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UK Universities (uk + university)
Selected AbstractsAcademics on Non-Standard Contracts in UK Universities: Portfolio Work, Choice and CompulsionHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2007Donna Brown This paper analyses the profile and motivation of over 1,300 academics employed on part-time, fixed term or temporary contracts at 10 post-1992 UK universities, whom it categorises as ,non-standard academics'. Based on a questionnaire survey, it investigates their demographic background, including age, gender and ethnic background, as well as the factors behind acceptance of their current employment status. It reveals that six out of ten chose their status and correspond in some ways to the profile of ,portfolio worker' (high level of qualifications, multiple job holding and sense of independence). This tends to correct the perception of them as mainly ,casual'. However, commitment to their current employment status is less clear, with over one-third stating that they would accept a permanent job on their current hours. There are, therefore, signs of adaptation to certain forms of non-standard status (hours) but not to others (impermanence). Such uncertainty illustrates the hazy boundaries between casual and portfolio status. [source] Changing Internal Governance: A Discussion of Leadership Roles and Management Structures in UK UniversitiesHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2004Robin MiddlehurstArticle first published online: 13 DEC 200 A series of reviews over the past six years , from Dearing (NCIHE, 1997) to Lambert (Lambert, 2003) , have addressed the question of whether the structure and process of ,governance' in higher education is fit for modern times. This is a proper question to ask as operating environments change and pressures on institutional resources increase. Indeed, it is not coincidental that both the recent government-sponsored reports and those of the previous decade (Jarratt, 1985; NAB, 1987) were associated with significant financial changes in the sector. There are further parallels in that both the reports of the 1980s and those of the later period heralded legislative changes that produced , or will produce , new patterns of higher education provision in the UK (Education Reform Act, 1988; Further and Higher Education Act, 1992; Higher Education Act, 2004). The messages from the reports and White Papers (DES, 1987; DES, 1991; DfES, 2003) published in this twenty-year period have remained broadly similar, even though the wider environment has altered significantly. ,Increase efficiency, find new sources of income and improve performance across an ever-widening range of activities and services' have been the watchwords of successive governments. Given the consistency of the message, it is useful to analyse the changes that universities have been making to meet these requirements and to consider what further changes may be needed in the light of new external challenges. The first part of the paper offers a historical perspective before addressing the evolution of leadership roles and management structures from the late 1980s. The second part considers some of the current drivers of internal and external change before discussing the kind of changes in internal governance that are emerging and that should be considered for the future. I conclude by arguing for a shift in focus from structure and roles to people and processes in the task of leading change in universities. [source] A Continuing Role For Academics: The Governance of UK Universities in the Post,Dearing EraHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2002John Dearlove The governance of higher education has become a recognised cause for concern. Many academics lament the demise of an easy collegiality in the face of the rise of a harder managerialism that robs them of control. But outsiders to the system, concerned about the efficiency and effectiveness of higher education management, are critical of the extent to which academics seem all too eager and able to block changes that might lead to universities better addressing the needs of society. This paper rejects the simple nostrums of both those who hark back to a collegial golden age and those who make the case for a brave managerial future. It argues that universities that are capable of real strategic change in response to challenge are capable of transcending the dichotomy between collegiality and managerialism as modes of organisation. In these successful universities, academics must be involved and prepared to lead, but they must also work in partnership with administrators, in institutions that will be strong to the extent that there is a shared vision that makes the institution rather more than just the sum of warring departments. [source] Collaborative Research: Policy and the Management of Knowledge Creation in UK UniversitiesHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2001David Smith Collaboration in research activity is now the rule not the exception. It is encouraged by government, funding bodies and research councils. However, the concept of collaboration is difficult to define. It occurs at many different levels, driven by a complex research system-policy dynamic. Three different models of collaboration , inter-personal, team and corporate , are identified, each with their own rationale, structure, benefits and costs. The paper examines the institutional implications of these models. It argues that institutions and individual researchers conceptualise and operationalise research collaboration in different ways. Although vital to institutional mission, collaborative research is rarely mapped by senior managers with any precision. In general, institutional approaches to the management of collaborative research lag behind the policy rhetoric. The paper concludes with an overview of the key dilemmas for institutional strategists and policy makers posed by the shift towards more collaborative approaches to research. [source] ,Perced to the Roote': Challenges in Teaching Chaucer at UK UniversitiesLITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2008Samantha Rayner This paper attempts to present the challenges facing medievalists in the UK when they are confronted with undergraduates with little or no experience of working with Chaucer and medieval studies. Through exploring the current A and AS level criteria for assessment, and understanding what approaches are being used at secondary level, it is hoped that medievalists will be able to adapt practice to encourage more students to make their field a study area of rewarding choice. [source] Determinants of Degree Performance in UK Universities: A Statistical Analysis of the 1993 Student CohortOXFORD BULLETIN OF ECONOMICS & STATISTICS, Issue 1 2001Jeremy Smith First page of article [source] Performing Women: The Gendered Dimensions of the UK New Research EconomyGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2007Catherine Fletcher This article explores the development and maintenance of familiar gendered employment patterns and practices in UK universities, which are exemplars of new modes of knowledge production, commodification and marketization. After discussing in detail