Purpose - The Hong Kong Government in 2003 introduced a systemic change in its funding policy for Associate Degree programmes which removed funding from previously funded programmes, affecting 3,800 student places and some 150 teaching and support staff of the College of the case institution. The present study aims to explore, through a micro-political perspective, how the institution shaped its original response to this change, which was modified by a range of micro-political factors culminating in a final response negotiated by the management, the College staff and the governing body. In studying the case the research developed a ‘micro-political toolkit’ comprising five core concepts: interests, conflict, groups and coalitions, power and bargaining, Design/methodology/approach - This study employed a qualitative case study research strategy. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 interviewees and the data collected was triangulated with official documents. Findings - The case evidence supported further development of the five concepts in the ‘toolkit’ to help better explain how the institution managed change. This included exposing the tension between professional and personal interests of teachers and developing a ‘hierarchy of interests’ to explore new types of interests. The study revealed that ‘value’ was the fundamental source of conflict and demonstrated that a coalition which operated predominantly in the informal processes, enhanced the staff’s power position, building up a ‘network of power’ which interlaced between authority and influence to change the decision of those in authority. The process of bargaining enabled actors to resolve their conflict whilst submerging the underlying value controversies once again. Originality/value - The study refines the ‘toolkit’ which can be used to analyse how educational institutions manage complex changes. It fills the gap in the knowledge base of micro-political analysis in the higher education sector in Hong Kong and has implications for theory, practice and research.

The purposes of the study are to identify the leadership styles (transformational, transactional and laissez-faire) of the campus principals/divisional directors of a public university in Pakistan, examine the relationship between these leadership styles and the faculty’s job satisfaction, investigate which elements of the faculty’s job satisfaction are influenced/not influenced by the leader, explore which leadership style is conducive/barrier to the faculty’s job satisfaction, and define the role of a leader in enhancing the faculty’s job satisfaction. The study adopted a mixed methods approach, and all the 287 faculty members of the university were included in the sample to collate quantitative data through two questionnaires, whereas to generate qualitative data 15 faculty members were interviewed through the semi-structured protocol. The findings suggest that the transformational leadership style is comparatively being more often exercised by the leaders of the case public university in Pakistan, followed by the transactional leadership style, while the laissez-faire leadership style is the least practised. There are significant relationships between leadership styles (transformational, transactional and laissez-faire) and the faculty’s intrinsic, extrinsic and overall job satisfaction. The transformational leadership style, in relation to the transactional and laissez-faire styles, has a strong positive and statistically significant effect on faculty’s job satisfaction. Whereas, the laissez-faire leadership style, relatively, has weak positive and statistically insignificant effect on the job satisfaction of faculty members. The transactional leadership style, on the other hand, has comparatively weak negative and statistically insignificant effect on faculty’s job satisfaction. Most of the faculty job satisfaction elements related to the institution, leader and job are influenced by the leader; whereas, several factors that are more linked with the faculty members themselves, their colleagues and students are not influenced by the leader. The authoritative and laissez-faire leadership styles have been considered to be barriers to the faculty’s job satisfaction, whereas the participative, transformational and transactional (first dimension) leadership styles have been perceived as conducive and necessary to be exercised in order to enhance the faculty’s job satisfaction. Some implications for theory and practice are offered and suggestions for future research are proposed

University institutions are becoming fluid with different missions and functions. It is argued that most universities mission statements involve teaching, research and service. While the teaching and research missions are clearly defined and situated within certain areas of the university activities, service is less clear and ambiguous, yet assuming an increasingly important and central slogan in many higher education institutions' publicity or 'marketing' strategies. The concept of service is understood differently in the university context. While it is understood in particular contexts as one of the functions of higher education apart from teaching and research; in others it is viewed as an 'inverted donut' supporting the core activities of teaching and research; administrative; customer service; civic duty or collegial support. This study examins the service concept through a comparative study of Middlesex University (UK) and University for Development Studies (Ghana) with the aim of understanding the place of service in the university, whether it is a function in addition to the teaching and research functions or not. it is also aimed at reinterpreting the concept within the current higher education delivery. Designed as a qualitative study using documentary sources, semi structured interviews and artefacts to generate data, two interrelated conceptual perspectives informed this research: the moderate constructivist and critical pluralistic perspectives that served as guides and a window through which the service concept is understood. An important methodological characteristic of the study is the use of two interrelated approaches: direct and indirect. The direct concerned understanding the views (direct opinion) of individual academics through interviews, and the indirect involved the use of interviews, national and institutional policy documents and artefacts to gain general information about the cases for further analyses. In addition, it is a comparative study, which uses data from three interrelated levels- macro, intermediary and micro; representing general, national/regional/local, and institutional sources respectively. The study concludes that service is a broad concept that covers the core activities of teaching, research and community engagement and entrepreneurial activities rather than occupies a place as a function. Based on the evidence, a coherent explanation and interpretation of the concept lmking it to higher education contexts, philosophies, shades of services, and suggested service university models has been presented. Despite this, the concept remains complex, its interpretation influenced by contexts, and difficult to generalise due to the acknowledgeably different and contrasting dimensions of interpretation ranging from Western/non-Western, Direct/Indirect and Public/Private to Rhetoric/non-Rhetoric dimensions. However, the question of what service is in the university context is likely to remain a debatable issue.

