Abstract
The paper uses a gendered and feminist perspective to explore some dimensions of the debate about excellence and diversity in relation to the leadership and management of UK universities. The paper considers the extent to which notions about excellence and diversity are in tension in UK higher education and how understandings, underpinning values and the practical consequences of excellence and diversity connect or are at odds with the equally pervasive idea of a university as a meritocracy. The paper draws on two recent research projects, one which examined the experiences and management of equal opportunities policies for university staff in six UK universities and the other which has analysed public service leadership, leadership development and change agency in schools, health services and universities in England.
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Notes
Thanks to Jenneth Parker, who has worked on the data collection and analysis of the higher education strand of the Change Agent Project; Louise Morley and Anwar Tlili, who worked with me on the ‘Negotiating Equity’ project; and Miriam David, Louise Morley and Kevin Brehony, who made helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.
Paper presented at the 2008 Conference of the Consortium of Higher Education Researchers, Pavia, Italy, 11–13 September.
The names of institutions are pseudonyms.
In England, Scotland and Wales, positive discrimination, such as, for instance, deliberately targeting women or members of ethnic minority groups as candidates or appointing them because they are under-represented is illegal. It is only legal in Northern Ireland that has different legislation arising from the longstanding sectarian conflicts there.
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Deem, R. Leading and Managing Contemporary UK Universities: Do Excellence and Meritocracy still Prevail over Diversity?. High Educ Policy 22, 3–17 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2008.32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2008.32