George Gordon

The Roles of Leadership and Ownership in Building an Effective Quality Culture

The search for consensual, effective and meaningful agreements over the purposes, means and outcomes of quality assurance continues to tax the inventiveness (and at times, patience) of academics, administrators and other stakeholders in many institutions of higher education, educational systems and quality assurance agencies. Studies into several systems reveal that there are significant differences of opinion between key stakeholders, particularly about the effectiveness, appropriateness and insightfulness of operating schemes and new proposals. Yet internal and external monitors of quality assurance claim that progress is being made, quality assured, even enhanced, albeit whilst simultaneously identifying weaknesses and gaps which need to be addressed. One pivotal aspect surrounds the ways in which both departments/programmes within institutions and institutions as a whole in responding to external agencies position themselves in the handling of quality assurance. The array of responses is complex, multi-stranded and often evolutionary; however, the relative weighting of two components, strategy and tactics, appears to be highly influential. Predominately tactical responses, it is argued, may succeed, in terms of the outcomes of external evaluations of quality assurance but are unlikely to build either an institutional or system-wide culture of quality assurance and continuous improvement. The evidence that has been gained over the past decade of quality assurance in higher education points to the centrality of strategy over tactics, and within the former, to the need to align leadership with ownership, and internal cultures with quality cultures.

Diversifying academic and professional identities in higher education: some management challenges

This paper draws on an international study of the management challenges arising from diversifying academic and professional identities in higher education. These challenges include, for instance, the introduction of practice-based disciplines with different traditions such as health and social care, the changing aspirations and expectations of younger generations of staff, a diffusion of management responsibilities and structures, and imperatives for a more holistic approach to the “employment package”, including new forms of recognition and reward. It is suggested that while academic and professional identities have become increasingly dynamic and multi-faceted, change is occurring at different rates in different contexts. A model is offered, therefore, that relates approaches to “people management” to different organisational environments, against the general background of increasing resource constraint arising from the global economic downturn.

Managing Human Resources in Higher Education

Human resource capacity has become a critical issue for contemporary universities as a result of increasing pressures from governments and global markets. As a consequence, particularly where the institution is the employer, changes are occurring in the expectations of staff and institutions about employment terms and conditions, as well as the broader aspects of working life, and this is affecting academic and professional identities. Even under different regimes, for instance, in Europe, with the government in effect as the employer, institutions are giving greater attention to ways in which they might respond to these developments. This paper considers key issues and challenges in human resource management in higher education, and some of the implications of these changes.

Higher education 2005: pointers, possibilities, pitfalls, principles

Outlines pointers to possible changes in higher education, particularly in the UK, by 2005. Reference is made to indicators from the UK, USA and Australia. Includes a section on possibilities concentrating on the possible size, shape, structure and nature of the British higher education system by 2005. Also considers demand, funding, the use of new technologies, external competition, research assessment and the standards and purposes of higher education. Discusses ten pitfalls, and concludes with seven principles which could guide development.

Some Implications of a Diversifying Workforce for Governance and Management

This paper suggests that as university missions have adapted to accommodate major developments associated with, for instance, mass higher education and internationalisation agendas, university workforces have diversified. They now, for instance, incorporate practitioners in areas such as health and social care, and professional staff who support activities as diverse as widening participation, e-learning, and business partnership. This in turn has implications for higher education governance and management structures and processes. Consideration is given to variables likely to affect institutional responses to such changes, and some suggestions are made as to possible ways forward in addressing the interests of an expanding range of professional groupings and stakeholders, as well as those of institutions as a whole. These are likely to involve the development of more flexible organisational frameworks in relation to, for instance, reward and incentive mechanisms and career pathways.

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

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.

Managing the changes inherent in developing the Learning Society: issues, choices and strategies

The range of items included within the lifelong learning challenge is substantial – pre‐entry activities, widening access, multiple entry points, interrupted study, continuing personal education, continuing professional development. This article discusses some of the implications for higher education arising from lifelong learning including: definition of levels, of progression, of curriculum design and assessment, of record‐keeping and management, of quality assurance and of staff, educational and organizational development. The concept of “innovative universities” is discussed as a possible guide for short‐term institutional strategies. In the longer term, as students want their qualifications to have international portability and recognition, lifelong learning will need a supportive, coherent climate involving government, institutions, employers, trade unions, professional and voluntary bodies, the media and other shapers of attitudes, opinions and values.

Comparability of postgraduate academic qualifications: Some issues, challenges and experiences

In the United Kingdom the topic of the comparability of academicqualifications features prominently on the agenda in higher education. The papersummarises the debate and highlights key issues. It offers specific reflections on theexperience of one university as it seeks to address the topic of postgraduate qualifications,disentangle the many strands of a complex and multi-faceted set of questions and furtherstrengthen internal quality processes in order to meet the growing demands by external bodiesand interest groups.

Translating institutional objectives into action

In higher education, translating institutional objectives into meaningful action is a challenging task, particularly given the currency attached to analogies such as the view that managing academics is akin to herding cats, or that teaching in HE is one of the last cottage industries. Yet alignment is becoming increasingly important, as the reports of national inquiries and commissions (e.g. Dearing, West, Boyer) and the pronouncements and plans of governments indicate. The paper examines one illustration of steps that an institution has taken to translate objectives into action.

It is time to strengthen the conceptual focus of SoTL

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has blossomed as a field of study over the past two decades. In addition to the highly successful conferences of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL), there is now a substantial, growing, and diversifying range of refereed published outputs. Additionally, a considerable component of SoTL still occurs in the grey literature and through projects within institutions or disciplines. The purpose of this Research Note is not to suggest that all work in SoTL should satisfy the research paradigm and be published as a refereed output, but rather that it may be time to actively encourage scholars to give greater consideration to the potential benefits of adopting transversal measures, such as the use of concepts that bring together different lines of inquiry or locate their work within a theoretical or conceptual setting. The debate about the place of theory and concepts in SoTL is not new. Graham Gibbs mounted a trenchant critique of the lack of a theoretical base at the Washington, DC, ISSOTL conference in 2006. Hutchings (2007) presented an elegant response arguing that conceptual or theoretical dimensions are often present, albeit not necessarily as the dominant theme of the article or presentation. Of course, counterviews, such as those presented by Potter and Kustra (2011), continue to be aired. What would a stronger conceptual and/or theoretical dimension offer? Presently most of the output of SoTL is highly contextualised. Concepts and/or theory offer a means of going beyond specific concepts horizontally (within disciplines in the same institution), diagonally (across disciplines in the same institutions), supra-horizontally (across a discipline regionally, nationally, or internationally), and vertically (from microto mesoor macro-discussions and explorations). Why is that necessary? Not only are there pressing academic arguments in favour of some shift to transversal measures, but there are also strategic ones. Institutional managers increasingly want to see a widespread and permeating impact from the investment of time and staffing resources. Highly localised studies can function below the institutional radar and might not even be reported in national surveys of student opinion, which tend to function at the level of programmes rather than classes/modules.