Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Procedia Engineering 178 (2017) 249 – 257
16thConference on Reliability and Statistics in Transportation and Communication, RelStat’2016, 19-22 October, 2016, Riga, Latvia
Management of a Technical University in the Context of Preparing Students for the 21stCentury Careers in Science and Technology Yulia Stukalina* Transport and Telecommunication Institute, Riga, LV-1019, Latvia
Abstract Today, the delivery of educational services is accomplished in a diversity of ways due to the rules dictated by the ever-evolving global environment. As the global environment has changed drastically over the last decades and has become more uncertain, the prevailing management approaches do not seem to be well-suited for contemporary universities. Both public and private universities are now pressed to perform their traditional functions more efficiently. The expectations of students have also changed, which makes higher education institutions become more flexible for meeting the needs of new student populations. Thus, senior managers of a contemporary technical university have to re-examine their strategies aimed at achieving academic and research excellence, which requires flexible and responsive forms of management that are more inclusive of academic and research aspects in the decision-making process.This paper considers the implications for managers and academics, as key stakeholders of a higher education institution, in the highly globalized modern environment. The paper explores a few central issues faced by the management of a technical university in in the framework of developing a competitive strategy with due account for the needs of new student populations, as well as employers and policy-makers. © Published by Elsevier Ltd. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license © 2017 2017The TheAuthors. Authors. Published by Elsevier (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 16th International Conference on Reliability and Statistics in Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Reliability and Statistics in Transportation and Communication. Transportation and Communication Keywords:Techical university, 21st century skills, educational management,competitive strategy
* Corresponding author. E-mail address:
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1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Reliability and Statistics in Transportation and Communication
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.01.107
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1. Introduction Since the international environment has changed radically over the last decades and has become more uncertain, the prevailing management approaches do not seem to be well-matched for modern universities. Both public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) are now pressed to perform their traditional functions (such as teaching and research) more efficiently in an increasingly globalized environment characterized by severe competition (COM(2003) 58 final). The expectations of students have changed to a large extent, which makes universities become more flexible for meeting the anticipations of new student populations. Employers and policy-makers call for developing the 21stcentury skills such as critical and creative thinking, problem-solving and team-work skills, using technology for analysing and synthesizing information for application in the knowledge-based economy. European HEIs must take the lead in preparing their graduates for the changing needs of the international labour market. From a managerial standpoint, higher education institutions must find the most capable methods to balance their position in the international education market in terms of internal strengths and weaknesses against external threats and opportunities. Universities have to compete for attracting students, staff and research funds in the agenda of the cross-border higher education. Senior managers of a contemporary technical university have to re-examine their educational strategies aimed at achieving academic and research excellence, which requires flexible and responsive forms of management that are more inclusive of academic and research aspects in the decision-making process. This paper considers the implications for managers and academics, as key stakeholders of a higher education institution, in the highly globalized modern environment. The paper explores a few central issues faced by the management of a technical university in in the framework of developing a competitive strategy with due account for the needs of new student populations, as well as employers and policy-makers. 1.1. The changing context of modern technical higher education Experts admit that European higher education is “dynamic and evolving in a fast-changing context” (Higher Education in Europe 2009: Developments in the Bologna Process, 2009). Higher education in modern Europe is key to individual and social progress, as it provides the highly skilled human capital for supporting knowledge-based economies (COM(2013) 499 final). Education has become a strategic resource in the knowledge-driven society (Schleicher, 2003), technology, creativity and innovation being vital to economic growth and prosperity of any country. This demands affording citizens of the EU an opportunity to get access to first-quality higher education, and assisting students to succeed in their study programmes, which is vital for jobs and economic growth and their self-esteem (Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, 2005; London Communiqué, 2007; The European Higher Education Area in 2012: Bologna Process Implementation Report, 2012; Report to the European Commission on Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning in Europe’s Higher Education Institutions, 2013; Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe: Access, Retention and Employability, 2014). Higher education is now rapidly evolving as the result of the accelerating pace of technological innovation in the knowledge-based economy. The results of the research conducted in 2008 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (The future of higher education: How technology will shape learning, 2008), in which 289 executives took part worldwide, have revealed the following tendencies in higher education: • Higher education is responding to globalisation, and having an overseas presence will be the norm for the majority of universities over the coming years, • Technology has had – and will continue to have – an important impact on higher education, • Corporate-academic partnerships will form an increasing part of the university experience; for this purpose HEIs have to demonstrate a commitment to advanced technologies, • Distance education is becoming increasingly global, universities are widely using advanced technologies to make education more accessible around the world, • University respondents view technology as having a largely positive impact on their institutions.
