Showing papers in "Tertiary Education and Management in 2009"

Graduates’ Skills and Higher Education: The employers’ perspective

Abstract: This paper presents the main results obtained from 40 in-depth interviews with persons in charge of human resources and/or company directors, and from a questionnaire targeting 872 companies surveyed from a data base of the 5,000 main Spanish companies. The objectives of this paper are the following: first, to identify the competencies required of university graduates by the labour market; second, to find out the mismatches that may exist between the current higher education students receive and company demands; and third, to discover how and to what extent universities can improve their education and training in order to reduce the gap that, according to employers, exists between current business needs and the education that graduates have upon entering the labour market. To carry out this research project, the competencies under study have been divided into two large groups: vocational and generic. At the same time, the latter have been subdivided into three subgroups: knowledge-related, methodological, and interpersonal competencies.

Relating Higher Education with the Labour Market: Graduates' Expectations and Employers' Requirements.

Abstract: The paper takes into discussion the issue of quality of higher education services, from the perspective of graduates and employers as main beneficiaries of higher education services, by putting face to face expectations of students at graduation with employers’ requirements. In the two surveys conducted in 2006 in Romania, both graduates and employers have been asked about skills and abilities developed through higher education programmes and the extent to which these correspond to their expectations and requirements. The discussion is relevant to the vast literature presenting the skills debate, employment and graduates transition to the labour market, as well as to the literature presenting students’ expectations from higher education.

Implementation of Ethical Higher Education Marketing

Abstract: With consumerism changing students to customers and teachers to service providers, ever more vulnerable and naive students enrol and, instead of collaboration between institutions, there is competition. There has been a call in the literature to face these challenges through ethical leadership in universities. Specifically, concern has been expressed over higher education marketing practices. In response, we attempt to construct a virtuous model of marketing ethics within higher education institutions’ values. We attempt to defend interconnectivity between the virtues of integrity, trust, fairness, and empathy under the direction of phronesis and seek to inform those responsible for making marketing higher education. We envision higher education’s marketing relationships as having the potential to endure, where universities ethically lead rather than reflect ethical norms, and where academics are encouraged to speak out. We discuss how it might be implemented.

Women, Research Performance and Work Context

Abstract: This article presents findings from a qualitative study focused on the conditions that support high research productivity in women Interviewees were all active researchers and many were national or international leaders in their respective fields While personal factors such as motivation, focus, and good scholarly habits were identified as influencing their research success, interviewees also placed significant emphasis on aspects of their workplace culture and practice (teaching and research connections, degrees of flexibility, work–family interface) that they felt were equally important in determining their options and opportunities for conducting research This suggests that universities concerned with enhancing the research performance of staff need to recognize—and respond to—how workplace dynamics and culture shape individual research participation

Governing University Strategy: Perceptions and practice of governance and management roles

Abstract: Intertwined trends of massification, internationalisation and marketisation constitute and drive change in higher education at all levels. Consequences at the institutional level include: increased competition, adoption of corporate management forms, accrual of power to executive management, and greater emphasis on strategy. As Government policy focuses on accountability and a stronger role for university governing bodies, some new interfaces and tensions between governance and management roles have emerged, particularly in relation to strategic direction‐setting and planning. This article reports on results from an empirical, theory‐building study of role construction in university governance, arguing that cultural norms in conjunction with members’ attributions based on social identity are key influences on members’ perceptions of management and governance roles in relation to strategic processes.

Doing Leadership in Higher Education: The gendering process of leader identity development

Abstract: How leadership is done in higher education is analysed through a longitudinal interview study among the heads of department at a Swedish university. The focus is directed towards the construction a ...

Risks and Risk-based Regulation in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract: Risk‐based regulation is a relatively new mode of governance. Not only does it offer a way of controlling institutions from the outside but it also provides the possibility of making an organisation’s achievements visible/visualisable. This paper comments on a list of possible risks that higher education institutions have to face. In a second step, it is discussed that a higher education institution changes when a framework of risk‐based regulation is adopted. The paper then illustrates how governance changes when the risk‐based regulation approach is transferred from a UK context to an overall European one with differing traditions of higher education.

