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Universities are rarely out of the news these days, whether it is the debate about student fees or about the broader contribution universities do (and should) make to our social and economic life. Given their high profile, we thought it would be interesting to find out how universities approach succession planning – how, that is, they fill their key positions. Our report on this is less an audit than a commentary on the management issues succession planning raises and on how thinking about succession planning is conditioned by broader ideas about university careers and the nature of the academic community.
The report looks not just at succession planning itself but at the issues grouped around it – issues relating to the balance between insiders and outsiders, the flow of information within universities, the nature of the market for university talent, and the trends that will shape university succession planning over the next decade. As such, it takes the temperature of a mix of universities across a range of management concerns.
The report is based on interviews with the senior officers of twenty one universities. Taken together, the universities represent a mix of higher education institutions in the UK. The report aims to stay close to the issues as they play out in practice. But it presents these issues – and the views of the study participants – in a way that is structured and systematic and seeks to recognise their broader context.
Download Executive Summary of Succession Planning in the University Sector
