Flipping administration. Clever. An entertaining piece on another splendid idea by Benjamin Ginsberg. A previous post noted his recent book The Fall of the Faculty had a distinctive analysis of the process of strategic planning as a tool for power-hungry administrators. This time, it is suggested we “forget MOOCs” and use MOOA instead (it really … Continued
Paul Greatrix is Registrar at The University of Nottingham, author and creator of Registrarism and a Contributing Editor of Wonkhe.
Flipping administration. Clever.
An entertaining piece on another splendid idea by Benjamin Ginsberg. A previous post noted his recent book The Fall of the Faculty had a distinctive analysis of the process of strategic planning as a tool for power-hungry administrators.
Studies show that about 30 percent of the cost increases in higher education over the past twenty-five years have been the result of administrative growth,” Ginsberg noted. He suggested that MOOA can reverse this spending growth. “Currently, hundreds, even thousands, of vice provosts and assistant deans attend the same meetings and undertake the same activities on campuses around the U.S. every day,” he said. “Imagine the cost savings if one vice provost could make these decisions for hundreds of campuses.”
This is a completely different MOOA.
Asked if this “one size fits all” administrative concept was realistic given the diversity of problems faced by thousands of schools, Ginsberg noted that a “best practices” philosophy already leads administrators to blindly follow one another’s leads in such realms as planning, staffing, personnel issues, campus diversity, branding and, curriculum planning. The MOOA, said Ginsberg, would take “best practices” a step further and utilize it to realize substantial cost savings.
So, massive open online administrations. It’s good to see that the whole idea has been thought through in real detail and that the MOOA will be offering a strategic plan for lots of institutions early in 2014. With the exciting title of “administeria” it really sounds like a winner.
4 responses to “Another amusing attack on administrators”
Whilst I’m sure many of us will share the frustration implicit in the formulation of the idea, do you think he has ever tried making an academic policy decision for one institution with several faculties?
Interesting coincidence. I just overheard a senior university executive (from another university) saying: “have we got our MOOA software yet? Why not? IT Services are just so backwards! We need a MOOA now. Harvard already have one in beta. We’re falling behind. MOOAs are the future. The avalanche is coming and we need to be ahead of the curve, surfing the wave…etc etc”.
Also, I can tell that the one on the left of the Japanese boy band photo is going to cause the band to split. He will have a successful solo career. The other members will fade into obscurity, until ten years later they reform for a nostalgic tour of arenas full of middle aged fans. A bit like the convoluted paths followed by new ideas in HE.
Whilst I’m sure many of us will share the frustration implicit in the formulation of the idea, do you think he has ever tried making an academic policy decision for one institution with several faculties?
Interesting coincidence. I just overheard a senior university executive (from another university) saying: “have we got our MOOA software yet? Why not? IT Services are just so backwards! We need a MOOA now. Harvard already have one in beta. We’re falling behind. MOOAs are the future. The avalanche is coming and we need to be ahead of the curve, surfing the wave…etc etc”.
!!!!
Also, I can tell that the one on the left of the Japanese boy band photo is going to cause the band to split. He will have a successful solo career. The other members will fade into obscurity, until ten years later they reform for a nostalgic tour of arenas full of middle aged fans. A bit like the convoluted paths followed by new ideas in HE.