Abstract

By the early 1990s the Commonwealth moved from discipline review of performance to a whole of institution approach. Individual universities were rewarded for various aspects of performance improvements. The concern for good governance has grown over the years and an increasing attention to governance in management and accounting literature. The aim of this paper is to discuss the governance reforms that took place in the higher education sector in Australia and analyze the governance and performance of Australian Universities. The data for the empirical study was collected using the annual reports and the Webpages of 37 publically funded universities in Australia and Higher Education Statistics Collection. The results revealed that the governance structures of the universities becoming more independent and moving towards universal governance best practice. The main objective of the university system is good teaching and quality research and the performance of teaching and research of universities and the financial viability of institutions are vital to be more competitive in a student demand driven funding system.