Change and Continuity in the Appointment of Second Tier University Managers (original) (raw)

The modern university is a multi-million pound enterprise, operating in a highly competitive global market place and an increasingly challenging economic environment. The quality of university management – especially as executive team level – has thus never been more important and it follows that appointing the best candidates is essential. This study of university top team recruitment practice has two research components, or phases. The first identifies the extent to which pre-1992 universities are moving from an internal, fixed-term appointment process for their second tier managers – that is, Deputy and Pro Vice-chancellors – to one of external advertisement. The second is a census of current second tier managers. The picture that emerges is one of change and continuity. Pre-1992 institutions are fairly evenly divided across different institutional types and affiliations into those that have changed their recruitment practice and those that have not. The number of second tier man...