-guided whereby the attendant permitted circumstances and conditions have to be clarified.

The Status of University Staff. The author discusses the status of university staff in the light of recent texts and particularly the decrees of 9 August 1979 which contribute to a redefinition of various aspects of the administrative status of university staff (teaching and research only, excluding other staff). After indicating that the principle spelt out in the new statute responds to a real need, Y. Gaudemet questions the approach taken by underlining the insufficiency and inconvenience of a regulatory measure and the preference for a legislative text in many respects. He proceeds then to indicate the contents of the regulations, which tend to streamline (maintaining a distinction between the various staff categories, but not between the various disciplines) on a questionable basis on the one hand, and which shows, on the other, a concern for adjustment, clarification and cohérence, which is quite a positive feature to note.

University Management as viewed by the State Audit Office. The Higher Education Guidance Act of 12 November 1968 purported to grant to the simultaneously established universities a far-reaching autonomy not only educationally but also in terms of administrative and financial management. Prima facie evidence seems to suggest, however, that this autonomy is strictly limited by a series of factors which are pinpointed and discussed by the author on the basis of State Audit Reports on university management since 1971.

Autonomy - Participation : first achievements of the Higher Education Guidance Act. The Higher Education Guidance Act of 12 November 1968 has been a political solution to a political issue : first there was the need for reopening the universities, which meant to give a sop to the Cerberus of acting minorities without which the trouble was liable to go on, and second there was the need for achieving the largest possible majority in Parliament. The result of this emergency reform focussing on foreground rather than fundamental problems has been treble : the true issues have remained untackled, the goals fixed have not been reached, actual positive developments have been a surprise to anybody concerned.

The Administrative Structure of a British University. On the basis of the shortly described administrative structure and working of Liverpool University, the author delineates the main features of the administrative structure of British universities. It appears that they rely to a large extent on convention rather than on written rules, particularly as regards the distribution of power ; the teaching staff constitute the core of central university administration ; decision-making seems to resuit from mutual concessions and gradual adjustment rather than from overall planning ; finally, the university System guarantees the freedom of teaching and research ; this may cause problems in times of financial straights.

University Management in the Federal Republic of Germany. Various factors tend to progressively centralize university self-management with a growing encroachment by public administration upon German universities. Most factors have lasting effects and are irreversible. The scientific freedom granted under the constitution certainly affords an efficient protection of the autonomy of the body corporate representfed by universities. Yet this autonomy needs and has to be supported by an efficient, loyal, and reliable university management. Finally, the scientific autonomy should be recognized and conceived as an important field of research, advanced studies and clarification.