Who is Leading Whom, Where to, What for: And How? Governance and Empowerment in the University of the Twenty-First Century

The question of the autonomy of the universities is now back on the agenda everywhere. A case in point is the recent manifesto on the subject of European university policy published in June 2010 (The manifesto “Empower European Universities” 2010). Clearly the subject of the university as an organisation, of university autonomy based on adequate governance structures, and above all the need to constantly redefine the balance between control and participation is not yet history. At the same time, one is tempted to point out that we have now spent some 20 years working with new management and decision-making structures, quality assurance and accreditation procedures, and strengths and weaknesses analyses, and that the time has therefore come—as I pointed out last year on the occasion of Leipzig University’s sixth centenary celebrations (Krull 2009, pp.207–220)—to finally address the challenges of content and especially the vital question of curricular reform.