The Effective Academic appears to be the sequel to an earlier volume by the same editors. The previous volume, A Handbook for Teaching and Learning, advises new faculty members on effective teaching, publishing, and grant writing. By contrast, the editors tell us, The Effective Academic was "written with the early to mid-career academic in mind....[and] considers selected aspects of academic life and work from the perspective of those with, or aspiring to, leadership and management responsibilities...." (1)
Contributions are loosely arranged into five sections: The Turbulent Environment, Running the Business, Creating Intellectual Wealth, At the Digital Chalkface, and finally, the Harsh Reality. Loose is the operative word. Chapters are grouped together around common themes rather than directly and explicitly related to one another and, in fact, do not share a common organizational principle. Some contributions are primarily descriptive, some prescriptive; some are narrowly focused, some far-ranging; some philosophical, some empirical; others seem to serve simply as snapshots of current trends or issues in higher education. The contributors themselves are equally diverse. While the editors have each earned leadership positions in the field of education in the United Kingdom, the contributors come from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, representing scientific and technical fields almost as often as educational professionals.
As a result, it is difficult to contrive a single coherent narrative from the 15 chapters and numerous additional commentaries that comprise the volume. However, the editors employ two devices to help unite the contributions. First, they provide an introduction to each of the five sections, with the evident intent of drawing connections between the variety of contributions within each section and, to some extent, across the five themes. Second, most chapters include what amount to discussion questions (entitled "Enhancing Practice") whose purpose, the editors tell us, "is to assist readers to develop understanding of the subject matter in the context of their own work environment; it is also hoped the feature will help readers to engage fully with the topic, to obviate the risk of mere superficial processing of information" (2). A third, presumably unintended, commonality appears across the chapters: bullets seem to be the preferred means of organizing information, suggesting perhaps that even with this diversity of contributions and contributors many issues can only be touched upon in passing and are intended to be suggestive rather than conclusive.
The result is a survey of the more notable trends in higher education today. Indeed, although the book is targeted primarily at early to mid-career academics in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, many of the themes will resonate with academics everywhere. Part I: "The Turbulent Environment" addresses some of the challenges and opportunities facing virtually all universities today. Although the pace of change may have increased, Watson argues in the introduction to this section that "change is, to a large extent, the status quo of university life.... [and that] "one of the strengths of the university system over the centuries [is] that it has proved capable of periodically reinventing itself" in response to changing social values and priorities. Universities today, he implies, need to draw deeply from that well of ingenuity to balance the traditional core functions of the university - teaching, scholarship, and service - with a host of new priorities including: increasing emphasis on the desired "outcomes" of higher education (student employability, professional preparation, citizenship training); tensions between the university´s desire for autonomy and increasing demands for accountability from the university´s primary sponsors; and, finally, the tension between the collaborative nature of scientific inquiry and the competitive impulses fostered by increasing competition among institutions for students and for funding, among others.
Chapter One, by Middlehurst, looks more closely at the impact of international developments on higher education in the United Kingdom (but also evident in the United States). Middlehurst describes the internationalization of higher education in terms of "developing an international focus for many, if not all, university activities so that the curriculum for all subjects includes international dimensions, the student experience includes international opportunities, research is recognizably international, and the wider public service role of the university involves international outreach" (14) Middlehurst cites the research of Jane Knight (1999) to further specify four distinct approaches to the internationalization of higher education:
In the following chapter, Cuthbert explores the impact of changing national values and priorities on higher education, with particular attention to the growing importance of assessment in national educational policy and the effects on faculty, students, and institutions themselves. Again, although the author focuses specifically on recent trends in the United Kingdom, anecdotal evidence suggest that academics everywhere increasingly feel squeezed between increasing funding constraints and simultaneously increasing demands for accountability from a growing number and variety of private as well as public stakeholders. The situation is aggravated yet more by the tension between externally and internally generated demands and expectations. The author describes the role of governments, public auditors, disciplines, faculty, students, and institutions (in no particular logical sequence) and leaves educational "managers, leaders, and readers [to] develop their own interpretation of what is happening at the national level and what difference it makes" (33). Chapter Three, by Shorrock, "is designed to give a perspective of the student experience in higher education, with emphasis on current imperatives such as student finances, tuition fees, the need to work while studying and the accumulation of debt" trends arguably even more further advanced in the United States.
The second section, entitled "Running the Business," highlights some of the administrative challenges raised by some of the trends highlighted in previous chapters. In Chapter Four, Kennie emphasizes the importance of strategic and operational planning in the effort to reconcile internal and external values and expectations. Kennie introduces several different planning methodologies followed by more detailed exploration of "emergent perspectives" on planning in the context of an increasingly complex and uncertain external environment.
