Academic senate
[1] As of 2022,[update] of university systems in Europe analysed for the European University Association (EUA) by the same authors and N. Popkhadze, only the Brandenburg region of Germany (not included in the earlier analysis) retained this system, with Poland being classified as dual-asymmetric and Latvia and Estonia as traditional dual governance systems, having previously been considered unitary-senate models in analysis published in 2017, prior to governance reforms in those countries; there is no noted reform for Ireland but it is also re-classified as dual-asymmetric.
Pruvot and Estermann found that Belgium (Flanders), Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Portugal all have board-based unitary models, although Denmark, Iceland and Portugal mandate the existence of an advisory senate without decision-making powers, and some older universities in Sweden have also retained a senate.
[2] Asymmetric dual governance models with both a board and a senate are found in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg and France.
[1] The 2022 analysis adds Georgia, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Scotland and Spain (all but Ireland and Poland, which have been re-classified from unitary-senate, were not included in the earlier analysis) as having dual-asymmetric governance, but considers the Czech Republic to be a traditional dual governance model.
[2] Traditional dual governance models, where the senate typically has responsibility for academic matters and the board for strategic planning and budgets, are found in Austria, North Rhine–Westphalia (Germany), Italy, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
It also adds Estonia and Latvia, following governance reforms, the Czech Republic, which is reclassified from dual-asymmetric, and Hesse (Germany), Cyprus and Lithuania that were not previously included.
The low percentage of senates that are statutory bodies in Australia has been driven, at least in part, by state legislation imposing unicameral governance similar to that found in England's post-1992 universities on their institutions.
[16] The senatus academicus at Edinburgh emerged at the start of the 17th century as the senior body within the university itself (then governed by the town council), containing the principal and the regents.
[18] The senate at Glasgow, consisting of the rector, dean of faculties and the professors, also emerged in the early 17th century and was responsible for conferring degrees and other matters internal to the university.
It operated alongside the 'faculty', a committee consisting of the principal and the holders of the thirteen oldest chairs, which had the management of the revenue and property of the university.
The warden resigned in 1831 and his office was abolished, and in 1832 the senate was established to give the professors more autonomy, although under a lay chair.
[26] However, the chapter, as governors of the university until 1909, retained the power to overrule the senate and convocation or to take independent action, which they did on four occasions in the 19th century.
Leeds followed Manchester, while Durham's 1937 statutes went even further, constituting the senate as the supreme academic body and giving it the right to be consulted on financial matters that affected the university's educational policy.
[29] The right of senates to be consulted generally grew over the course of the 20th century, with the model charter issued by the Privy Council in 1963 giving rights to senates to initiate and be consulted on legislation and on staff appointments, while still retaining a list of powers reserved to councils, including full control of financial matters.
[30] The Committee of University Chairs' code of best practice also reinforced that councils should have ultimate responsibility, with little concept of shared governance.
As a result, senates, which tend to be large bodies that meet infrequently, have lost power relative to councils and executives in the pre-1992 universities.
The policy created by the academic senate is restricted to and must be congruent with policy by the university system of which the university is a member institution, any accreditation bodies, state laws and regulations, federal laws and regulations, and changes derived from judicial decisions at the state and federal levels of the court systems.
While a majority of universities and colleges have some form of an academic senate, the general perception is that the organization has more of a ceremonial role.
