Academic Mission Statements: An Exercise in Negotiation

Abstract

English educational legislation in the 1980s and early 1990s occasioned major reforms in the funding and management of post-compulsory educational institutions. Out went largely autonomous Universities, Polytechnics answerable for their actions to local government, and independent Colleges of Higher Education; in came Higher Education Funding Councils and Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). After legislation in 1992, all were able to call themselves universities. Driving this redefinition of educational realities was a view that higher education had been too long `provider centred' rather than `customer centred', that it had to expand and change to take fully into account the new needs of industry, business and the professions. It had to become a more responsible user of public funds, to demonstrate it was capable of managing them effectively and efficiently, and provide value for money. Higher education had to become `business like'. This article examines one facet of the transformation through which English higher education is still passing. It analyses the Mission Statements which all HEIs have had to produce, to determine in what ways they position the HEIs, represent what they do, and relate them to other participants `in the wider community'.

The Marketization of Higher Education Discourse: A Genre Analysis of University Website Homepages in China

“…A prime example of this phenomenon is the use of promotional discourse in higher educational sector. Terms from the corporate world such as "customers", "clients", "markets", "corporate identity", "mission statement" and "strategic plans" began to appear in higher education discursive practices (Connell & Galasinski, 1998;Askehave, 2007;Mok, 1999). Promotional elements exemplified by the lexical, grammatical and syntactic choices are present and prevalent in various genres of higher education discourse such as brochures, prospectuses, flyers, posters, job advertisements and home pages on websites (Fairclough, 1993(Fairclough, , 1995Askehave, 2007;Osman, 2008).…”

“…Except for THU, presidents of the other three universities constantly use the university name as the subject in virtually all sentences throughout the remark, leading to a kind of "authorless discourse" (Connell & Galasinski, 1998). Readers are distanced from the university by the impersonal description and cannot develop any emotional attachment to the university.…”

Strategy as text and discursive practice: a genre-based approach to strategizing in city administration

“…Nevertheless, key insights have been gained by studies focusing on mission, vision or value statements (Swales and Rogers, 1995;Connell and Galasiński, 1998;Williams, 2008). In their analysis, Swales and Rogers (1995) identified rhetorical strategies that were "designed in order to ensure maximum employee "buy-in.""…”

Community colleges and the politics of sociospatial scale

“…First, regional accrediting bodies require institutions to produce mission statements (Keller 1983), so the documents emerge at least in part in an attempt to establish institutional legitimacy Powell and DiMaggio 1991). Second, the production of mission statements establishes a unique role for educational institutions and thus promotes institutional autonomy within a environment dominated by a corporate institutional forms (Connell and Galasinski 1998). Third, mission statements do not simply describe but also interpret reality, which constitutes an act of governance (Tierney 2008).…”