This book is about the use of evidence in the leadership and management of universities and colleges. The role of institutional self-study in establishing strategy and measuring progress is examined across the full range of institutional activities, with many worked examples. Practical guidance is also set in the context of theory about organisational learning within complex enterprises at the start of the 21st century, as well as an account of the state of the art within higher education in the UK, with some international comparisons. Because of the nature of the business – knowledge production and use –universities should be better at organisational learning than they are. This book shows how disciplined self-study can assist decision-making, general effectiveness and reputational positioning for universities and colleges. The book explores why self-study matters, the key processes and techniques, as well as what can be delivered. In addition to the internal drivers to enhance self-study capacity and practice, institutions are increasingly required to produce explicit and transparent accounts of their activities and performance to external bodies, to support marketing, to respond to multiple stakeholders and to meet external reporting and regulatory requirements. At the heart of the book is the case for the development of the university or college as a mature, self-reflective community, making full use of its analytical and other resources.

What are, and what should be, the roles of modern universities and colleges in supporting their host societies? Where have these obligations arisen from, and how can they best be responded to? What are the conditions of “membership” of a modern university or college? There is an international revival of interest in issues about the purposes of universities and colleges and their role in a wider society. Much of this is structured around perceptions of the role of higher education in modern knowledge economies. Meanwhile there has been a dearth of scholarly attention to the practice (as opposed to the rhetoric) of civic engagement by universities and colleges in various cultural contexts. This book fills that gap. An historical survey of the “founding” intentions of universities and colleges in different eras and various countries is followed by case studies of successful recent projects carried out at three leading institutions – the Universities of Brighton, Pennsylvania and Queensland. A practical benchmarking questionnaire that was developed with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is also included in order to assist institutions in assessing their own progress. The book contends that genuine engagement, with the community and with civil society, can be uncertain and risky, but that it plays an essential role in managing today’s higher education institutions. Managing Civic and Community Engagement provides key reading for people interested in equity and diversity in higher education, including those studying aspects of higher education management, as well as professionals and policy makers in the field.

This is a book designed with the teacher educator in mind. It provides in depth examination of specific methods used effectively in self-study research. The chapters are written by researchers engaged in self-study of their practice.

There is a comforting tale that heads of higher education institutions (HEIs) like to tell each other. "Go around your university or college," they say, "and ask the first ten people who you meet how their morale is. The response will always be 'rock-bottom.' Then ask them what they are working on. The responses will be full of life, of optimism and of enthusiasm for the task in hand." The moral of the story is that the two sets of responses don't compute; that the first is somehow unthinking and ideological, and the second unguarded and sincere. The thesis of this book is that the contradictory answers may well compute more effectively than is acknowledged: that the culture of higher education and the mesh of psychological contracts, or "deals," that make it up make much of the current discourse about happiness and unhappiness in contemporary life look simplistic and banal. In particular, the much-vaunted "science of happiness" may not have much to say to us. There is also a potential link between the Manichean discourse about morale and our wider culture's approach to happiness. Both normally deal in extremes, and much more rarely in graduations. Why is so much discourse about contemporary higher education structured around (real and imagined) unhappiness? How does this connect with the realities of life within (and just outside) the institutions? Does it matter, and, if so, what should we be doing about it? Based on historical, sociological and philosophical analysis, this book offers some answers to these questions.

Higher education institutions are under increasing pressure to produce corporate and strategic plans, both for external audiences (such as funding bodies and other 'partners') and for the internal purposes of setting and achieving goals. They are significantly dependent upon public investment and the expectations of public bodies as well as upon a fast-changing market for their products and services. David Watson sets out what strategic management can and should consist of in a modern, essentially democratic, university or college, and how to make it work. He examines for instance: * how universities and colleges should go about satisfying legitimate external and internal requirements for their corporate plans. * how they should maximize their strategic assets and opportunities and minimize their weaknesses and threats. * the role of governance and management in setting and achieving a strategic plan. This book demonstrates how the academy has to adapt to meet the needs of its rapidly changing host society as well as of a more diverse and plural internal community, whilst maintaining a range of historical commitments. The result is an account of strategic management that is simultaneously careful of traditional values, restorative of those that have fallen into abeyance, and genuinely innovative.

How entrepreneurial are European universities? Perhaps more than is generally realised. What are the factors that encourage entrepreneurialism to flourish in research, technology transfer, teaching, regional engagement and internationalization? How do different kinds of HEIs - , comprehensive, specialist, regional or private - , address these issues? What are the conditions which stimulate or inhibit the “academic intrapreneur”? And in what forms does entrepreneurialism contribute to the knowledge economy? This book, which is the product of a major EU funded research programme and is based on twenty-seven institutional case studies, attempts to offer answers to these questions through a series of cross national thematic studies. It considers how national systemic characteristics in financial arrangements, human resource management and institutional governance impact on entrepreneurialism and suggests ways in which individual initiative can be released and universities freed up to make their contribution to the EU Lisbon Strategy.

Higher education is a particularly complex site for enhancement initiatives. This book offers those involved in change a coherent conceptual overview of enhancement approaches, of the change context, and of the probable interactions between them. The book sets enhancement within a particular type of change dynamic which focuses on social practices. The aim is to base innovation and change on the probabilities of desired outcomes materializing, rather than on the romanticism of policies that underestimate the sheer difficulty of making a difference. Following a theoretical introduction to these ideas, there are case studies (from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Norway) at the national, institutional, departmental and individual levels, illustrating the argument that enhancement is best achieved when it works with social practices in real institutional and organizational settings. In a final section, the authors link the case examples and theoretical frameworks, inviting readers to consider their own enhancement situations and apply the 'frameworks for action' offered in earlier sections of the book. The book doesn’t offer quick-fix solutions but aims to support change with practical examples, conceptual tools and reflexive questions for those involved in change at all levels. It is key reading for higher education lecturers, managers, educational developers and policy makers.