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This autumn 2022, Higher Education Quarterly celebrated its 75th anniversary. Quite a unique event, as HEQ represents one of the oldest journals in the field of higher education research. The first issue was published in 1947, only two years after the end of the second world war. The journal was at that time called ‘Universities Quarterly’ and founded by the ‘Association for Education in Citizenship’, by Lord Simon of Wythenshawe, Mrs. E. Hubback and several others (Notes, Augustus 1949)...

The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of gender stereotypes in academia by examining the informal aspects of the university as an organisation. We do so by using the concept of ‘micro-political practices related to recruitment and progression in higher education institutions’. To increase our comprehension, we conducted multi-method research that included the IAT test, a vignette study, and in-depth interviews at one university in the Netherlands. Our findings demonstrate the importance of unconscious stereotypes that create a divide between both male and female respondents. We explain how unconscious stereotypes permeate micro-political practices at the university under study. Consequently, we discuss whether our case represents a gendered organisation, which reproduces male organisational features in regard to recruitment and career progression. Our multi-method approach creates additional depth for our findings, reconfirming the importance of combining different data sources.

In the Big 4 accountancy/consultancy firms, many female consultants leave their organization at the (senior) management level. Based on 31 in-depth interviews with Dutch consultants and alumni consultants at various senior levels, we analyzed the main reasons why women leave before reaching the top of the organization, the so-called ‘leaking pipeline’. We found two main reasons for female consultants to drop out. First, at manager level, consultants are required to change their role and skillset, such as increasing their internal visibility (presenteeism) by self-promotion, strategies that evidently suit male consultants better, while secondly, the transition to a management function often coincides with a phase in which women start to have children. Since that period often coincides with reaching the function of (senior) manager, more women than men decide to leave the consultancy organizations, because they are not able to balance their work–life with further career progress. These outcomes are not new by themselves, but highlight once again the persistence of the promotion game, based on impression management and visibility. But what is new is that we discuss our findings critically, reflecting and contrasting this promotion game with the current needs of millennials with respect to work, career, and work–life balance. If this generation is not interested in ‘playing this game’, it means that the current HR policy of Big 4 accountancy/consultancy firms is obsolete. We propose a number of new approaches to reflect and reconsider this persistent problem.

Vanaf (senior) managerniveau zijn zichtbaarheid door zelfpromotie en fysieke aanwezigheid essentieel om door te dringen tot de hogere rangen van de Big Four-consultancyorganisaties. Op basis van ons onderzoek vanuit een rol-theoretisch perspectief tonen wij aan dat vrouwen op het managerniveau in een negatieve vicieuze cirkel terecht kunnen komen. Vrouwen zijn uit zichzelf minder geneigd zich actief zichtbaar op te stellen en hechten daar ook minder belang aan maar juist op het managerniveau is dit aspect essentieel om promotie te kunnen maken. De noodzaak tot zichtbaarheid voor promotie leidt vooral tot rolconflicten op het moment dat vrouwelijke (senior) managers de functie combineren met het moederschap. In het bijzonder, zodra vrouwelijke (senior) managers in deeltijd gaan werken, worden ze minder zichtbaar. Hoe goed de consultancywerkzaamheden ook worden gedaan, het gebrek aan zichtbaarheid, ook al is het tijdelijk, kan ernstige negatieve gevolgen hebben voor de carrières van vrouwen en is één van de belangrijkste redenen voor vrouwen om de organisatie vroegtijdig verlaten, de zogenaamde leaking pipeline.

Introduction Using a self-determination theory framework, we investigated burnout and engagement among PhD students in medicine, and their association with motivation, work-life balance and satisfaction or frustration of their basic psychological needs. Method This cross-sectional study was conducted among PhD students at a university medical centre (n = 990) using an electronic survey on background characteristics and validated burnout, engagement, motivation and basic psychological needs questionnaires. Cluster analysis was performed on the burnout subscale scores to find subgroups within the sample which had similar profiles on burnout. Structural equation modelling was conducted on a hypothesized model of frustration of basic psychological needs and burnout. Results The response rate was 47% (n = 464). We found three clusters/subgroups which were composed of PhD students with similar burnout profiles within the cluster and different profiles between the clusters. Cluster 1 (n = 199, 47%) had low scores on burnout. Clusters 2 (n = 168, 40%) and 3 (n = 55, 13%) had moderate and high burnout scores, respectively, and were associated with low engagement scores. Cluster 3, with the highest burnout scores, was associated with the lowest motivational, engagement, needs satisfaction and work-life balance scores. We found a good fit for the “basic psychological needs frustration associated with burnout” model. Discussion The most important variables for burnout among PhD students in medicine were lack of sleep and frustration of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. These add to the factors found in the literature. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s40037-020-00637-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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In the current discussions concerning the pressure for publication and to obtain grants,the questions about what publication and grant pressure actually involve and how theyare linked to the academic job market, are often neglected. In this study, we show thatpublication and grand pressure are not just external forces but internal ones as scientistsapply pressure to themselves in the process of competition. Through two surveys, one of1,133 recent PhDs at five Dutch universities and one of 225 postdoctoral researchers attwo Dutch universities, we found that publication and grant pressure have to be consideredin relation with competition for academic jobs. While publication and grantpressure are perceived to be too high by a majority of these early career researchers, theeffects of publication and grant pressure by themselves are limited.

