Higher Education Administration

There are varied levels of higher education administration, national, state/provincial, and local.  In the United States, as with many countries, the highest or national level is called the Department of Education, Ministry of Education in Commonwealth countries.  The state/provincial level is also known as a department of education and at the local level, higher education administration is known as a board.

The national level of higher education administration is found at the top government level.  The functions it includes are in administrating educational, privacy or civil rights laws, ascertaining funds for educational programs, and working with varied government committees to improve education as a whole.  However, this level of administration has very little if any say so in the curriculums that students have to learn from and teachers have to teach.  In the United States, the responsibilities of this body have increased since the No Child Left Behind Act came into force.

State or provincial level higher education administration is a lower level of government that deals with the everyday aspects of higher educational needs.  The body works with universities and colleges to ascertain teaching, resource, student, and curricula needs and requirements, allocate funding and resources, and monitor the standards and performances of students and teachers through reports provided to them by each institution’s board.  They are also responsible for the enforcement of national education, privacy and civil rights laws within the higher education institutions and system.

The board level of higher education administration is found in the colleges and universities.  Each one has its own independent board which governs the overall running of their teaching institution.  They are responsible for further enforcing educational, civil rights and privacy laws, as well as running the institution daily, dealing with human resource and student issues, and ensuring that everything is running smoothly.  They also compile a monthly and annual report that is presented to the state/provincial and national departmental levels.