Academic staff’s participation in university governance - a move towards autonomy and its practical problems

Autonomy in governance is an inevitable trend in universities. With this, the involvement of faculty members is essential. The landscape of the Vietnamese higher education system comprises a wide variety of institutional types, including National, Regional, Public, Non-public, and International Universities. This investigation aimed to understand the status of involvement by academic staff members, about its level and effectiveness, in the main areas of university governance such as institutional management, staffing, academic programs and research, and financial management, across university types.The report was built on the data collected from a survey conducted at 17 universities of various types in Vietnam in 2018. Nearly 2,000 academic staff members provided their responses in a paper questionnaire.The investigation results show a low level of participation by staff in university governance. The influences of staff participation were reported higher in staffing and academic areas than in organizational and financial. The investigation also identified the topics of further research.