Understanding and conceptualizing the roles and responsibilities of university administrators in the assessment lifecycle

This poster outlines an ongoing research project as part of a Professional Doctorate in Education exploring the roles and responsibilities of UK university administrators working in the broad area of “Student Administration” who contribute to the assessment lifecycle of students. This research will contribute to our understandings of the higher education workforce and the nature of higher education.

This research is concerned with the nature of administrative work, the division of labour between academics and administrators, as well as the lived experiences of administrators as they enact their roles. It will also consider whether the roles and experiences of those working in “Student Administration” can be located within emerging conceptualizations of university administrators, such as being considered Hochschulprofessionelle or Higher Education Professionals (HEPROs) (Klump and Teichler, 2006).

Research into university administrators is an emerging research area, with previous UK research typically focusing on broad groups of administrative managers (Whitchurch, 2008) or administrators working in a specific area such as supporting research (Hockey and Allen-Collinson, 2009). To date, there has been no UK research focused on those working in “Student Administration”.

This exploratory research takes a case study approach to the administration of the assessment lifecycle within one UK university. Focusing on a specific core academic activity provides a ‘way in’ to exploring a range of roles involved in Student Administration contributing to a core academic activity, who may have different areas of expertise, different levels of connectedness to the academic activity itself, different levels of seniority and status within the institution, and will enable exploration of the sometimes ‘invisible workforce’ (Rhoades, 2010).

Data will be generated through mixed methods, primarily documentary analysis and individual interviews. This poster will be presented following a series of pilot interviews and prior to the main data generation.

References:
Hockey, J. and Allen‐Collinson, J., (2009) Occupational knowledge and practice amongst UK university research administrators. Higher Education Quarterly, 63(2), pp.141-159.

Klumpp, M. and Teichler, U., (2006) Hochschulprofessionen zwischen Wissenschaft und Administration. Hochschulprofessionen–zwischen Wissenschaft und Administration. Hochschule innovativ, 16, pp.2-3.

Rhoades, G. (2010) Envisioning Invisible Workforces: Enhancing Intellectual Capital. In G. Gordon and C. Whitchurch (Eds.), Academic and Professional Identities in Higher Education: The challenges of a diversifying workforce. London: Routledge, 35-54

Whitchurch, C. (2008) Professional managers in UK higher education: preparing for complex futures. Final report. Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.