Most of the work conducted by faculty and students takes place within the academic structure of a higher education institution. Academic structure refers to the organizational subunits that are created to carry out the teaching, research, and public service activities of a higher education institution. Academic structures serve as venues for teaching, learning, and knowledge creation, and they provide a system through which many decisions are made regarding curriculum and desired student learning outcomes. This entry describes the typical academic structure found at most higher education institutions and then discusses the important characteristics of academic structure. These characteristics include structural differentiation and decentralization. The entry then highlights major debates regarding how academic structures should be designed and concludes with an overview of how instruction is ...