EXPANDING THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES TO PROMOTE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERRITORY: A NEW MANAGEMENT PARADIGM AT RIO DE JANEIRO STATE UNIVERSITY

Abstract

"The present work deals with the management experience at Rio de Janeiro State University– UERJ, where a new management and governance model was adopted in order to strengthen university autonomy. This new model has given rise to the expansion of universities’ responsibility and has reorganized management sectors in a process that involves the renewal of internal legislation with the view to regulate and guide the university's action in the process of knowledge transfer to society through services. The result of this new regulatory framework is the improvement and increase in the spectrum of partnerships between universities and governments, the strengthening of pre-existing partnerships, and, finally, the attribution of new responsibilities to the so-called supervisory units or “supervisory bodies of the central administration of the university”. Great part of the efforts aimed at rearticulating UERJ’s internal system points to the need to overcome the historical internal fragmentation, redirecting management to an articulated system which is able to reflect the political will of the authorities involved, in the sense of an autonomous and radical evolution of the institution's internal governance. It can be stated that the transformations seen at UERJ are part of a broader process inscribed in the scope of the current management strategies to bring universities closer to the demands of society. Its main characteristics are, as follow: the integration of disciplines and thematic areas that enhance knowledge in the face of regional development; the prioritization of partnerships with the public sector, the valuing of innovation and projects with the potential for technology transfer, the expansion of the role of universities to promote social and economic development of the territory; the strengthening of the role of universities for the planet sustainability; the financing associated with academic results (publications and students’ involvement), the sophistication of monitoring, management systems and their indicators; the encouragement of regional action and the implementation of correlated management and governance models. This work, therefore, presents a brief balance of this experience based on systematized data between 2020 and 2021."