The use of collaborative methods in the college classroom is increasing in popularity due to an interest in more active forms of learning, increased recognition of the value of the experience of adult students, and the demand by organizations for workers who can work productively in a group. The purpose of this case study was to look at collaborative learning from the perspective of one aspect of student differences--cognitive style as defined by Witkin's field-independence and field-dependence. This research involved the analysis of data obtained from interviews, classroom observations, student evaluations, and questionnaires from 28 management students from Quinsigamond Community College. Analysis of the data, through qualitative and quantitative methods, revealed that in this study cognitive style did not make a difference in student perceptions of the effectiveness of the instructor or of a group based learning methodology. Field-independent students described their behavior more in terms of task roles, while field-dependent students reported themselves more in terms of maintenance roles. While field-dependent students in this study seemed to place a value on the sharing of tangible resources and the social aspects of the collaborative experience, the field-independent students were more apt to lead the discussion by asking questions that stimulated the collaborative conversations. There was no statistical difference between five prior years of non-collaborative student evaluations of this teacher and those of the collaborative class, nor did cognitive style seem to make a difference in the way that the students evaluated the instructor. The data on cognitive style and the students' satisfaction with the method of reaching consensus were inconclusive due to a lack of agreement on the construct of consensus within collaborative learning and limitations in the methodology. Field-dependent, field-independent and mixed cognitive style students all rated the field-dependent students as the most helpful to their own learning. Replication on a larger scale or with an emphasis on other aspects of individual student differences such as race, gender, age, grade point average etc., was recommended.

Higher Education Institutions are worth £45 billion to the UK economy, according to a report published in 2006 by Universities UK (UUK), the representative organization of the United Kingdom’s universities. The higher education sector has undergone considerable change with the introduction of the marketplace, tuition fees and business management structures and methods. Managing change as a middle manager is acknowledged to be important activity (see for example, Beer, Eisenstat and Spector, 1990) and yet there is a limited amount of empirically research that has been conducted to discover how change is managed in the higher education sector in England by these staff. This study explores the perceptions of higher education managers about their role in managing change in the higher education sector. It is an exploratory study based on thirty-one interviews with managers in nine universities from across the higher education sector in England. The universities were chosen to ensure there was a representative sample from the main groups within the sector and a geographical spread across the country’s regions. The literature review found a wide range of contrasting viewpoints that provided a myriad of support and confusing messages. There was a lack of information about how higher education managers manage and, in particular, how they manage change. Managers, and those who seek to help them, face challenges in seeking and providing guidance and improving practice. The middle manager has to manage change and use a variety of means to achieve it. They are caught in the middle between senior managers and staff and other stakeholders. They have primarily learned from experience but need support and guidance when they come across change projects of which they have no knowledge. This can be provided by access to case based practice and a network of experienced experts. This research recommends the creation of such support using new media available via the internet provided through professional associations such as the Association of University Administrators (AUA).

Set against a changing backdrop of reforms in higher education and English language teaching (ELT), the thesis explores the notion of professionalism for university English teachers in Vietnam: What is defined as professionalism in this particular period of time? How is professionalism constructed in this context? The research approaches professionalism as a critical concept: A list of aspired traits and features are always value-laden and concern the question of power. From this premise, the thesis discusses a “kaleidoscope” relationship between different actors in the making of professionalism. Using Freidson’s (2001) ideas on the contingencies of professionalism, the study views the notion as a process rather than a product. Professionalism has its own logic that needs to be respected, but this logic is also incidental to other logics for its establishment and development. The study uses embedded case study to address its research questions. Defining the case as professionalism for university ELT teachers in contemporary Vietnam higher education, the thesis studies the notion as articulated at national, institutional, and individual levels. The primary data sources include five national policies, institutional policies and management practices at a university and its foreign languages department, and interviews with six academic managers and eleven ELT lecturers. The data were analysed using thematic analysis approach within constructivist, interpretive traditions. The results show that professionalism for ELT lecturers in Vietnam can largely be characterised as a professionalism of entrepreneurship, measurability and functionality. ELT is largely considered as a tool for international integration. Each type of professionalism project involves several actors (the state, expert groups, the institution, and ELT academics) with their own logic, but they interrelate in responding to the imperatives of the knowledge-based economy and globalisation. How the meaning of professionalism is established and argued for by the different actors in this study reveals that it is not easy to conceptualise the notion in a binary system of “from above” professionalism versus “from within” professionalism; and “organisational” professionalism versus “occupational” professionalism. The complexities of the logics of professionalism – with an ”s”, affect whether a professionalisation project can be perceived as being positive or negative – Is it professionalisation or is it deprofessionalisation? The relativity of “from above” and “from within” reflects the contingencies of professionalism, and also suggests authority power is plural, shifting, and fluid, rather than single, normative, and static. Meanwhile, it means human’s individual power is not of an ultimate freedom but dependent on external conditions. With these considerations, the study proposes interpreting professionalism as a ”social contract”. This helps not only recognise a mutual relationship between the state, the institution, and academics, but also illuminate how each party enables, maintains, and contributes to this relationship.