the evidence of gender discrimination in UK higher education and the changes in the academic labour process consequent to the incorporation of universities, at least at the policy level, into the ,knowledge economy', institution-specific data is used to highlight the gendered aspects of the research economy from the three intermeshing perspectives of research culture, research capital and the research production process. This nexus is constructed in such a way as to systematically militate against women's full and equal involvement in research. Lack of transparency, increased competition and lower levels of collegiate activity coupled with networking based on homosociability are contributing to a research production process where women are marginalized. [source] Academics on Non-Standard Contracts in UK Universities: Portfolio Work, Choice and CompulsionHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2007Donna Brown This paper analyses the profile and motivation of over 1,300 academics employed on part-time, fixed term or temporary contracts at 10 post-1992 UK universities, whom it categorises as ,non-standard academics'. Based on a questionnaire survey, it investigates their demographic background, including age, gender and ethnic background, as well as the factors behind acceptance of their current employment status. It reveals that six out of ten chose their status and correspond in some ways to the profile of ,portfolio worker' (high level of qualifications, multiple job holding and sense of independence). This tends to correct the perception of them as mainly ,casual'. However, commitment to their current employment status is less clear, with over one-third stating that they would accept a permanent job on their current hours. There are, therefore, signs of adaptation to certain forms of non-standard status (hours) but not to others (impermanence). Such uncertainty illustrates the hazy boundaries between casual and portfolio status. [source] Universities and Industry: Does the Lambert Code of Governance Meet the Requirements of Good Governance?HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2004Roger Buckland The Lambert Model Code of Governance proposes to institutionalise the dominance of governors from commercial and industrial organisations as core members of compact and effective boards controlling UK universities. It is the latest expression of a fashion for viewing university governance as an overly-simple example of an obsolete system, where overweening and obstructive committee systems inhibit universities from achieving more significant and business-relevant activity. In this paper university governance is analysed in terms of classic agency analysis, in the Jensen and Meckling tradition. This suggests that governance of and in the system is complex and that, although inherited structures may indeed be deficient, the prescription of the Lambert Review is profoundly flawed and would be unlikely to achieve improvement in UK universities' competitiveness or attainment of mission. [source] Learning to Manage the University: Tales of Training and ExperienceHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2002Rachel Johnson The paper draws on interviews with ,manager-academics' (Pro-Vice Chancellors, Deputy Vice Chancellors and Heads of Department) in UK universities to examine their views on their preparation, training and support for their roles. Following a brief description of the ESRC-funded study, the paper describes manager-academics' reported career trajectories, motivations and initial experiences, and the training they received: their views both of training and of less formal learning are ambivalent and often hesitant. However, the interviews reveal processes and contexts that manager-academics consider beneficial to their own learning and development, and this analysis suggests both theoretical understanding and practical guidelines. Manager-academics' learning occurs through engagement in practice and through social interaction, and is context-specific. Institutions can foster learning and good management by acknowledging these characteristics and promoting opportunities for self-critical reflection, peer feedback and collective articulation and sharing of experience. [source] Barriers to brand building in UK universities?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING, Issue 1 2007Chris Chapleo Branding in universities has become an increasingly topical issue with practitioners, with some institutions committing substantial financial resources to branding activities. It has, however, received only limited academic investigation, and as the particular characteristics of the sector present challenges for those seeking to build brands, it seems to be timely and appropriate to investigate potential barriers to branding. This exploratory study investigates the opinions of the ,brand guardians' of UK universities,Vice Chancellors, Principals and Rectors,on the barriers to successfully building brands and draws conclusions on their views of the key challenges facing successful branding activity in the sector. Implications for practitioners are also explored. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Strategic Practices: An Activity Theory Perspective on Continuity and ChangeJOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 1 2003Paula Jarzabkowski abstract This paper draws upon activity theory to analyse an empirical investigation of the micro practices of strategy in three UK universities. Activity theory provides a framework of four interactive components from which strategy emerges; the collective structures of the organization, the primary actors, in this research conceptualized as the top management team (TMT), the practical activities in which they interact and the strategic practices through which interaction is conducted. Using this framework, the paper focuses specifically on the formal strategic practices involved in direction setting, resource allocation, and monitoring and control. These strategic practices are associated with continuity of strategic activity in one case study but are involved in the reinterpretation and change of strategic activity in the other two cases. We model this finding into activity theory-based typologies of the cases that illustrate the way that practices either distribute shared interpretations or mediate between contested interpretations of strategic activity. The typologies explain the relationships between strategic practices and continuity and change of strategy as practice. The paper concludes by linking activity theory to wider change literatures to illustrate its potential as an integrative methodological framework for examining the subjective and emergent processes through which strategic activity is constructed. [source] Research Assessment in the UK: An Overview of 1992,2008AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 1 2010David Otley Research assessment of UK universities has a history going back to at least 1986. A formal review system is operated by the Higher Education Funding Councils and their predecessors, and used to inform one stream of research funding. The current system was formalised in 1992 and continued until 2008, when a decision was taken to revise