Governs in the Public Universities

Abstract

Whereas corporate governance theory is not as spread in Argentina as in its countries of origin, and least of all in its application to the public and the education sectors, it is nonetheless interesting its possible application to this kind of institution.

This work is based on the hypothesis that it is possible to propose a management model for universities applying the concepts of corporate governance as an umbrella for management mechanisms, and in particular for the theory of agency applied to all stakeholders’ relationships. The target of this paper is to answer what would be the agency relationships present in college and what elements should be analyzed to use in future research? How to group agency relations so as to consider the effectiveness of the university at the light of the current demands of the national Ministry of Education?

The working method is based mainly in secondary information about universities, the adaptation of corporate governance and agency theories adequate to the direction and control of an organization (Larcker & Tayan, 2011, p. 8), which impact becomes relevant from a management perspective due to its theoretical and practical usefulness.

Theoretical, because from Economic Sciences basis, the Agency Theory, can propound an application in the university field. And Practical because, interviews methodology was applied to different actors of interest in order to find out the differences that set the current corporate governance model apart from the theoretical one, and accordingly  recommendations were suggested about how to change it.