This study discusses the professionalisation of higher education management and emerging patterns of decision making within a context of academic and organisational change. A total of thirty interviews were conducted across six Universities, with five similar roles interviewed in each institution. Respondents were drawn from both centralised and decentralised parts of the organisation, and represented both academic and professional services perspectives. Three ideas are proposed. The first is an emerging New Collegiality in which decision making behaviour is developing that reflects traditional collegial debate, but within new peer groups of academic and professional services managers. Academic managers are also using New Collegiality to share good management practice, with new organisational combinations offering new forms of collaborative working within and across subject disciplines. A second theme proposes that a Higher Education Professional Services Framework exists, which has situationally contingent characteristics that are unique to the professional services in higher education. These features combine decision making and management behaviours to operate as a singular body positioned throughout the organisation in context specific ways. Finally, a third concept identifies three linked levers of management used by the centre to address tensions of internal demands for decentralisation against the external pressures to centralise. These linked levers consist of the creation of an intermediate tier such as a faculty or college, a proactive use of management information as an evidential tool for decision making, and a particular use of the Higher Education Professional Services Framework. The findings suggest that Universities are ostensibly decentralising their organisational structures while simultaneously centralising decision making authority through changes in accountability. These trends raise a number of relevant issues to the professionalisation of higher education. .

This dissertation is about the in/stability over time of a contract-based inter-organizational relationship (IOR) which existed mostly under conditions of government monopsony (MG). The MG consisted of the institutional arrangements between the NHS and Higher Education sectors in England for the provision of education for the NHS non-medical professional workforce. The IOR was between the NHS education buyer (the ‘GM’) and Middlesex University (MU). An agent-centred historical institutionalism was used as the overall approach in the inquiry. The main components of the approach were resource dependence theory, concepts of historical dependence, and events in the IOR and its institutional and organizational environments. A multi-dimensional concept of IOR in/stability from the standpoints of the GM and MU which was grounded in the practices of the IOR was constructed. The inquiry traced the origins and subsequent development of the MG and the in/stability of the IOR over an 18 year period, 1995 - 2013. The main findings of the inquiry were: (1) The IOR originated in, and continued to exist mostly under conditions of MG (2) The IOR became less stable over time from the standpoint of MU; reductions in IOR stability occurred in dimensions of risk relating to the future performance of the IOR (3) Instability and threatened instability in the IOR were brought about mostly by the exercise of power by the GM and by the power dependence responses of MU. The thesis developed in the dissertation is that instability and threatened instability in the IOR were due mostly to a power imbalance in the IOR, in favour of the GM, between the GM and MU. The source of that power imbalance was a combination of: • The resource dependency of MU on the IOR • The conditions of MG and bilateral monopoly under which the IOR existed. The dissertation is concluded with a critique of MG as a technique for public sector management. Recommendations are made for new NHS-HE inter-sector and IOR arrangements to be established which take account of power imbalances and relations of mutual dependence between stakeholders. Recommendations for further research are also made.

