During the past two decades there have been significant changes in the landscape for higher education. Among these was a trend for universities and colleges to respond by adopting a more market-driven approach, leading to the introduction of new public management within universities and colleges, which led to the emergence of tensions between the academic and quasi business aims. In 2004 the UK government changed the criteria for the grant of degree-awarding powers and university title opening up the possibility for non-public organisations to apply. This thesis presents the case study of a private sector for-profit organisation as it introduced a more robust quality assurance infrastructure during the application process for taught degree-awarding powers. The analysis is undertaken within a conceptual framework developed from institutional and agency theory. The need to demonstrate legitimacy and the influence of key groups played a large part in the changes made. Using data collected via participant observation, key informant interviews and documentary evidence, the study examines the changes and management actions that took place during the period between June 2004 and July 2009 in order to identify the strategies that were adopted to manage the tensions between the academic standards and the commercial imperative of meeting shareholder expectations. The study contributes to the literature covering change in educational institutions and in particular that which reports on the introduction of a more business-oriented approach to the management of universities. The study is able to bring a new perspective to studying the management of tensions between academic and business aims by looking at the issues from an alternative angle. The key strategy developed was a gradual rationalisation of the academic aims within the business aims such that the duality of aims was diminished.

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This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting faculty intention to use course management systems (CMS). The study was conducted in a private university with a mixed-method approach. First, 260 responses to a questionnaire was analysed by using structural equation modeling technique in order to examine the provided model. Second, interviews with selected 14 faculty members were conducted to understand the interrelationships. The findings indicated that, faculty intention to use CMS is mostly related with seeing value in using CMS including both personal and task/course related issues. In addition, the use of CMS should be perceived as easy which is directly influenced by the computer self-efficacy of the instructors. Discrimination of perceived personal benefits and task/course related usefulness is found to be important. Course/task related perceived usefulness is found to be weak without perceiving them personally beneficial. Availability of training and support is found to be weakly related to initial intention, however it appeared as an important variable for continuing to use CMS. &lsquo / Communicating the vision through leadership&rsquo / , &lsquo / promoting CMS&rsquo / , and &lsquo / sharing experiences and real life examples&rsquo / emerged as powerful approaches to facilitate use of CMS. Institutional policies regarding issues like &lsquo / academic freedom&rsquo / should be considered carefully while supporting the use of CMS. Moreover, to support institutional change it is important to be aware of the existence of different faculty profiles, which should be considered separately in relevant decisions.

Švietimo kaitos vadyba mūsų šalyje niekada nebuvo tokia ryški, kaip dabar, XXI-ame amžiuje, kai pasaulis priartėjo prie mūsų, o mes prie jo, įžengėme į globalizacijos, žinių ir informacinių technologijų visuomenę. Dabartinė nepriklausomos Lietuvos švietimo kaitos vadyba, turinti dviejų dešimtmečių istoriją, yra dinamiška, artima Vakarų Europos ir kitų išsivysčiusių pasaulio šalių švietimo sistemoms. Prie to daug prisidėjo mokslininkų vykdyti tyrimai gerosios patirties skleidimas. Pasirinkta magistrinio darbo tema, aktuali ir pasižymi naujumu: girdisi įvairių vertinimų tiek iš besimokančiojo jaunimo, tiek iš jų tėvų ir kitų socialinių gyventojų sluoksnių. Tyrimo objektas – mokinių tėvų, prekybos centrų ir bankų darbuotojų, aukštesniųjų kursų studentų požiūris į švietimo kaitos vadybą ir jos tobulinimą. Tyrimo problema – kaip visuomenė vertina dabartinę švietimo kaitos vadybą ir ją lemiančius veiksnius. Tyrimo tikslas – atskleisti visuomenės požiūrį į švietimo vadybos kaitą ir jos tobulinimą. Tyrimo imtis – 229 respondentai, iš jų: 62 mokinių tėvai, 45 prekybos darbuotojai, 44 Swedbank darbuotojai, 78 III–IV kursų studentai. Tyrimo bazė. Tyrimas atliktas Vilniaus miesto dviejose vidurinėse mokyklose, Vilniaus pedagoginiame universitete, Swedbanke ir Kosmados parduotuvėse. Atliekant tyrimą naudoti šie tyrimo metodai: mokslinės literatūros ir teisinių dokumentų analizė, anketinė apklausa, kontent analizė, matematinių – statistinių duomenų analizė. Tyrimo rezultatai: išsiaiškinta... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The topic of the change management of education in our country becomes important as never before. The current system of the change management of education in Lithuania is very dynamic and has much common with Western Europe or the educational systems of other developed countries. Lithuanian scientists have made a big contribution to achieve the current level of the development of the education system. The issues covered in the thesis have some features of novelty and are topical. They are widely discussed by students, their parents and other interested parties from different social groups. The object of the research is the attitude of students‘ parents, emploees` of supermarkets and banks, students of the higher grade towards the change management of education and its development. The issue of the research is society‘s attitude towards the change management of education and the factors which have impact on it. The main aim of the research is to reveal society‘s attitude towards the change management of education and its development. The survey of 229 respondents was caried out during the course of the research: 62 of the parents of students, 45 supermarket emploees, 78 – III-IV year students. The basis of the research. The research was performed at two secondary schools in Vilnius, Vilnius pedagogical university, bank “Swedbank“ and supermarket “Kosmada“. During the course of the research the following research methods were applied: the analysis of scientific... [to full text]