Research Managers Uncovered: Changing Roles and 'Shifting Arenas' in the Academy

This paper draws on findings from a study that explored the changing roles and career experience of research managers and research administrators in English universities. It explores how research support has evolved during a period when the higher education sector was responding to changing science and higher education policy. These changes have impacted on research managers and research administrators roles, altered the occupational group and moved field boundaries. The paper draws on Bourdieu's theory of social practice to understand these changes and identifies a shared space of tension, the 'shifting arena,' where the research manager field crosses into the academic field. It is suggested that an increased understanding of this space will enhance the collaborative working of all those involved in research and help maximise research activity.     

INSTITUTIONAL PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE PREPARATION OF COLLEGE ADMINISTRATORS

This article looks at the relative usefulness of 12 selected factors in the preparation of college administrators as seen by practicing administrators and faculty in comprehensive community colleges, four‐year liberal arts colleges, and universities.

Three hundred randomly selected faculty and administrators in the state of Iowa were sent survey questionnaires. The returned surveys and research data were then analyzed in order to answer the research question.

The findings suggested that graduates from programs in higher education administration may be more accepted in community colleges than in liberal arts colleges or universities. The findings also showed that university personnel perceived the major research experience as being significantly more useful than the other personnel. Nonclassroom experiences were thought to be the most useful by all personnel, with faculty experience in higher education perceived to be the most useful. This study also showed that both administrators and faculty perceived majoring in higher education administration to be less useful than any of the other 11 preparation variables.

One of the recommendations of this study is that students, graduates, and professors in higher education administration programs attempt to educate the participants in higher education and the public on the strengths and uses of their programs. It was also recommended that further research is needed in the area of administrative task analysis at the different types of institutions.     

当代美国高等教育研究理念

当代美国高等教育研究理念主要包括“学术资本主义”、“学术资本主义与新经济”、“大学的企业性”、“全球一体化与社区学院”、“知识和金钱对研究型大学的影响”和“大学的组织转型”等。这些理念对高等教育实践具有解释作用,对决策人员具有参考、引导作用,对高等教育行政管理人员具有指导作用。这些理念的应用有一定限度。     

The decision to enter higher education: The case of polytechnic sociology students

This paper examines the decision to enter higher education by students who entered British polytechnic degree courses in sociology/social studies. It is concerned with the extent to which occupational considerations affect the decision to enter and with relating these findings to theories of occupational choice. The paper commences with an examination of three models of occupational choice and summarises the findings of studies that have focused on the entry into higher education and occupational decision-making. The results of our own study, based on questionnaire and interview data, indicate that occupational considerations are of limited importance in the decision to enter sociology/social studies courses at polytechnics. Rather our data favours a model emphasizing the role of socio-cultural background of home and school creating expectations for higher education. Data on past decisions which affect educational careers indicated that entry into higher education was seen in terms of an automatic process rather than a conscious decision made for particular goals. In our population there was, however, a small vocationally oriented group who differed from other students, in which females and those under 18 years of age were over-represented, and who were predominantly from two colleges which offered vocational training in their courses. Our results, we conclude, lend support to a fortuitous model of occupational choice in respect of the decision to enter higher education. Expectations derived from socio-cultural backgrounds of the students were more important in determining entry than conscious occupational goals.The research on which the paper is based is located in the Department of Social Science, Polytechnic of the South Bank, and supported by the Social Science Research Council.Work on this project has also been carried out by Dr I. C. Cannon and Ms. A. Scambler. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Standing Conference of The Sociology of Further Education, London, June 1975.     

Conflict at higher education institutions: factors and solutions for Yemen

This is a qualitative case study focusing on reporting the dynamics that cause conflicts between academics and administrators in higher education in Yemen. Drawing upon a critical review of two policy documents, observational research and in-depth interviews with 59 administrators and academics, the article presents the key factors for conflict in higher education and provides a model for resolving it.     

Enhancing the Impact of Professional Administrators on Tertiary Education

This is the opening paper given at the Australasian Institute of Tertiary Education Administrators’ Annual Conference, Canberra, 20‐23 September 1990, to begin consideration of the Conference theme, which is the topic of the paper. It proposes notions of professional practice for tertiary education administrators. It draws on the work of organisation theorists and observers to point to the peculiar nature of higher education institutions, and the use of power and influence and the role of administrators within them; and to suggest some aspects of the practice of administration to which administrators ought give professional attention.     

