There is a growing body of literature on the roles that deans play in challenging times; however, what is often missing are deans' own voices as they reflect on their experiences trying to manage the dilemmas and crises inherent in their work. This is particularly true of the past few years when deans have managed unprecedented levels of…

The inadequacy of training and support for academic middle managers in the US, UK, and Australia is well documented. What remains unclear is what would make for better professional development. This study fills this gap by investigating what associate deans at US research universities report learning 'on the job'. Drawing on their perspectives and…

In 2017 Universities Australia initiated their "Indigenous Strategy 2017-2020" which outlined a clear commitment for each university to appoint at least one Indigenous person to a senior executive role. Many universities are yet to realise this promise. In some cases, it is a situation of nil intent to do so, while others have an…

The role and number of Associate Dean posts in UK universities has grown considerably in recent years. Despite this, relatively little is known about the reasons why individuals take on such roles and how it fits into their career trajectories. The purpose of this article is to explore these issues by drawing on data from the first national study…

This paper critically explores the opportunity for leadership development in higher education within an interpretative inquiry paradigm from the perspective of middle-level academics transitioning into leadership/management roles in Australian universities. Middle-level academics are described as being at a mid-point in their careers and…

University middle leaders play a significant role in change management. While research examines the outcomes of change management, far less attention has been paid to how middle leaders develop agency and negotiate their identities in achieving these outcomes. This study presents the cases of two middle leaders in Shanghai enacting a curriculum…

A national sample of 1515 university administrators (academic deans, directors, associate deans, and department chairs) completed a survey of leadership skills, preparedness for administrative role, and job satisfaction. Overall, participants felt least well prepared in the areas of developing entrepreneurial revenue, developing metrics to…

A study was conducted to determine general professional development activities perceived to be important in enhancing university teaching staff's job performance, and the extent to which teaching staff participate in these activities in Uganda. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with faculty deans and department heads (n = 20),…

This paper reports results of analyses of data from an online 360[degrees] feedback survey with 19 heads of school, 23 line managers and 120 significant others (peers, academic staff and administrative staff) from Australian universities. It focuses on the heads' effectiveness, and the extent and importance of several leadership roles. A series of…

This article describes the use of benchmarking in universities in the Czech Republic and academics' experiences with it. It is based on research conducted among academics from economics schools in Czech public and private universities. The results identified several issues regarding the utilisation and understanding of benchmarking in the Czech…

This study investigates the experiences of academics who take on temporary, middle management roles within a university faculty. Individuals with titles such as Associate or Sub Dean, Head of Department or Programme Director were interviewed but, for the purposes of this paper, we will refer to all of these as Associate Deans. We are aware that…

The development of an oath for business managers, similar to the Hippocratic Oath, has inspired meditation upon similar oaths for academics and university managers. Such oaths are concerned with formulating and asserting the professionalism of the groups that might take them. This paper argues that, while a legitimate heuristic to help university…

Despite repeated calls to improve the quality of Australian business higher education, sector-wide improvement has been elusive. This paper presents an analysis of a multi-institutional project undertaken by the Australian Business Deans Council Teaching and Learning Network. Earlier studies of change in higher education demonstrated the need to…

Do academic administrators make decisions about resource allocation differently depending on the discipline receiving the funding? Does an administrator's academic identity influence these decisions? This study explored those questions with a sample of 1,690 academic administrators at doctoral-research universities. Participants used fictional…

Reports on a study which evaluated how the 44 heads of schools at Griffith University (Australia) perceived the institution's strategic planning process. Heads expressed a sense of confusion and some resistance to the planning process. Issues identified included the importance of: vision and direction in planning, participation in the planning…