Tertiary Education Policy and Management

Subject MGMT90136 (2013)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2013.

Credit Points: 25
Level: 9 (Graduate/Postgraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject is not offered in 2013.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: 56 hours online discussion and webinars
Total Time Commitment: 240 hours
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: N/A
Non Allowed Subjects: N/A
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the HDisability Liaison Unit websiteH: Hhttp://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/H

Contact

Education Student Centre
Subject Overview: This unit has three main themes.

The Nature of the Tertiary Education Organisation. How do tertiary sector institutions different from other types of organisations? Key concepts examined are: professional organisations and professional autonomy, distributed decision-making structures, fragmentation and specialisation, organisational culture, power and politics, and managing and leading in a context of ambiguity.

Comparative Tertiary Education Policy Studies. Considers the major trends and issues in tertiary education policy around the world, and how this affects the strategies institutions adopt to compete and contribute in a mixed economy of higher learning. Key issues examined are: access and equity, mass higher learning and internationalisation, and system governance steering and diversity.

Management and Leadership in Tertiary Education. An overview of theories and principles for effective management and leadership. How do these fit the tertiary context, and what kinds of roles can be played in administrative, educative and scholarly domains? How do managers balance competing demands, multiple values and distributed authority in these settings?
Objectives:

Upon successful completion students will be able to:

  • Understand the history and nature of tertiary education institutions;
  • Locate Australian tertiary education policy issues in a broader international context
  • Assess the implications of policy change for effective institutional management.
Assessment: Active participation in weekly discussion board, compulsory webinar attendance; one on-line multiple choice examination on core texts, one essay due after the end of the semester. This is a pass/fail subject. Participants receive feedback for each task, and must pass all tasks.
Prescribed Texts: Robert E. Quinn, Sue R. Faerman, Michael P. Thompson, Michael R. McGrath and Lynda S. St.Clair, Becoming a master manager; a competing values approach, 5th edition, Hoboken NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Breadth Options:

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.
Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:
  • A grasp of the complexities of tertiary education policy and management;
  • Ability to work as a team member;
  • Ability to apply theoretical insights to issues and problems encountered in practice.

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