European institutions of higher education have increasingly sought to improve the accountability and transparency of teaching and research with formal procedures and performance criteria. In a longitudinal analysis conducted in faculties of social sciences and economics at universities in the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, we examined ways in which academics have experienced the expanded use of teaching assessments and its impact on the perceived quality of teaching. Results revealed that teaching assessments in the three countries have become more institutionalized, as scepticism of their principles have been replaced with resilience and pragmatism in assessment instruments and, among individual instructors, with sharpened focus on the operational side of teaching. Although faculty members acknowledged benefits of teaching assessments, they could not envision how the assessments would improve the quality of teaching. In response, we offer a theoretical explanation of those trends that extends the development of micro-institutional theory.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to draw on the employment situation of postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) in the Netherlands, concerning their career prospects and embeddedness within their organisation, in order to discuss theoretical perspectives on academic careers. Design/methodology/approach This multi-method study consists of three parts: a survey, in-depth interviews, and three focus group meetings with postdocs as well as representatives of the human resource staff and the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This paper reports on the findings from the focus group meetings, which concentrated on how postdoctoral researchers consider their employment situation and career prospects. Findings The three focus group discussions revealed that postdocs are caught within a dual controversy, the first involves their lack of clarity concerning their career prospects and developments despite their highly valued work, the second regards the fact that they are specialized staff, contributing to the primary process of their employing organisation but faintly connected. Although the postdocs’ formal position seems weak, their situation in terms of academic socialising is much stronger and active than appears at first sight, particularly due to their personal agency. Practical implications The postdocs require and appreciate guidance and support, particularly when they must leave academia. Originality/value The paper provides new and additional insights into the position of postdocs and their career prospects. Their personal agency in pursuing further career steps is more active than expected in previous studies.

While widespread concerns exist over the experiences and career trajectories of postdoctoral fellows in higher education, these concerns are not always examined through the lens of a social and cultural context unique to a national system. Postdoctoral fellows do exist in various forms at academic institutions around the world. Understanding their experiences offer insight not only into the nuanced nature of doctoral and postdoctoral work but also the larger question about how various higher education systems engage in a globalized knowledge economy. This chapter examines the postdoctoral fellow's experience in various national contexts. Researchers from Australia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, and South Africa reflect on their higher education systems; the role of the postdoctoral fellow within the system; and how internal and external influences shape the postdoctoral experience.

Recent developments in the higher education sectors of the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK concerning accountability and performance measurement in research have resulted in a variety of responses from individual academics. The concept of hybridity enables us to explain these developments over time. Our longitudinal data consisted of 100 interviews in 2007 and 2011. There are more managerial and performance-oriented measures at the organizational level, involving a stronger output orientation and increased formalization, leading to an altered research culture. At the individual level, the focus on output appraisal expands the potential importance of sanctions, making managerial and professional tasks more connected. The concept of hybridity at the organizational and the individual levels places our theoretically developed coping mechanisms in a more dynamic perspective. This has elaborated our understanding of how academics cope with performance management, within their institutional and national contexts.

De meerderheid van de gepromoveerden en postdocs komt terecht in een baan buiten de wetenschap. Toch weten we maar weinig over hoe ze dit ervaren. Nieuw onderzoek onder zowel gepromoveerden als hun niet-wetenschappelijke werkgevers laat zien dat de veronderstelde kloof tussen wetenschap en bedrijfsleven minder groot is dan dikwijls gedacht. Hoe kunnen we die verder dichten?

