bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Are British Universities in a Position to Consider Implementing Total Quality Management?
Authors: Chaston Ian 
Published: August 2007

Abstract Accompanying the removal of the binary divide between polytechnics and universities, the Department of Education and Science (DES) also specified the requirement that the British higher education sector should give more emphasis to the effective management of quality. Some writers have suggested that this can be achieved by institutions introducing the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM). A vital aspect of TQM is the integration of multiple functions across the organization with the objective of establishing a quality conscious workforce. A recommended practice is to use the concept of internal marketing as a mechanism to persuade departments to work together in the creation of internal customer chains. To determine the current status of internal customer management practices in British Universities, a survey of academics was undertaken using a modified version of the Parasuraman SERVQUAL model. The majority of respondents indicated the existence of Type 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Gaps in the internal customer management process within their institution. Major influencers of these service gaps include minimal effort to gain further understanding of internal customer requirements and a lack of formal quality standards for managing internal customer relations. Respondents consider their faculties are unable to enhance internal quality if the issue was given higher priority by senior management. Identified obstacles to greater emphasis on an internal customer philosophy include insufficient trust between departments and low confidence levels of ability to manage the process. Under these circumstances, it does not appear that for the foreseeable future, British universities are in a position to adopt TQM philosophy. Hence it seems more advisable that these institutions should restrict their quality management activities to the simpler assessment‐based approach recommended by the Committee of Vice‐Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) Academic Audit Unit.
Government, Higher Education and the Industrial Ethic
Authors: Tasker Mary , Packham David 
Published: August 2007

Abstract The argument of this paper is that there have always been, and still remain, fundamental differences between the purposes of industry and those of higher education. Industry's concern is to make a profit, universities are concerned with open enquiry and intellectual freedom. The values of the two are incommensurable, and it is important that these conflicts of values are not obscured by ambiguity of language or by external pressures. For more than a decade the British government has sought to increase the competitiveness of industry, and has initiated many changes in universities which it has linked to this policy. Three such developments are critically discussed: the enterprise in higher education initiative, academic audit and assessment of teaching quality and the recent White Paper on fundamental research. It is argued that the tendency of each of these is to cause the merging of business values with those of higher education. If this tendency proceeds unchecked universities will no longer be able to fulfil their vital rôle in a free society ‐ the advancement of new and controversial ideas and the education of their students to think critically and autonomously.
Research Users, Producers and Funders: Challenges to Scientific Research in British Universities
Authors: Solesbury William 
Published: August 2007

Abstract Scientific research in universities is undergoing a process of restructuring. To a large extent this process is driven by the changing roles of research funders, research producers and research users. Business is the dominant producer of research, government ‐ through departmental research agencies and research council institutes ‐ is second in importance and universities are relatively minor producers. However, in all sectors there is a process of fragmentation through which independent research producers are emerging. The balance of research funding in the last decade or so has shifted relatively from the dominance of government to the dominance of business, with a growing relative contribution from charities and from overseas. But this diversification of funding has taken place within a broadly stable aggregate level. Research users have started behaving much more as research customers: it is estimated that eighty three per cent of British scientific research is purchased by those in business or government, who wish to use it very directly in their work. These changes pose challenges to the traditional view of university research as a public good or a cultural enterprise; increasingly it is becoming a mode of economic production.
The Regional Dimension in Strategic Planning of Higher Education
Authors: McNay Ian 
Published: August 2007

Abstract This article argues that:

in addition to strong regional features in patterns of access to higher education there is historical evidence of informal recognition of regional factors in decisions affecting supply and availability of provision;
that further recognition of the region as a significant level of decision making is both inevitable and desirable;
that formal democratic structures should be established to recognise that trend and to ensure better governance, strategic planning and coordination of an integrated provision.
Accommodation Planning and Learning Environments in a Large, Dispersed University
Authors: Billing David 
Published: August 2007

AbstractA large and multi‐site British University's experience over three years in developing and implementing an Accommodation/Estate Strategy is summarized. The issues which arise are the conflict between efficient utilization and flexible education, the absence of any useful sector space norms for an institution with more pan‐time than full‐time students, the uncertainty over projections of required types and amounts of learning environments in the next twenty years or more, academic disquiet over re‐locations, the effectiveness of central space allocation systems and the difficulty in designing a sensitive but productive space charging system.
Debt: the reality of student life
Authors: McCarthy Peter , Humphrey Robin 
Published: August 2007

