158 Ethics in Higher Education: Values-driven Leaders for the Future
education institutions are meant to change lives for the better. Research
and teaching by their nature should be about discovery and confronting
received ideas. Knowledge thrives in an environment of experimentation
and testing of ideas. Higher education sits very uncomfortably in
environments of rigid ideology and dogma, or in irrationality and refusal
to think, or by purveyors of violence in order to impose one’s will. The
extent and the limits of transformation are matters that must be debated
and mediated within the institution, and where policy matters, a national
consensus may be necessary.
Many an institution and academic manager is labouring under the
weight of what has become known as “managerialism”. Often expressed
among academics in a disparaging manner, what it means is not simply
that academic managers spend all their time loading academics with the
burdens of administrative functions, demanding accountability for
resources put at their disposal, and managing and assessing
performance. In part there is justifiable hostility to what is considered an
inappropriate importation of business management-speak into an ill-
fitting organizational model. The situation, however, is that society has
changed. Expectations are rising and accountability is the requirement at
all levels of society. Academics cannot claim exemption from these
standards. The truth is that from the point of view of institutional
management, governments are also increasingly demanding more and
more precise record keeping and financial reports. Donors and other
funders also require detailed reporting. The institution is bound to be in
a dilemma about this from all levels. It also increases tension between
managers and academics. In a sense, the distinction between the
administrator and the academic is being breached because more and
more administrative duties are also being performed in the coalface, in
the context of academic functions.
“Managerialism” is often understood as the manner in which
professional managers and administrators in an institution of higher