Analyse de la gouvernance systémique des universités au Québec et comparaisons avec quatre autres provinces canadiennes

Abstract

Knowledge societies have expectations of universities, and it has been suggested that autonomy contributes to universities’ capacity to respond adequately (Altbach & Balán, 2007). This article aims to highlight the dimensions of state oversight and its relation to institutions’ autonomy in Quebec, and to compare the situation with that in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. A thematic analysis of 77 official documents (including 29 in Quebec) and 93 interview transcripts (including 30 in Quebec) led to the identification of three broad dimensions of systemic governance: the legislative and regulatory framework, universities’ accounting status and governments’ budgetary rules, as well as government interventions in universities’ internal management. The analysis reveals that university autonomy varies by province, with universities in Nova Scotia and Ontario being possibly more autonomous than universities in Alberta and British Columbia; Quebec would be in-between, partly because it includes two university sectors whose dimensions suggest different levels of autonomy.