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This study proposes a framework for managing quality in higher education based on the key quality values of students, academics and employers. The proposed framework of the stakeholder determinants of quality (SDQ) is unique in that it is the only approach to quality that seeks to address differences in quality values between stakeholder groups while it builds on similarities in their views. The methodology employs sequential methodological triangulation and includes individual interviews and a larger survey. The sample includes students and academic staff on Business and IT undergraduate programmes from six of the largest private sector higher education institutions in Muscat, Oman and some of the largest private and public sector employers. The findings reveal strong congruence on many criteria between academic staff and employers, including the importance of developing core transferable skills, student transformation and empowerment and high academic standards. Student responses indicate a lack of congruence on those criteria that focus on student input and participation in the learning process, which are highly rated by academic staff and employers. There are a number of criteria in which there is congruence between the three groups, most significantly, the importance of the teaching and learning function. Students’ engagement with the learning process through the lecturers’ ability to motivate students’ interest, facilitate subject knowledge, stimulate thought and develop transferable skills are considered the most critical issues in managing quality by all three groups. The study suggests that an approach to quality that is based on an understanding of key values of the main participants will facilitate shared understanding and quality consciousness within institutions in comparison to current quality assurance regimes that are externally imposed.

This study aims to clarify the role played by internationalisation in the functioning of universities in different institutional, national and cultural contexts. It examines the meanings and concepts of internationalisation, why and how universities internationalise, whether there are barriers and associated disadvantages and risks, and what are the perceived outcomes of internationalisation. The study uses a case study approach, involving the selection of two contrasting universities, namely, the University of Leicester and Hong Kong Baptist University. The choice of these two case universities was based on maximising differences in culture, geographical location, institutional type, and function, as well as feasibility of access. Guided by a literature review and five specific research questions, in-depth interviews and documentary analysis were carried out in Hong Kong and Leicester between July 2005 and April 2006. Data were open coded in accordance with the first stage of the grounded theory method of data analysis and subsequently compared and grouped on a thematic basis. Four major findings and two models emerged. First, university internationalisation as a concept is complex, multifaceted and value-laden. Second, the contrasting characters of the two case universities explain the diverse responses that each makes to the call for internationalisation in terms of purposes, strategies, processes, and practices. Third, the origin of the present emphasis on internationalisation at the two case universities is anything but planned. Having begun the process, however, internationalisation has become an entrenched and integral part in the institutional life of both universities. Fourth, some positive evidence of intercultural learning is apparent in both universities indicating that the efforts to internationalise in an otherwise globalising world of higher education have born fruition. Finally, two tentative models of internationalisation, the “internationalist” and “translocalist,” are presented for further theoretical investigation.

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No description available.

This research aims to identify the process by which students form images of universities, the extent to which students’ favourable evaluations of image attractiveness lead to student-university identification, and the extent to which perceived image attractiveness and student-university identification determine planned behaviour, i.e., supportive intentions, including student choice of institution. Full-service international branch campuses offering complete degree programmes are a fairly new phenomenon on the higher education landscape and potential students have limited knowledge about them and the institutions that own them. It is interesting therefore to discover whether these students do in fact hold images of international branch campuses. The research was conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the country that hosts more international branch campuses than any other worldwide. The study adopted a deductive, quantitative method, which involved a survey questionnaire completed by potential university students (year 12 and 13 high school students). This research stands out from earlier work on organisational identification, as earlier studies focused on existing consumers or employees while this study considers potential consumers (students). The research included a pilot study that involved individual interviews with members of the target population, which ensured research design validity. Data were analysed using a variety of techniques including exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression and structural equation modelling. The findings of this study provide support for the proposition that individuals can identify with universities in the absence of formal membership – with no or minimal previous interaction between the individual and the university – and that student-university identification can lead to supportive intentions among prospective students. These findings suggest that institutions would benefit from articulating and communicating their identities clearly, coherently and in a persuasive manner, and emphasising those aspects of the university’s identity that prospective students will perceive as prestigious, distinctive and similar to their own identities.

This research explores the development of a framework appropriate to evaluate the readiness of a university to engage with knowledge management. Many universities are evolving from traditional bureaucratic, hierarchical structures to become more flexible, adaptable, commercially viable and competitive and knowledge management is becoming increasingly important in this respect. An over view of knowledge management clarifies what the concept is, and a critical review of current frameworks and models identifies gaps and weaknesses specifically in relation to empirical testing, theoretical underpinning and a holistic approach. This framework addresses those gaps and weaknesses and draws on organisational management, strategy, structure and culture, and systems thinking to ensure a holistic approach. These key elements provide the basis upon which a knowledge management framework is developed. A Soft Systems Methodological approach with a critical dimension is used to underpin this research because enquiry into organisational problem situations is complex and unstructured, based on human activity and social systems. The framework is innovative and offers contributions to knowledge because it: - is a new development within the domain of knowledge management. (it is intended to help evaluate the readiness of universities to engage in knowledge management); - provides a new application of critical systems thinking (critical systems thinking is applied to knowledge management); - uses a new synthesis (it was developed using a synthesis of soft systems principles, knowledge management concepts, and organisational theory); - enables organisations to consider their situations in new ways (by enabling self-critique of KM readiness); - offers new insights into the domain of knowledge management by means of the comprehensive and substantial literature review that helped its development.