Shared Governance Practices in Turkish Private (Foundation) Universities Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor of Education by Cagri Bagcioglu April 2017 Acknowledgements The process of pursuing my doctorate has been a long, exciting but challenging journey, as I have called upon many people throughout the process. I know that I would not have been able to take a single step without those who have helped me, encouraged me, motivated me and more importantly believed in me. Dr. Dan Howard, for whom I had the privilege to work for many years and who fostered my interest in HE, has also been a driving force urging me to continue to improve. My colleagues and friends, for whom I would need tens of pages in order to include all their names, all deserve my thanks, but especially Can Cemgil, Cemil Boyraz, Ömer Turan, Remzi Sanver, Murat Borovalı, and Sami Çukadar. I am forever grateful to my supervisors Anne Qualter and Ewan Dow for their continuing support and guidance. I cannot imagine that I would have been able to complete even my thesis proposal if it was not for them: their calm and patient approach, pushing me so gently yet always keeping me moving forward. To my father, who we lost right before I began this journey and to my mother in whose thoughts and prayers I am a daily fixture, I am blessed and lucky to have been your son. I know this means a great deal to them and I am happy to make them proud. 2 | P a g e My young children, Jonathon and Adelia, I hope will forgive me for those days and nights when I was too busy to play with them and the events I missed in order to complete this journey. Finally to my wife, Cindy. It is impossible to explain with mere words her support along this journey. She has gone above and beyond helping me balance working full time, parenting young children and completing a doctorate. She has held my hand, walked and talked me through the toughest times, and she has always believed in me, giving me the strength I’ve needed to keep going. This thesis reflects not only the findings of extensive research, but also the support, encouragement, and faith of those who have travelled with me and I hope they accept this thesis as my thank you to them. 3 | P a g e Abstract As Turkish Higher Education has been facing rapid and significant growth in recent decades, the creation of Foundation Universities (private but not-for-profit) has both supported this growth and presented new challenges. One of these challenges has been the visible absence of effective governance models and practices, specifically the involvement of internal and external stakeholders in decision-making processes. The aim of this research is to identify the factors affecting the emergence of established shared governance practices in Turkish private (Foundation) universities, in order to contribute to effective policy making and application by administrators and managers in higher education. Primarily based on qualitative data gathering methods through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with leading educators in Turkey, the thesis also utilizes publicly available data from official reports. The thesis identified several factors, such as Turkish Higher Education Culture, Politics, Regulations and Higher Education Law, Founding Principles and Trust, Loyalty and Ownership as being significantly influential in shaping an institution’s participatory governance practices; the level of institutionalization, or kurumsallaşma, however, has been found to be a mediating filter that determines the impact of these factors on the school. Claiming that Culture remains the dominating factor in preventing the establishment of shared governance mechanisms, this thesis concludes by making a variety of policy and practice recommendations ranging from regulatory changes to the entire system, to obtaining specific external audits and to establishing certain committee structures to increase internal stakeholder participation, as well as creating a culture that balances 4 | P a g e collegiality and corporate practices by placing individuals with skills in both modes of thinking to key nodes of governance. (261 Words) Keywords: Shared Governance, Turkish Private Universities (‘Foundation Universities’), Turkish Higher Education, University Administration, and Decision Making. 5 | P a g e Abbreviations AAUP The American Association of University Professors ACE The American Council on Education AGB The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges BoT Board of Trustees CoHE Council of Higher Education EFQM European Foundation for Quality Management EUA European University Association FUs Foundation Universities GER Gross Enrolment Ratio GT Grounded Theory HE Higher Education HEI Higher Education Institution IEP Institutional Evaluation Programme IMF International Monetary Fund IUC Inter-University Council MoNE Ministry of National Education OECD Organisation of Economic Cooperation & Development ÖSYM Assessment, Selection and Placement Centre QA Quality Assurance SACS Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges URAP University Ranking by Academic Performance 6 | P a g e Table of Content Acknowledgements ___________________________________________________________ 2 Abstract ____________________________________________________________________ 4 Abbreviations _______________________________________________________________ 6 List of Figures ______________________________________________________________ 10 List of Tables _______________________________________________________________ 11 List of Appendices ___________________________________________________________ 12 Chapter I – Introduction ______________________________________________________ 13 I - Introduction and Problematique ___________________________________________________ 13 II – Outline of the Thesis ____________________________________________________________ 20 III - Brief Introduction to Turkish Higher Education ______________________________________ 24 IV - Governance of Turkish Higher Education ___________________________________________ 38 V – Conclusion ____________________________________________________________________ 47 Chapter II – Literature Review _________________________________________________ 48 I - Introduction ___________________________________________________________________ 48 II - Governance and Good Governance ________________________________________________ 50 III - What is Shared Governance in HE? What is at stake? _________________________________ 56 IV - Contemporary Debates on Shared Governance in HE _________________________________ 63 7 | P a g e V- Governance Discussions in Turkish Higher Education __________________________________ 72 VI – Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________ 83 Chapter III – Methodology ____________________________________________________ 86 I - Introduction ___________________________________________________________________ 86 II – The Sociology of Shared Governance: Utilizing sociological theory in the context of shared governance ______________________________________________________________________ 88 III - Research Design _______________________________________________________________ 94 IV - Data Collection ________________________________________________________________ 98 V – Data Analysis ________________________________________________________________ 105 VI – Conclusion __________________________________________________________________ 110 Chapter IV – Findings _______________________________________________________ 112 I – Introduction __________________________________________________________________ 112 II – Shared Governance A la Turca ___________________________________________________ 114 III – A Taxonomy of Factors ________________________________________________________ 128 IV – Conclusion __________________________________________________________________ 170 Chapter V Discussion ________________________________________________________ 172 I – Introduction __________________________________________________________________ 172 II - Anatomy of Factors ____________________________________________________________ 174 III - Level of Institutionalisation – Kurumsallaşma ______________________________________ 177 IV – Institution Specific Factors _____________________________________________________ 182 8 | P a g e V – Ecosystem-Wide Factors _______________________________________________________ 198 VI - Culture _____________________________________________________________________ 214 VII – Conclusion _________________________________________________________________ 223 Chapter VI – Conclusion _____________________________________________________ 225 I – Introduction __________________________________________________________________ 225 II – Major Arguments _____________________________________________________________ 227 III - Implications for Policy and Practice _______________________________________________ 229 IV - Limitations of the Study ________________________________________________________ 232 V - Future Research Agenda ________________________________________________________ 234 VI - Personal Reflections and Concluding Remarks ______________________________________ 236 References ________________________________________________________________ 238 Appendices _______________________________________________________________ 249 9 | P a g e List of Figures Figure 1 Historical