This article is concerned with the extent to which the leadership of higher education is a universally positive or contingent experience. It draws on comparative data from semi-structured interviews with those in senior leadership positions in public universities in Australia, Ireland and Portugal, countries which are differently located on the…

Assesses two recent Australian studies of diversity in higher education institutions, both financed by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Training, and Youth Affairs. Study results suggest significant diversity among universities in a number of areas, most of them closely associated with the history of the system. At the same time, state…