Governance and Performance Management in Public Universities. Current Research and Practice

After almost a century of experience in performance management in public universities, it is time for some reflections on the results achieved, the challenges still open and the consequences on governance. Triggered by the growing attention on sustainable development and the role of education in achieving the United Nations’ goals, public sector scholars have intensified the discussion around the crucial role of performance management systems. Well-designed performance management systems can support governing bodies in defining strategies and plans, identifying coherent objectives and targets, and providing measures for ensuring an effective use of public resources. This book provides an overview of the current trends and challenges. Its ten chapters explore the performance management and governance in public universities, also looking at the experiences of some European countries. It is worth noticing that almost half of the chapters focus on the third mission: a concept with a broad meaning, which encompasses a wide range of activities involving the generation, use, application and exploitation of knowledge and other university capabilities outside academic environments. The specific attention that this volume places on the third mission is an unequivocal signal of the need for universities to play a stronger, more visible, measurable and evaluable role in the design of modern knowledge societies by providing socially, culturally and economically usable knowledge.