Higher Education Corporate Research Articles

University governance in flux. The impact of external and internal pressures on the distribution of authority within British universities: A synoptic view

AbstractThis article reviews changes in British university governance over a period of nearly a century. During this time there have been considerable changes in the way universities have distributed authority in governance although the legal frameworks, statutory and legislative, have remained largely unchanged. The article shows that there were distinct phases in the internal balances within governance structures and relates these to external pressures, mostly state driven. Critics of current trends in university governance tend to look back to a utopian traditional model but the evidence suggests that the internal balances were always to a considerable extent contingent on external conditions and fluctuated accordingly. There is no evidence that while the state applied pressure for change in various aspects of governance it substantially intervened to impose constitutional changes except in respect to the Higher Education corporation (HEC) structure for the former polytechnics in 1988 and that, in its most managerial details, was in response to demands from the polytechnic directors themselves. The changes in how authority is distributed were therefore decided by the institutions themselves albeit in response to external pressures. But the article suggests that institutions’ responses were variable and that where a strong research culture existed the accumulation of social capital was such that radical changes in the distribution of authority were resisted. One consequence is that there is now much greater diversity in institutional governance structures with some pre‐1992 universities leaning much more towards HEC models, some HECs edging towards more traditional models and some institutions preserving significant elements of authority which others would regard as utopian. In Britain, reputation, research success and brand image are closely associated with the latter.

Knowledge extraction from a large on-line survey: a case study for a higher education corporate marketing

For a higher education public institution, young in relative terms, featuring local competition with another private and both long-established and reputed one, it is of great importance to become a reference university institution to be better known and felt with identification in the society it belongs to and ultimately to reach a good position within the European Higher Education Area. These considerations have made the university governors setting up the objective of achieving an adequate management of the university institutional brand focused on its logo and on image promotion, leading to the establishment of a university shop as it is considered a highly adequate instrument for such promotion. In this context, an on-line survey is launched on three different kinds of members of the institution, resulting in a large data sample. Different kinds of variables are analysed through appropriate exploratory multivariate techniques (symmetrical methods) and regression-related techniques (non-symmetrical methods). An advocacy for such combination is given as a conclusion. The application of statistical techniques of data and text mining provides us with empirical insights about the institution members’ perceptions and helps us to extract some facts valuable to establish policies that would improve the corporate identity and the success of the corporate shop.

Re-establishing Orthodoxy in the Law of Constructive Dismissal: Claridge v Daler Rowney Ltd [2008] IRLR 672 and Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation v Buckland [2009] IRLR 606

Re-establishing Orthodoxy in the Law of Constructive Dismissal: Claridge v Daler Rowney Ltd [2008] IRLR 672 and Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation v Buckland [2009] IRLR 606

Incorporation and the Mangement of Industrial Relations in the PCFC Sector

Until the 1988 Education Reform Act, a large part of English higher education was provided by polytechnics and colleges of higher education that were under local authority control (LEAs) and were collectively known as public sector higher education. The 1988 Education Reform Act split this sector from the LEAs and handed control and all assets over to newly constituted Higher Education Corporations (HECs) that were run by the institutions boards of governors. All staff cntracts were also transferred making the HECs the employer instead of the LEAs. The majority of the funding was to come from the Government channelled through a body called by Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council (PCFC). From that time on, until the establishment of the current Higher Education Funding Councils, the area was known as the PCFC sector. Direct Government funding of similar institutions already existed in Northern Ireland and in Scotland. Wales was excluded from these changes at this time and the sector remained partly with the LEAs.

District general manager's perspective

need for the ENB and the CNAA together to sponsor a series of workshops around the country designed to familiarise college lecturers and nurse tutors with the different procedural requirements and expectations entailed in academic and professional validation. However, the complexities and difficulties experienced in conjoint validation are also an expression of more profound divergences in philosophy and approach between the two sectors. The recent decision by the ENB to embrace the idea of peer review as an integral part of the validation process and to establish a register of specialist visitors has been widely welcomed in HE. However, I believe that the board will need to modify further its highly centralised approval procedures, particularly if Schools of Nursing are to be linked ever more closely to accredited HE institutions that may well be awarding their own degrees and diplomas within the next few years. Secondly, we must recognise that the impact of the proposals contained in the NHS White Paper ‘Working For Patients’, together with the consequences of the ideas expressed in Working Paper 10, are likely to make HE institutions more hesitant in becoming involved in new collaborative ventures with DHAs. HE institutions are rightly concerned at the proposed transfer of responsibilities for the funding of nursing and paramedical education to regional health authorities. On the one hand, it is not clear that the close relationships that have developed between colleges, Schools of Nursing and DHAs will be able to be recreated at the level of the RHA. On the other, the majority of HE institutions will be extremely reluctant to participate in yet another system of competitive tendering in an attempt to secure education and training contracts from regions. Finally, we have to recognise that the plans to create an internal market within the NHS are also likely to undermine the enthusiasm of HE institutions for participating in major new initiatives in nursing education, at least during the transitionary period. At the present time, many of the costs of expensive clinical and community placements, together with the associated costs of teaching and supervision in these placements, are ‘lost’ within the system. Whether these hidden educational subsidies will continue in the future is uncertain. The thought that, in a few years time, independent hospital trusts could be insisting that higher education corporations cover the full costs of clinical and community placements is likely to deter rather than encourage future collaborative ventures in the field of nurse education.

The appointment and removal of independent members of higher education corporations under the Education Reform Act 1988

The appointment and removal of independent members of higher education corporations under the Education Reform Act 1988

Lowering the Cost of Interactions: The Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation

Presents a case study of a financial services company socializing in student loans. Positions the study in terms of ′sustainable competitive advantage′, ′strategic necessity′ and ′edge toward the market′ hypotheses. Concludes that information systems played ′an essential but essentially derivative role′ in the success of the enterprise.