AbstractDuring the 1980s, a political consensus developed concerning the need to increase participation in higher education (Walker and Wright, 1990). How to finance this increase, however, was a matter of contention. While successive Conservative governments demonstrated a commitment to increasing the number of students, this aim was subordinate to their central concern of controlling public expenditure, which meant they were not prepared to meet the cost of expansion totally from the public purse. As a consequence, alternative ways of financing students were introduced which, as this paper will demonstrate, have led to a higher education system subsidized by student debt.
Enterprise in Higher Education: Issues of Evaluation
Authors: Elton Lewis 
Published: August 2007

AbstractThe article describes the many ways in which the Enterprise in Higher Education Initiative (EHE) has been evaluated and the extent to which different stakeholders are likely to be satisfied with the Initiative. It also comments on some of the negative criticisms made of the Initiative and suggests that these are largely due to misunderstandings of what the Initiative had initially set out to achieve. In particular it concludes that EHE cannot be convicted of having tried to pervert academic values to those of the market place.
Leadership, Quality and Institutional Effectiveness
Authors: Middlehurst Robin 
Published: August 2007

AbstractInstitutions of higher education have been slower than commercial enterprises to realise the links between leadership and quality. However, changes in the internal and external environment of universities and colleges are bringing these connections to the fore. This paper presents an overview of current thinking on quality and leadership in the context of institutional effectiveness. The authors explore different interpretations of leadership and quality, and examine their potential contribution to managing change and to the achievement of a culture of quality enhancement in higher education.
Core Skills and the Idea of the Graduate
Authors: Woollard Anthony 
Published: August 2007

AbstractThe question ‘What is a graduate?’ is under scrutiny from Government, employers and the higher education community itself. There are two current approaches—one originating within the philosophy of higher education, one emerging from the demands of employers and the focus on ‘core skills’—which might appear to have something to offer to the debate but which when first examined seem hard to reconcile and both of them difficult to translate into ‘threshold standards’. However, more detailed examination suggests the possibility of a new synthesis which could, if supported by further research and action by the Higher Education community collectively, answer the question to the satisfaction of all stakeholders whilst preserving essential academic autonomy.
Quality Assessment and ‘Self‐regulation’: the English Experience, 1992–94
Authors: Watson David 
Published: August 2007

AbstractThis paper examines issues in the debate on quality assurance in the English system of higher education as they have developed between the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992 and the review proposed by the Secretary of State at the end of 1994. The main focus is on the development by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) of its method of quality assessment and the call for the restoration of ‘self‐regulation’ in such matters to the institutions. The role of the institutions in developing the methods adopted by the Funding Council is outlined, and the chief criticisms of its effects evaluated. The paper concludes by reviewing options for change in the immediate future and the conditions that will have to be met. It is argued that systems could undoubtedly be improved, but that key elements of ‘self‐regulation’ have already been won in the continuation of external peer review.
Review of Modular Implementation in a University
Authors: Billing David 
Published: August 2007

AbstractWhile the pros and cons of modularisation of British degree programmes are often debated, there are few appraisals of large structures following implementation. This paper reports on a substantial review during 1994 of the effectiveness, judged against its aims and incidental effects, of the modular framework at one large and dispersed British university. This was undertaken by a small project team using a questionnaire survey and focus group discussions with staff and students, 18 months after the major implementation.The results confirm the practicality of the basic framework, but indicate that the stated purposes have been achieved to varying extents. For example, flexibility for students has been increased, although not yet in practice to the extent intended; new inter‐disciplinary degrees have been catalysed. The problems mainly concern the cohesion of student experience and the supporting infrastructure: student records, management information, timetabling and room allocations, educational guidance, module registration. There have also been major problems with the load and timing of assessments.The Review culminated in proposals from the project team, accepted by the Academic Council, for fine‐tuning rather than for radical change. Some needs for longer term consideration were also identified.
Mass Higher Education and the search for standards: reflections on some issues emerging from the ‘Graduate Standards Programme’
Authors: Wright Peter 
Published: August 2007

AbstractThis paper sets out to explore the meanings and implications of academic standards in mass higher education. It attempts this in the context of the rapid expansion that has recently taken place in the UK. In doing so it draws on, and examines, selected themes that have emerged from the Higher Education Quality Council's ‘Graduate Standards Programme’ (though it does not attempt to give a full account of the findings of that work).It begins by discussing some of the implications of the ways in which UK HE has become a mass system. It then moves on to consider the roles of explicitness and professionalism in the establishment and assurance of academic standards, and their relationship to issues of public accountability. Having explored the possible tensions between professionalism and accountability, the paper questions whether it is helpful to frame discussions of standards in terms of a notional opposition between subjective and objective. It concludes by proposing another way of conceptualising standards, and discusses their possible future development in UK higher education.
The Research Challenge Faced by the New Universities in the UK
Authors: McKenna P. Gerald 
Published: August 2007

