Session Information
32 SES 06 B, Human Resource Development by Higher Education Mergers and Town Meetings
Paper Session
Contribution
This study aims at investigating the impact of some of the ongoing mergers in higher education from the perspective of the teacher educators, looking at their involvement and engagement in processes related to the mergers.
Higher education institutions in Norway are currently going through major structural changes merging smaller institutions into larger, multi-campus colleges and universities, because the government expect the institutions to become larger and more robust, making them internationally competitive (NOU 2008:3 p. 25). The largeness and robustness that these mergers are supposed to produce, is seen as a measure of quality in higher education. This global trend and national policy thus affects large parts of higher education in Norway, and all those who work there.
When large institutions undergo structural changes at this scale it is crucial to ensure broad democratic processes and develop ownership to the new organization for those who work there. Thus, it may be relevant to look at how these processes are perceived by those at the receiving end.
The study has looked at how teacher educators have experienced the merger processes how the merger has affected the academic staff and their working environment. Their responses reveal that the academic staff have found the situation distressing and that the processes related to the mergers created a “high degree of uncertainty” among the staff relating to the establishment of a new management and a new organization model. The stress imposed on the organization seems to have taken a great toll on the staff, who find themselves in an unstable organization with unsettled power structures and high external pressure.
Method
The current study is based on a hermeneutic phenomenological interpretation of ten semi-structured interviews with teacher educators in three different university colleges and universities currently undergoing mergers in different parts of Norway. The teacher represent different subjects and disciplines in teacher education, also representing assistant professors, associate professors and full professors. Alvesson, M., & Sköldberg, K. (2009). Reflexive methodology. New vistas for qualitative research (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications. Finlay, L. (2012). “Debating phenomenological methods”. In N. Friesen, C. Henriksson, & T. Saevi (Eds.), Hermeneutic phenomenology in education, Vol. 4 (s. 17–37). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis. Theory, method and research. London: Sage publications.
Expected Outcomes
The presentation will discuss how these national policies influence higher education in relation to the policy goals of increased quality from the perspective of the teacher educators. The findings suggest that teacher educators find themselves in an unsatisfactory working situation which has led many of them to prefer not to get engaged in the merger processes, but rather withdraw into “their own bubble” – which is contrary to the goals of these mergers.
References
NOU 2008:3 “Viewed together - new structures in higher education” https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/NOU-2008-3/id4971C82/sec1 accessed 03.11.17 Goreham, H. (2011). “Mergers in Higher Education”. Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. https://www.lfhe.ac.uk/download.cfm/docid/E479BC17-5489-4C95-BA54874FAA97DC68 Accessed 2017-11-17. Puusa and Kekäle, (2015). «Feelings over facts – a university merger brings organisational identity to the forefront”. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. Volume 37, Issue 4. Tailor & Francis Online.
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