Universities are complex organisations that bring together extremely large constituencies – staff, students, visitors, local communities, businesses, service contractors, and stakeholders of a wide range – all with very different…
2016 was, for various reasons, considered to be a year of political shocks. While the consequences, both positive and negative, are ongoing, the key to the development and survival of…
With the growing marketisation of academia, the concept of ‘value added’ is now becoming synonymous with academic research. In other words, what is the wider value to society of your…
In May 2018 the newly formed funding ‘supra-body’ UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) launched its Strategic Prospectus. As of January this year, all seven research councils now come under the…
Britain’s universities are facing an increasing number of challenges. It now means that the need to contemplate changes and diversification are possibly more necessary than ever. The discussions surrounding the…
When I started as an undergraduate student in 2001, email communication was still a relatively new thing. Many lecturers still used the old style overhead projectors to provide their lecture…
With headhunting commonly used by organisations recruiting for senior positions, if you are hoping to be approached regarding a new opportunity there are a few simple steps you can take…
The changing nature of higher education across the developed world now means that universities are increasingly operating in a global market. This aspect covers many areas, including the collaboration between…
Globalism and internationalism are key terms by which UK universities describe their achievements today. League tables and other assessment measures reinforce these values: for instance, the Research Assessment Framework places…
Universities are one of the key drivers of the UK’s international engagement. In 2015-2016 some 20% of students studying in the UK were from abroad (including a remarkable 46% of…
SearchHigher takes active steps in helping to maintain the privacy and protection of our jobseekers from fraudsters when posting or responding to job adverts online. SearchHigher shares the information learned…
In August and September 2017 HEFCE published two important documents concerning the REF2021: a report entitled ‘Initial Decisions on the Research Excellence Framework 2021’, and a circular letter to Vice-Chancellors…
Postgraduate provision can sometimes feel like the Cinderella of HE, a policy afterthought, drowned out by discussions of the TEF and REF, and excluded from the NSS and LEO (Longitudinal…
In March 2017 the Trade Union Act was passed into law. This Act marks a significant shift in the legal framework of industrial relations nationally. The Act puts in place a double hurdle requirement for industrial action, meaning that at least 50% turnout of eligible voters must be achieved, in addition to a majority vote among those who took part. How might the new legislation affect industrial action in universities? What challenges does this legislation present to management as well as union leaders?
As of January 2018, The Office for Students (OfS) will be the new regulator for the Higher Education sector in England. As such it will be accountable to the Secretary of State for its governance and management of public funding. The establishment of OfS and UKRI are major changes in the landscape of higher education in England.
While the government’s preference for academy and grammar schools has been widely reported, there has been relatively little discussion in the mainstream press of the ways in which this is part of a social mobility agenda that will also affect universities in a key area – their fees income.
It is common practice for Higher Education Institutions to use the services of Executive Search Firms (ESF) when seeking to fulfil vacancies for senior roles. However, little is known about the interaction of these companies with their HE clients and to what extent ESF can help them to achieve greater diversity in these roles. An exploratory study commissioned by Leadership Foundation for Higher Education has tried to address this gap and some of the key findings from this research are reported in this post.
While it remains unclear what Brexit will do ‘for’ (or to) the humanities, Brexit provides a powerful opportunity for the humanities to re-assert the benefits of the mutually enriching study of and engagement with others as we move forward.
Carol Carey discusses the pros and cons of using external organisations in three key areas: for recruitment, for REF consultancies, and for external examiner roles.
SearchHigher Director Mark Holleran was delighted to attend and speak at the Association of University Administrators (AUA) conference 2017.
SearchHigher Director Mark Holleran was delighted to be invited to speak at the first HE Recruitment 2017 conference on the 28th March and it was a huge success – here are some of the key things that we took away from the speaker sessions.
Universities now look to interact across the private, public and non-profit sectors, working to build sustainable, reciprocal and widely beneficial partnerships in industry, technology, government, public policy, intelligence, NGOs, and many others. What are the implications of this turn outwards from the point of view of structure and governance?
With the rising importance of research as the measurement of a department’s capability and the criteria that create an environment in which research counts heavily towards the allocation of external funding, it is easy to see how teaching has sometimes been regarded in a separate category. In his latest post, Dr. Mark J. Crowley argues why the reality is that research and teaching are mutually exclusive.
In our latest piece on the Research Excellence Framework, Dr Mark Crowley (Associate Professor of History at Wuhan University) discusses why many feel the REF necessary but also the many concerns that surround it.
Carol Carey considers the old publishing models of universities, and how the idea of the University Imprimatur could help promote Open Access
With many staff applying for, or in receipt of, European funding for their research, the question after Britain’s referendum on EU membership was simply “what happens now?" Mark Crowley identifies three issues the profession and the government will need to consider over the coming years.
What are the benefits of new approaches to management (in particular, counselling, coaching, mentoring, for enabling supportive relationships and responsiveness to change across large institutions?
Academics at senior level face an increasingly complex set of circumstances but there are a number of domestic government and policy issues that senior managers can anticipate and respond to proactively.