Preparing administrators for the twenty-first century

Our modern society is characterized by continuous change which is radically altering occupational structures, social behaviour, government priorities and individual lifestyles. Senior administrators in all types of educational institutions must be able to cope with the high levels of uncertainty and continuous adversity which this phenomenon generates. This article emphasizes the need for a new style of administrative behaviour in the education sector. During earlier eras, a reactive, conservative, leadership style was successful but in our contemporary society this is often inappropriate. Educational administrators in the future will have to be proactive, anticipatory, and flexible if they are to provide the institutions they serve with effective leadership. International intervisitation schemes are perceived as possessing potential for offering administrators new professional development experiences which will give them an opportunity to examine important managerial and administrative issues from a different perspective.     

Structuring the Institution for Improved Effectiveness ‐ A University Perspective

This paper examines the involvement of academic staff in the management and administration of Australian higher education institutions, particularly universities.

An early focus is on the maelstrom of change from 1960 until the mid 1970s when change was generally equated with expansion and growth often without integrative forward planning. Three positive outcomes of this period of change are identified: an expansion of the passive concept of administration to include management and entrepreneurship as legitimate activities in the operation of universities and colleges; a greater involvement by academics in institutional management because, among other reasons, of the availability of enlarged data bases and heightened competition for diminishing resources; and the increasingly definitive forms of professionalisation among career administrators.

The deficient preparation of academics for management roles in Australian universities and colleges is contrasted with evidence of increased participation by administrators in management development activities including graduate programmes. Trigger films which are designed to provoke opportunities for learning in a peer group situation are presented as a particularly powerful remedy for this deficiency.

An evaluation of the TERC trigger film, “Decisions in Academic Departments”, by a small group of professional administrators from eight countries is then analysed. Such trigger films provide a stimulating and easily used resource for the improvement of management and administration in higher education.     

Research on Job Satisfaction of Elementary and High School Teachers and Strategies to Increase Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is an important topic in teacher education research. Exploring the issue of teacher job satisfaction helps us gain a deeper understanding of teachers' mental state, such as their occupational attitudes, zeal for teaching, and work enthusiasm, which affects the quality of teaching and education. From an examination of teachers' job satisfaction studies conducted in China (including Hong Kong) in the past ten years, we identified changes in job satisfaction among China's teachers and proposed suggestions that school and educational administrators may find relevant in their decision making and administration.     

Examining proximal and distal influences on the part-time student experience through an ecological systems theory

This conceptual paper contributes to the literature base on promoting equality of opportunity for students in higher education through seeking to broaden understanding of the influences on part-time study in the United Kingdom (UK). These students constitute a significant proportion of the total student population in the UK with research highlighting particular issues they encounter in their learning experience. An analysis of these issues suggests multiple sources of influence within a complex higher education landscape. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory is drawn upon as a lens through which to examine proximal and distal influences on part-time students and their study experiences in higher education and to propose a research design to facilitate future participation. The paper has significance for educators and researchers concerned with developing understanding of the multilayered influences on participation in higher education in a rapidly changing educational landscape in order to ensure equality of opportunity for all students.     

高校内部信息传通系统与管理的互动关系

实现优质高效的内部管理一直是高校管理者和研究者关注的目标,对高校管理最基础的实现方式———高校管理信息传通系统管理功能的研究是其中的一个重要方面。在校务公开、民主治校的大环境下,这方面的研究尤其具有现实意义。     

高水平大学建设要重点处理好的八个关系

如何建设高水平大学是高等教育领域的热点。中国高水平大学建设要处理好适应与引领、卓越与特色、学术与行政、教学与科研、学校与院系等八个基本关系。解决好这八个方面的问题,需要大学管理者、高等教育研究人员深入细致的思考与务实的研究。     

The nature and implications of the growing importance of research grants to Canadian universities and academics

This paper analyzes a significant but virtually unexplored recent development within Canadian higher education, namely the growing importance of research grants to universities and academics. It addresses three main questions. First, the paper examines why and how research grants are becoming more important to Canadian universities and academics, focusing in particular on the role played by federal higher education policy. Next, it explores how the growing importance of research grants is transforming relations between and among the key players in Canadian higher education and academic research, including university administrators, academics, government, and the broader community. The paper’s final section takes up some of the actual and potential implications of these changes and raises concerns about detrimental effects on Canada’s universities and citizens. Prospects and possibilities for reform are also addressed.     

