COMPARATIVE & INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION VOLUME 6, SUMMER 2014 HE FFICIAL EWSLETTER OF THE IGHER DUCATION T O N H E SIG FEATURED ARTICLES Paulina Berrios 33 Institutional Performance Commitments: An Example of Intra- Institutional Accountability in Chile Richard Fossey 36 Why not Help Africa? American Universities should make a Civic Com- mitment to Strengthening Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa Benjamin A. Johnson 38 Integrating Service Learning into a First-Year Experience Course: A Few Considerations Bianka Siwińska 42 University over Borders: A Comparison of Internationalization Mod- els in Poland and Germany RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN 47 INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION COMPARATIVE & INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION Philosophy for Comparative and Int’l Higher Education The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors, who should be contacted directly about their work. 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Comparative & International Higher Education 6 (2014) 33 Institutional Performance Commitments: An Example of Intra-Institutional Accountability in Chile Paulina Berriosa,* aState University of New York at Albany, USA Currently, multiple accountability procedures take countability procedure, the next section refers to En- place in Chile. I discuss in this article one of those pro- rique Fernandez’s work (2008), who is one of the most cedures that relates to the University of Chile, the top systematic and comprehensive researchers on accounta- public research university in the country. The accounta- bility at both the faculty and institutional levels. This bility procedure refers to performance commitments article focuses only on the institutional level. established between academic units and the university’s central administration. The article develops the concept Academic Units and Central Administration: The of “performance commitments” (compromisos de des- University of Chile empeño) at the institutional level (Bernasconi 2011; Fernandez 2008) by defining the concept and outlining Academic units as subjects of accountability are one how the commitments are influenced by the institutional type of performance commitment instruments. The sector and national tradition. In the second part, I dis- particular case of the University of Chile is described cuss relevant organizational, political, and economic here. The University of Chile is the oldest, largest, and conditions that demand accountability at the perfor- most prestigious university of the country. It is a public mance commitment level. Lastly, I conclude with a university that consists of 18 colleges, schools, and brief discussion about the factors encouraging and dis- institutes. The University is an example of how academ- couraging the adoption of accountability measures by ic units (e.g., departments, schools, and facultades1) are the University of Chile and how (institutional) perfor- becoming accountable to the central administration. mance commitments are likely to lead towards better- This accountability procedure is not extensively imple- established accountability mechanisms in the near fu- mented, basically because it is still in progress. None- ture. theless, it is still worthwhile to pay attention to the process because it marks a trend for accountability pro- Universities and Accountability cedures of this type in Chile. Higher Education institutions are increasingly be- Intra-Institutional Accountability coming more accountable to different stakeholders (Altbach 2000; Enders and Musselin 2008; McConnell Academic units are accountable to the central ad- 1971). However, as Daniel Levy (1986) and T. R. ministration by means of reporting their activities, fi- McConnell (1971) argue, institutions are subject of nances, and academic performance. This type of multiple types accountability. To whom is a university accountability could fit what Linda Johnsrud and Jo- accountable? Universities are accountable to their facul- anne Gisselquist (2002) have defined as inter- ty, administrators and trustees, students, the govern- nal/voluntary accountability. It is exerted at the intra- ment, and the public (Amaral 2008; Gumport et al. institutional level. Specifically, the University of 1997; McConnell 1971). In order to describe the ac- Chile’s department directors and deans (depending on the case) have to report to the central authorities about ____________________ *Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]; Address: how resources are being used within their academic University at Albany, NY, USA units. In addition, they have to prove that the methods 34 Comparative & International Higher Education 6 (2014) that their academic units are using to allocate resources sidad of Chile is to carry out premier research, accord- are effective and efficient. Even though the University ing to international standards, the University is trying to of Chile’s academic units are currently held accountable minimize the amount of part-time faculty members and to the central administration, they have historically en- to increase the proportion of full-time faculty whose joyed a good deal of autonomy. However, as its accredi- primary focus is research. Thus, academic units are tation report shows (Provost, personal communication), being compelled to justify why, if so, they need to hire the autonomy enjoyed by these academic units is the new or to renew the contracts of part-time faculty. In bottleneck of the central administration when trying to other words, academic units are not autonomous to align schools and facultades with the institutional goals. decide on faculty hiring any longer. According to Andrés Bernasconi (2011), the University The institutional performance commitment is volun- of Chile’s decentralization would lead to operate it as a tary and does not necessarily involve any economic confederation of facultades. incentives. However, as the academic units are becom- Notably, the accountability policy intends to align ing more accountable by multiple means and measured the leverage of resources of academic units with the through a variety of indicators, there is little leeway to University goals. Due to the current increasing recep- bypass