Campus design and estate management: concepts and challenges from an international perspective

The university is an ancient and successful concept which, until very recently, has usually been associated with a particular locus, e. g. at a single, fairly homogenous site, or as a collection of buildings in a town or city built over time. Some institutions have been planned in their entirety from predominantly one architectural drawing board (e.g. University of Lausanne at Dorigny), others have started out as a small idea (e.g. the first college quadrangle in Oxford) and have since grown to become something quite different from the original, e.g.in Oxford there are now over 40 colleges, Science Park, university hospitals etc. Architectural trends have also played their part in university construction e.g. neo-Gothic (19th century), Brutalist (20th century) or the German Marburg University building system of the 1960s, which was emulated by many other institutions. Irrespective of style, university buildings are loaded with meaning and yet we frequently take them for granted and do not consider how they might impact on our capacity to learn and teach. It is only when we are disturbed by construction work that we are irritated into taking any real notice of our physical environment. Yet subliminally we are undoubtedly affected by our surroundings, which are not fixed, but change to become objects of “(re)interpretation, narration and representation […]” (Gieryn, 2002, p.35). This is a sense-making process as we negotiate how to act within them (Weick, 1995). Buildings impact on our well-being and how we thrive, which should be of key importance to the academic world in which creativity and innovation are of such importance (Marmot, in Temple (ed.) 2014). When higher education estate fails, and there are many examples of this, it is as much “a failure of psychology as of design” (de Botton, 2006/2014, p. 248). However, we do not have much data on the processes and ideas behind the creation (or adaptation) of higher education estate (cf. Bligh, in Temple (ed.) 2014). This research therefore asks the following questions: How do those who make decisions about higher education buildings take psychological well-being, or learning capability into account? Do they make compromises on the quality of materials? How do different countries and their university leaders address and govern the processes behind the creation and management of higher education estate of various types and age? What are current trends and challenges to higher education estate? Employing a constructivist perspective, this ongoing international research examines notions of value, care and identity (Tse et al, 2015) and analyses how an institution’s strategic capacity and organisational capability impacts on how estate is managed (cf. Thoenig & Paradeise, 2016). It uses case studies (Yin, 6th ed., 2018) from different institutional types in Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and China which have been selected according to a strategic capacity model. Alongside documentary research and online data-gathering, interviews onsite have been conducted with a range of stakeholders, including leaders, planners, faculty and students. The research aims to theorise how an important and costly part of university administration is being managed in the context of today’s teaching and learning needs

The role of peer review in science

From today's viewpoint it seems almost inconceivable that there once was a time where academia functioned without peer review processes, which are now so much part and parcel of the academic environment. Peer review is mainly taken for granted and we assume that it generally works well in estimating the worth of academic outputs of differents kinds (publications, grant proposals etc.) However, the process itself is not free of criticism and much can still be done to improve review quality. In this paper I explore and question the purpose and function of peer review, engage with various problems that can occur in the process, and make suggestions for ways in which peer review might be improved. It is based on empirical research, participation in various peer review forms and observation of accreditation practice

Impacts on Higher Education from a British and German perspective

Higher education in both Germany and the UK has undergone numerous changes in the last two decades. It seems worthwhile to examine how varying forms of HE governance and pan-European influences have played out upon these two national systems. Of note in particular are Bologna, European Standards and Guidelines in Quality Assurance, and various accreditation regulations. In this article we postulate to what extent these two systems may or may not be able to move forward in the imminent future. Is German higher education, for example, becoming more autonomous if it can display its own systems of quality control are working well (system-accreditation)? Has British higher education relinquished autonomy, as both research and teaching domains are subject to external review (REF/TEF)? What can we learn about the transformational impact any of these mechanisms are having? This chapter adresses these issues and asks which benefits or disadvantages are to be gained by different systems in article

Berufsfeld Wissenschaftsmanagement

In diesem Band werden zentrale Ergebnisse aus dem Verbund „KaWuM – Karrierewege und Qualifikationsanforderungen im Wissenschafts- und Hochschulmanagement” vorgestellt. KaWuM erarbeitet derzeit erstmals für Deutschland eine breite Bestandsaufnahme zum Wissenschafts- und Hochschulmanagement. Zentrale (Forschungs-)Fragen, die hierbei beantwortet werden, sind: Welche Bildungsabschlüsse und fachlichen Hintergründe haben die im Wissenschafts- und Hochschulmanagement Tätigen? Was kennzeichnet die Weiterbildung im Wissenschafts- und Hochschulmanagement? Welche Bedarfe gibt es hierfür bei den Wissenschaftsmanager*innen und aus Sicht von Personalverantwortlichen? Wie werden die vorhandenen Angebote angenommen und bewertet? Wie stark spielt das Wissenschafts- und Hochschulmanagement selbst eine Rolle, bei der Weiterentwicklung von Hochschulen und Wissenschaftseinrichtungen bzw. deren „Organisationswerdung“? Methodisch wird dabei dem Ansatz gefolgt, dass die durch eine Kombination von qualitativen Interviewergebnissen (aus dem Teilprojekt KaWuM-ZENTRAL der Deutschen Universität für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer), mit übersichtlich dargestellten Zahlen und Fakten, die aus bundesweit repräsentativen Onlinebefragungen gewonnen wurden (aus dem Teilprojekt KaWuM-SURVEY der Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin) sowie den zentralen Ergebnissen der Diskussion mit Interessierten an den Ergebnissen und ihren potenziellen Nutzer*innen (aus dem Teilprojekt KaWuM-TRANSFER der IU – International University) integriert werden. Bei letzterem ist das Besondere, dass die Ergebnisse bereits mit Praktiker*innen diskutiert und handlungspraktische Empfehlungen entwickelt wurden. Hierdurch konnten die (Zwischen-)Ergebnisse zeitnah in Transfer-Workshops einfließen, durch welche wiederum auch vertiefende Forschungshypothesen im Sinne eines zweiseitigen Transfers generiert und gemeinsam im Verbund bearbeitet werden. Die Erkenntnisse versprechen auch daher eine hohe Relevanz für Weiterentwicklungsmöglichkeiten sowohl bei (angehenden) Wissenschaftsmanager*innen, mit Personalentwicklung und Weiterbildung in der Wissenschaft Befassten sowie Hochschulpolitik und Hochschul-/Wissenschaftsforschung. Die Gliederung des Buches folgt insgesamt grob einer Art “life cycle” der Berufswegeentscheidungen von Wissenschaftsmanager*innen. (DIPF/Orig.