AbstractThe 1991 Government White Paper which abolished the binary divide in British universities brought the former polytechnics (new universities) into direct competition with the traditional (old) universities for research funds from the Funding Councils based on periodic Research Assessment Exercises (RAEs). The outcome of the 1992 RAE showed a predictable gap in research performance between the two groups of institutions. The challenge facing the new universities will be for some, at least, to narrow the gap and/or develop a small number of centres of research excellence and thus challenge the long standing research hegemony enjoyed by the old universities. This will almost certainly involve intense selectivity in the allocation of available research resources and will be influenced by the‘missions’of the institutions involved, the extent of underlying support for such developments and the management structures and style employed.
Is there a role for higher education in initial teacher training? A consideration of some of the main issues in the current debate
Authors: Evans Linda , Abbott Ian , Goodyear Rosalind , Pritchard Alan 
Published: August 2007

AbstractThis article contributes towards the current debate over the role of higher education in initial teacher training. It begins by outlining the background to the debate, and then focuses upon two of the main issues; that of contestability, which concerns whether or not schools significantly challenge, or threaten, the pivotal role in initial teacher training which higher education has traditionally held, and that of financial costs, which concerns whether or not student teachers can be trained cheaper outside of the higher education sector.The article presents findings of the authors’research, a study comparing teacher training carried out by higher education institutions, in partnership with schools, with a newly established model of training provided by consortia of schools. The implications of these findings for the role of higher education in initial teacher training are examined, and recommendations are made for policy which would allow schools and higher education institutions to work together to provide improved teacher training.
Peer Observation of Teaching & Staff Development
Authors: Blackwell Richard 
Published: August 2007

AbstractPeer Observation of Teaching (POT) is a little used way of stimulating reflection on and improvement of teaching. It is an unusual form of staff development [SD] that emphasises continuous processes and peer feedback rather than course attendance. This paper describes the principles and practice of POT, including potential benefits and drawbacks and discusses the conditions necessary for it to flourish in departments and institutions. It argues that POT overcomes the problem of staff ownership’of SD by connecting with peer culture but may be promoted, implemented and supported by SD functions linked to personnel departments. Thus SD functions may play a more substantial role in their organisations’development than hitherto.
Audit, Assessment and Academic Autonomy
Authors: Alderman Geoffrey 
Published: August 2007

AbstractThe current preoccupation in British higher education with quality assessment, quality assurance and the monitoring of academic standards is traceable to a set of government policies which constitute an agenda for the radical overhaul of the ideals by which higher education has operated in Britain hitherto. Intent on overturning the collegial ethos of British higher education, and determined to replace the notion of a self‐justifying and self‐regulating academic community with a system in which universities operate primarily as pan of the national wealth‐creating process, the Conservative government has used the quality debate to impose upon the universities a culture of compliance with norms of its own choosing. The net result of this process has been a deliberate undermining of academic autonomy.
Spurs to Higher Things? Mission Statements of UK Universities*
Authors: Davies Stuart W. , Glaister Keith W. 
Published: August 2007

AbstractMission statements have been the subject of much discussion in the managerial literature and have recently been adopted by most British universities. This paper reports the results of an investigation into how mission statements have been introduced by British universities and reviews the appropriateness of their use in this sector. Based on a questionnaire survey, an analysis of the degree of commitment to mission statements as a valuable management tool is offered and recommendations suggested for their more effective application. The authors conclude that although there is generally a positive attitude towards mission statements, senior managers within universities tend not to consult widely when formulating them and have put little effort into communicating them to the university's staff. Their importance seems to be perceived in terms of meeting the requirements of an external stakeholder rather than offering the opportunity to develop a real sense of purpose within the organisation.
Sacraments : Natural and Supernatural
Authors: Biddle George Edgar 
Published: August 2007

