Participation in Higher Education: aspirations, attainment and social background

The recent report of the Milburn Review into Social Mobility highlights the under-representation of young people from lower socio-economic groups in higher education and encourages universities and others to act to remedy this situation as a contribution to greater social mobility. The paper uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England to examine the relationship between social background, attainment and university participation. The results show that differences in school-level attainment associated with social background are by far the most important explanation for social background differences in university attendance. However, there remains a small proportion of the participation gap that is not accounted for by attainment. It is also the case that early intentions for higher education participation are highly predictive of actual participation. The results suggest that although there may be some scope for universities to act to improve participation by people from less advantaged backgrounds, a much more important focus of action is on improving the school-level achievement of these students.

HMEF: framework to evaluate merging of Higher Education Institutions – application of Enterprise Architecture

Mergers of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are organisational processes requiring tremendous amount of resources, in terms of time, work, and money. A number of mergers have been seen on previous years and more are to come. Several studies on mergers have been conducted, revealing some crucial factors that affect the success of mergers. Based on literature review on these studies, factors are: the initiator of merger, a reason for merger, geographical distance of merging institutions, organisational culture, the extend of overlapping course portfolio, and Quality Assurance Systems (QASs). Usually these kind of factors are not considered on mergers, but focus is on financial matters. In this paper, a framework (HMEF) for evaluating merging of HEIs is introduced. HMEF is based on Enterprise Architecture (EA), focusing on factors found to be affecting the success of mergers. By using HMEF, HEIs can focus on matters that crucial for merging.

Power and control: managing agents for international student recruitment in higher education

This multiple case-based study investigates the relationship between recruiting agents and the UK universities who act as their principals. The current extensive use of agents in UK higher education may be seen as an indicator of the financial impact made by international students. The study analyses the practice of agent management and explores the manner in which power and control interact. The study employed semi-structured interviews and group discussions involving up to 6 respondents from each of the 20 UK case institutions. The qualitative data reveal a considerable variation in the manner in which the universities manage their agency relationships. Through the joint consideration of control measures and use of power, five distinctive approaches have been identified. The study also reveals that over-dependence on agents reduces the power of the principal, and consequently, the principal’s ability to exercise control, particularly in highly competitive global and national markets.

Proximity, strategic groups and reputation: an exploratory study of reputation in higher education

This paper explores the idea that stakeholder proximity, that is, how much/little experience a stakeholder has with a focal organization, impacts the extent to which stakeholders rely on strategic group characteristics as an anchor when judging the reputation of higher education institutions. We synthesize theories from psychology (ie, cognitive categorization theory) and management (ie, strategic group theory) to explore how stakeholder proximity may influence the formation of organizational reputation. Specifically, we examine how the proximity of three key stakeholders (N=1,049; prospective students, parents of students and hiring managers of new graduates) influences the perceived strategic character and generalized favorability of three distinct groups of post-secondary institutions (research-intensive universities, teaching-intensive universities and career colleges). Our results suggest that high proximity stakeholders rely less on strategic group characteristics, while reputation at a strategic group level is suggested to have greater influence on stakeholders who have less direct experience of and low proximity to an organization. Interestingly, our findings reveal some consistent differences between perceptions of prospective students and hiring managers that pose important theoretical questions about the role and impact of direct experiences in the reputation-building process, while also suggesting that higher education institutions may benefit significantly from differentiated marketing strategies according to issues of proximity.

A structuration theory perspective on the institutional change in Higher Education sector

Budgeting system has been traditionally viewed as a control mechanism rather than a communication tool to facilitate the institutionalisation of organisational change. A good budgeting system not only reflects the organisational reality but also socially constructs the reality. This paper uses the structuration perspective to understand budget-related behaviour in a UK research-intensive university and especially, study the role of budgeting system in achieving organisational sustainability. Giddens’ structuration theory offers a valuable framework for the study of the duality of structure and emphasises on the structural properties of social systems. Based on the semi-structured interviews with top management and budget holders, it is concluded that in this specific context, budgeting system may place a significant role in establishing and legitimising institutional change.

Entrepreneurial dynamics and higher education institutions in the post-communist world

This study draws on the institutional and regional entrepreneurship literature to develop a conceptual framework that analyses the impact of higher education institutions on entrepreneurial dynamics. It is used to examine the cities of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) during the period 1995–2008. Extending the multi-pillar institutional concept, it is found that higher education institutions play a prominent role in fostering entrepreneurial dynamics in CIS cities through multiple channels, including human capital development, cultivating a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship, affecting the perceptions of the knowledge and skills needed to start up a successful business, and knowledge spillovers.