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In recent years, an empirical literature has begun to prise apart the management process of universities, seeking to identify the features which cater to excellence. In a previous blog post I summarised five useful ingredients that enable successful universities, from a working paper by Philippe Aghion, Mathias Dewatripont, Caroline M. Hoxby, Andreu Mas-Colell and Andre Sapir:

1. No government approval required for budget; budget-making happens at the university and university alone.
2. Reduced government role in the core funding of the university.
3. High inequality of wages: two academics of the same seniority and rank should get different wages.
4. Full flexibility in recruitment of students.
5. A big role for competitive processes for gaining funding for research.

Today, on voxEU, I read an article by Amanda Goodall which identifies a sixth beneficial feature:

6. It helps if the university president has strong scientific accomplishments.

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