ABSTRACT
THE TERM “AUTONOMY” is DERIVED FROM GREEK “AUTONOMOS” MEANING “self-ruling”, or “self-imposing rules or laws” (Greek “auto”—self-and “nomos”—law). We will use “autonomy”, “freedom”, “independence”, “discretion”, “regulation by one’s judgment”, “self-regulation”, “capacity to exercise choice”, and “self-government” somewhat interchangeably, while admitting their specific semantic differences and recognizing that no social entity may be completely free from the other entities in a social system. University autonomy may be defined as a university’s freedom from outside control to run its own affairs.
