Patterns of strategies in Swiss higher education institutions

Fumasoli, Tatiana; Lepori, Benedetto

doi:10.1007/s10734-010-9330-x

Cited by 87 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Third, existing studies show that prioritising and allocation of resources between subject domains are a central issue for higher education strategies and internal allocation of resources (Fumasoli and Lepori 2010), and these processes are largely driven by the perception of HEI management of the strengths and weaknesses of specific domains, of environmental opportunities, as well as by the power of different departments inside the organisation (Salancik and Pfeffer 1974). The scarce empirical evidence of the interplay between institutional-level strategies and disciplinary units displays complex patterns of interaction which are likely to be highly dependent on the specific institution and national context (Meek et al 2000;Morphew 2000).…”

Section: From Disciplinary Diversity To Subject MIXmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Subject Mix in Higher Education Institutions: A First Empirical Analysis Using the AQUAMETH Database

Lepori

Baschung

Probst

2010

Minerva

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Teaching and research are organised differently between subject domains: attempts to construct typologies of higher education institutions, however, often do not include quantitative indicators concerning subject mix which would allow systematic comparisons of large numbers of higher education institutions among different countries, as the availability of data for such indicators is limited. In this paper, we present an exploratory approach for the construction of such indicators. The database constructed in the AQUAMETH project, which includes also data disaggregated at the disciplinary level, is explored with the aim of understanding patterns of subject mix. For six European countries, an exploratory and descriptive analysis of staff composition divided in four large domains (medical sciences, engineering and technology, natural sciences and social sciences and humanities) is performed, which leads to a classification distinguishing between specialist and generalist institutions. Among the latter, a further distinction is made based on the presence or absence of a medical department. Preliminary exploration of this classification and its comparison with other indicators show the influence of long term dynamics on the subject mix of individual higher education institutions, but also underline disciplinary differences, for example regarding student to staff ratios, as well as national patterns, for example regarding the number of PhD degrees per 100 undergraduate students. Despite its many limitations, this exploratory approach allows defining a classification of higher education institutions that accounts for a large share of differences between the analysed higher education institutions.

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Section: From Disciplinary Diversity To Subject MIXmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Subject Mix in Higher Education Institutions: A First Empirical Analysis Using the AQUAMETH Database

Lepori

Baschung

Probst

2010

Minerva

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“…The main process is the allocation of chairs, as it determines the allocation of the largest part of the budget (in the social sciences, about 70 % of the total costs in 2014 were composed by personnel costs). Planning of the chairs, particularly the replacement of retiring professors is a key competence of the faculties and is a central element of university strategic planning in Swiss universities (Fumasoli and Lepori 2011).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dynamics of university units as a multi‐level process. Credibility cycles and resource dependencies

et al. 2016

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This paper presents an analysis of resource acquisition and profile development of institutional units within universities. We conceptualize resource acquisition as a twolevel nested process, where units compete for external resources based on their credibility, but at the same time are granted faculty positions from the larger units (department) to which they belong. Our model implies that the growth of university units is constrained by the decisions of their parent department on the allocation of professorial positions, which represent the critical resource for most units' activities. In our field of study this allocation is largely based on educational activities, and therefore, units with high scientific credibility are not necessarily able to grow, despite an increasing reliance on external funds. Our paper therefore sheds light on the implications that the dual funding system of European universities has for the development of units, while taking into account the interaction between institutional funding and third-party funding.

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“…It has been argued that effective public administration in the age of result-oriented management requires public agencies to develop a capacity for strategic management, the central management process that integrates all major activities and functions and directs them towards advancing an organization's strategic agenda (Poister and Streib, 1999). Further advances have been made to indicate that university strategies can be limited to a reactive response to environmental pressures, to a simple mechanism for resource allocation according to predefined rules in order to maintain a vulnerable internal balance or by a low degree of autonomy in managing resources (Fumasoli and Lepori, 2011). Considering universities as formal organizations leads to a conception of strategies being as change instruments in the hands of management (Krücken and Meier, 2006).…”

Section: Concept Of Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…University strategies can be limited to a reactive response to environmental pressures, to a simple mechanism for resource allocation according to predefined rules in order to maintain a vulnerable internal balance or by a low degree of autonomy in managing resources. Following this perspective, university nature as loosely coupled systems would lead to emergent strategies based on ad hoc responses by learning organizational units or by adaptation through simultaneous tracking (Fumasoli and Lepori, 2011). Considering universities as formal organizations leads to a conception of strategies as change instruments in the hands of management (Krücken and Meier, 2006).…”

Section: Strategic Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping Strategies Adopted by Public Universities in Kenya in Response to Environmental Changes

Mathooko¹,

Ogutu²

2014

JMS

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This study was undertaken to establish strategies adopted by public universities in Kenya in response to changes in the environment. The study design was descriptive and utilized a cross-sectional survey of all the public universities in Kenya through administration of a structured questionnaire to the top management team. Additional primary data were collected through observations and interviews. Secondary data were collected from published works and, universities and government documents in public domain in order to corroborate the data collected from the primary sources. Positive responses were received from 63 respondents out of 91, yielding a 69.4% response rate. The universities adopted Porter's generic competitive strategy model, of cost leadership, differentiation and focus to counter the challenges experienced, and in particular cost leadership and differentiation. The extent of adoption of differentiation strategy was significantly different (p<0.05) between the old and new universities and not among the three categories of public universities, that is, old, new and university colleges. Grand strategies adopted were diversification in related business, expansion and strategic alliances. The major operational strategies adopted included, management leadership in the formulation of response strategies, distributed leadership, benchmarking, and mounting of evening and weekend programmes. Some operational strategies adopted by some universities were, however, unethical and may compromise quality. The results indicate that the coping strategies adopted by public universities in Kenya in response to changes in the environment are more or less similar to those applied by corporate organizations among them, grand strategies and Porter's generic competitive strategy.

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Patterns of strategies in Swiss higher education institutions

Cited by 87 publications

References 34 publications

Patterns of Subject Mix in Higher Education Institutions: A First Empirical Analysis Using the AQUAMETH Database

Patterns of Subject Mix in Higher Education Institutions: A First Empirical Analysis Using the AQUAMETH Database

The dynamics of university units as a multi‐level process. Credibility cycles and resource dependencies

Coping Strategies Adopted by Public Universities in Kenya in Response to Environmental Changes

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