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate what impact new regimes of management and governance, including new managerialism, have had on perceptions of gender equality at universities in three Western European countries. While in accordance with national laws and EU directives, contemporary current management approaches in universities should, in theory, stimulate equality of opportunities and diminish regimes of inequality, our findings from qualitative interviews across the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK provide a very different picture. Our data show that these new governance approaches actually re-emphasise the existing status quo in various ways and enable more subtle forms of discrimination despite the existence of a veneer of equality. Consequently, some women find themselves sidelined by the gap between formal procedures designed to deal with inequalities and the institutional cultures and practices towards selection and promotion. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the recent developments in the higher education system of Colombia in order to illustrate how these encourage stratification between (types of) universities and their students. We do so by discussing propositions generated by human capital theory and apply them to the experiences of students and graduates from Colombian universities.We conducted a survey ( n = 700) amongst graduate and undergraduate students at 12 low-fee private universities. Four interviews with (former) students served as an illustration. The majority of undergraduate students perceived the quality of their education as poor and wanted to attend another university. Both students and graduates expressed uncertainty about finding a job and anticipated difficulties as they felt they lacked essential skills. Due to relatively unhindered privatization and marketization of the columbian higher education sector, low-quality private provision in Colombia demonstrates this structural inequality.Our study shows that investing in higher education does not always correlate positively with skills gained or future income, thereby revealing the necessity to use human capital theory in a more nuanced manner.

Universities throughout Europe have adopted organisational strategies, structures, technologies, management instruments and values that are commonly found in the private sector. While these alleged managerial measures may be considered useful, and have a positive effect on the quality of teaching and research, there is also evidence of detrimental effects on primary tasks. The consequences of such managerial measures were investigated through 48 interviews with staff members at 10 universities in the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. The results were analysed and interpreted within the framework of institutional and professional theory, by linking them to three central themes: 'symbolic compliance', 'professional pragmatism' and 'formal instrumentality'. These themes explain why and how the respondents dissociated themselves from the managerial measures imposed upon them. This occurred often for pragmatic and occasionally for principled reasons. © 2012 Society for Research into Higher Education.

Les theories institutionnelle et organisationnelle laissent entendre que les systemes de mesure de la performance (SMP) actuellement utilises dans les organisations publiques ne sont en general pas adaptes a la nature reelle de ces organisations professionnelles. Des etudes longitudinale et transversale dans les secteurs des soins de sante et de l’enseignement superieur aux Pays-Bas revelent qu’en depit des pressions exterieures, la mise en œuvre de ces systemes est plus lente que souhaite et qu’elle semble intervenir en dehors du processus primaire de l’organisation. Deux series d’entretiens realises en 2003 et 2006 avec des coordinateurs de la qualite revelent qu’un ecart persiste entre les systemes de mesure de la performance et le processus operationnel, meme si sa nature a evolue. D’une maniere generale, les coordinateurs de la qualite reagissent de facon pragmatique aux changements qui leur sont imposes, l’examen par les pairs et la confiance collegiale jouant un role essentiel. Les observations empiriques montrent que les theories institutionnelle et professionnelle se completent mutuellement.Resume a l’intention des praticiensLes decideurs du secteur public qui s’occupent de la gestion de la qualite et de l’assurance qualite doivent savoir que les systemes de mesure de la performance (SMP) bien structures ne garantissent pas une bonne mise en œuvre. Au contraire, la mise en œuvre merite que l’on s’y interesse en propre. Plus le SMP est sophistique et exigeant, plus grandes sont les chances que le personnel trouve des moyens de contourner le systeme et de ne l’utiliser que de facon superficielle ou accommodante. Lorsque la mise en œuvre n’est pas serieusement prise en compte, le fosse entre la realite et le discours ne fera que se creuser.

Contains fulltext : 73544.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Societal developments have forced universities all over Europe to replace their 'professional' strategies, structures, and values by organizational characteristics that could be stereotyped as 'private sector' features. This trend is known as 'managerialism'. Since university employees generally stick to professional values, a conflict may emerge between professional employee values and managerial organization values. This conflict can result in lower organizational commitment and, consequently, lower quality of job performances. Since managerialism is, however, aimed at efficient and effective quality improvement, this situation is what we regard as a managerialism contradiction. Affecting university employees' performances may solve or reduce such a contradiction. Since levels of managerialism differ among countries, this paper examines which factors affect the quality of job performances of 1,700 university employees in low-, middle- and high-managerialism countries. The analyses reveal that there are large differences and some similarities between the countries regarding which human resource management (HRM) practices affect the quality of employees' job performances. Furthermore, it appears that there are clear differences among the countries regarding how the HRM practices affect the quality of their job performances. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. 22 p.

