As US college campuses continue to be embroiled in demonstrations and internal conflict over the Israel-Hamas War more than one year after its outbreak, it is worth examining how the conflict initially boiled over into American higher education. To this end, the authors analyzed how university leaders chose to initially communicate with their…

Purpose: This study aims to enhance the understanding of university management as a crucial aspect for ensuring the continuous improvement and quality assurance of institutions, considering that universities are knowledge-based institutions and proposing a framework based on intellectual capital and specific university management activities based…

Our university campuses need people in leadership sensitive to the social and political privilege they enjoy relative to the many diverse students they serve. Through a case study approach, we examine how leaders use campus communications to intentionally build community and expand a sense of belonging for all voices. Drawing on feminist…

This paper focuses on trust building as an organizational phenomenon, more specifically, trust building through discursive leadership from the perspective of communicative engagement. The study draws on prior trust literature and discursive leadership theory, adopting an explorative approach in seeking a deeper understanding of organizational…

Global climate change threatens university campuses around the world. However, prior research suggests that universities around the globe tend to prioritize preventing further climate change rather than developing plans to address the effects of ongoing, irreversible climate change. Further, scholarship on climate change and disaster resilience…

Utilizing competency-based education (CBE) initiatives as a practice is gaining traction across higher education settings. With the onset and residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, such initiatives are gaining additional encouragement. CBE has produced some positive outcomes in terms of higher education. Researchers indicated that CBE…

There is a wide-spread perception that universities reorganise their academic units frequently, although there is little beyond anecdote to support this. Similarly, the literature contains some speculation about what affects the success of such efforts, but there is almost no data to support various views. This study assesses the perceptions of…

This article explores how public higher education institutions may design and implement new study programmes based on an example of a liberal arts programme adopted recently at a Polish university. Using a mixed-method approach (actor analysis, ethnographic thick description, and discourse and rhetorical analysis of communications), we approach…

By many accounts--on August 11th and 12th, 2017--a "Unite the Right" rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, catalyzed a series of violent events culminating in the injury of dozens of people and the death of three people (Alvarez, 2017; Astor, Caron, & Victor, 2017; Heim, 2017; McKelway, 2017).…

Problems associated with managerialism are well established in Higher Education. Driven by pressures of funding cuts, league tables and the associated competitive environment, Higher Education followed other public sector bodies in adopting Lean Management principles. While there is scepticism about Lean Management because it is seen as an…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the internal and external factors related to the disclosure of environmental information in universities which reflect the actions carried out in these universities. Design/methodology/approach: Taking as reference the first 200 universities in the Shanghai ranking, several factors associated with…

Leaders in higher education regularly find themselves at the intersection of change, torn between their institution's history and culture, the intrinsic value of education, market needs, and the desires of alumni, current, and prospective students. Higher education is often labeled reluctant to change, and many believe any change initiative not…

Universities around the world are internationalizing themselves at a higher pace than even seen before. Faculty support is recognized as critical for the success of the internationalization mission. However, faculty motivation and commitment are often taken for granted; administrators direct most of their attention to tackling partnership issues…

This qualitative study explored administrative responses to local and sociopolitical events challenging campus climates at public research universities. Using critical discourse analysis, we examined the use of language as a form of power in publicly available documents addressing campus climate for diversity and inclusion at 31 U.S. institutions.…

University campuses are critical spaces where the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in society are discussed, and debated. However, even as campus communities across the world grow more diverse, higher education institutions are facing an existential crisis--high dropout rates, low enrollments, growing disenchantment with…