Governance and management in universities: the way we live now

Abstract

Although all British universities are now subject to much greater external regulation, mainly by the state and its subordinate agencies, simple generalizations cannot be drawn from the complex evolution of their management and governance. Instead a variety of organizational cultures is developing. Some, predominantly but not exclusively in the more academically successful universities with stronger traditions of collegial government, will diffuse (if not resist) the managerialism typical of the post-Dearing era; others will embrace it, fashioning tightly focused teams of executive managers; many, perhaps most, will lie between these extremes.