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What is Happening to our Universities?

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  • Ben Martin

    (SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research, University of Sussex, UK)

Abstract

In recent decades, many universities have been moving in the direction of a more hierarchical and centralised structure, with top-down planning and reduced local autonomy for departments. Yet the management literature over this period has stressed the numerous benefits of flatter organisational structures, decentralisation and local autonomy for sections or departments. What might explain this paradox? And why have academics remained strangely quiet about this, meekly accepting their fate? The paper critically examines the dangers of centralised top-down management, increasingly bureaucratic procedures, teaching to a prescribed formula, and research driven by assessment and performance targets, illustrating these with a number of specific examples. It discusses a number of possible driving forces of these worrying developments, and concludes by asking whether academics may be in danger of suffering the fate of the boiled frog.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Martin, 2016. "What is Happening to our Universities?," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-03, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:sru:ssewps:2016-03
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    File URL: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/swps2016-03
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Michele Meoli & Stefano Paleari & Silvio Vismara, 2019. "The governance of universities and the establishment of academic spin-offs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 485-504, February.
    2. Nicola Grassano & Daniele Rotolo & Joshua Hutton & Frédérique Lang & Michael M. Hopkins, 2017. "Funding Data from Publication Acknowledgments: Coverage, Uses, and Limitations," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(4), pages 999-1017, April.
    3. Bäker, Agnes & Goodall, Amanda H., 2020. "Feline followers and “umbrella carriers”: Department Chairs’ influence on faculty job satisfaction and quit intentions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(4).
    4. Bozeman, Barry & Youtie, Jan & Jung, Jiwon, 2020. "Robotic Bureaucracy and Administrative Burden: What Are the Effects of Universities’ Computer Automated Research Grants Management Systems?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(6).
    5. Mari Martiskainen, 2016. "The role of community leadership in the development of grassroots innovations," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-10, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    6. Owen, Richard & Pansera, Mario & Macnaghten, Phil & Randles, Sally, 2021. "Organisational institutionalisation of responsible innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1).
    7. Yuti Ariani Fatimah & Saurabh Arora, 2016. "Nonhumans in the Practice of Development: Material Agency and Friction in a Small-Scale Energy Program in Indonesia," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-04, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    8. Keith A. Houghton & Nancy Bagranoff & Christine Jubb, 2021. "The Funding of Higher Education: An Empirical Examination of the Cost of Education in Business Schools," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(4), pages 780-809, December.
    9. Degl’Innocenti, Marta & Matousek, Roman & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2019. "The interconnections of academic research and universities’ “third mission”: Evidence from the UK," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    universities; managerialism; bureaucracy; assessment; performance indicators; audit culture; boiled frog;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J29 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Other
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy
    • L38 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Policy
    • M19 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Other
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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