Increasing Professionalism of Higher Education Managers and
Administrators:
Focusing on Research Managers and Administrators
Dr. Joanna Poon
Research Funding Officer
Research Office
Edge Hill College of Higher Education
Ormskirk
L39 4QP
Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual
Conference, University of Glamorgan, 14-17 September 2005
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to discuss the increasing professionalism of research
managers and administrators.
The paper firstly discusses recent changes to the research environment and follows
with changes to research administration. Then follows with the discussion of the
research method and research findings.
Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with research managers and
administrators working in various Higher Education Institutions in the North West of
England during the period from June to August 2005. Four interviewees were
research managers and administrators working in research support and another four
working in research students’ support areas. Two research support officers and two
research student administrators have research backgrounds while the other two have
administration background. The interview questions aim to seek the interviewees’
comments on the development of knowledge and skills that facilitate them to perform
their role and the preference modes for delivering the professional development
events.
The interviewees working on different areas have different requirement on their
knowledge requirement. The interviewees working in research student support area
think it is important to develop their knowledge on their understanding of students’
needs. While, the interviewees working in research support suggested that it is
important to be kept updated on changes to the research environment and relevant
policies.
The interviewees with different backgrounds have different skills training needs.
Interviewees with research background suggested it is important to provide research
skills training for colleagues who do not have research background. On the other
hand, interviewees with administration background think their administration skills
should be further enhanced.
All interviewees prefer that professional development events be delivered in informal
mode, such as conference and workshops.
2
1.
Introduction
The Higher Education (HE) sector is a ‘unique’ sector and it is more than a sub-set of
the education system. Barnett (1990) stated ‘higher education system has certain
values and aims which are intrinsic to educational processes’. Barnett (1990: p.6)
further identified the difference between Higher Education and Further Education, he
stated ‘higher education is not further education, it is not simply of what has gone
before. Rather, the term is a reference to a level of individual development over and
above that normally implied by the term of education’.
As a result of the complexity and the changing nature of the HE sector, the role of
higher education managers and administrators has evolved rapidly over the last
decade (Holmes, 1999 and Lawyers, 2000). The expectations and requirements on
higher education managers and administrators are increasing (Conway, 2000; Gornall,
1999; Patterson, 1988 and Thomas, 1998). The professionalism1 of HE management
and administration is increasing (Allen and Newcomb, 1999).
The aim of this paper is to discuss the increasing professionalism of higher education
managers and administrators, focusing on research managers and administrators. I
will firstly discuss the changes to the research environment and follow with changes
to research administration. The third section outlines the research method of the
paper, interviews with different types of research administrators seeking their
opinions on the types of continuous professional development that they think are of
importance to maintain and increase their professionalism. The research findings and
conclusions follow.
The significant changes in the research sector lead to research administrator also
facing a lot of changes. This impacts directly on the role of research managers and
administrators and gives the first reason for conducting this research. The second
reason for focusing on research managers and administrators is my personal interest. I
am currently working as a Research Funding Officer. I would be interested to know
more about the changes to our role and the types of professional development, which
will facilitate us to perform our role.
2.
Changes to Research Environment
2.1
Changes to Research Funding Policy
2.1.1 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
There are several changes for RAE 2008. The first one is the ‘grading system’. It
moves from a single score from one of seven grades2 to a quality profile based on four
grades. The point about the RAE since 1992 is the increased selectivity and the
increase in ‘excellent’ scores. The RAE is an increasing major and vital determination
of research-led HEIs’ income stream. Furthermore, the other dramatic change on the
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defined professionalism is ‘the qualities or typical features of a
profession or of professionals, esp. competence and skills etc.’
2
The seven grading are 5*, 5, 4, 3a, 3b, 2 and 1.
1
3
RAE 2008 is its attempt to ensure the inclusion of ‘applied research’ and
‘interdisciplinary research’. ‘Quality profiles’ will be used to assess research quality.
One of the objectives for the new process is to ‘recognise excellence in applied
research, in new disciplines and in fields crossing traditional discipline boundaries’
(RAE 2004).
2.1.2 Encouragement of Knowledge Transfer Activities
The Government began to encourage Knowledge Transfer activities at early 1990’s. It
started to allocate more resources for achieving this purpose in the late 1990s. One of
the relevant policies is the strengthening of the Higher Education Innovation Fund
(HEIF) and HEIF now becomes a permanent third stream of funding. HEIF aims to
help institutions to increase their ability to respond to the needs of business and the
wider community, where this will lead to identifiable economic benefits. It is
designed to sit alongside institutions' teaching and research activities, enabling them
to secure the maximum economic benefit from those activities.
