A gradual shift in United Kingdom research funding from blanket financing by government agencies towards more diversified income streams through activities funded by various customers is prompting academic research institutions to orient their research portfolios accordingly. Academic organisations such as university institutes are increasingly…

New public management (NPM) approaches have informed policy in the public sector in advanced countries in the last decade. Some authors suggest that the main objective of NPM at the organisational level is to change the traditional way professionals are regulated. This study examines the impact of NPM on the working conditions of Portuguese higher…

The two fundamental features of Humboldt's prescription for the new University of Berlin in 1810--research-like learning as a collaboration of teachers and students, and academic freedom of research and teaching (based essentially on an intuitive, but deep understanding of complexity theory)--are as valid now as they were 200 years ago in spite of…

This article categorises the different criteria and weightings used to determine promotions in UK universities. The criteria were analysed to determine the extent to which they recognise research and teaching equally as evidence for promotion. The results show that universities have largely adopted formal parity in the criteria for senior and…

The debate in the UK about the continued existence of the honours degree classification led to a survey of the assessment regulations in 35 varied higher education institutions. This revealed considerable variation in the way in which honours degree classifications are determined, and also in the handling of weak performances by students. Such…

This study uses data summaries and interviews to analyse changes in Hungarian higher education since 1989. The first part of the article relies on statistical data and puts the Hungarian higher education system into the international context. It focuses on enrolment changes, spending patterns and the number and quality of teaching personnel.…

This article argues that in moving from being self governed to being state governed the policy drivers for higher education are no longer those of the system itself but are derived from a set of policies designed for the reform and modernisation of the public sector of the economy. The formation of higher education policy therefore needs to be…

In the UK, the popular use of league tables in assessing the comparative standing of universities has escalated to such an extent that most UK national newspapers now publish them. A review of literature to date suggests there has been little academic research undertaken to establish the value of such tables or to assess their impact upon student…

This article focuses on the theory and practice of teamwork in "top management teams" in UK higher education institutions. It is informed by some of the key findings from a recent two-year research project sponsored by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education that investigated the different ways in which UK higher education institutions…

The leadership roles of pro-vice-chancellors (PVCs) in the United Kingdom and elsewhere have evolved markedly over the last three decades while universities have been encouraged to shift towards more executive styles of leadership and decision-making. The change does not only reflect changing institutional needs, however, but an accommodation of…

This paper reports aspects of an international study of leadership of teaching in 19 departments with outstanding teaching records in 11 research-intensive universities. Leadership was found to take different forms in different discipline areas, in different organisational cultures, and in response to major problems affecting the department. While…

This paper addresses the relationships between leadership theory, practice and development, drawing on both the higher education and wider leadership literature. It explores why challenges and problems exist within the contested field of leadership theory and why gaps remain between theory and practice after more than a century of research--and…

This paper adds to earlier reviews by the author of the changing roles and identities of contemporary professional staff in UK higher education, and builds on a categorisation of professional staff identities as having "bounded", "cross-boundary" and "unbounded" characteristics. Drawing on a study of 54 professional managers in the United Kingdom,…

UK higher education is undergoing a period of significant change that generates a series of tensions and difficulties for universities and university leaders. This paper explores these tensions through analysis of findings from a study comprising 152 semi-structured face-to-face interviews in 12 UK universities. Building on from theories of…

The study outline differences among classes and genders within higher education. Because of the expansion of places of study, higher education has lost some of its former selectivity. The matriculation of one full birth cohort into Swedish higher education was studied. The results showed that the enrolment of working- and intermediate-class women…