Search

A 2004 paper, "The invisible workers" by Szekeres, lamented the "invisibility" of professional staff in Australian higher education. Even then, professional staff constituted more than half the university workforce, but they were defined by what they were not (non-academic) and they experienced a high level of frustration in their relationships with academic staff and with their institutions. This paper examines whether the situation for professional staff has changed in the intervening period. It would seem that by 2009, professionals had carved out a more critical space in the sector than they had been able to do by 2004. At senior levels, professionals are no longer restricted to specialist roles such as human resources or information technology or building services but have moved into the Pro- and Deputy-Vice-Chancellor space, roles previously reserved for senior academics. However, has there been much change in the junior or middle management roles? This paper considers the literature over the last six years as it relates to professional staff, look at the changing statistics in Australia around employment of professional staff, and consider what changes have taken place for professional staff at all levels.

One of the challenges facing those responsible for service provision in universities is ensuring that service is provided at the right point in the organisation. Service delivery points can exist at the school/department level, faculty/division level or central unit/university wide level. This does not always follow organisational logic, common sense, the interests of stakeholders, or an organisational service strategy or plan. Many universities have established "one-stop shops" for student services. These have taken many forms and include a range of services, from student administration and student support services, to information technology support and cashier/student financial services. Different management arrangements, including the use of service agreements, have also been used across the sector in Australia. There are additional levels of complexity caused by multiple campuses, differences in the composition of the student body, differences in teaching arrangements, organisational structures and resource arrangements. This paper focuses on student administration and support services. It analyses a range of current models in universities and provides some suggestions for assessing the logic of the models, using a set of underlying principles to help make decisions. The paper considers the services provided, staffing and resource levels, organisational structures and student feedback.

The working lives of general staff in universities have been a rather closed book until recently, having been largely ignored in both academic and non-academic literature. When discussed or referred to, general staff have been depicted in problematic ways that, in recent times, can be associated with the prevailing discourse of "corporate managerialism". This paper attempts to redress this situation by illustrating some aspects of the lives of general staff in universities. In particular the paper considers how changes in universities, as they have become more corporate, have influenced the work, perceptions and constructions of working life as described by a group of general staff. (Contains 1 note.)

Where are university administrators placed in texts that are centred around universities? There appears to be either a total confusion in terminology about administration or a complete disregard for administrators' work but in most cases administrative staff in universities are largely invisible. This paper explores a range of texts (academic, government reports and novels) and provides a picture of how the work of administrators and the staff themselves are represented. It examines how they are positioned in the organisation as people, as workers and as power brokers and provides a starting point for further research into how these workers see themselves. "There has been remarkably little systematic study of the roles and values of university administrative staff" (McInnis, 1998, p. 161). Maybe it is time that this was remedied.

The climate of competition for students in the higher education sector makes it imperative that institutions increase their marketing efforts, both domestically and internationally, to help sustain student numbers. In Australia, the Bradley Report and the government response, which will do away with quotas, allows for a much freer market than previously, including the entry of private providers into the undergraduate degree market. It will become more critical than ever before to improve student attraction. Added to this, the increasing pressure from European and US universities in the Asian market requires Australian universities to improve their marketing and student recruitment in the international space. This paper draws on the large volume of material related to marketing universities that exists. The literature has changed its scope over time, originally focusing on the publications universities produced, then the branding effort, and more recently, relationship marketing. This paper provides a meta-analysis of the literature in an attempt to suggest some possible improvements that institutions could implement to have an impact on student recruitment and help sustain, or even improve, student numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]