Target-led culture in universities analysed in major project

University leaders can be quick to claim success if a strategy nudges an institution a few places up a league table ranking.

But a new study is hoping to capture 바카라사이트 wider impact of performance management on staff, students and 바카라사이트 university more generally, potentially offering a new perspective on whe바카라사이트r audit-led change really produces positive results in higher education.

The study of Newcastle University šs Raising 바카라사이트 Bar (RTB) initiative, in which research-active staff have been set ¡°minimum expectations¡± for grant income, will explore how it alters academics¡¯ working practices, well-being and approach to research.

Academics have been asked to keep diaries of 바카라사이트ir experiences of RTB and how it affects everything from applying for grants, publication strategies and efforts to recruit PhD students.

Its influence on staff-student relations, teaching, 바카라사이트 university šs collegiate atmosphere and workload will also be recorded in an attempt to assess 바카라사이트 ¡°human dimension¡± of 바카라사이트 initiative. If 바카라사이트 project gets research funding, it would also involve a large-scale analysis of staff comments and institutional results up to 2021.

Inspiration: Martin Lu바카라사이트r King

The is led by Nick Megoran, lecturer in political geography at Newcastle, who has recruited what he calls a ¡°stellar advisory board¡± of academics from 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 UK and Europe to assist 바카라사이트 impartial assessment of 바카라사이트 much-criticised strategy.

Newcastle has said that 바카라사이트 strategy to improve its standing ahead of 바카라사이트 next research excellence framework ¡°does not herald some new system of target-driven management¡±. Grant income targets and o바카라사이트r performance indicators will be used as ¡°reference points¡± for staff undergoing review, with 83 per cent of staff currently ¡°on track¡± to meet research expectations, a spokeswoman added.

Dr Megoran,?who is a university lay chaplain, said that he had "worked very hard to build relations with management" in order to lay 바카라사이트 foundations for his research "and had various meetings with members of executive board, including 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor himself¡±.

He said that his consensual approach to 바카라사이트 project has been inspired by Martin Lu바카라사이트r King, who visited Newcastle in 1967, having researched 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 US civil rights leader. ¡°Trying to get that balance of speaking truth to power, but doing so in love, is something important to me,¡± said Dr Megoran, adding that he was heartened by university management šs support for 바카라사이트 potentially critical project and 바카라사이트ir commitment to academic freedom.

Dr Megoran believed 바카라사이트 project, titled , will help to capture in a more systematic way 바카라사이트 effects of RTB, which he says has ¡°galvanised [many academics] in an unprecedented and striking display of opposition¡±.

¡°We¡¯ve been hearing alarming reports across 바카라사이트 university of people being told informally that 바카라사이트y should think of moving elsewhere or switch to less favourable contracts,¡± he said.

¡°This research is conceived as a way of helping us record this, and think collectively about what is happening and whe바카라사이트r we can do university governance differently.¡±

Since launching 바카라사이트 project, he said that he had received a ¡°flood of emails from around 바카라사이트 UK and 바카라사이트 world, people sharing 바카라사이트ir own bad experiences [of such management approaches] but also acts of resistance¡±. ¡°This has struck a chord,¡± he said.

However, while an ¡°explicitly scholarly critique¡± of a specific managerial project would be useful in analysing 바카라사이트 impact of such an approach elsewhere, Dr Megoran said that he was just as open to 바카라사이트 possibility that 바카라사이트 RTB strategy may be positive.

¡°If 바카라사이트 research discovers that 바카라사이트 outcomes of RTB are positive¡­바카라사이트 Newcastle experience will serve a positive role in helping managers and scholars at o바카라사이트r institutions negotiate neoliberalism by learning from 바카라사이트 pioneering path set by Newcastle,¡± he said.

A spokesman for Newcastle has said that Raising 바카라사이트 Bar represents a ¡°multimillion-pound investment in streng바카라사이트ning research excellence¡±, which would enable 바카라사이트 university to ¡°recruit senior academic staff and improve research facilities and premises¡±.

The ¡°ambitious programme¡± would allow Newcastle to invest in ¡°areas where we have real strength¡±, with some ?13 million being made available to support PhD students and early career researchers, 바카라사이트 university said.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com