Funding allocations for the third round of the Higher Education Innovation Fund
(HEIF 3) will be announced in 2006. The confirmed scale of funding for HEIF 3 will
be up to £238 million to England HEIs, to be allocated over the period August 2006 to
July 2008. As part of the formation of allocation of the HEIF3 fund, the HEFCE seeks
to inform the strategic direction of the third stream activity by the funding bodies and
HEIs in the UK through annual Higher Education Business Community Interaction
Survey (HEBCI).
2.1.3 Full Economic Costing
The Office for Science and Technology (OST) is responsible for developing and
coordinating Government policy on science and technology both at national and
international levels. The OST is also responsible for the allocation of Science Budget
(currently is just under £2.4 billion per annum) into research via the eight Research
Councils.
Starting from September 2005, higher education institutions need to use the full
economic costing (fEC) approach to costing for the research proposals as submitted to
the Research Councils. The HEFC will provide more funding3 for higher education,
but also requires HEIs to provide better accounting for their use of public funds and to
demonstrate that they provide value for money. This included a requirement to show
the cost of each of their activities. Therefore, under the full economic costing
approach, the costs should be reported under the headings of direct incurred costs,
directly allocated costs and indirect costs (expressed as £/FTE).
3
An extra £120 million for the research councils from 2005-06 to enable them to make a more realistic
contribution to the full costs of the research that they sponsor in universities.
4
2.1.4 Joint Electronic Submission
Je-S is the Research Council UK electronic submission system. It is a common
electronic system that supports research administration. From 1 September 2005, one
system and one process will be used by the six participating Councils (AHRC,
BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, NERC and PPRAC). The aim of designing this system is to
end paper submissions. This system requires an institutional representative to coordinate the submission of research proposals and reports.
2.2
Changes to Research Training Requirements
2.2.1 Postgraduate Research Training
The government has paid more attention to research training over the last decade. The
earlier policy documents include HEQC’s (1996) ‘Guidelines on the Quality
Assurance of Research Degrees’ and QAA’s (1999) ‘QAA Code of Practice for
Assurance of Academic Quality and Standards in Higher Education’. These
documents briefly stated the training requirements for research students.
The Roberts Review further emphasised the importance of training as part of
postgraduate research, it also highlights the minimum requirement for training of
transferable skills to be at least two weeks per year (Roberts, 2002a). The Research
Councils and AHRB’s Joint Statement on ‘Skills Training Requirements for Research
Students’ identified the comprehensive training requirement for research students, the
areas which should be covered including ‘research skills and techniques’, ‘research
environment’, ‘research management’, ‘personal effectiveness’, ‘communication
skills’, ‘networking and teamworking’ and ‘career management’ (published as Annex
A to HEFCE 2003/23).
2.2.2 Comprehensive Requirement on Offering Research Degrees
The most recent and comprehensive guideline on research programmes is the Section
1 ‘Postgraduate Research Programmes’ of the second edition of the QAA Code of
Practice (QAA, 2004). This document stated the QAA’s expectation on ‘institutional
arrangement’, ‘the research environment’, ‘selection, admission and induction of
students’, ‘supervision’, ‘progress and review arrangements’, ‘development of
research and other skills’, ‘feedback mechanisms’, ‘assessment’, ‘complaints
procedures’ and ‘appeal procedures’ for HEIs which offering research degree and HEI
should fulfil these requirement from 2005/2006.
2.3
Impacts of these Changes on Research Administration
The function of research administrators and managers is to provide professional
support for academics and researchers. The creation and the expansion of the central
research office is one of the strategies made in response to changes in national
research policy (McNay, 1997). In other words, changes in the environment will have
an impact on research administration.
5
The first impact is that research administrators will have higher level of co-ordination
and liaison responsibilities. This is due to the increase volume of inter-disciplinary
research, implementation of Joint Electronic Submission, data collection for the
annual Higher Education Business Community Interaction Survey and the increase
requirements on institution offering research degree programmes.
The other impact is that the research administrators have to implement new and
developing policies such as using Full Economic Costing approach to cost research
projects and the offer of postgraduate research training. The changes for research
administration will be further discussed in next section.
3.
