Contemporary university strategising: The financial imperative

Parker, L. (2013) Contemporary university strategising: The financial imperative. Financial Accountability and Management, 29(1), pp. 1-25. (doi: 10.1111/faam.12000)

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Abstract

This paper examines the financially focused strategies now evident amongst institutions competing for space in the global higher education system. In their search for increasing financial self-sufficiency, universities and other higher education providers are examined for their primary competitive strategies. The study provides comprehensive evidence of their cost and operating efficiency strategies, facilitated by increasingly pervasive financial performance accountability systems. The primary operational strategies of teaching and research are found to have been transmogrified into strategies of customised education and research that is primarily focused upon and measured in terms of its funds generation. These trends contribute to complex performance management and accountability challenges as universities’ senior managers balance their internal financial ambitions with the expectations of external stakeholders, while simultaneously projecting sanitised imagery through corporate public relations strategies.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Parker, Professor Lee
Authors: Parker, L.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Accounting and Finance
Journal Name:Financial Accountability and Management
Publisher:Blackwell Publishing
ISSN:0267-4424
ISSN (Online):1468-0408

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