it more radically. This paper reviews the UK experience over two decades and attempts to draw some lessons from it, focusing on the area of Accounting & Finance (A&F) in particular and Business & Management (B&M) more generally. It considers the assessment process as a form of performance management, and reviews its operation from that standpoint, and also considers the proposals for change that are being considered in late 2009. The author has been a participant in all the review processes since 1992 and the paper benefits from this experience. It concludes that the process has had mainly beneficial outcomes, but is also in need of substantial redesign for the future. [source] The effects of mandatory and optional use on students' ratings of a computer-based learning packageBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2004Kate Garland Continuing developments in educational technology and increasing undergraduate numbers in the UK have facilitated the use of computer-based learning packages. One of the effects of the increasing use of these packages is the shift in teaching of material from being primarily lecturer-led to student-driven. This has a number of implications concerning using the package, since it is quite likely that students will be working in isolation, and the use of the package may be mandatory or optional. In this study we report on the usefulness ratings of a software package for undergraduate use within the context of whether or not students choose to use it. Level 1 students and lecturers in Economics were surveyed at three UK universities. Findings indicate that students whose use was mandatory rated the learning package as more useful than those whose use was optional. Reasons for non-use centred on lack of instruction and on student apathy. These results have important implications for the use of computer-based learning packages and for understanding user attitudes. [source] Measuring Efficiency: A Comparison of Multilevel Modelling and Data Envelopment Analysis in the Context of Higher EducationBULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2006Jill JohnesArticle first published online: 15 MAR 200 I21; C14; C16 Abstract Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and multilevel modelling (MLM) are applied to a data set of 54,564 graduates from UK universities in 1993 to assess whether the choice of technique affects the measurement of universities' performance. A methodology developed by Thanassoulis and Portela (2002; Education Economics, 10(2), pp. 183,207) allows each individual's DEA efficiency score to be decomposed into two components: one attributable to the university at which the student studied and the other attributable to the individual student. From the former component, a measure of each institution's teaching efficiency is derived and compared to the university effects from various multilevel models. The comparisons are made within four broad subjects: pure science, applied science, social science and arts. The results show that the rankings of universities derived from the DEA efficiencies which measure the universities' own performance (i.e., having excluded the efforts of the individuals) are not strongly correlated with the university rankings derived from the university effects of the multilevel models. The data were also used to perform a university-level DEA. The university efficiency scores derived from these DEAs are largely unrelated to the scores from the individual-level DEAs, confirming a result from a smaller data set (Johnes, 2006a; European Journal of Operational Research, forthcoming). However, the university-level DEAs provide efficiency scores which are generally strongly related to the university effects of the multilevel models. [source] Closing the circle: participant views of a 360 degree feedback programmeHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2001Christopher Mabey The use of 360 degree feedback is becoming increasingly commonplace in organisations. It is claimed that this programme offers a more rounded diagnosis of development needs resulting in more effective development plans for individuals and more strategically focused investment in training for the organisation as a whole. These claims are tested in a qualitative and quantitative field study of participants in a 360 degree programme for middle and senior managers at a UK university. Some elements of the programme are found to work better than others, but participants rate their experience of almost all aspects of training and development as significantly better than a matched sample of non-participants, and this leads to more positive global evaluations of the employer. The implications for the use of 360 degree programmes are discussed with regard to the critical HRM literature. [source] Approaches to learning on placement: the students' perspectivePHYSIOTHERAPY RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2 2009Clare Kell Abstract Background and Purpose.,With Continuing Professional Development activity, a requirement of Allied Health Professional registration in the UK and said to be most effectively supported by practitioners who adopt a deep approach to learning, a UK university has been exploring how its pre-registration curriculum influences learner development. This paper investigates the possible influences of the clinical placement component of the curriculum that is structured as four 4-week blocks during both Years 2 and 3 of the 3-year BSc (Hons) programme. A range of placement models are used within this structure including the traditional 1:1 educator,:,student ratio and those that have a higher ratio of student(s),:,educator(s).,Methods.,This phase of the larger project used a case study design framed about students from two academic year groups on one UK undergraduate, pre-registration physiotherapy programme. Three questionnaires comprising a learning approaches inventory, a demographic questionnaire and a placement self-assessment form were posted to Year 2 and 3 students during one clinical placement. The students were invited to complete the questionnaires halfway through their placement, but in advance of the first, formal placement education feedback meeting. The need for students' self-assessment prevented follow-up data collection.,Results.,Analysis of the data from the learning approaches inventory against the demographic variables and placement assessment scores suggest that students' learning strategies depend upon the number of students, educators and assessors involved in their placement. The paper explores the possible links between placement experience, learning strategy and academic outcome. The authors question assumptions about the perceived benefits of some placement education models.,Conclusion.,Increasing the ratio of student,:,educator or educator,:,student may have a detrimental effect on students' learning development when placements are of 4-week duration. If such placement models are adopted, then students and placement educators must be adequately prepared and supported so that students' learning development towards the deep-learning autonomous professionals of tomorrow can continue through placement education. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||