The Higher Education Manager's Handbook ― Effective Leadership and Management in Universities and Colleges

Drawing on professional experience from university innovators and a wealth of international case studies, The Higher Education Manager’s Handbook offers practical advice and guidance on all aspects of university management. An engaging, comprehensive and highly accessible practitioner’s guide, the book tackles all the key areas central to the job of managing in higher education, from understanding the culture of your university and the role it plays, to providing effective leadership and managing change. Now in a thoroughly updated third edition, the book is written from the unique perspective of the higher education manager, offering advice that can be implemented immediately by leaders at all levels.

The book is organised into four pre-requisites that any prospective higher education manager must master if they are to be an effective university leader:

• Knowing your environment
• Knowing your university
• Knowing your department
• Knowing yourself

Each of the chapters within these sections provides commentary and analysis of the particular role aspect under review, and offers advice and guidance on good practice, including case study examples and self-assessment tools. New topics include:

• The new higher education landscape
• The first one hundred days
• Avoiding cognitive bias and developing a flexible mindset
• Strategic planning and teaching excellence framework (TEF)
• Reviewing course portfolios and subject areas
• Improving student outcomes and staff experience
• Assessing and mitigating risk
• Project management and managing up
• Widening participation and social mobility

Vice chancellors, university presidents, provosts and deans, heads of academic departments, subject leaders, course directors and others in management positions within the field of higher education will find this book to be an irreplaceable resource that they will use time and time again.

Professor Peter McCaffery is former university vice chancellor and a Winston Churchill Fellow. He has over thirty-five years of teaching, research and management experience and has worked in a range of institutions from further education colleges to an Ivy League University.