Hochschulen stehen zunehmend vor einem Legitimationsproblem bezüglich ihres Umgangs mit (öffentlich bereit gestellten) Ressourcen. Die Kritik bezieht sich hauptsächlich auf den Leistungsbereich der Lehre. Diese sei ineffektiv organisiert und trage durch schlechte Studienbedingungen – die ihrerseits von den Hochschulen selbst zu verantworten seien – zu langen Studienzeiten und hohen Abbruchquoten bei. Es wird konstatiert, dass mit der Lebenszeit der Studierenden verantwortungslos umgegangen und der gesellschaftliche Ausbildungsauftrag sowohl von der Hochschule im Ganzen, als auch von einzelnen Lehrenden nicht angemessen wahrgenommen werde. Um die gleichzeitig steigende Nachfrage nach akademischen Bildungsangeboten befriedigen zu können, vollziehen Hochschulen einen Wandel zu Dienstleistungsunternehmen, deren Leistungsfähigkeit sich an der Effizienz ihrer Angebote bemisst. Ein solches Leitbild ist von den Steuerungsgrundsätzen des New Public Management inspiriert. In diesem zieht sich der Staat aus der traditionell engen Verbindung zu den Hochschulen zurück und gewährt diesen lokale Autonomie, bspw. durch die Einführung globaler Haushalte zu ihrer finanziellen Selbststeuerung. Die Hochschulen werden zu Marktakteuren, die sich in der Konkurrenz um Kunden gegen ihre Wettbewerber durchsetzen, indem sie Qualität und Exzellenz unter Beweis stellen. Für die Durchführung von diesbezüglichen Leistungsvergleichen werden unterschiedliche Verfahren der Evaluation eingesetzt. In diese sind landläufig sowohl Daten der Hochschulstatistik, bspw. in Form von Absolventenquoten, als auch zunehmend Befragungsdaten, meist von Studierenden, zur Erhebung ihrer Qualitätseinschätzungen zu Lehre und Studium involviert. Insbesondere letzteren wird vielfach entgegen gehalten, dass sie nicht geeignet seien, die Qualität der Lehre adäquat abzubilden. Vielmehr seien sie durch subjektive Verzerrungen in ihrer Aussagefähigkeit eingeschränkt. Eine Beurteilung, die auf studentischen Befragungsdaten aufsetzt, müsse entsprechend zu Fehleinschätzungen und daraus folgend ungerechten Leistungssanktionen kommen. Im Sinne der Akzeptanz von Verfahren der Evaluation als Instrument hochschulinterner Qualitätssicherungs- und –entwicklungsprozesse ist daher zu untersuchen, inwieweit Beeinträchtigungen der Validität von für die Hochschulsteuerung eingesetzten Datenbasen deren Aussagekraft vermindern. Ausgehend von den entsprechenden Ergebnissen sind Entwicklungen der Verfahren möglich. Diese Frage steht im Zentrum der vorliegenden Arbeit. / Universities encounter public debate on the effectivenes of their handling of public funds. Criticism mainly refers to higher education which is regarded as ineffectively organised and -due to bad learning conditions- contributing to excessively long study times and student drop out. An irresponsible handling of students' life time is detected and it is stated that universities as institutions and individual teachers do not adquately meet society's demands regarding higher education quality. In order to respond to the raising request of higher education services, universities are modified to service-oriented "enterprises" which are competing with other institutions for "customers" by providing the publicly requested evidence of quality and excellencec of their educational services. For the implementation of respective quality comparisons, different procesures of educational evaluation are being established. Higher education statistics (students/graduates ratios) and -increasingly- students' surveys, inquiring their quality appraisals of higher education teaching are involved in these procedures. Particularly the latter encounter controverse debate on their suitability to display the quality of teaching and training adequately. Limitations of their informational value is regarded to stem from subjective distortions of the collected data. Quality assessments and respective sanctions thus are deemed by those who are evaluated to potentially result in misjudgments. In order to establish evaluation procedures as an accepted instrument of internal quality assurance and quality development, data quality and the validity concerns need to be inquired carefully. Based on respective research results, further developments and improvements of the evaluation procedures can be achieved.

