Institutional+professional+autonomy+vs.+Public+accountability

=**Institutional/professional autonomy vs. Public accountability** = = =

Academic freedom gives the instructor the right to direct their own classes toward the learning they think best. That level of freedom is sometimes frustrated by a department’s need for a holistic curriculum or for a program’s need to fulfill required learning outcomes. Insistence by professional accreditation boards that only PhD’s with their respective professional designation teach students further erodes the autonomy educators and programs desire. These issues constrain autonomy and limit educational development.

Is there a corporate, governmental, or professional agenda that must be resisted?

On the other hand, where does accountability reside?

Should the institutions be more accountable to a public that pays a significant portion of the educational expense?

Should instructors be more accountable to their students, programs, their university and the public?

Where does/should control, responsibility, and accountability reside at all levels of higher education? And how should we be structured to ensure success?

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