Changes for Research Administration
3.1 Development of Research Administration Roles
There are two main types of administrator. The first type is to provide research
support. One of their key major responsibilities is to assist academics for applying
research grant. Their responsibilities include searching for funding resources,
developing ideas for research projects, interpreting guidelines and policy of research
sponsor, conduct costing for research projects and structuring proposals according to
agency and institutional requirements. In addition, they are also responsible for
negotiating contracts and administrating research budgets etc. (Schwarz, 2000). As
the result for the development of knowledge transfer activities, research support
officers may also be responsible to provide support for this type of activities.
The second type of research administrators is responsible for dealing with research
students’ issues. The research students’ administrator is responsible for providing
administration support for research degrees. There is also a new role, that is
postgraduate students’ training officer, they are responsible for delivering and
organising training programme for students. It follows the recommendations from
‘Skills Training Requirements for Research Students’ (published as Annex A to
HEFCE 2003/23) that all postgraduate research students should receive a wide range
of skills’ training.
3.2 Changes of Background of Research Administrators
Traditionally, the background for research administrators has been in administration.
More recently, there has been a tendency for more ‘researchers’ to have a career
change and take up the role as research administrators. This may reflect the increase
complexity of research administration environment, mainly, it would be advantageous
to have research background as it can facilitate on understanding of research
environment and process for conducting research.
Furthermore, the postgraduate students’ training officers have to deliver or coordinate training course on research skills for students. It would be beneficial if they
have experience as researchers. It may possibly reflect the increasing number of PhDs
being produced by the UK HEIs.
6
3.3 Knowledge Required for Research Managers and Administrators
As there is rapid change on government policies and the research environment,
research administrators have to keep constantly updated on these changes. Possibly
due to research administration being a newly developing and ‘non-well defined’
profession, there is limited literature discussing the knowledge required for research
administrators. As a result, this section is based on my experience and reflections as a
research administrator and also on discussion with colleagues.
As the areas of responsibility of research support officers and research students’
officers are different, the knowledge required by them is different.
The requirements for research support officer which reflect the changes outlined in
Section 2 are:
 Preparation for RAE submission
 Research ethics and governance
 Financial management of research projects and contracts
 Organising and delivering research training workshops and seminars
 Providing support for preparing research proposals
 Costing for research projects by using Full Economic Costing approach
 Grading of research staff
 Writing up of non-technical part of research proposals
 Use of JeS to submit proposals to the Research Councils
For research students’ officers, their core knowledge is more focused on
administration of research degree programme, development of research students and
research supervisors. The identified knowledge areas may include:






Development of research students handbook
Co-ordinating research training programmes for research students
Co-ordinating training courses for research supervisors
Organising and delivering courses for research students and supervisors
Liasing between research students and supervisors
Skills training requirements of postgraduate research students
3.4 Skills Required for Research Managers and Administrators
In the same way as other higher education managers and administrators, research
administrators also require general administration skills such as organisational, time
management and planning skills (Drummond, 2003; Patterson, 1998; Roberts, 2002b
and Wilson, 1999). Nadler, Hackman and Lawler (1994) further emphasized the
importance of interpersonal (liaising with people), investigating (fact finding),
communication (verbal and written) research and decision-making (resource
allocation) skills are important. In addition, research administrators are responsible for
conducting costing/ budgeting for research proposals, so it is also important to have
ability on resource allocation.
7
Interpersonal skill is possibly one the most required skills for research administrators
as they have to deal with a wide range of stakeholders (Krauser, 2003, Streharsky,
1998 and Streharsky and Smith, 2002). In addition, skill or ability in developing
‘trust’ with researchers is also another vital skill for research administrator as there
are a lot occasions which may arise conflicts between the academics and
administrators. Therefore, good interpersonal skills are important for handling these
situations. On the other hand, if they can earn the trust of researchers, even when they
must apply the rules, by showing a genuine concern for them and actually making
attempt on assisting them, it could be easier for them to accept their advice and follow
it (Krauser, 2003).
4.
Interview with Research Managers and Administrators
A total of eight semi-structure interviews were conducted with research managers and
administrators working in various Higher Education Institutions in the North West of
England.
The interviews were collected during the period from June to August 2005. An E-mail
was sent to potential interviewees to invite them to participate in the research. It also
provided them some background information about the research. The interviews took
place in the interviewees’ office. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed.
