Six rules for building good universities

In recent years, an empirical literature has begun to prise apart the management process of universities, seeking to identify the features which cater to excellence. In a previous blog post I summarised five useful ingredients that enable successful universities, from a working paper by Philippe Aghion, Mathias Dewatripont, Caroline M. Hoxby, Andreu Mas-Colell and Andre Sapir:

1. No government approval required for budget; budget-making happens at the university and university alone.


2. Reduced government role in the core funding of the university.


3. High inequality of wages: two academics of the same seniority and rank should get different wages.


4. Full flexibility in recruitment of students.


5. A big role for competitive processes for gaining funding for research.

Today, on voxEU, I read an article by Amanda Goodall which identifies a sixth beneficial feature:

 

6. It helps if the university president has strong scientific accomplishments.