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In this context, European technical universities play a pivotal role in supporting knowledge creation and knowledge transfer through using science and technology for performing teaching and research activities, which is crucial for ensuring economic competitiveness of any country. Today, higher education institutions are no longer expected to work in isolation; they operate in collaboration with industry, community and government (Altbach et al., 2009). Technical universities can contribute in the economy by providing various services to business, including commercialisation of new knowledge, delivery of professional training, consultancy, career guidance and counselling, as well as applied research. 1.2. Preparing students for the 21stcentury careers in science and technology in the agenda of multidisciplinary education The above suggests that technical universities face the need to efficiently teach future scientists, engineers, managers and economists, who will be focused on creating new products, services and technologies in the everevolving global environment. These professionals are expected to meet both the technical and business expectations of their customers, as knowledge-based economy needs graduates, who are well-equipped in the fundamentals at graduation, are able to work as part of multidisciplinary international teams, and can develop solutions to be implemented across national and cultural boundaries (Stukalina, 2007). It also should be noted that general goals attributed by society to education and training fall outside equipping Europeans for their professional life, but also include their personal development for a better life and active citizenship in democratic societies respecting cultural and linguistic diversity (Detailed work programme on the follow-up of the objectives of education and training systems in Europe, 2002). It follows thence that multidisciplinary education and inter-disciplinary research can provide technical universities with certain benefits. Multidisciplinary programmes are characterized by their interdisciplinary model for content and integration of various topics. The interdisciplinary approach to education and research is aimed at creating the so-called intellectual synthesis (Stukalina, 2008). The educational objectives of a multidisciplinary programme are determined by the strategic and associated objectives of the European education and training systems, which were proposed in the work program approved by the “Education” Council and the Commission at the Barcelona European Council Meeting (Detailed work programme on the follow-up of the objectives of Education and training systems in Europe, 2002). Mastering their profession under a multidisciplinary programme, students are supposed to “gain access to the most important foundational and emerging concepts and processes at the interface between their discipline and others”, which leads to developing a coherent understanding of the ways these disciplines interact; as a result, new educational and career opportunities open to graduates in the multidisciplinary world (Roberts, 2011). The anticipated educational outcomes of the programme are the following: the ability to use knowledge in practice, the ability to design and investigate, the ability to create and innovate, the ability to manage and compete, the ability to communicate proficiently in the international community, understanding of the significance for self-development and life-long learning, and understanding of social, professional and ethical responsibility (Stukalina, 2008). It should be noted that multidisciplinary education presupposes the involvement of various resources, managerial roles, professions and specialist fields engaged in the process; the process includes allocating heterogeneous resources, managing knowledge transfer and internal communication, facilitating collaborative learning, maintaining professional identity, developing innovative educational and managerial strategies. In the frame of multidisciplinary education, there is an increasing emphasis on teamwork and collaborative practice, integrating various skills and competences. We presume that successful implementation of multidisciplinary educational programmes demands creating multiple strategies in the agenda of the overall university’s strategy for the best use of all available organizational resources, which are embedded in different organizational units.
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2. Multiple strategies implementation in complex university settings 2.1. Strategy implementation in complex university settings According to Okumus (2003), strategies are characterized by a few main implementation factors, such as strategy development, environmental uncertainty, organizational structure, organizational culture, leadership; operational planning, resource allocation, communication, people, control and outcome; they can be categorized into four categories: strategic content, strategic context, process and outcome. Managers are recommended to use a holistic approach to viewing the formulation and implementation of their strategy, active participation from all levels of management being highly advisable (ibid.). Strategy-making hierarchy in a higher education institution is determined by the complicated nature of the university’s educational environment. In business, corporate strategy is associated to an overall managerial action plan; business strategy is associated with creating a managerial action plan for a specific line of business; functional strategy is concerned with generating a managerial action plan for coping with a functional activity within a business; operating strategy is related to making a managerial action plan for handling central organizational units (Thompson and Strickland, 2003). Though, it should be mentioned that the basic principles of strategic management are likewise valid for both business entities and educational institutions (Stukalina, 2014), provided that the achievement of education-specific organizational goals involves applying a special approach to developing strategies heading for accomplishing competitive advantage and academic excellence of a modern university (Stukalina, 2015). This presupposes that educational management has to be with the purpose or aims of education (Bush, 2007). Educational management has to be connected with the purpose of education (Bush, 2007), so it should be focused on the main activities of modern HEIs. These activities involve teaching, research, and the “contribution of universities to society by transferring their know-how” (Veugelers and Del Rey, 2014). The organizational strategy is always concerned with the creation of the main long-term goals, the implementation of actions and allocation of resources that are needed for accomplishing the established goals (Koontz and Weihrich, 2010). In complex university settings, strategic decisions sometimes have to be made with consideration for multiple criteria (Bhushan and Rai, 2004). Consequently, multiple strategies must be implemented at different levels and in various functional areas of a university with due account for university-specific strategic goals (Stukalina, 2015). By functional areas we understand main functional domains of a HEI, where functional area-specific strategies are realized (Stukalina, 2014): technical university services and facilities; education, research and staff (teaching staff and attending staff). In the context of strategic planning, resources should be defined in the broadest way possible (Hinton, 2012). Functional area-specific strategy-making may engage a variety of organizational resources – tangible, semi-tangible, non-tangible (Stukalina, 2008, 2010) – with due account for the nature of a particular functional domain. The highest priority for university management becomes accomplishing competitive advantage on the international higher education market, which presupposes stimulating excellence in education and research, improving the quality of university services and facilities, professional development of university academic staff in the context of lifelong learning (Stukalina, 2014). 