Few more saddening confessions of religious change have ever been made than those of Renan, in his Souvenirs d’Enfance et de feunesse. The emotional appeal of his forsaken Faith was never silenced, although he came to regard its foundations as unsound. He felt cut off from those social acts of worship which mean so much to most of us.
“Quellien,” says he, speaking of a young friend— “Quellien a tres bien compris ce qui fera toujours defaut a mon Eglise, c’est I’enfant de choeur. Ma vie est comme une messe sur laquelle pèse un sort, un éternel Introibo ad altare Dei, et personne pour répondre : Ad Deum quil aetificat juventutem meam. Ma messe n’aura pas de servant. Faute de mieux, je me la repondrai a moi-même; mais ce n’est pas la même chose.”
It can never be the same thing to a nature naturally religious, exiling itself from a Community with worldwide activities, and sustaining its life by practices in force during centuries. Leaving the great Family of Faith he paid the penalty entailed.
He goes to the Eucharist to find an illustration of his companionlessness. He cries—but catches no response. He intones the prayer ; but that prayer has been emptied of the meaning which alone can call forth the swift reply of an answering love.
Theories of Asceticism
Authors: D'Arcy M. C. 
Published: August 2007

Within the last year two, at least, valuable books have appeared on the spiritual life— Abbot Butler’s Benedictine Monachism and Mr. Watkin’s Philosophy of Mysticism. The first of these has been so much noticed that I need not stay over it, save to remark on its sweet reasonableness on the question of mortification and austerities. Herein the Abbot contrasts with Mr. Watkin, who explains and defends with enthusiasm the path of utter detachment up Carmel. This difference, at first sight merely one of emphasis, does, I think, depend ultimately on divergent philosophies, and therefore raises several problems. Does, for instance, a philosophy of mysticism or sanctity require one definite way to God, and is that way necessarily one of ruthless austerity and detachment?
That this question is worth asking is proved by the fact that nowadays there is a desire to portray saints as gracious and lovable persons—not after the manner of the Oratorian lives, which even in the fifties were ill received—but as intensely human and aided to love of their fellowmen by a passionate love of God. A good example is the life of Soeur Thérèse. On the other hand, no amount of explanation can disguise the severity of a St. Gerard Majella, a Père Ginhac or a Father Doyle. The life of the fatter is especially interesting because his biographer quite clearly loves the human element in Father Doyle, but is too sincere to hide the extremes which his asceticism adopted, extremes which might have come straight out of the pages of Surius and are somewhat at variance with the ideal cherished by Abbot Butler.
Cheap Divorce: Cheaper Religion
Authors: Pope Hugh 
Published: August 2007

A Great controversy must always leave its aftermath. Hence it is to be feared that recent discussions in and out of Parliament and Convocation will be found to have left in the minds of many the impression that somehow or other there is room for doubt as to what Christ really did teach on the subject of divorce. Indeed this is hardly to be wondered at when even the Archbishop of York declared that while “he personally was of opinion that marriage was dissoluble only by death” he yet acknowledged that others thought that adultery was a legitimate reason for divorce. And who can help feeling like Alice in Wonderland when he hears Lord Phillimore saying that “the Christian Church had taught that marriage was almost indissoluble until death”? The “almost” is piquant and delightful ! One would “almost” prefer the cynical frankness of the Lord Chancellor, who does not mince his words but says out plainly that “the arguments of those who oppose divorce are the whisperings of the abandoned superstitions of the Middle Ages.” One is even tempted to a sneaking admiration of the Archbishop of Canterbury who—when challenged by the same Lord Chancellor to say whether the innocent party in a divorce committed adultery by re-marrying—answered with an emphatic “No !” At least we have here definite and consistent views.Still from all this a man logically concludes that there must be some reason why some hold that the innocent party should be free to re-marry and that adultery should be regarded by some as a legitimate ground for divorce.
How I have Studied the Social Question
Authors: McDonald Walter 
Published: August 2007

Gentlemen,—You wish, I understand, to get some advice as to how you should set about studying the Social Question. I do not know how to meet your wishes better than by telling how I have myself proceeded ; though this, of course, exposes me to the risk of seeming to pose not only as an expert but as a model. Hence I must begin by saying that I know very little of the question on its economic side. There is, however, another side, the ethical, to which I have given some attention ; and as it is this alone which you are called on to study, perhaps it may help you to know how one who lays no claim to very special knowledge has proceeded in his investigations.I began, like yourselves, with the treatise on Justice, as set forth in the class-book of this College ; which, in my time, was Gury. I do not know of any better way of beginning, except, perhaps, to devote more attention than we did to the title of Occupation ; which I now regard as the key to much of the question at issue between extreme Socialists and ourselves.Well, three years after the close of my College course, the Land League was started ; and it was not very long till we heard it argued that there could be no private property in land, as “the exertion of labour in production is the only title to exclusive possession.”