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The Role of the Academic Board in the Contemporary Australian University

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The Role of the Academic Board in the Contemporary Australian University The Role of the Academic Board in the Contemporary Australian University by Julie Rowlands, M.Ed., B.Ed. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Deakin University July, 2012 Publications Refereed journal articles The following article comprises sections of chapter 3, Conceptual Framework and of chapter 6, Power: Rowlands, J. 2011, ‘Academic boards: less intellectual and more academic capital in higher education governance?’, Studies in Higher Education, iFirstArticle, pp. 1–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.619655 The following articles comprise sections of chapter 3, Conceptual Framework and of chapter 7, Academic Quality Assurance: Rowlands, J. 2012, ‘Accountability, quality assurance and performativity: the changing role of the academic board’, Quality in Higher Education, 18(1), pp. 79–110. Rowlands, J. 2012, ‘The symbolic role of academic boards in university academic quality assurance’, paper under review by Quality in Higher Education. Other publications The following article comprises sections of chapter 7, Academic Quality Assurance: Rowlands, J. 2011, ‘Is the quality assurance role of university academic boards symbolic or real?’, L H Martin Institute Insights, November 2011, http://www.lhmartininstitute.edu.au/insights- blog/2011/11/69-is-the-quality-assurance-role-of-university-academic-boards-symbolic-or-real ii Acknowledgments It has been a joy and a privilege to undertake this PhD and I am grateful to a number of people for their support and assistance during my candidature. Firstly, I am deeply grateful to my principal supervisor, Professor Jill Blackmore. Without Jill, I would not have started this PhD, let alone finished it. She was unfailingly generous in sharing her knowledge, expertise and experience and never wavered in her confidence in my abilities despite my own recurring doubts. I am also grateful to my associate supervisors, Associate Professor Judy Nagy and Dr Shaun Rawolle, for their encouragement, support and assistance at times when it was needed most. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the numerous academic staff from the School of Education at Deakin University who generously provided academic guidance throughout my candidature, ensuring that at all times I felt a valued part of the research culture of the School. I am grateful to staff from the Faculty of Arts and Education Research Office and from the central Deakin Research Division who provided support, encouragement and assistance with regard to my candidature, and to the Australian Government for the scholarship which enabled me to undertake this research away from the demands of full-time employment. I am particularly thankful to the three universities who so generously allowed me to research their academic boards, and to those at each institution whom I interviewed for giving of their time and for so willingly sharing their thoughts and experiences of university governance. University professional staff at each location also devoted much time to the task of obtaining and copying current and historical academic board records for the purposes of my research and for this I am extremely thankful. I am also grateful to Professor Ian McNay for generously allowing me to reproduce his model for modes of university governance, which appears on page 62 of this thesis. iii Finally, I am extremely grateful to my family who offered unquestioning support when I resigned from my former role in university management to undertake this PhD, and to my friends who have nurtured and encouraged me along this protracted but enjoyable journey. iv Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ix List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x List of Abbreviations .....................................................................................................................xi Abstract ........................................................................................................................................xiv Chapter 1—Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Focus of the study ........................................................................................................................ 1 Aims and significance of the research .......................................................................................... 5 Methods of data collection and limitations .................................................................................... 7 Context for the study: higher education system and governance reform...................................... 8 General trends in higher education and governance ...................................................................19 Structure of the thesis .................................................................................................................23 Chapter 2 — Setting the Research and Policy Context .............................................................27 Introduction .................................................................................................................................27 The university, the state and policy moves..................................................................................27 Globalisation and governance .....................................................................................................39 Higher education and globalisation .............................................................................................48 Relevant research on university academic boards ......................................................................50 Repositioning academic boards ..................................................................................................54 Chapter 3 — Conceptual Framework ..........................................................................................58 Introduction .................................................................................................................................58 Theories of governance, the state and higher education ............................................................59 University governance models ....................................................................................................61 Bourdieu and the field of higher education ..................................................................................70 v A theoretical framework for the analysis of quality assurance as a mode of academic governance .................................................................................................................................78 A conceptual framework for the analysis of academic governance .............................................81 Chapter 4 — Research Method ....................................................................................................83 Introduction .................................................................................................................................83 Research approach .....................................................................................................................84 Selection and defence of data gathering techniques ...................................................................87 Further issues involving case study research ..............................................................................91 Research design .........................................................................................................................93 Design and implementation of data analysis processes ............................................................100 Chapter 5 — Governance ...........................................................................................................106 The structure of the following four discussion chapters .............................................................106 Introduction to this chapter—governance ..................................................................................107 The governance structure of Australian university academic boards and some historical dispositions ...............................................................................................................................107 Australia-wide data on academic board characteristics ............................................................112 Case study data—characteristics of three academic boards.....................................................114 Changes in the level of discussion and proactivity of each board .............................................122 Fulfilment of academic board terms of reference ......................................................................123 Perceptions of key academic board roles and meeting style.....................................................125 Perceptions of academic board strengths and weaknesses......................................................127 The unofficial roles of academic boards ....................................................................................129 Academic board effectiveness ..................................................................................................132 Academic board committees .....................................................................................................134
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