Institutional and organizational theory supports the argument that current features of performance measurement systems (PMS) in public organizations are generally unsuitable for the actual nature of these professional organizations. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies in the health care and higher education sectors in the Netherlands have shown that, despite external pressures, the implementation of such systems is slower than intended and seems to occur outside the primary process of the organization. Two rounds of interviews with quality coordinators in 2003 and 2006 showed that the gap between performance measurement systems and the operational process continued to exist, although its nature had changed. In general, quality coordinators responded pragmatically to the changes imposed upon them, as peer review and collegial trust played a vital part. The empirical findings illustrate that institutional and professional theories supplement each other in a fruitful way. Points for practitioners Policy-makers in the public sector involved with quality care and assurance should be aware that a well-structured performance measurement system (PMS) is no guarantee of smooth implementation. On the contrary, the implementation deserves attention in its own right. The more sophisticated and demanding the design of PMS, the more likely it is that employees find ways to work round such a system and only use it in a superficial or compliant manner. If implementation is not taken seriously into account, this will only lead to a greater gap between reality and rhetoric.

This symposium grew out of the sub-theme, ‘New Modes of Governance in Public Sector Organizations’, of the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference held in Ljubljana in July 2004. Our aim was to provide a forum to discuss the policy and practice and the space between in public sector management and governance within Europe.

Across Europe, within the current welfare state systems, the influence of new public management (NPM) and new public governance (NPG) is still evolving, particularly through the focus on governing performance in all aspects of management. Boek beschikbaar voor medewerkers en studenten van de Hogeschool Utrecht.

Comparative case studies in the Netherlands and Scotland indicate that although formal education policies support school choice, in local situations choice is not encouraged. In order to explain this gap several differences between formal education policy and the actual functioning of education will be distinguished. This provides a more detailed view and a more realistic picture of local choice on a day-to-day basis. This study found that the limited availability of information, the bureaucratic choice procedures, the strictly enforced admission criteria and the lack of educational diversity between schools, all result in actual discouragement of choice.

The overarching theme of this special issue is the study of organizational change processes from the perspective of the individual participant of change. This type of study is particularly relevant because of the increasing awareness of the crucial role played by professionals in current society. Three different studies show how and why individuals cope with change processes imposed upon them in different sectors (media, employment programmes, schools) and different countries (Sweden, Ireland, Italy). The professionals in these studies either re-worked (Norbäck et al.), re-constructed (Mulhall) or re-activated (Cicotto et al.) their altered work contexts in a manner that is acceptable, useful and often even profitable to the professional workers. Our special issue shows that flexibility and coping strategies are important and dynamic mechanisms that play a crucial role in the current organizational change research.

JANI URSIN Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland BARBARA ZAMORSKI Centre for Applied Education and the Centre for Educational and Staff Development, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom ELINOR EDVARDSSON STIWNE Department of Behaviourial Sciences and Learning, Linkoping University, Sweden CHRISTINE TEELKEN Department of Organisation Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands MONNE WIHLBORG Department of Health and Social Sciences, Lund University, Sweden

Similar to several other Western European countries, a ‘managerial revolution’ has swept through Dutch higher education. Partly in response to the new Act to Modernise the Structure of University Governance, many universities have set up education institutes. Purpose of the investigation was to find out whether the establishment of education institutes serves to improve education quality. A suitable framework for analysing the information gathered was obtained by applying Ernst Marx's analytical model of the university administrative organisation. The application of this framework isolated four factors critical for the success of education institutes. In four out of the eight institutes the organisation of education is having a beneficial influence upon education quality. The director of the education institute plays an important role due to either demonstrable educational or transformative leadership qualities or by allowing teachers to take initiatives and above all making teaching teams responsible for parts of the curriculum.

This article analyses whether the concerns about increased inequality between secondary schools are justified, in the light of the numerous changes in legislation aiming at market forces and choice. From panel study interviews among respondents in England and Scotland, it becomes clear that such concerns are justified, especially in England. The main reasons for the increase in inequality between schools is the lack of educational diversity and the fact that schools are only responsive towards certain groups of students.

