Crossing the divide - professional transitions within higher education

Abstract

In any organisation people are crucial to its success and universities are no exception. The successful operation of an educational institution requires competent administrators working alongside the team of academics who are employed to deliver the teaching, to enable the learning, and to carry out important research activities. In all work situations groups of staff have to work together for the good of the organisation, but in higher education there are often fractious relationships between diverse communities of staff which can impact on their professional lives. For many years the boundaries between academia and administration have been blurring due to the changing nature of roles undertaken by university staff, and many administrators are now taking on aspects of work which were historically undertaken by academics.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is an academic/administrative divide in universities in the United Kingdom, and if there is, how it operates, and to explore whether professional transitions are possible within the confines of structural boundaries. The study aimed to address four research questions which evolved from the title and a number of themes and questions emerged from these. These were:

• Is there an academic/administrative divide in universities and if so, what is its nature and what are the factors underlying this?
• In what ways do administrators in higher education form identities through their work and roles within their institutions?
• To what extent do administrators in higher education inhabit hybrid roles and are these shaped by organisational factors (including line management and organisational culture)?
• In what ways are administrators supported in making the transitions to academic work (or taking on academic roles) and gaining acceptance within the academic community?

In trying to answer these questions a number of recommendations have been considered, some of which may be seen by university management to be radical, that could address this perceived imbalance of professional values between communities of staff and to start to deconstruct the divide.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Michael Tomlinson: orcid.org/0000-0002-1057-5188

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