Present but not counted: the tenuous position of academic board chairs within contemporary university governance

Abstract

This article draws on multiple case study research of Australian academic governance to examine the role and place of chairpersons of university academic boards (also known as academic senates or faculty senates) within university executive leadership committees. A Bourdieusian analysis of the data suggests that while within the broader university field there had traditionally been an academic governance subfield, executive management has appropriated many of the established academic board tasks for itself. It further suggests that the traditional academic governance/management divide may no longer be adequate to represent the intersections which occur in locations such as vice-chancellor’s executive committees where academic leaders and executive leaders mix and in an environment where many university executives were formerly academic leaders themselves. The article raises questions about whether this is indicative of future directions for university governance generally and for academic boards specifically.