Higher Education Governance in England: Governing Body Members’ Perceptions of Their Roles and the Effectiveness of Their Governing Bodies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Higher Education Governance in England: Governing Body Members’ Perceptions of Their Roles and the Effectiveness of Their Governing Bodies Thesis How to cite: Buck, David John (2013). Higher Education Governance in England: Governing Body Members’ Perceptions of Their Roles and the Effectiveness of Their Governing Bodies. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2013 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000f11f Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk UNRfcST&CTeP HIGHER EDUCATION GOVERNANCE IN ENGLAND: GOVERNING BODY MEMBERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ROLES AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THEIR GOVERNING BODIES A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy David John Buck, MA, MBA, MRes Institute of Educational Technology and Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology The Open University Submitted for examination on 13 September 2012 D&tc SuJbnxCs^uort; ^3 Date varcU 3J u Uj 1013 ProQuest Number: 13835957 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 13835957 Published by ProQuest LLC(2019). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT Much attention has been paid in recent years to issues associated with corporate governance and there have been significant changes and developments in the governance arrangements in the UK higher education sector. In this context, the research reported here explores the perceptions held by governing body members in English higher education institutions of the roles of their governing bodies. Governing body members’ perceptions of the effectiveness of their governing bodies are also considered. The research uses a series of case studies, involving the collection and analysis of data gathered in interviews with governing body members and senior staff in seven English higher education institutions. These data are used to explore the views of governing body members with regard to the roles and effectiveness of their governing bodies, and to compare their perceptions with external expectations. The predictions of governance theory with regard to the roles of boards and board members are also considered and compared to the lived experience of those roles as perceived by governing body members. The study reveals some degree of variability in the approaches to governance at different types of institution, but also many common features. The latter include marked differences between the roles undertaken by governing body members and the roles envisaged for them in formal guidance. Governing body members are shown to be content to delegate their responsibilities for educational character to academics. Effectiveness in higher education governance is revealed to be complex and multi-faceted. The particular importance to effectiveness of board processes and interaction between governing body members is demonstrated. It is shown that no single governance theory offers a full explanation for the described behaviour and approaches of governing body members, but that aspects of different theoretical positions offer useful explanatory insights when taken together. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor John Richardson, of the Institute of Educational Technology (IET), Mr William Locke, of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information and, latterly, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and Professor Chris Cornforth, of the Open University Business School, for their help and advice, and their good humour and forbearance. I would also like to thank Anne Foward, of the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET), for her practical assistance during my studies. I am indebted to all the necessarily anonymous people who assisted with my research, and to their institutions. University secretaries, registrars and academic registrars willingly offered their help and that of their colleagues in making practical arrangements, and everyone I dealt with in this respect was both welcoming and very tolerant of the extra work they had to undertake on my behalf. I am grateful to the participants in the initial scoping exercise, and especially to the members and attendees of governing bodies who gave up their time to see me in order that I might collect the data embodied in this thesis. Finally, I am grateful to my fellow students in IET and CREET, particularly Lynn Coleman and Stephen Pihlaja, for their friendship and support over the last few years. I would also like to thank Stella and Kurt, Morag and Martin, and other friends outside Milton Keynes, for their support as I once again indulged in the foolishness of being a student. iv CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii CONTENTS v LIST OF APPENDICES xvii LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES xviii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED xx CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 1 1.1 Context 1 1.1.1 The development of interest in higher education governance 1 1.1.2 The researcher’s background 3 1.1.3 Timing of the research 4 1.2 Research aims and questions 4 1.2.1 Overall aims of the research 4 1.2.2 Specific research questions 5 1.3 Research methodology, design and methods 6 1.3.1 Research methodology and research design 6 1.3.2 Research methods 7 1.4 Outline of the approach taken in the thesis 8 1.4.1 Contextual material, literature review and methodology 8 1.4.2 Data analysis, discussion and conclusions 10 CHAPTER 2: THE CONTEXT FOR THE STUDY 11 2.1 Introduction 11 2.1.1 A period of change 11 2.2 Higher education in England to the mid twentieth century 12 2.2.1 From medieval origins to a national system 12 2.3 Higher education after the Second World War 14 2.3.1 Increasing government direction 14 2.3.2 The Robbins Committee - higher education for all 15 v 2.3.3 The polytechnics 16 2.3.4 The high-water mark? 17 2.4 The shock of the 1980s 18 2.4.1 The end of an era 18 2.4.2 The Jarratt report 19 2.5 New public management 20 2.5.1 The development of new public management 20 2.5.2 New public management and higher education 21 2.5.3 New public management and governance 22 2.6 The late 1980s and 1990s 24 2.6.1 The purpose of higher education revisited 24 2.6.2 From polytechnics to universities, and the Dearing review 25 2.7 The new millennium 26 2.7.1 Further growth, but more government direction and regulation 26 2.7.2 The Browne review and beyond 27 2.7.3 New challenges but deeply-rooted norms 28 2.8 The development of the governance arrangements of UK higher education institutions 30 2.8.1 The three main models 30 2.8.2 The Oxbridge model 30 2.8.3 The chartered model 31 2.8.4 The incorporated model 32 2.9 Current governance arrangements in practice 34 2.9.1 Councils and boards of governors 34 2.9.2 Senates and academic boards 35 2.9.3 Courts 35 2.10 The locus of power and authority in universities 37 2.10.1 The changing relationship between councils and senates in chartered institutions 37 2.10.2 Overviews of power, authority and decision-making in universities 41 2.11 More recent pressure for changes in governance arrangements 46 2.11.1 External pressures and the influence of governance failures 46 2.11.2 The Dearing review and its aftermath 48 vi 2.11.3 Developments after Dearing 50 2.11.4 Further crises and more reviews 51 2.12 Conclusions 54 2.12.1 Governance as both constant and changing 54 CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY OF GOVERNANCE 57 3.1 Introduction 57 3.1.1 The scope of the chapter 57 3.2 Definitions of governance and the specification of boardroles 58 3.2.1 The variety of definitions 58 3.2.2 Definitions of corporate governance in the private sector 58 3.2.3 Specification of board roles in the private sector 60 3.2.4 Definitions of corporate governance in the public sector 61 3.2.5 Specification of governing body roles in the public sector 62 3.2.6 The overall position 64 3.3 The development of corporate governance theory 65 3.3.1 The origins of corporate governance theory 65 3.3.2 Agency theory 66 3.3.3 Is agency theory relevant to the public sector? 66 3.3.4 Transaction cost economics 68 3.3.5 Stakeholder theory 69 3.3.6 Stewardship theory and trusteeship 71 3.3.7 Other theoretical models 73 3.3.8 Implications of governance theory 75 3.4 Institutional theory 76 3.4.1 The relevance of institutional theory 76 3.4.2 The development and nature of institutional theory 76 3.4.3 Isomorphism 78 3.4.4 Institutional theory and research into higher education 79 3.5 Role theory 80 3.5.1 The nature of role theory 80 3.5.2 The potential relevance of role theory 82 vii 3.6 Effectiveness in governance 83 3.6.1 The effectiveness of private sector boards 83 3.6.2 The effectiveness of public sector boards 86 3.6.3 Governance