POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

          This research aimed to: 1) study the management of the autonomous universities; 2) propose the policy recommendations for the management of the autonomous universities. Mixed-method research was used in this research. For quantitative data, the sample was 617 personnel from Chulalongkorn University, Mahidol University, and Chiang Mai University, derived by accidental sampling. The research instrument was a questionnaire with Item Objective Congruence Index between 0.67-1.00 and validity of 0.98. The data was analyzed with mean and standard deviation. The qualitative research was conducted through the interview and seminar of 49 administrators, lecturers, and staffs of autonomous universities, derived by purposive selection. The data was analyzed using content analysis. The research results revealed that:

1. The management of autonomous universities in the aspect of education quality development toward academic excellence had the highest average, followed by publication of institutional performance, and system application to monitor, inspect, and evaluate work operation along with budget spending. However, the aspect with the lowest average was consideration for fair termination of employment, followed by fair salary raising, performance appraisal to promote work efficiency, and work process reduction to increase work efficiency.


2. The policy recommendations includes: 1) the university should develop curricula based on the needs of society and the university contexts; 2) for personnel management university staff should be only type of employment status; 3) budget should be sought from alumni and private sectors; 4) work process should be reduced to promote fast and flexible system for academic excellence; 5) universities considering changing to be autonomous universities should be well-prepared in all aspects and suitable to the university contexts; 6) the Office of the Higher Education Commission and universities should devise a good mechanism to select members of the university council; and 7) regulations should be revised or newly written to indicate that autonomous universities are public entities and university staff are public officials.