改善和加强高校教学管理的主要途径

推进学校教学管理改革是培养学生创新精神与创新能力的需要，新时期教学改革和教学建设的内容更加综合化，尤其是高等教育大众化后，教学管理面临着诸多新问题，这一切必然要求对已有的整齐划一的教学运行模式和比较僵化的教学管理体制进行改革。所以，目前改善和加强高等学校的教学管理重点要做好以下工作：优化教学管理人员的素质；进一步改革教学管理制度；理顺管理机制；促进教学与科研的结合；加快推进教学管理手段现代化。     

Generating ethnographic research questions: an anthropological contribution to the study of higher education

As part of recent complex transformations, it seems that higher educational organisations are being forced to reorganise, standardise and streamline in order to survive in the new political and economic context. How are ethnographers in general going to approach these contemporary phenomena? By drawing on the conceptual history of anthropology, the aim of this article is to generate ethnographic-oriented research questions concerned with higher education. The first part of the article provides an ethnographic background, while the second part focuses on Paul Willis's reasoning on ethnographic imagination, as a prerequisite for generating alternative research questions. The third part makes explicit anthropologist Maurice Godelier's theoretical imagination, carving out some specific theoretical parts which may be used in the generating process. The conclusion then suggests a number of questions to be asked by future ethnographers of higher education. The questions are followed by a reflection upon the consequences of doing ethnography within contemporary higher education settings, which are increasingly dominated by policy-makers; ethnography is thus to be seen as an intervening instrument.     

The assault on the professions and the restructuring of academic and professional identities: a Bernsteinian analysis

This paper draws upon a range of ideas and concepts developed by the British sociologist Basil Bernstein to examine recent challenges and changes encountered by members of professional occupations, including those who teach and research in higher education. The paper discusses and seeks to develop Bernstein's analysis of how particular structurings of knowledge may be related to the formation of occupational identities centred in what Bernstein refers to as ‘inwardness’ and ‘inner dedication’. It then examines a range of challenges to such identities—particularly those arising from the ‘regionalisation’ of knowledge and from ‘genericim’. The paper concludes by assessing the prospects for perpetuating such identities in an era of increasing marketization and managerialism.     

芬兰职教教师能力结构评析及启示

职教教师能力结构研究是当前职教教师教育研究的重要内容。芬兰职教教师的工作环境和资格制度对其能力素质提出了要求。塞博.赫拉考尔皮博士基于这些要求提出了芬兰职教教师涵盖四个领域的综合能力结构,包括核心领域、教学法领域、发展与研究领域和组织领域,并突出强调了社会联系、团队合作、经济管理及专业实践发展四大能力。该能力结构及其特点对我国职教教师教育具有启示意义。     

困境与出路:高校管理干部队伍建设之我见

高等教育改革对高校管理干部队伍建设提出了更高的要求，建设一支高水平的、稳定的管理干部队伍不仅是办好高等学校的基本条件之一，而且直接影响着高校的办学方向和办学水平。笔者通过对目前我国高等学校管理干部队伍现状的分析，提出了高校管理干部队伍建设的一些思路。     

Latent Class Analysis in Higher Education: An Illustrative Example of Pluralistic Orientation

Although used frequently in related fields such as K-12 education research, educational psychology, sociology, and social survey research, latent class analysis (LCA) has been infrequently used in higher education. This article provides higher education researchers with a pedagogical application of LCA to classify entering freshmen based on their pluralistic orientation. This study utilized data on entering freshmen at a racially diverse institution on the West coast. LCA was used to estimate latent profile probabilities, classify freshmen into latent classes, and relate latent class probabilities to covariates. The findings indicated that a four-class model was the best fitting model: high pluralistic orientation; high-disposition, low-skill; low-disposition, high-skill; and low pluralistic orientation. Similar to previous research, the findings indicated that the probability of being classified into one group versus the other was dependent upon a student’s race/ethnicity and intended major. This approach can aid college administrators in their program planning and targeted interventions around issues of diversity.     

Do College Students Who Identify with a Privileged Religion Experience Greater Spiritual Development? Exploring Individual and Institutional Dynamics

College student spiritual development constitutes an important, yet understudied topic in higher education research. In particular, very little is known about whether and how this development varies among students from diverse religious backgrounds. Using a longitudinal sample of 14,527 students from 136 institutions, the current study explored the degree to which spiritual development is related to the religious affiliations of students and the type of colleges and universities they attend. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses demonstrate numerous differences between students who identify with religious majority groups (e.g., Lutherans, Methodists), religious minority groups (e.g., Muslims, Seventh Day Adventists), and no religion at all. In most instances, the presence of individual differences in spiritual development depends upon the religious affiliation of the institution. Moreover, several college experiences are positively associated with spiritual development. Implications for higher education practitioners and administrators are discussed.