Abstract
This essay sought to discuss, under the scope of institutional complexity, the effects of university autonomy on the academic dimension of higher education; as well as evaluating the possibility of different organizational response patterns between models of autonomy that expand and reduce the dependence on competitive external resources for universities. In this sense, it aimed to raise the initial proposals for the understanding of an alternative model of university autonomy capable of overcoming the problems present in models focused on reducing public funding implemented in several countries within the scope of New Public Management (NPM). Thus, it is argued that reforms in university autonomy do not necessarily need to result in the aggravation of pressures and conflicts arising from the complexity of institutional logics; but, that an autonomy model based on the guarantee of direct state funding can allow universities to identify and enjoy benefits from complexity. As a result, six theoretical propositions were outlined that help to understand the circumstances in which universities, even as strategic organizations, oriented by objectives and accountable for their actions and results, can at the same time: ensure real substantive autonomy; manage stakeholder relationships by avoiding harmful excesses of external influence; ensure the effectiveness of the substantive autonomy exercised at the strategic level; preserve the organizational identity based on the dominant logic of higher education; as well as establishing productive interactions between concurrent logics.
Keywords:
Institutional Complexity; Organizational Answers; University Autonomy; Market Logic; Academic Logic
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