The prime feature of the student's legal relationship with his or her university is that it is governed by contract law, and in all other aspects of life such a contract can be reviewed/investigated by the courts in the event of a dispute between the two parties to the contract. In the world of academe, however, the key aspect of the contract (the…

Much has been written about the glass ceiling and pay differentials in higher and further education (HE, FE) for women academics (McTavish and Miller 2009, Rees 2007) but very little about discrepancies for women "professional managers" within UK higher education. Professional managers as a term needs to be defined as universities call their…

The development of a "sustainability agenda" in higher education (HEFCE 2009) is, it seems to the author, a classical example of supercomplexity in action. In this article, the author argues that the challenge for universities in responding as organisations to the demands of sustainability--which must, in the end, mean reducing fossil fuel-based…

It might not have been quite what he had in mind when he said it, but Aristotle was right: good quality assurance must be a habit embedded at every level within higher education, not an isolated occurrence. But even good habits can become mere routine, in danger of being emptied of their original purpose and meaning. Periodically, review and…

In the private sector, it is clear that the chair is in charge of the board and the CEO in charge of the company. But in the author's view the chair's principal role is to act as an adviser or counsellor to the CEO and senior colleagues--hence the wisdom of having a chair who is involved in other organisations and the preference for people of a…

This article sets the Leitch Review of Skills in the context of the wider skills debate and draws attention to potential flaws, of which higher education (HE) managers need to be aware when responding to this policy pressure. It argues that there are fundamental flaws in the Leitch report arising from underlying assumptions which are unproven in…

The issue of stakeholder identification and management is relatively well understood in the literature for private sector organisations, and its importance is increasing across all developed countries. However, whilst stakeholder theory has been advanced in commercial arenas, there is less research in the public and non-profit areas, particularly…

It is well recognised in the literature that at most academic institutions teaching is undervalued in status and financial terms when compared to research. This article addresses important issues about how higher education managers and administrators can provide transparent navigation guides to what is deemed to constitute high-quality teaching at…

Since the start of the academic session 2007-08, the University of Exeter has been operating a unique system of governance known as dual assurance, which has replaced a more traditional system of committees sitting under Council, the governing body. This paper describes the background to the development of dual assurance at Exeter, and the reasons…

Foundation Degrees (FDs) were launched in 2000 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). One of the key reasons for their introduction was a belief that this new work-based higher education (HE) qualification could help meet employer demand for people with higher technician/associate professional-level skills. According to the Higher…

Globalisation is transforming the international marketplace and accelerating unprecedented socio-economic, cultural, social, political and educational change across the globe. This global transformation has served as a catalyst for increasing deliberation, dialogue and consensus among government, business and higher education to create, attract…

UK higher education has a proud tradition stretching back centuries, with St. Andrews almost 600 years old, and teaching having existed at Oxford for more than 900 years. There is no reason why universities established more recently should not demonstrate similar longevity. The management of stakeholders has always been central to the successful…

The emergence of "managerialism" in the governance and direction of UK higher education (HE) institutions has been led by government demands for greater accountability in the quality and cost of universities. There is emerging anecdotal evidence indicating that the estimation performance of HE spreadsheets and regression models are poor. The…

The authors recognise that there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to implementing business intelligence strategy within universities. Elements of best practice have been taken from a case study of Imperial College, which may be applied across other institutions. The process starts with implementing and developing systems that capture robust data…

The focus of this paper is to reflect on research ethics practices at universities and particularly on the additional considerations needed as "enterprise" becomes a key driver across the sector internationally. The outcome of the paper is to identify suitable guidelines for dealing with the management of research ethics in this changing…