The relationship between a university and the government has long been a common topic of study in educational research. Concepts often associated with the issue of university governance are the elements of autonomy and accountability. Autonomy is claimed as a necessity to enhance institutional development while accountability is a safeguard of ensuring social needs are properly met. As autonomy means self-governance without external control while accountability refers to a high level of transparency and responsibility to the public, it may seem contradictory to have the two features contained in one system. Scholars like Berdahl (1990) suggested that a balance of both would constitute an ideal situation. The Macao higher education sector has been undergoing changes after the handover of sovereignty to China in 1999. In 2002, the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region announced the revision of university charter of Macao's only public university, the University of Macau (UM), for the purpose of providing a higher degree of autonomy to the institution. This aims at encouraging appropriate changes to accommodate international trends and developments. After a long negotiation, the new charter was finally approved in early 2006. In this study, the relationship between UM and the government is examined to understand if the institution could have benefited from a required higher level of autonomy to promote its future development.

大學與政府之關係乃教育研究常見之課題，與大學管治常有關聯之慨念包括大學自治與問責。 自治爲拓展學術機構之基本，問責則維護及確保社會所需得到滿足。由於自治代表不受約制於外在因素，與意謂對社會大眾展現高透明度及責任性之問責慨念可謂產生矛盾，而情況於二者並存一系統時更為突顯。學者如Berdahl (1990)便倡議平衡二元素可望構成較理想局面。 澳門高等教育界自一九九九年地區主權回歸中國後便一直進行變革。爲配合國際趨勢及發展，政府需鼓勵大學作出恰當之变更。有見及此，澳門特別行政區政府於二零零二年宣佈本地區唯一之公立大學，「澳門大學」，進行大學修章以提高機構自治程度。 經過漫長磋商，澳門大學章程於二零零六年上旬獲最後批准通過。本研究旨在探討澳大與政府之關係以了解機構能否受惠於較高自治以推動未來發展。