Working Boards in Tertiary Education: Lessons from Three Case Studies

There are a number of studies that classify governing boards into different types. Some classifications are based on management form. Some are based on the form in which authority is exercised. Some are based on the form of institution that the board serves. Most of these classifications include “working boards,” but few offer a clear definition of them. Even those that do attempt to define this type of board acknowledge that little is known about how they actually function. In contrast, the prevalence of working boards appears to be growing. This study examines three small public not-for-profit institutions with “working boards” to determine how that type of board functions, where it succeeds and where it fails, and how it is different from other types of boards. In addition to presenting an up-to-date and more realistic definition of the working board, the study critically analyses the working board as an instrument of governance and observes that working boards have several inherent contradictions and are prone to conflicts of interest.

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