Management and Gender in Higher Education

Product Description This book is a definitive examination of higher education: locating it in a wider neo-liberal context involving the state and the market, with a specific focus on recent higher policy and on the elite group of senior managers in universities. Written in a clear accessible style, it provides an in-depth analysis of university structures, cultures and practices at senior management level. Despite the managerialist rhetoric of accountability, we see structures where access to power is through the Presidents' ‘blessing’, very much as in a medieval court. We see a culture that is less than comfortable with the presence of women, and which, in its narratives, stereotypes and interactions exemplifies to a rather nineteenth-century view of women. Sites and sources of change are also identified. In a global context where diversity is crucial to innovation, it challenges us to critically reflect on management and on higher education. Review "This is a Comprehensive study"(John Holden, Irish Times, March 2014) From the Back Cover This book provides a definitive examination of higher education: locating it in a wider neo-liberal context involving the state and the market, with a specific focus on recent higher policy and on the elite group of senior managers in universities. Written in a clear, accessible style, and drawing on policy analysis and interviews with those at the top three levels of university management, it provides an in-depth analysis of university structures, cultures and practices at senior management level and locates these in a cross-national context. Despite the managerialist rhetoric of accountability, we see structures where access to power is effectively through the Presidents’ ‘blessing,’ very much as in a medieval court. We see a culture that is less than comfortable with the presence of women, and which, in its narratives, stereotypes and interactions exemplifies a rather nineteenth-century view of women. Sites and agents of change are also identified, both in the universities and in the wider international policy context. Essential for both students and lecturers in education, management, sociology policy and gender studies, this book challenges us to critically reflect on management and on higher education in a global context where diversity is crucial to innovation. About the Author Pat O'Connor is Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Limerick, Ireland