From Mission to "Mission Impossible": Reflections on University Missions in a Highly Heterogeneous System--The Chilean Case

Autor/in	Atria, Raul
Titel	From Mission to "Mission Impossible": Reflections on University Missions in a Highly Heterogeneous System--The Chilean Case
Quelle	In: Quality in Higher Education, 10 (2004) 1, S.9-16 (8 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1353-8322
Schlagwörter	Stellungnahme; Foreign Countries; Institutional Mission; Self Evaluation (Groups) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Self evaluation; Group; Groups; Selbstevaluation; Gruppe (Soz)
Abstract	In the context of a project aimed at studying and assessing the impact that self- evaluation may have produced in Chile since the beginnings of the 1990s, both in the academic management practices and the academic culture, this paper examines the mission component of self-evaluation processes. The paper rests on the basic assumption that a highly heterogeneous and diversified system like the one prevailing in Chile promotes quite different visions and perceptions of the institutional mission. The analytical focus of the paper is the perception of institutional missions by academic communities, a perception that is directly related to and influenced by the nature of the university which is involved. In order to organise the analysis a typology is worked out combining a time dimension (past history of older institutions vs. projection into the future in the new, emerging universities) and a systemic dimension (prevalence of academic ethos in inner-oriented institutions vs. societal commitments in outward-oriented institutions). The analysis shows that certain kinds of visions and perceptions produce missions that are impossible. This is the case when the mission is unilaterally construed in one of the polar types of the typology. The strategic implication is that institutional missions, to be realistic, must take into account, in a balanced manner, the entire spectrum of mission perceptions covered by the typology. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10