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vice-rectors. All senior administrative staff, including vice-rectors, has been
working for WSHIG for a decade or more. The key for the success of WSHIG is
the loyalty of its staff, both administrative and academic. & In a small-size
academic institution like WSHIG it is still possible for its rector to make all
major decisions; and to make many minor decisions (EUEREK case studies:
WSHIG, Poland).
The role of strong core administrators  accompanied by strong strategic
committees  is emphasized in many EUEREK (and other) case studies of
European universities. Managing structures and decision-making processes
at a small private university (University of Buckingham) are substantially
different from those at bigger institutions (such as Warwick and Nottingham
Universities in the UK or Twente University in the Netherlands). For
example, each of the three schools at Buckingham is treated as a separate
business division, and each is responsible for maximizing its financial
returns (derived largely from teaching). The decision-making process at
Buckingham is quick but there is also considerable space for collegiality 
which makes it different from other private institutions studies: as the
director of finance puts it:
Buckingham has three academic Schools, and we look at them as three business
divisions. Each is responsible for making the maximum financial return and
growing their business.  The decision-making process at the University is quick
and comprises five people: the VC, his deputy and the three Deans. We meet
every week for two to three hours, so we do make good progress and good
academic decisions in that sense. We get on very well (EUEREK case studies:
University of Buckingham, the UK).
Academic entrepreneurialism, as discussed in the preceding chapter,
involves risk-taking (Shattock 2003; Williams 2007: 19); in most of the
EUEREK case studies of private institutions, institutions have to deal with a
high level of risks on a daily basis. The major risk is a financial one, related
to student number figures (and student fees). But as Shattock points out, in
universities  risks may be academic or reputational as well as financial
(Shattock 2005: 19). The Polish case study of a small-sized, vocationally-
oriented private institution (WSHIG  Academy of Hotel Management and
Catering Industry in Poznań) stresses the risk factor:
WSHIG has been operating under constant risk in recent years. The major risk
has been financial  will the income from student fees cover the expenditures,
320 Chapter 6
especially debt installments to the banks. WSHIG has been investing heavily in
its infrastructure. As other private institutions, only from its own sources, with
no state subsidies. WSHIG s rector was doing wonders to be able to pay back
the bank loans in time (also using his private assets). The second risk has been
student enrolments (EUEREK case studies: WSHIG, Poland).
At Buckingham, in a similar vein, what is meant by risk is exactly the
financial risk:
The most important risk to the University is financial. With a small research
portfolio, academic risk is restricted to the student take up of degree
programmes. In that sense the University is operating on a knife edge of risk
(EUEREK case studies: University of Buckingham, the UK).
There are also other forms of risks: competition in the areas of studies with
tax-based public institutions; changing state regulations, and prestige (and
reputation, difficult to gain, and easy to lose). As reported in Russia, the
most important risk at Pereslavl is the possible future shortage of qualified
professors, followed by the possibility of losing existing public funding for
its research center run by the Russian Academy of Sciences (the university
itself as a whole lost its public funding in 2001). As the case study
highlights,  the university is in constant talks with the local administration
and enterprises for extra funding but their support normally comes in kind
(EUEREK case studies: Pereslavl). Finally, the risk for both public and
private institutions can also refer directly to annual national league tables
published in influential magazines and their impact on new student intakes.
6.4. The extended developmental periphery
The third element of entrepreneurial universities in Clark s formulation is
their extended developmental periphery, that is units that  more readily than
traditional academic departments reach across university boundaries to link
up with outside organizations and groups (Clark 1998a: 6). The presence of
this element seems quite limited in scope and importance at most traditional
universities. In the private sector studied, academic peripheries also play a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]