2.2. Implementation of the strategic objectives in the agenda of functional area-specific strategy-making Modern strategic plans have multiple components (planning tools); every component serves a specific purpose, strategic objectives being one of the main constituents of the strategic plan (Hinton, 2012). Implementing strategic objectives in the agenda of functional area-specific strategy-making includes identifying main functional areas, key issues to be addressed in each area, and constant monitoring of specific performance measurements (Table 1). According to Hinton (2012), planning-related assessment at the intuitional level takes two forms: institutional effectiveness and learning outcomes. We assume that in the context of achieving research excellence of a technical university, it also vital to evaluate research outcomes. In Table 1, a few indicators, which can be used for measuring progress, are also described.
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Yulia Stukalina / Procedia Engineering 178 (2017) 249 – 257 Table 1. Implementation of the strategic objectives in the agenda of functional area-specific strategy-making. Functional area
Strategic objective
Key issues
Indicators to be used for measuring progress
Academic staff
Improving the performance and effectiveness of the teaching staff
Identifying the skills that university teaching staff should possess in the context of multidisciplinary education
Percentage of qualified teachers with a doctoral degree
Stimulating teachers to participate in different training programmes in the agenda of lifelong learning Attracting teachers who have professional experience and expertise in various fields Increasing investment (per capita) in human resources for attracting the most qualified teaching staff
Education
Facilitating the acquisition of skills needed for the knowledge-based economy
Creating new multidisciplinary programmes responding to the changes in an increasingly competitive labour market
Making learning more attractive and accessible
Promoting ICT-based education
Engaging relevant stakeholders in developing educational programmes
Increasing access to lifelong learning by developing advanced distance learning methods Promoting close cooperation between a HEI and community Establishing career-management centres and offering career guidance and counselling services Improving foreign language learning in the context of international cooperation Attracting international students and teaching staff
Percentage of the elected professors and associate professors Percentage of teachers who follow continuous professional training Percentage of teachers who have more than one qualification Number of teachers with material and moral encouragements Percentage of students obtaining international certificates Percentage of students and teachers participating in the international exchange programmes Percentage of visiting professors from other EU countries Percentage of students participating in international contests and in work experience internship Percentage of distance learning students including adults acquiring second (third) higher education Percentage of students who have reached a certain level of proficiency in one (two) foreign languages Percentage of international students from EU countries/non-EU countries
University services and facilities with strong emphasis on ICT
Research and innovation
Making the best use of the available resources and ensuring ICT-based education and ICTbased research
Increasing recruitment to research activities and enhancing the reputation of a researchbased university
Providing adequate and educational hardware and software
Number of laboratories equipped with quality hardware and software
Encouraging the best use of innovative educational techniques based on ICT for studies and research
Number of computers per student
Developing discipline-specific web portals
Percentage of students using ICT in their studies
Developing efficient and flexible intranet systems supporting internal communication
Percentage of educational subjects taught by means of ICT
Including research activities in the curricular Securing a sufficient numbers of qualified researchers
Number of international research projects carried out at a university
Attracting research grants from the EU Structural Funds
Percentage of accredited authorities participating in research activities
Strengthening international collaboration Developing innovative products in partnership with local and international companies
Percentage of students and teachers participating in international research activities Number of received patents
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2.3. Creating a causal map of issues identified in the course of the strategic analysis Based on the above we may conclude that the strategic objectives set in the course of functional area-specific strategy-making are closely related to key strategic issues. These strategic issues can be better understood through creating a causal map for a particular domain (domains). Strategy mapping is a recent approach to improving strategy implementation and execution, which emphasizes the importance of setting appropriate dominant objectives, establishing a leading value proposition that would set the direction for accomplishing these objectives, as well as employing this scheme to guide the selection of learning and growth strategies (Armitage and Scholey, 2006). Causal maps in management represent a set of linking arguments “from policy action to expected outcome” (Hall et al., 1994). Causal map is regarded as a specific type of concept map, but it does not only indicate that some concepts are related, but also illustrates the cause and effect relationships among these concepts (Hays et al., 2007). An example of a causal map for a particular functional area of a technical university is given in Fig. 1. We presume that the below map belongs to the category of maps that Chaib-draa (2002) characterizes as showing “influence, causality and system dynamics” and allowing experts to focus on a particular action. The map visualizes a set of interrelated activities (actions) to be taken in the context of achieving strategic objectives, the main strategic goal being defined as “enhancing university overall excellence through creating a constructive educational environment”; the arrows indicate complex causal relationships between these activities (actions).