Europeans have tried for decades to find a way to take a mutual stance on issues of higher education and its development. In terms of taking on the challenge of such a mutual commitment with respect to higher education, the Bologna process is a giant step for the European Union. It involves a large number of countries, representing a great variety of higher education systems, which are currently engaged in a process of striving for certain common, converging goals. The question is whether this is also the ‘right step’ in terms of the actual organisational goals of higher education institutions: teaching students to the best of their abilities, carrying out good-quality research, and serving a constructive societal role. Is the Bologna process as such helpful in achieving these goals, or do we need to acknowledge peripheral forces that are affecting the (Bologna) process to a much higher degree than we bargained for? The purpose of this article is to explore both mainstream and more tangential issues in order to cast a more critical spotlight on the outcomes of the Bologna process and its construction(s). The article attempts to contribute to the Bologna debate, with emphasis on three contradictions, by placing these issues in a broader perspective.

Contains fulltext : 87108.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) This study examined cross-national invariance of Meyer and Allen's three-component model of organizational commitment using samples of university faculty from six European countries. The analysis revealed strict factorial measurement invariance of affective, continuance, and normative organizational commitment constructs (AC, CC, and NC, respectively). While the samples failed to differ in AC and CC, substantial cross-national differences were found for NC. Results showed an invariant zero correlation between AC and CC, and NC associated positively with affective and continuance components. Procedural justice predicted AC and less strongly NC, but it had no effect on CC. A positive link with job performance was found for AC, a negative one for CC, and no association for NC. Results by and large support the generalizability of the tripartite organizational commitment model to the European context. 33 p.

This paper focuses on the way lecturers observe, feel restrained by and cope with quality management systems that have been implemented in the higher education systems of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. As two sides of the same coin, quality enhancement and quality control are of increased significance in European Higher Educaction Institutions (HEIs), particularly through the Bologna Process. We are interested in the way that both enhancement and control blend into the current systems, and we are concerned for too much dominance of control, as has been suggested in recent managerial literature. Analysis of 40 interviews in both countries among researchers and lecturers in traditional and universities of applied sciences showed many similarities. It is not so much the general idea of quality management that is being turned down by the respondents. They see the benefits quite clearly. Still, the general belief is that quality management in its current shape and character does not fit with the work of the individual academic, neither their teaching nor their research. The respondents worry for and resent the consequences of increased emphasis on quality assurance and control. The developments concerning the quality management of their HEIs are perceived in terms of quality assurance by the UK respondents. Instead, the Dutch are more occupied with finding ways to "how to deal with" such developments. © 2009 European Higher Education Society.

Contains fulltext : 76751.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) To achieve efficient and effective quality improvement, European universities have gradually adopted organizational strategies, structures, technologies, management instruments, and values that are commonly found in the private business sector. Whereas some studies have shown that such managerialism is beneficial to the quality of job performances of university employees, others have argued that managerialism is largely counterproductive and that it results in lower performances. The latter situation is called a 'managerialism contradiction'. This paper tests two lines of reasoning underlying a potential contradiction governing the relationship between managerialism and job performances, while using university employee survey data from six European countries (Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, UK). The results tend to support the assumption that managerialism, in these six countries at least, has a positive effect, albeit a modest one, on the quality of performances. The most important conclusion is therefore that there is no managerialism contradiction at work in European universities. 19 p.

This paper focuses on the pedagogical responsibilities of parents and schools, as well as the care provided by socializing agencies and local communities. A review of the literature has been carried out on the tasks of schools and parents and the relations between education, parenting and care in a changing society in eight countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, England, France, Sweden and the United States. In addition, an email survey among international experts in Europe and the United States through the European Research Network about Parents in Education and the International Network of Scholars was conducted. This paper presents the results of both studies.

This contribution is based on comparative case studies of secondary schools in England, the Netherlands and Scotland. The authors conclude that although opportunities for school choice are offered in a formal sense in each of the locations studied, in certain cases choice is not particularly encouraged. In order to explain this disparity between formal education policy and actual school choice, they identified seven areas of friction which determine school choice. This approach allowed a more detailed and accurate view of the operation of school choice on a local, day-to-day basis. Active or passive discouragement of choice became apparent in factors such as availability of transport and information; bureaucratic procedures; strictly enforced admission criteria; and lack of educational diversity.

This article analyses differences in the availability of school choice in The Netherlands, England and Scotland. A 10 variable model is used to determine that the increased availability of choice leads generally to an increased presence of the market mechanism in the three countries. However, the functioning of the market is most obvious in The Netherlands, to a lesser extent in England and even less in Scotland.

While postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) are an increasingly important and productive group of employees in academia, they lack further career prospects and embeddedness within their organizations. This paper provides a rare glimpse into this relatively unexplored but important group. A comparative study of two Dutch universities included a survey with both closed and open questions among 225 respondents. Our study reveals that nearly all postdocs (85 %) want to stay in the academic field, but only