The interviewees were research managers and administrators working in research
support and research students’ support areas.
Of the eight respondents interviewed, four work in research support area and four
provide support to research students. Two research support officers and two research
students administrators have research backgrounds; either having a Doctoral Degree
or having worked as researcher at the early stage of their career, all working in
research administration at an institutional level. Please see Table 1 for the description
of the participants.
8
Table 1
Description of Interviewees
Interviewees
Description of Main Job Areas
Background
SupportResearcher (1)
SupportResearcher (2)
SupportAdministrator (1)
SupportAdministrator (2)
StudentAdministrator (1)
StudentAdministrator (2)
StudentResearcher (1)
StudentResearcher (2)
Providing Research Support
Researcher
Year
of
Experience
4 years
Providing Research Support
Researcher
7 years
Providing Research Support
Administrator
Providing Research Support
Administrator
Responsible
for
Research
Students Administration
Responsible
for
Research
Students Administration
Co-ordinating and Delivering
Postgraduate Training
Co-ordinating and Delivering
Postgraduate Training
Administrator
Administrator
More than 3
years
More than 1
year
More than 2
years
11 years
Researcher
1 year
Researcher
1 year
4.3 Description of Interview Questions
The interview questions were divided into four sections. The first section asked for
background information of the interviewees, such as their roles and responsibility
regarding research management and administration, their length of working
experience and their background (as a researcher or as an administrator). Through the
answers to these questions, I aimed to identify whether there was any difference in the
requirements of continuous professional development for the research administrators
who have different responsibilities, experience and background.
The second section sought the interviewees’ comments on the types of professional
development that they think they require to help them perform their roles. As the
responsibilities for research support officers and research students’ officers are
different, therefore, two sets of knowledge areas were prepared (see Section 3.3). The
third section sought the interviewees’ comments on the development of skills that
facilitate them to perform their role. These skills are discussed in Section 3.4. As
professionalism is constructed by knowledge and skills, therefore, the interview
questions will be focused on these two areas (Gornall, 1999; Lawerys, 2002 and
Patterson, 1998).
The knowledge and skills as identified in sections 3.3 and 3.4 are identified based on
my observation and discussion with colleagues. Interviewees will also be asked
whether there are any other areas that they think are important for performing their
role as research administrators.
The questions in the fourth section asked interviewees about their preferences
regarding the delivery of training.
9
5.
Research Findings
5.1 Knowledge
5.1.1 Research Support Officer
Generally speaking, the research support officers thought their knowledge on areas
such as offering assistance for proposal preparation and conducting costing for
proposal was sufficient. This is because they work on these areas on day-to-day basis,
therefore, they have developed substantial knowledge through ‘practicing’.
However, the research support officers suggested that it is important to be kept
updated on the changes of research environment and relevant policies as roles and
responsibilities change in response to the changing environment. They also mentioned
that they hope their knowledge on particular research support areas, such as EU
regulations, full economic costing, research ethics and governance issues should be
enhanced. In addition, the research support officers welcomed training on the use of
specialist software, such as project management software.
5.1.2 Research Students’ Administrator
In a similar way to research support officers, the research students’ administrators
also said that they do not need more training on enhancing on the areas which I
suggested (see Section 3.3). It is also because they have wide practical experience on
these issues.
As in the interview with research support officers, research students’ administrators
indicated some areas which I did not mention. They would like their knowledge on
the ‘research students’ experience’ to be enhanced. As they are at the front-end
position in dealing with students’ request, they think it would be helpful if they have
more understanding on their experience so as to be able to provide prompt and
suitable advice.
Furthermore, the research students’ administrators said that it is important to keep
updated on policy development in the provision of research training as they are
responsible for implementing research student policy and revising Research Students’
Handbooks.
Student-Administrator (1) suggested that it is important to provide some ‘cultural
training’ for research students’ administrators because there is increasing number of
overseas students studying in the UK.
5.1.3 Postgraduate Training Officer
The postgraduate training officers indicate that it is important for them to know the
needs and expectation of the students and the available resources for them, to help
them to deliver their training courses. In addition, diversity awareness is also
10
important as they have a lot of opportunity to work with disabled and international
students. They share the same view as Student-Administrator (1) on this issue.
5.2
Skills
The research support officers and research students’ administrators have different
views on the requirement of skill training. In addition, there is also difference on the
skills training requirements between the administrators who have different
backgrounds.