This thesis is an exploratory study focusing on the tension between managerialism and collegiality experience by mid-level academic administrators in Canadian higher education. The study is a constructivist analysis of the every day, lived experiences of the participants working in a single, large university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 academic administrators that report directly to a Vice-President Academic. The analysis of these detailed interviews suggests that collegiality appears to be alive and well at the university included in this study. Administrators described consultative, collegial processes with shared decision making. However, the activity of developing and managing budgets was described by participants as the responsibility of the dean and these processes were neither collegial nor consultative. There is a need for further research on the experience and work of academic administrators in Canadian higher education.

This thesis is an exploratory study focusing on the tension between managerialism and collegiality experience by mid-level academic administrators in Canadian higher education. The study is a constructivist analysis of the every day, lived experiences of the participants working in a single, large university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 academic administrators that report directly to a Vice-President Academic. The analysis of these detailed interviews suggests that collegiality appears to be alive and well at the university included in this study. Administrators described consultative, collegial processes with shared decision making. However, the activity of developing and managing budgets was described by participants as the responsibility of the dean and these processes were neither collegial nor consultative. There is a need for further research on the experience and work of academic administrators in Canadian higher education.

This thesis focused on the impact of racism and new managerialism on Black female academics in English post-1992 universities. The study explored the extent to which the changing environment of higher education institutions (HEIs) and the ethos and practice of new managerialism had affected the professional lives of Black academic females and how the consequences of new managerialism were being experienced in their daily academic lives. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain qualitative data about the experiences of seventeen African and Caribbean participants in English post-1992 universities, mainly from business schools or health and social-sciences faculties. The critical race theory conceptual framework was used as an analytical and interpretive structure for understanding their experiences. The findings revealed that new managerialism changes contributed to increased levels of racism encountered by these Black female academics. Racism was endemic and embedded within their HEIs and demonstrated in overt and subtle ways, using micro-aggressions, micro-politics and varying agents, ensuring that racism remained rooted and positioned at different levels. Race was more prevalent in these women’s’ experiences than they had expected. The study discovered that these Black female academics perceived their progression and development as being negatively affected because of new managerialism practices and the inability of their respective HEIs to formulate and implement effective policies of equality and diversity. The HEIs’ neo-liberal policies of fairness, neutrality and meritocracy were experienced as rhetoric rather than practice and as not beneficial to those needing protection. The findings suggest that HEIs and human resource (HR) departments need more effective equality and diversity policies which incorporate a community diversity mind-set, influenced by the ethical codes of their professional HR body. There is also a need for HEI staff across all ethnic groups to be engaged in conversation, information-sharing and communication about racial issues so that Black female academic racialised work experiences can be improved.

Global trends are transforming nearly every sector, and the higher education sector is not an exception. Universities are synchronizing their curricula so that credits are transferrable and cumulative across countries. Governments are increasingly controlling the quality of education through new regulations. Universities are now competing globally and managerial methods derived from business are being introduced. In South America, an increasing student population is demanding access to universities, while at the same time universities are facing a reduction in funding and more competition. The profile of students is shifting and demanding more flexible curricula along with double degree and continuing education programs. All of these trends, together with government regulations passed in 1992, have caused major transformations in the Colombian higher education sector. Universities have been straining to remain competitive in this new environment and many have attempted to implement credit frameworks as a solution. However, such transformations are complex and require uncommon managerial competencies. Furthermore, very little research has been done to understand the real impact of these changes in Colombian Universities, and any studies done have not provided a full picture of what was really happening within the management of Colombian Universities. Did universities fully understand the concept and complexity of implementing credit frameworks? What were the main drivers affecting the higher education sector in Colombia which catalysed the implementation of credit frameworks? Finally, what impact did this implementation have on university management? This research study attempted to answer these questions through an in-depth study of three representative universities. The results showed clear differences and also common understandings among universities and revealed key insights into university management. It is the hope of this research study that it may assist universities and policy makers in the on-going transformation of the Colombian higher education sector.