Academic leadership and management
Transition to Colleges and our transformational agenda
With the formation of Colleges the University is looking to place itself sustainably in the top 10. This transformational agenda, which forms part of the transition to Colleges project will need to be a shared endeavour, owned, expressed and delivered by the whole academic community. This shared endeavour requires high quality leadership and management by the academic community and within this context, College Executives will be introducing the role of Academic Lead as central to College governance, leadership and management.
Through the role of Academic Lead, disciplinary identities will thrive as Academic Leads will have shared ownership of the strategy of each discipline or subject group, and one will take on the role of Head of Discipline. This recognises that strong disciplines are the foundation to a successful College and University. The role of Academic Lead will also enable leadership to be distributed to a wider group of staff in the College, empowering more staff and recognising the importance of close and supportive leadership relationships for promoting a collegiate culture.
This paper gives further detail on the role of Academic Lead, the objectives, responsibilities and key processes the Academic Lead will be involved with. The thoughts in this paper have been developed over the past four months in a series of discussions between Deans, Associate Deans, College Managers, DVCs and members of work stream one and by sharing it with the academic community we want to start a period of discussion and consultation around the concept of Academic Lead and how the College community wants to implement it. The paper raises a number of questions around the role of Academic Lead, the answers to which will shape how the College community decides to govern and lead itself.
What is the role of an Academic Lead?
The role of an Academic Lead is two-fold. Through representation on the College Management Group Academic Leads will deliberate, discuss and engage with College wide decision-making, ensuring that disciplines and groups of staff are championed whilst also being responsible for the success of the whole College.
The other aspect of the role of an Academic Lead is to lead a group of academic colleagues in the discipline or subject grouping. In this role, Academic Leads will provide leadership, guidance, support and advice to individual academic colleagues and take responsibility for the leadership and management of a group of colleagues. Academic Leads will be supported by the College Executive team and through their representation on the College Management Group will be enabled to provide direction, guidance and support informed by an intimate knowledge of and responsibility for the College’s endeavour. Academic Leads will in this role support and champion individual aspirations, help academic colleagues to achieve their full potential and where individual performance is a concern act quickly to establish structured support.
For distributed leadership to work, all members of the academic community will have responsibility for their contribution to the discipline, subject group, College’s and University’s success through their own individual contribution and how they work with colleagues. Individual academic staff are expected to meet high expectations and to engage with the discussions and decision-making around disciplinary, subject grouping, College and University direction. The Academic Lead will provide a reference point for individual staff to discuss all aspects of their professional work, although other specific expertise and support will also be available.
Description of responsibilities, accountabilities and process for appointment
A number of principles have been developed around the role of Academic Lead with an aim to have clarity around the responsibilities of an Academic Lead.
Academic Leads will be appointed by the Dean and will have delegated authority from the Dean for the management and leadership of a particular group of staff. The Dean will oversee the allocation of individual staff to Academic Leads.
The Academic Lead role description details the specific areas of academic management and leadership the College Dean will delegate to Academic Leads. The responsibility for formal performance management will rest with the Dean.
Each member of academic staff will have a designated Academic Lead. One Academic Lead will take on the role of Head of Discipline or subject grouping. Role description for the role of Head of Discipline.
Administration of Education and Research and Knowledge Transfer in the Colleges
The Associate Dean of Education will be supported in the College by a group of Directors of Education. Directors of Education will be responsible for administering the processes relating to teaching and learning (including internationalisation) for a discipline or subject group in the College. This is currently different in the Business School, where the Associate Dean for Education is supported by one Director of Education.
The Associate Dean of Research and Knowledge transfer will be supported in the College by a group of Directors of Research. Directors of Research will be responsible for administering the processes relating to research (including internationalisation) for a unit of assessment in the College.
Directors of Education and Directors of Research may also be Academic Leads.
Directors of Education and Directors of Research will be appointed in consultation by the College Executive.
Key processes for academic leadership and management
The Diagram detailing the dual role of academic lead shows visually how the role of Academic lead relates to individual academic staff and how strategy is developed, unit level targets are set and relate to individual goals. The diagram starts describing the key processes around academic leadership and management as detailed in this model.
Supporting individual academic staff
Through induction, the Professional Development Programme (PDP), the Performance and Development Review (PDR) process and regular informal meetings, Academic Leads will support individual academic staff. Individual goals will be set, which translate the College and Unit of Assessment level targets into appropriate and personalised goals. In addition Academic Leads will be providing feedback on achievements and providing support and guidance when appropriate.
Developing a vision, strategy and College targets
Through consultation with staff, the College Executive will develop a vision for the College detailing the appropriate research, education and internationalisation strategies which will enable the vision to be realised.
Academic Leads will be represented on the College Management Group, where College strategies and unit level targets will be deliberated. This will give Academic Leads a shared ownership of the College and academic unit strategies.
In order to ensure College strategies are delivered, the College Executive will regularly monitor the targets which describe the success of the strategy. These targets will be set for the College, the Unit of Assessment or subject where appropriate and in conjunction with DVCs. Feedback on how individual staff contribute to the College and unit level targets will be given to individual staff, who will then discuss this in the context of their individual goals with the Academic Lead.
Shaping the model for academic leadership and management to address College specific contexts
During the drafting of the model a number of issues were discussed and considered as being key to how the College community decides to shape the model. The areas are referred to briefly below:
Number of academic leads and organising principles
There are a number of factors we need to consider when thinking about the ideal number of Academic Leads in any College. Factors which drive the need to limit the number as far as possible include
- The need to understand and communicate College and disciplinary strategies in a consistent way
- The need to provide effective guidance and high support
In addition to these generic factors, there will be College and disciplinary specific issues which will play a role in determining the actual number of Academic Leads in any College.
What is the optimum number of Academic Leads in your College? What should be the organising principles for grouping staff together in your College?
Motivation and reward
There is agreement on the importance of Academic Leads and the responsibilities of role will be adequately reflected in the workload model, recognising the time that will be required to undertake regular meetings. In addition Colleges will develop College specific mechanisms for rewarding staff who undertake Academic Lead roles.
Academic management and leadership will be recognised in promotion processes and as a reward criterion in the merit award process. The role of academic lead will not have a direct implication on salary.
What are the College specific reward mechanisms for fulfilling the role?
Length of academic lead role
It is important that staff feel that there is continuity of leadership, particularly through PDP, so as a guideline a minimum of three years with the possibility of further renewal would be the norm subject to varying circumstances within Colleges.
Does the College want to set a minimum and maximum length of term for this role?
Representation on College Management Group
The College will need to decide the representation of Academic Leads on College Management Groups as membership of all Leads may not be practical or effective.
What size is practical for the College?
Management structure
In thinking through the academic leadership and management structures, the following model was proposed;
Heads of Discipline will be the Academic Lead for the Academic Leads in their discipline. Associate Deans will be the Academic Leads for the Heads of Disciplines.
Is this a sensible way forward?
Anna Verhamme
Change Manager
23rd April 2010
With input from:
College Deans, Associate Deans and College Managers
Members of work stream one and the Change Management Group
DVCs
VCEG