Fig. 1. A causal map for a functional area of a university (Source: Stukalina, 2015).
As said by Scavarda et al. (2004), causal maps can be rather helpful in different ways: as a) diagnosis tools that can assist to identify and solve the possible reasons of a problem; b) communication tool that can communicate causative relationships effectively and efficiently; c) risk decreasing tool that can help anticipate and mitigate risks; d) control tool that can assist to identify metrics and controls. In this respect, causal maps seem to be a very helpful means for reflecting the relationships among various concepts within one functional area.
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However, using different causal maps created for each functional area managers may later develop a joint causal map reflecting the relationships among various concepts within the university. Any causal map is focused on a particular competitive advantage university managers sought for in a particular functional area. Every functional area embraces some supporting organizational entities as well as their basic functions in the form of specific activities or processes (Table 2). Table 2. Basic functions to be performed within functional areas of a technical university in the framework of supporting multidisciplinary education. Functional area
Basic functions
Focus of competitive advantage
Academic staff
Management support for providing best opportunities for personal and professional growth and development
Sustainable professional development in the frame of the Creative Exchange concept (Fleischmann and Hutchison, 2012) that supports discipline-specific expertise, collaboration and knowledge exchange
Education
Administrative and management support for the University’s academic activities related to
Sustainable study process in the agenda of multidisciplinary education
- enrolment - accreditation - academic programmes development - course management - continuing education and refresher courses for professionals - counselling and career guidance - students’ social and cultural development outside the formal academic programme University services and facilities
- Budgeting, financial planning - Renovations, maintenance and repairs - Asset management - Logistics activities
Sustainable institutional performance, which can be understood as (Lindsay, 1982) “effectiveness, which is concerned with the congruence between outputs and goals or other criteria; and efficiency, which links outputs with inputs”
- Management of the university’s information systems and information resources - Professional engineering support and technical coordination - Making the University’s resources available to the public Research and innovation
- Creating stronger research base - Conducting broad-based research of global significance that spans multiple disciplines
Sustainable research process in terms of the financial profile of research undertaken, the infrastructure and the intellectual capital to undertake research of global significance
- Creating new knowledge and sharing knowledge through R&D collaborations with business - Supporting an active, pervasive research culture encouraging innovation and enriching the student learning experience - Providing consulting services
Having regard to the above, the main tasks to be executed by the university’s top management can be summarized as follows: • Providing strategic and operational leadership in the context of achieving competitive advantage of a technical university;
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• Developing new strategic initiatives aimed at accomplishing academic and research excellence of an educational organization; • Providing support for implementing strategic initiatives and integration of the organizational resources; • Coordinating joint efforts of all functional areas for maintaining sustainable organizational performance and creating a synergistic effect; • Developing processes for supporting and aligning academic operations with the developed strategic objectives and the related strategic issues. 3. Conclusions This paper has explored a few important issues faced by the top management of a higher education institution in the context of developing a competitive strategy aimed at accomplishing competitive advantage in the rapidly changing international environment. In the paper, it has been argued that European technical universities play a crucial role in supporting new knowledge creation and knowledge transfer by means of using science and technology for carrying out teaching and research activities, multidisciplinary education and successful interdisciplinary research resulting in the growth of the university’s quality and competitiveness. Management of a technical university in the context of preparing students for the 21st century careers in science and technology presupposes the contribution of different integrated institutional resources, managerial roles, professions and specialist fields involved in this process. From the holistic perspective, the process comprises assigning and distributing diverse organizational resources, handling information transfer within an educational institution and enabling collaborative learning, maintaining professional identity and integrating various skills and competences. Strategy-making hierarchy in a modern university is determined by the complex nature of university settings; management of a higher education institution occurs at different levels across different functional domains. In the agenda of functional area-specific strategy-making, some innovative educational and managerial policies are created for achieving main strategic objectives. In turn, the strategic objectives set in the course of functional area-specific strategy-making are directly linked to key strategic issues to be addressed in every functional area, which embraces a few supporting organizational entities along with their basic functions in the form of specific activities (actions) or processes. In this context, an estimation of resources necessary for reaching functional area-specific strategic objectives would be based on assigning resources to each activity (action) identified in the course of the strategic analysis by means of creating a causal map of issues.
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