Science management

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Science and university management or science management in general refers to employees at universities and non-university research institutions (such as the Max Planck or the Fraunhofer Society , Helmholtz Centers or the Leibniz Association ) who are in the course of autonomization and differentiation of the task profile, especially from universities, take on tasks that are usually located in the administration, but are neither classic administrative tasks nor can be assigned to the area of research and teaching . Employees in university and science management thus complement the two classic employment groups at universities:

  • Scientific and artistic staff
  • Administrative, technical and other personnel

As the third group that takes on tasks between science and administration, the term "third space" was also used for them in English-language literature.

Definition of terms

In the literature there are several descriptions of terms that are essentially the same, but with different emphases. The formulation of the authors Klumpp and Teichler (2008) can be seen as fundamental for the group of science management that they describe as “university professions”. To describe the term, they use the characteristics of typical fields of activity of the employees. Thereafter, people in science and university management take on tasks in the following three areas of activity.

Activities,

  • which have been brought to the universities through university reforms and further developments as well as professionalization such as B. the accreditation , evaluation or university marketing and fundraising ;
  • which were externalized as a result of the university expansion and the increase in the tasks of the teaching staff, such as B. the tasks of a research officer or the supervision of doctoral students in graduate schools ;
  • which are increasingly being taken over by academics as part of the administrative tasks of a university and are thus being "upgraded".

The Science Council (2018) takes up another starting point in its recommendations on university governance. Based on the characteristics of the previous academic education and frequently available research experience of science management, the Science Council (WR) selects a group definition based on the academic educational background. According to this, those persons belong to science management who “provide the scientists with supporting services , but who have a scientific education and in some cases also have relevant experience in research and teaching themselves” . Likewise, Schneijderberg et al. (2013) focus on the scientific qualification of science and university management: University professionals are employed in the university and science system [...] who are expected to work between science and management , including administration [and] for whom a high qualification is constitutive.

A third description of the term relates to the job profile of the employees. Based on a qualitative survey of employees in science and university management, specific activities beyond purely administrative and coordinating functions are characteristic of their professional group . The Science Management Network also chooses an activity-related definition (NWM 2020) in its position paper on the “Importance of Science Management for Strategic Planning, Action and Leadership”. In addition to service tasks such as B. in the field of library and career guidance , science and university management is characterized by the following activities:

  • Conceptual work
  • Preparation of decisions
  • Strategy development
  • Initialization of change processes ( change management ).

In the career paths and qualification requirements in science and university management funded by the BMBF , an attempt is made to take up these different definition approaches. Science and university management ...

  • is not only the classic management, but also includes the partially newly created or significantly changed positions,
  • is formally often located in the administration, while the activities lie between administration and science,
  • acts as a bridge or mediator between the two areas,
  • assumes a science-supporting (service) character.

The Science Management Network has adopted a Code of Science Management for the self-image of the professional group and to increase public awareness of their professional field, which is intended to serve as a continuous basis for discussion and self-reflection.

Examples of functions / function names in the field of science management

Degree program coordinator, faculty manager, research officer, university didacticist, quality manager, ECTS officer, Bologna officer, officer for studies and teaching, officer for accreditation, employee press office, consultant for university development, consultant to the rector or president, EU officer, transfer officer, Dean's Office Advisor, Central / Decentralized Student Advisory Service, Advisor for Scientific Further Education, Career Center Employee, Fundraiser.

development

With the development from a committee-controlled group university to a more autonomous university with organizational structures and goals, the demands on university members have also changed and the professional group of science and university management has emerged.

Up until the 1990s, the professors in the state-controlled university were the experts for teaching and research as well as their own managers within the framework of the assured professorial majority in committees of academic self-administration . The state had administrative responsibility for budget, personnel and organizational decisions. The administrative officials took over the execution and control of the tasks assigned by the state. The rector primarily had a symbolic and representative function.

With the “unleashing” of the university (Müller-Böling 2000) and the introduction of New Public Management , previously state tasks were transferred to the self-administration of the university. The universities now largely had the right to budget , personnel and, in some cases, the right to appointments and were largely able to decide independently about their courses. The state control withdrew and steered through key figures and global budgets . The introduction of accreditations and increased competition for third-party funding and students ( rankings ) have also increased the reporting requirements. The introduction of bachelor and master programs as part of the Bologna reform also led to an increase in complexity in the coordination and planning of degree programs and to the introduction of complex accreditation and evaluation procedures . These developments led to an abundance of new tasks and responsibilities and the challenge to the university institution to act as an “actor capable of acting and making decisions” in an increasingly complex environment. In addition to strengthening the management functions towards a full-time executive committee , this development leads to a "strengthening and differentiation of the university administration". The necessary skills and resources could not be covered in the two-tier personnel structure of teaching and administrative staff. The result was science and university management that, when socialized scientifically, knows the university system and its values ​​and at the same time takes on management tasks openly for the control of university.

