Relations between academic and professional staff may be at an all-time high

Academics have traditionally held considerable power over professional services staff at universities, as a result of a historic authoritative culture. But, over the last decade and more, this has started to dramatically change due to the advent of tuition fees, new models of governance, the corporatisation, internationalisation and marketisation of our sector and, of course, the pandemic.

Last year, the Association for University Administrators relaunched itself as the Association of Higher Education Professionals, embodying a change in mindset across professional services teams in universities across the UK, and indeed many other countries across the globe. It marked a pivotal moment – we had stopped thinking of ourselves as sometimes somewhat invisible administrators and instead embraced our identity as a professional services community.

As a professional services leader myself witnessing these changes, I wanted to explore this in greater depth, particularly from the perspective of professional services leaders working in academic units, rather than from the perspective of those in central teams. I interviewed seven professional services leaders in the sector; three of whom worked in faculties, three in schools and one in a Department. Four of my interviewees were from Russell Group institutions. I asked them how the identity of professional services at their university had changed, or was changing, and how relationships between professional services and academics were evolving. My findings have been published in the journal Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education.

Strategic alliance

Those I spoke to consistently told me that they were now involved in more strategic conversations and that their universities had created new academic leadership roles that were responsible for working more closely and in a more collaborative way with leaders in professional services. One told me: “We are being pulled into more strategic conversations … previously, I don’t necessarily think there’s always been that voice at the table.”

Without fail, every interviewee said there had been a huge improvement in the relationship between professional services and academics. Of course, they acknowledged that this depended on individuals and their relationships, but I was repeatedly told that a “strategic alliance” between academics and professional services – something previously unheard of – had been formed. One interviewee said: “Previously, department managers were more like high-level department administrators, whereas now we are all members of the department’s leadership team.”

The role of the Covid-19 pandemic in dramatically reducing tensions between professional service leaders and academics should not be underplayed. The spirit of “mucking in” adopted by most higher education institutions resulted in an urgent need to collaborate. The only way we were going to get through the Covid years was by working together and several interviewees said that it was only then that their academic colleagues realised “how hard our professional services worked.”

Increased friction

Unfortunately, the picture that has emerged is not entirely positive. Despite similar experiences of collaboration during the pandemic and some collaborative success stories, all those I interviewed mentioned an increased friction between central professional services teams and professional services based in academic units. Respondents explained that successful collaboration depends on individuals and relationships; there were tensions around a perceived lack of understanding of each other’s work and pressures. Compounding this was the experience of centralisation of some services and the notion of the centre “taking away” staff from academic units.

There is evidence, however, such as in research conducted by Vere, Verney & Webster Deakin in the London Review of Education, that collaboration across professional services staff has a positive impact on the objectives of universities. I myself have had positive experience of collaborations across professional services, including those in recruitment and admissions, careers and communications. In my experience, collaboration works well when there is an understanding of common goals and an appreciation of the need to do things with some degree of autonomy, while remaining connected.

Further professionalising professional services

Relations between professional services and academics may seem to be at an all-time high, according to the respondents interviewed, but there’s still plenty we could do across the sector to improve things further. We need university-wide apprenticeship programmes that allow professional services colleagues to develop a broader understanding of the multiple components of higher education operations and strategy. Ideally, this would include working across different functions in the central team and outside it. This would hopefully break down emerging silos and give professional services staff a much more rounded view of what it is to be a higher education professional.

Conducting a sector-wide review of job titles and structures would also be highly beneficial. There is a growing body of evidence that identity is often at the heart of tensions across the sector, and having clearly defined roles that are recognisable in the way that academic roles will make navigating the university landscape so much easier.

Above all though, we should be heartened that a long-entrenched view of “us and them” between academics and professional services is finally being broken down. We all stand to benefit.