Support-Researcher (1) suggested that training on research skills would be beneficial
for research support officers. It is because she understands the research process and
she appreciates the benefits of having this knowledge. On the other hand, the research
support officers with administration background believe they need more training on
organisational and financial management skills. The financial management skills
become more important especially after the implementation of the full economic
costing approach.
The research students’ administrators and postgraduate training officers commented
that they are hoping to gain some training on ‘counselling skills’. It is because they
are usually the first point of contact for research students and students sometimes
require for some pastoral supports.
5.3
Preferred Delivery Modes for Professional Development Events
All interviewees prefer the informal mode on delivering professional development
events, such as conferences and professional workshops. It is because there are a lot
of changes on the higher education administration environment and the short-term
courses have greater flexibility in dealing with these changes. The interviewees also
mentioned that they can network and make contacts through attending these seminars
and professional events. The interviewees also welcome the virtual e-mail discussion
list as they think it provides a ‘platform’ for discussion. The interviewees have less
preference for structured programmes, for example MBA, as they feel these courses
lack the flexibility on responding to the changes. The only exception is for learning to
use software, hence they commented that formal structured program is more
preferable.
The interviewees who have administration background4 indicated the other ‘modes’
for professional development. They include ‘having personal reflection on
experience’ and ‘observation on colleagues’. In other word, ‘working environment’ is
a good place for professional development events.
4
Four out of eight interviewees were in general administration role prior to take up research
administrator role. The other four interviewees worked as researchers prior to work as research
administrator.
11
6.
6.1
Discussion
Knowledge
All the respondents generally welcome some training to keep them updated on the
current issues, as there are a lot of changes and new policies on research
administration are implemented. It is vital to be kept updated.
As the main responsibilities of research students’ administrators and postgraduate
training officers are to deal with research students, they are more interested in
enhancing their understanding of students’ needs, for example, they request to have
training on diversity awareness. It appears that the need for enhancement of
knowledge is related to the type of people they are working with.
The types of institution where the interviewees work at impose influence on their
comment. Students-Administrators 1 and the postgraduate training officers work in
universities which have a lot of overseas students, therefore, they highlighted the
importance on studying cultural awareness.
The interviewees have different background require different training on their
knowledge. The research students’ administrators stressed the importance on
understanding of ‘research students’ experience as they think it facilitates their role.
On the other hand, the postgraduate training officers did not mention it at all. It is
probably because they were research students5 and they well understand research
students’ experience. Therefore, they did not realise it is an issue if they do not
understand it.
6.2
Skills
Interviewees of different backgrounds, as a researcher or as an administrator,
identified different requirements for their skills training needs. Support-Researcher (1)
suggested that some training on research skills should be provided for colleagues who
do not have research background. Conversely, the research support officers with
administration background think their administration skills should be further
enhanced. The possible reason for explaining is that the interviewees make comments
based on the ‘what they are most familiar with’, therefore, the comments of
interviewees with research background are research related. On the other hand, the
years of experience do not influence on the skills training requirements for the
interviewees.
6.3
Mode of Delivery of Professional Development Events
All interviewees prefer that professional development events deliver in informal
mode, such as conference and workshops. They explained that it is due to the rapid
changes on the research environment, therefore, these types of events can provide a
prompt response to the changing environment. The other possible reason explaining
5
Both interviewed postgraduate training officers has PhD.
12
this situation is that the interviewees are practitioners; therefore, they prefer this type
of ‘practitioner-networking’ training events.
7.
Conclusion
Research environment is changing rapidly and this change imposes a lot of challenges
for research administration. As a result, research administrators have to engage in
professional development events in order to keep their capacity and professionalism
to cope with the role.
The research findings show that different types of administrators have different views
on increasing their professionalism. The research support officers would focus more
on enhancing their knowledge and skills on work-related areas. On the other hand, the
research students’ administrators and postgraduate training officers hope to enhance
their ability on dealing with students’ requests. The most preferred method for
professional developments events is through informal mode as it provides more
flexibility on the design of the course in order to address to the changes.
The interviewees with different background have different training requirements. The
research support officers with research background think research skill is important
for their role. The research support officers with administration background think
their administration skill should be enhanced. It reflects that they are aware the
importance of the issues that their specialists are in. On the hand, the research
students’ administrators emphasize on the training for enhancing their knowledge on
‘research students’ experience. In other words, they emphasize on training
requirement for the area which they are do not have experience.
13
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