Since the university statistics do not show the group of employees in science and university management as a separate group, but subsumed into the two groups "academic staff" and "administrative staff" depending on the contractual integration at the respective university, there are no precise details about the population in front. Instead, these figures are based on the number of employees in science and university management on the basis of surveys and estimates. According to this, it can be assumed that there are around 22,000 to 25,000 employees in the field of science and university management.

The increase in people in science and university management can also be observed in the USA and other European countries.

Science management in other areas

This article relates to science and university management at universities and non-university research institutions in Germany. Similar fields of activity can also be found in the research and development departments of companies or management consultancies as well as in the environment of technology and knowledge-intensive economic sectors such as B. Staff for university topics in private consulting firms but also university officers in trade unions , professional associations or other professional associations. But also in the context of an increased transfer orientation of public administrations such as B. Science officers of the cities.

Professional networks

In the field of university and science management, u. a. founded and established the following professional networks:

  • NWM - Network Science Management (eV) - founded in 2011
  • FORTRAMA - Network for Research and Transfer Management eV - founded in mid-1990
  • DEGEVAL - German Society for Evaluation eV - University Working Group - founded in 1997
  • Uninetzpe - Network for Personnel Development at Universities eV - founded in 2014
  • Coaching Network Science eV - founded in 2005
  • Career Service Network Germany eV - founded in 2003
  • Federal Association of Higher Education Communication - founded in 1969

Research-active employees from the field of university and science management are also members of one of the following specialist societies:

  • Society for University Research (GFHF) eV - founded in 2006
  • German Society for University Didactics eV - founded in 1971

International networks:

  • PRIDE - Association for Professionals in Doctoral Education - founded in 2017 -
  • EAIE - European Association for International Education - founded in 1989 -
  • EAIR - The European Higher Education Society - founded 1979 -
  • CHER - Consortium of Higher Education Researcher - founded in 1988 -
  • EARMA - European Association of Research Managers and Administrators - founded in 1994


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Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hüther 2010; Krempkow 2017
  2. ^ Whitchurch 2010: 10
  3. ↑ cf. Nickel 2013: 37; Banscherus et al. 2017
  4. ↑ cf. Klumpp and Teichler 2008: 152
  5. ↑ WR 2018: 85
  6. ↑ Banscherus et al. a. 2017: 127f; Randhahn and Niethammer 2017: 2
  7. ↑ Science Management Network
  8. ↑ The importance of science management for strategic planning, action and leadership
  9. ↑ cf. Krempkow et al. a. 2019; Zimmer 2015 and Teichler 2005
  10. ↑ Project career paths and qualification requirements in science and university management (KaWuM 2020)
  11. ↑ cf. [www.kawum-online.de]
  12. ↑ Code of Science Management (NWM 2013)
  13. ↑ Harris Huemmert 2017 Krempkow ua2019
  14. ↑ cf. z. B. Krücken et al. 2010: 235
  15. ↑ Zechlin 2019
  16. ↑ Krempkow 2017
  17. ↑ Banscherus et al. 2017; Kehm / Lanzendorf 2006
  18. ↑ Eisoldt & Bauer 2010
  19. ↑ Krücken et al. 2010
  20. ↑ Krücken et al. 2010: 235
  21. ↑ cf. Destatis, Staff at Universities, Technical Series 11, Series 4.4. (Years up to and including 2018). According to data from Banscherus et al. (2017: 22, 76)
  22. ↑ Federal Report on Young Scientists 2017: 34
  23. ↑ cf. Kehm et al. 2010
  24. ↑ cf. NWM 2020
  25. ↑ NWM - Network Science Management (eV)
  26. ↑ FORTRAMA - Network for Research and Transfer Management Association
  27. ↑ DEGEVAL - German Evaluation Society eV - Working Group universities
  28. ↑ Uninetzpe - Network for HR development at universities eV
  29. ↑ Coaching Network Science eV
  30. ^ Career Service Network Germany eV
  31. ↑ Federal Association of University Communication
  32. ↑ Association for Higher Education Research (gfhf) eV
  33. ^ German Society for University Didactics eV
  34. ^ PRIDE - Association for Professionals in Doctoral Education
  35. ↑ EAIE - European Association for International Education
  36. ↑ EAIR - The European Higher Education Society
  37. ↑ CHER - Consortium of Higher Education Researcher
  38. ↑ EARMA European Association of Research Managers and Administrators