Abstract:

In recent years the importance of maintaining suitable attachments with the environment and society has been more and more evident for the Ecuadorian Universities. Not just as an income by services, but also as a link that reinforces the fundamental functions of shaping and investigation, promoting trends of different productive sectors. For that reason, it is necessary the existence of a modern, versatile and flexible university, with mechanisms which makes possible the participation of its members, to face troubles.

It is precisely in this context that, this research is focus on, based on the fact that, the current knowledge society, demands that higher education institutions develop as organizational structures aiming on achieving greater and better interaction with their stakeholders (Actors of the public sector, productive sector, university community and society in general), with the aim of ensuring economy, efficiency, effectiveness and quality in the provision of public goods and services and, above all, ensure that the university's government and management, have as purpose and result in the creation and added value, improving the general utility for the higher education community and the benefits for the whole society.

This research focuses on analyzing the management of Ecuadorian Public Universities through the analytical perspective of governance, With the purpose of determining to what extent the current university management model is aligned with a university governance perspective and specifically to evaluate the governance at “Universidad de Cuenca” to diagnose its current situation under the perspective of university governance; because all these aspects and components have been relegated, being among other reasons of this lack of attention and importance, the little scientific tradition of my country, the lack of vision and commitment of the governors, the pressure of the social demand to get register, the lack of a clear concept of what have been done from the University by its Professors and students; and particularly, university management, which has been oriented more on solving immediate problems and not problems that would imply their permanence, strengthening and growth over time

This research approach is mixed (qualitative and quantitative), and the results of the research target is to determine:
a) the degree of participation of the actors of public sector, the productive sector, the university community and society in general, in the different levels of the University of Cuenca.
b) Demonstrate if university management observes certain features of university governance; and,
c) If the structuring and formality of the processes in the university strategic management are determining factors that condition the effective governance in this University.

Keywords:

Governance, public universities, stakeholders.