V. Lynn Meek - Böcker

With the emergence of mass higher education, many national governments have identified a diverse higher education system as a policy objective. Diversity is seen as good because it supposedly increases the range of choices for students, matches the education provided to the needs and abilities of individual students, enables and protects specialization within systems, and meets the demands of an increasingly complex social order. However, little is known about the internal dynamics of higher education systems working for or against particular levels of diversity. The present volume attempts to further our understanding of processes affecting diversity by addressing them from a theoretical and empirical perspective in a comparative setting. The theoretical part of the book outlines three distinct but complimentary perspectives. Burton Clark discusses the effects of continued specialization at the disciplinary level and concludes that this will stimulate diversity at the system's level. Guy Neave draws attention to the possible homogenizing forces of the nation state and of the emerging supra-national structures in Europe. Frans van Vught also emphasizes the effects of the (policy) environment on institutional and system diversity, and specifies under what conditions this influence will lead to decreasing diversity. The empirical part of the book contains eight country studies. These analyses provide detailed insights into the processes that have affected differentiation in these countries. They also provide the basis for an analysis of the theoretical arguments from a comparative perspective. The concluding chapter is an analysis of the conditions which influence change within higher education institutions and systems, and what the effects of these changes are in terms of diversity.

Known as either ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ ‘managerialism’, ‘new managerialism’ or ‘new public management’, this new narrative has, irrespective of moniker, permeated the institutions of higher education almost everywhere. Taking this as its context, this volume is founded on a comprehensive international comparative analysis of the evolving role of middle-level academic managers—deans, heads of department and their equivalents. The chapters address key questions that will determine the future of academe: have the imperatives of management theory caused a realignment of the values and expectations of middle-level academic managers? In what way do the new expectations placed on this group shape the academic profession as a whole? And, whose interests do middle-level academic managers represent?Based on material presented at one of the high-level Douro Seminars on research into tertiary education, this volume systematically combines theoretical views with empirical analysis. It argues that ‘managerialist’ pressure has resulted in changes in the way academic performance is measured. There has been a shift in criteria away from research reputation, teaching and scholarship to the measurement of performance based upon management capacities. This has given middle-level academic managers a pivotal role halfway between the predilections of high-level decision makers and the maintenance of academic values and control. The enhanced expectations and more defined functions of middle-level academic managers are in clear contrast to earlier times, when the position was considered a public-spirited rite of passage for career-minded academics. Despite this, the contributors to this book believe that the middle-level managers in the ten countries examined are neither corporate lackeys nor champions of academe.It is becoming increasingly clear that the ability of organisations to achieve their aims is largely dependent on the skill and dedication of middlemanagers. Past studies of organisational dynamics have been preoccupied with the executive level of management. This text, which will be of great interest to researchers and policy makers alike, attempts to redress the balance.

Known as either ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ ‘managerialism’, ‘new managerialism’ or ‘new public management’, this new narrative has, irrespective of moniker, permeated the institutions of higher education almost everywhere. Taking this as its context, this volume is founded on a comprehensive international comparative analysis of the evolving role of middle-level academic managers—deans, heads of department and their equivalents. The chapters address key questions that will determine the future of academe: have the imperatives of management theory caused a realignment of the values and expectations of middle-level academic managers? In what way do the new expectations placed on this group shape the academic profession as a whole? And, whose interests do middle-level academic managers represent?Based on material presented at one of the high-level Douro Seminars on research into tertiary education, this volume systematically combines theoretical views with empirical analysis. It argues that ‘managerialist’ pressure has resulted in changes in the way academic performance is measured. There has been a shift in criteria away from research reputation, teaching and scholarship to the measurement of performance based upon management capacities. This has given middle-level academic managers a pivotal role halfway between the predilections of high-level decision makers and the maintenance of academic values and control. The enhanced expectations and more defined functions of middle-level academic managers are in clear contrast to earlier times, when the position was considered a public-spirited rite of passage for career-minded academics. Despite this, the contributors to this book believe that the middle-level managers in the ten countries examined are neither corporate lackeys nor champions of academe.It is becoming increasingly clear that the ability of organisations to achieve their aims is largely dependent on the skill and dedication of middlemanagers. Past studies of organisational dynamics have been preoccupied with the executive level of management. This text, which will be of great interest to researchers and policy makers alike, attempts to redress the balance.

Higher education systems have changed all over the world, but not all have changed in the same ways. The academic profession has a key role to play in producing the next generations of knowledge workers, and this task will be more readily achieved by a contented academic workforce working within well-resourced teaching and research institutions.