This study examines and compares two well-established private universities in their
provincial environments: Trinity Western University (TWU) in British Columbia, and
Augustana University College (AUC) in Alberta. Three questions were addressed. First,
what were the conditions that enabled TWU and AUC to take root and flourish in their
environments? Second, in what way and to what extent are TWU and AUC "private"?
Third, how have TWU and AUC survived in their public environments on issues related to
achieving degree-granting status, quality control, academic standards and public acceptance?
The main finding to the first question is that both universities were established by the
faith, perseverance and volunteer action of supporting memberships whose philosophy and
beliefs were mainly incongruent with those of the public environment. Both universities were
given recognition by politically conservative governments whose ideology extolled the virtues
of private initiative.
The main finding to the second question is that both universities were not "private" to
nearly the same degree. While both universities are recognized for their academic quality by
the postsecondary environment, TWU exhibits characteristics that are more distinctive and
incongruent with the public environment in its faith-affirming beliefs, governance, financing,
missions, academic frameworks, faculty, students and ethical standards. AUC, on the other
hand, is far more "public-like" in these aspects, and is formally accountable to and part of the
postsecondary education system of Alberta.
The conclusion to the third finding is that TWU has depended on maintaining its
distinctiveness and financial autonomy whilst maintaining recognition and acceptance by its
environment in order to remain viable. AUC, by contrast, has depended on relinquishing
much of its distinctiveness and autonomy in order to receive provincial support and
recognition.
These two cases illustrate that the idea of "private" as opposed to "public"
universities should be viewed as a matter of degree rather than in absolute opposite terms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8256 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Maher, Paul Claude |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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