This article arises out of responses to a survey of three management trainee schemes, analysed by the author in response to a request by the scheme organisers, and builds on the work of Bolton (2008). Based on four responses from two pre-1992 institutions, and three responses from one post-1992 institution, some clear themes emerged from the…

This paper arises out of a study conducted for the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education on "Professional Managers in UK Higher Education: Preparing for Complex Futures," and focuses on those aspects relating to professional and career development. The author reviewed understandings in the literature about the roles and identities of…

Professional managers in UK universities represent an increasingly diverse grouping of staff. As boundaries blur between academic activity and the contributory functions required to deliver that activity in mass higher education systems and markets, their roles have become more fluid. Quasi-academic territories are developing in which professional…