The emergence of the market as a regulatory tool for the public sector and the promotion of competition among institutions are based upon the idea that they promote institutions' responsiveness to society and a more efficient use of public funds. However, autonomous institutions forced to compete under market-like conditions may follow strategies…

The direction quality assurance and its ancillary practices is taking in the transformation process in South Africa is discussed in this article. The article argues that it is incorrect to suggest that the higher education system has been captured by managerialism. While efficiency is an important driver of the system, the imperatives of redress…

The University of Chicago's Joseph Regenstein Library Bookstacks Department has used process mapping and continuous improvement to successfully improve its overall operations. The most recent efforts focus on Lean manufacturing, an initiative centered on eliminating waste in manufacturing processes. The conversion of the Bookstacks Department from…

This dissertation provides historical insight into the design and implementation of one strategic plan of a public higher education system in an effort to inform future similar strategic planning processes. On July 1, 1994, the Board of Regents appointed Stephen R. Portch the ninth Chancellor of the University System of Georgia. The timing was…

This paper will detail three projects which focussed on enhancing online learning at a large Australian distance education University within a School of Business, School of Health and School of Education. Each project had special funding and took quite distinctive project management approaches, which reflect the desire to embed innovation and…

There is more to achieving civility in the workplace than following imposed rules and regulations outlined in an institution's policy manual. Oftentimes, circumstances and situations arise that are not addressed in any policy manual, but which nonetheless compromise respect, trust and decency in the office. In this article, a manager of…

The paper starts with a description of higher education in the United Kingdom and of reforms over the last 50 years. By reference to specified output measures, the performance of UK universities is judged to be good. The factors affecting this performance are postulated by comparing policies and approaches in the United Kingdom with those…

Grant writing provides not only financial rewards but also insights into the living mission of an institution, and points toward collaborative opportunities within and among various units across a campus. In the future, more and more grant funded programs will be a necessary part of our work in student affairs. This manuscript offers basic tools…

This article examines emerging norms of good practice for Australian university governing boards and issues that university governing boards could address to develop effective governance cultures. It firstly considers the ways in which support for many Australian university governing boards has become professionalised over the past decade. At the…

In 1961, Fritz Roethlisberger, coauthor of the landmark Hawthorne studies, wrote a memorandum sketching his understanding of the nascent field of organizational behavior. The memo's purpose was to discuss the relationships of theory and practice in the field, identifying in particular some of the tensions and contradictions that the field poses…

To ensure that exit exams are appropriately carried out regarding students with exceptionalities, it is the position of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) that: (1) No single test score should be used to make critical educational decisions for students with exceptionalities; (2) All students with exceptionalities must be given the…

The transformation of higher education systems under the pressure of new needs required by the "society of knowledge" in France and Italy has had a deep effect on the relationship between state and university, and therefore a direct impact on university governance. This article sums up the main results of a research carried out on…

In 1983, Burton Clark published a study that was to become a classic work on the organisation and government of higher education systems (Clark 1983). He constructed three "ideal types" of system--state system, market system and professional system, and summarised the way that national systems of higher education are dependent on the…

There is a large literature on the productivity of universities. Little is known, however, about how different types of leader affect a university's later performance. By constructing a new longitudinal data set, I provide evidence that the research quality of a university improves after it appoints a president (vice chancellor) who is an…

In the 1950s and 1960s, Clark Kerr led the University of California's Berkeley campus, and then the University of California as a whole. Throughout these years, he developed a system of managerial strategies. This paper shows how Kerr's administrative views drew upon his background in industrial relations, his liberal theories of pluralistic…