ERIC Number: EJ1196770
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Dec
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0018-1560
EISSN: N/A
The Painters behind the Profile: The Rise and Functioning of Communication Departments in Universities
Elken, Mari; Stensaker, Bjørn; Dedze, Indra
Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, v76 n6 p1109-1122 Dec 2018
It has been argued that universities are changing into becoming more professional as organizations, and this paper investigates this claim by exploring the emergence and tasks of communication departments in modern universities. Examination of universities in six Baltic and Nordic countries shows that communication departments are working closely with the institutional leadership and that communication is increasingly seen as a strategic function in the universities. This can position communication departments as a central internal coordinator between various organizational units and processes. While the findings indicate support for the assumption about more professional universities, those working within a communication department seem to have a broad and varied background and cannot be said to have developed a specific professional identity in all the institutions. However, our findings do indicate increasing contact and close relations between communication specialists across university borders which may result in a stronger professional identity over time.
Descriptors: Universities, Communications, Departments, College Administration, Organizational Communication, Professional Identity, Specialists, Institutional Cooperation, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Denmark; Norway; Sweden; Latvia; Lithuania; Estonia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A