A well-worn aphorism holds that crises also present opportunities, and that one should never waste a good one. It is also accepted wisdom that old universities in particular are notoriously difficult to change. If they are to function effectively, universities require a delicate balance between decentralisation and individual initiative on the one hand, and the realisation of forward-looking national development policy goals on the other.

According to Underhill, top-down, interventionist initiatives to re-engineer the way universities work have seldom produced satisfactory outcomes when these objectives fall persistently out of balance. Academic disciplines vary greatly in their requirements and ‘cultures’, meaning that large-scale, one-size-fits-all solutions seldom suit all contexts.

Nonetheless, Underhill says, transforming university governance structures can create opportunities for new and better outcomes. This depends on whether such changes can be translated successfully into positive, decentralised dynamics in research and teaching at institute or department level.

The UvA social sciences

At the time of Underhill’s appointment as a professor in 1998, the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences (PSCW) at the UvA faced a major crisis: declining enrolments and finances, poor public and student perceptions of quality, and substantial changes in government policy and the institutional environment.

A new law on university management had come into force; no fewer than four faculties were to be merged into one through a top-down process; and ‘economies of scale’ were the fashion of the day, whether they worked or not. Yet no institutions or plans had been put in place to achieve the new objectives.

Underhill reflects on how the UvA’s social sciences domain overcame what appeared to be existential obstacles and emerged stronger. How did its research and teaching metamorphose from a local problem into a field of globally recognised research and highly ranked programmes?

Turning external pressure into autonomy

In Underhill’s account, external threats fostered support for resisting the worst centralised intrusions, growing out of crisis, and developing standards and policies that spread across the university. These developments, he argues, reinforced the domain’s own discretionary policy autonomy.

Many cherished colleagues shared these ideals and helped to realise them over the years, Underhill concludes.

Prof. G.R.D. Underhill, Professor of International governance: Stepping into the Same River Twice. 

This valedictory lecture can be followed live here.