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V. Foreign Higher Education and Education Systems, International Relations, Bilateral Relations
B. Essays, Commentaries, Statements
Author JOHNSON, Rachel
Title Learning to manage the university : tales of training and experience
Publication year 2002
Source/Footnote In: Higher education quarterly. - 56 (2002) 1, S. 33 - 51
Inventory number 15166
Keywords Ausland : Großbritannien : Hochschulwesen allgemein ; Hochschule : Verwaltung allgemein ; Hochschulreform : allgemein
Abstract The paper draws on interviews with ?manager-academics? (Pro-Vice Chancellors, Deputy Vice Chancellors and Heads of Department) in UK universities to examine their views on their preparation, training and support for their roles. Following a brief description of the ESRC-funded study, the paper describes manager-academics? reported career trajectories, motivations and initial experiences, and the training they received: their views both of training and of less formal learning are ambivalent and often hesitant. However, the interviews reveal processes and contexts that manager-academics consider beneficial to their own learning and development, and this analysis suggests both theoretical understanding and practical guidelines. Manager-academics? learning occurs through engagement in practice and through social interaction, and is context-specific. Institutions can foster learning and good management by acknowledging these characteristics and promoting opportunities for self-critical reflection, peer feedback and collective articulation and sharing of experience. (HRK / Abstract übernommen)