Investigating the evaluation of higher education in Germany: a case study of educational science (Erziehungswissenschaft) in Baden-Württemberg

This thesis is an empirical qualitative case study of the work of an evaluation commission which was established by the Ministry of Culture, Research and Art in the German state of Baden-Württemberg in 2003 to undertake a cross-sectional examination of the quality of teaching and research in universities and teacher training colleges offering courses in Educational Science (Erziehungswissenschaft). Although much literature on evaluation methods and models exists, little addresses the minutiae of evaluation work through the eyes of those doing it. This study therefore aims to augment this knowledge by examining the attitudes, experiences and difficulties which evaluators face. It contributes to the discourse on evaluation theory and practice by providing suggestions for what might help to improve decision-making processes in this particular environment. Informed by phenomenological theory, this exploratory study also uses decision-making theories as a means of providing knowledge on both individual and organisational issues which can augment our understanding of how expert commissions work: the social, political and cultural mechanisms that are involved, and the techniques that evaluators employ in order to provide institutions with an objective, fair, trustworthy and reliable evaluation report. As external review has become an accepted means of quality assurance, this research constitutes a contribution to the discourse on ways of improving quality assurance in higher education on a broader scale, not just within the context of German higher education. Furthermore, it also offers insight into the discipline of Educational Science itself and the notion of competing research paradigms, which have an impact on the way the discipline perceives itself and is perceived by others. The study is broadly divided into three main sections. The first contextualises the history of higher education evaluation, specifically within the German context. It looks at how the idea of what a university is has changed, especially during the last few decades of the 20th century, and notions of quality within this particular environment. The evaluation is also briefly introduced within the context of Baden-Württemberg. The second section explores the evaluation by examining the documents available in the evalag agency archive in Mannheim, thereby facilitating an understanding of the background to the commission and the processes which the evaluators underwent as work progressed. The third provides insight into what the evaluators themselves thought of the process and is based on interview analysis. The thesis concludes with a brief survey of more recent developments in quality assurance in Germany

Investigating the evaluation of higher education in Germany : a case study of educational science (Erziehungswissenschaft) in Baden-Württemberg

This thesis is an empirical qualitative case study of the work of an evaluation commission which was established by the Ministry of Culture, Research and Art in the German state of Baden-Württemberg in 2003 to undertake a cross-sectional examination of the quality of teaching and research in universities and teacher training colleges offering courses in Educational Science (Erziehungswissenschaft). Although much literature on evaluation methods and models exists, little addresses the minutiae of evaluation work through the eyes of those doing it. This study therefore aims to augment this knowledge by examining the attitudes, experiences and difficulties which evaluators face. It contributes to the discourse on evaluation theory and practice by providing suggestions for what might help to improve decision-making processes in this particular environment. Informed by phenomenological theory, this exploratory study also uses decision-making theories as a means of providing knowledge on both individual and organisational issues which can augment our understanding of how expert commissions work: the social, political and cultural mechanisms that are involved, and the techniques that evaluators employ in order to provide institutions with an objective, fair, trustworthy and reliable evaluation report. As external review has become an accepted means of quality assurance, this research constitutes a contribution to the discourse on ways of improving quality assurance in higher education on a broader scale, not just within the context of German higher education. Furthermore, it also offers insight into the discipline of Educational Science itself and the notion of competing research paradigms, which have an impact on the way the discipline perceives itself and is perceived by others. The study is broadly divided into three main sections. The first contextualises the history of higher education evaluation, specifically within the German context. It looks at how the idea of what a university is has changed, especially during the last few decades of the 20th century, and notions of quality within this particular environment. The evaluation is also briefly introduced within the context of Baden-Württemberg. The second section explores the evaluation by examining the documents available in the evalag agency archive in Mannheim, thereby facilitating an understanding of the background to the commission and the processes which the evaluators underwent as work progressed. The third provides insight into what the evaluators themselves thought of the process and is based on interview analysis. The thesis concludes with a brief survey of more recent developments in quality assurance in Germany.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Wissenschaftsmanagement, quo vadis? Ansätze zur Definition, Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung

Das Wissenschaftsmanagement wird in Wissenschaftsorganisationen zunehmend wichtiger. Gleichzeitig wissen wir bisher relativ wenig darüber. Deshalb werden wir zunächst die Entwicklung des Wissenschaftsmanagements einordnen und einige zentrale Entwicklungen nachzeichnen. Anhand der Vorstellung und Diskussion bisheriger Versuche zur Definition und Eingrenzung des Wissenschaftsmanagements wird dann herausgearbeitet, dass diese sich in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß als Grundlage für eine fundierte Diskussion von Qualifikationsanforderungen und für (zielgruppenspezifische) Maßnahmen wie zur Personalentwicklung eignen. Zudem wird aufgezeigt, dass das Wissenschaftsmanagement auch eine bisher möglicherweise unterschätzte Rolle bei der Organisationsentwicklung spielt