Promoting Inclusive (and Dialogic) Leadership in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract: Higher education institutions are facing major challenges requiring traditional leadership and administrative policies and practices to be rethought and renewed. These challenges concern the whole academic community but mostly the institutions’ administrative leaders. This article suggests how applying the democratic principles of “inclusion”, which stresses critical dialogue and social justice, can reach beyond the traditional managerial and administrative policies when meeting the new requirements; and be a catalyst for change in leadership practices.

Beyond the Rhetoric: A framework for evaluating improvements to the student experience

Abstract: A framework is described to assist institutions in evaluating the extent to which activities described as “quality improvements” or “quality enhancements” are likely to directly improve the student experience. The framework classifies ways of improving the student experience into “coaching improvements”, “umpiring improvements”, and “facilities improvements”, while also considering the location of improvements along a “risk avoidance—quality assurance—quality enhancement” continuum. The utility of this framework is explored through case studies of sector‐wide initiatives in Scotland and Australia. If used to stimulate internal discussion, the framework can help institutions to better balance their efforts to improve the student experience.

Gender and Management in HEIs: Changing organisational and management structures

Abstract: This paper reports on the second phase of a multi‐country study examining cross cultural perspectives of gender and management in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It examines the broader labour market context and legislative frameworks for higher education in each country and then analyses the literature on women in university management. The paper presents the findings of research with male and female senior managers about their perceptions of women as HEI managers within changing organisational and management structures. It concludes that although HEI’s are now largely aware of barriers to women getting into and on in senior management, they have not addressed the organisational structures and cultures that perpetuate this inequity.

“How to Strike the Right Balance Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control in the Perceptions of Individual Lecturers”: A comparison of UK and Dutch higher education institutions

Abstract: This paper focuses on the way lecturers observe, feel restrained by and cope with quality management systems that have been implemented in the higher education systems of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. As two sides of the same coin, quality enhancement and quality control are of increased significance in European Higher Educaction Institutions (HEIs), particularly through the Bologna Process. We are interested in the way that both enhancement and control blend into the current systems, and we are concerned for too much dominance of control, as has been suggested in recent managerial literature. Analysis of 40 interviews in both countries among researchers and lecturers in traditional and universities of applied sciences showed many similarities. It is not so much the general idea of quality management that is being turned down by the respondents. They see the benefits quite clearly. Still, the general belief is that quality management in its current shape and character does not fit with the work ...

Equity, Access and Institutional Competition

Abstract: In 1974, when a successful revolution had overthrown a dictatorial regime, Portugal had an elite higher education system with low participation rates. In the decades following the revolution, the state developed policies aimed at increasing student participation to European levels. However, higher education policies have been through frequent changes and adaptations as they were confronted by successive managing paradoxes and contradictions between political steering, social demand, economic relevance and institutional attitudes and reactions. This paper presents an analysis of the political drivers that justified and legitimised the changing policies of access to higher education.

The Effective Teacher’s Characteristics as Perceived by Students

Abstract: Students (N = 1,883) from 10 European countries answered a web questionnaire pertaining to three dimensions of what they expect and what they experience from their teachers. The dimensions were personality, classroom environment, and teaching style characteristics. Parametric statistics identified high communalities among variables, while gender, program type, and program level were found to have an influence on factor groupings. Overall, the gap between the expected and the experienced proved to be overwhelmingly significant.

Coping by Copying? Higher Education Institutions' Student Recruitment Strategies.

Abstract: Growing national and international competition for students puts pressure on higher education institutions (HEIs) to develop marketing and student recruitment strategies; these are also driven by financial stress caused by performance‐based funding mechanisms. In this paper we explore Norwegian HEIs’ student recruitment strategies. What type of student recruitment strategies do HEIs develop? How are the strategies linked to the institutions’ student market position? We combine qualitative research strategies including in‐depth interviews and document analysis with quantitative analyses of the student market positions of different types of institutions in Norway.

Glass Ceiling in Academic Administration in Turkey: 1990s versus 2000s.

Abstract: This paper assesses the glass ceiling for academics in the Turkish universities with reference to top administration positions: rectors and deans. Glass ceiling indicators show that the glass ceiling thickened from the 1990s to late 2000s. The findings are discussed against the background of the transformation in the Turkish universities in the last decades and in the context of three areas of challenges: the hierarchy deeply rooted in the current higher education system, the restructuring scheme with the recently introduced public administration reform law and marketisation of higher education.