Subsequent chapter in this section by Gold (Chapter Five) and Haines and Ketteridge (Chapter 6) advise readers on how to mediat[e] between the needs of the individual [faculty member], the task, and the organization...[a]gainst the backdrop of internal/external organizational tensions" (92). Gold begins this exploration with an unusual, and refreshing, appreciation of the role of power in the academy and its effects on professional development, for good or for ill. Haines and Ketteridge seek to expand popular conceptualization of "human resources" to include not just "hiring and firing" but also the design and implementation of appropriate "policies and procedures on remuneration, promotion and review, award, industrial relations, discipline and review" and professional development. Nine expert commentaries are incorporated into the chapter to address different aspects of human resources management and development.
Part III, "Creating Intellectual Wealth," examines research in higher education. Taylor, in Chapter Seven, provides "an overview of current ideas and good practice in the effective supervision of research degrees" including; student recruitment and selection; induction, training, and support for both research students and research supervisors; the monitoring and evaluating student research; and finally, the assessment of the research program. In the following chapter Ferlie, Harvey, and Pettigrew present the main findings of their research into the most important factors promoting or inhibiting "high-impact research groups." Strong and entrepreneurial leaders play a critical role in the emergence and success of high-impact research groups, they assert, but leaders must also prove adept at attracting and retaining talented staff, diversifying into new areas, linking theory with practice, and networking with other leading professionals. By contrast, excessive reliance on short-term contracts, financial insecurity, and internal dissent were found to handicap the emergence and development of high-impact research groups. Young adds, in the following chapter, that successful research leadership "is an intellectual, and not `mere´ managerial challenge....Above all it must be based on an understanding of how [institutional] process and values, power and culture interact to produce outcome that, if skillfully handled, amount to real enhancements not just of research standing, but of levels of mutual and self-respect among colleagues" (174).
Although the introduction to the section titled At the Digital Chalkface asserts "that electronic intervention in the learning and teaching process is probably the single most important contemporary development in teaching....[and] is transforming learning and teaching in both conduct and conceptualization....", only one chapter directly focuses on technology in the classroom, and then only as one of several issues. "Revitalizing and Renewing the Curriculum" explores strategies for curriculum development in response to a notable pedagogical shift of emphasis from teaching to learning. "Learning from Quality Assessment," by contrast, offers advice about how academics can make the most of growing assessment requirements in higher education. "Teaching for Diversity and Retention: The Example for Students with Disabilities," as the title suggests, has a much different purpose only tangentially related to technology in the classroom. "Harnessing Information Technology for Learning" does address the relationship between teaching, learning, and new technologies. However, teaching and learning are, rightly, given priority and technology considered only instrumentally. White and Davis caution that "Overemphasis on what [technological] products can do and underemphasis on learning and teaching needs and benefits do not make a good basis for successful use of [communication ad information technology] (238). Consequently, White and Davis dedicate the bulk of their article to a long list of questions designed to help technology users determine what they seek to achieve, how technology may serve those pedagogical goals, and how to devise mechanisms for reviewing and assessing the results.
The final two chapters reflect upon "the harsh reality of pursuing and benefiting from an academic career in an increasingly pressurized environment" (249). In Chapter 14, Pennington and Smith ask whether "Career-Long Competence" is an "Unattainable Ideal or Professional Requirement?" but in fact begin from the presumption that it is both necessary and attainable. The chapter is dedicated to articulating the importance of "continuing professional development" and to exploring various means to that end.
The final chapter by the editors summarizes "three recent
research studies on aspects of academic life, work, and career
development. Interwoven with the studies are snapshots of academic
employment in the United Kingdom, and a section on the use of
career consultants mentors, and role models" (272). While
the reader may have expected the final two chapters to be prescriptive,
they are primarily descriptive and tend to be more specific to
the United Kingdom. In one critical respect the final chapters
resemble the other contributions: they offer few novel insights
but provide some useful tools for organizing and interpreting
contemporary trends in higher education.
2 The Humanities and Social Sciences were oddly underrepresented
in this volume, although I do not assume that this omission necessarily
limits the value of the exercise. Although many contributors
have experience in a number of different fields, my rough count
of contributors by their primary area of responsibility revealed
nine education specialists; seven contributors from the applied
and theoretical sciences; two from business; two from student
development and/or student services; one economist; and one historian.
Most also have administrative and management responsibilities.
Linda Cornett
UNC Asheville