ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses on system governance and the relationship between universities and the state, and has introduced a number of key concepts, models, and approaches that can be used to understand and analyze university-state governance. Many universities are public institutions and therefore have direct interactions with the state, but even private institutions frequently interact with and are in some ways regulated by government. The mechanisms that facilitate this interaction and help to define levels of authority constitute important elements of state-university governance. State-university governance is that the state provides universities with funding in exchange for the education of its citizenry, the advancement of knowledge, and the maintenance of society. Society constitutes an exchange relationship between universities and their respective states. The chapter examines the "system" concept of higher education governance and focuses on the conceptual underpinnings and policy issues that shape the balance between state responsibility and university.