Universities' access to research funds: do institutional features and strategies matter?

Abstract: Competitively allocated research funds, from both public and private sources, constitute an increasing share of university revenues. The article investigates empirically, using data on the Italian university system, whether structural and strategic features of universities—such as size, age and especially the importance that they assign to their teaching and research missions—affect their success in securing research funds. The analysis shows that universities that strategically prioritize their research mission also obtain higher funds per researcher, from different sources. These results are compared with those obtained by similar studies of other European higher education systems, and some general implications of the introduction of competitive funding mechanisms for university behaviour are derived.

The Efficacy of Strategy in the Competition for Research Funding in Higher Education

Abstract: A prestigious reputation is the primary success factor in higher education because it attracts resources necessary to sustain growth. Among research‐intensive universities (RIUs), research performance is a key driver of institutional reputation. Achieving an accelerating rate of growth of research performance is the desired objective of all RIUs which, in turn, is contributing to intensification in the competition for research funds. In competitive environments, the use of strategy is widely used to enhance competitive effectiveness. The question arises as to whether some expressions of strategy are more closely associated with increased research performance than others? This paper provides insight into this question by presenting a model demonstrating that the strategic emphases of individual RIUs in the USA are highly correlated to changes in the shares of federally financed research funding actually realized by the institutions.

Why Some Youths Do Not Realise Their Post-Secondary Education Aspirations.

Abstract: This paper explores the ability of students to achieve their optimistic educational scenario (aspirations) and to provide contextual information on the factors which may have influenced their failure to do so With a large sample of approximately 20,000 respondents from a government longitudinal database, the authors have been able to further define certain characteristics related to youth, to their environment, and to “significant others”, and to identify specific barriers affecting participation rates

An Approach to Find Out Students’ Motives and Influences on Their Selection of Studies and University: Results from six years of continuous institutional research in a multi‐campus system in Spain

Abstract: This paper presents an institutional research on service quality conducted to analyze the students’ motives and influences on their selection of studies and university. The research was carried out by collecting data from first‐year students in a multi‐campus system where institutions are independent in their recruitment strategies. Results from six consecutive years are presented. The meaningful coincidence with previous research, the stability of some findings along the years, and the possibilities of this approach to be useful for strategic purposes and in marketing‐related issues, make this methodology of particular interest. These results are also meaningful with a view to improving quality practices in the context of competition for the best students, and improving guidance practices to match students’ motives with higher education offer.

Cost-Sharing in Higher Education: Differences between Countries and between Distinct Socio-Economic Groups.

Abstract: The paper studies the relation between different national cost‐sharing models and how students from different socio‐economic backgrounds finance their higher education in six different European countries: the Czech Republic, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain. The findings reveal considerable differences both between the countries and also between different socio‐economic groups of students within each country. Even though there are only small social differences in the students’ level of income, there are considerable social differences in the students’ sources of income. The findings are discussed related to the country’s specific policy and higher education funding structures.

Departmental Publication Productivity and Reputational Quality: Disciplinary differences

Abstract: Using US national data, this study examines the levels and interactions between reputational rankings, average publications, citations, and external research support across 30 disciplines. The analyses show great variation among the disciplines in average and range of publications, citations, and external research support. They also show that the intercorrelations among the measures vary greatly by discipline. For example, the correlation between average publication level and reputational rankings was substantial in chemistry (.87), but weak in industrial engineering (.20); the correlation between the level of research support and reputation was strong in psychology (.74), but very small in astronomy (.14). Comparison of departments ranked in the top 10 with those ranked near the bottom showed that it was possible for departments to rank very high in a discipline but have publication, citation, and support levels below departments ranked near the bottom. The implications for quality and increasing status ...

Interaction between Research and Education: Can Industry Cooperation Improve the Link?.

Abstract: This study attempts to provide a new perspective on current shifts in knowledge production through analysing the relationship between research and education. The study, based on interviews and questionnaires, focuses on the interaction within applied research centres with a close industry cooperation. The results suggest that the interaction between research and education benefits from a collaborative environment, since researchers hold positive attitudes towards integrating research, education and collaboration, and students are given the opportunity to work within applied research projects. The findings are discussed in terms of researchers’ ability to handle their scholarly tasks of research, teaching, and collaboration, and the importance for acknowledging research collaborations from both research and teaching perspectives.