Administrative burden in higher education institutions: a conceptualisation and a research agenda

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is growing concern about increasing administrative burden within universities around the world. At the same time, the literature explicitly devoted to the issue of administrative burden within universities remains relatively scant. Drawing on various bodies of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of higher education policy and management 2023-07, Vol.45 (4), p.409-422
Main Author: Woelert, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administrative problems
Automation
Bureaucracy
bureaucratisation
College Administration
Colleges & universities
Educational institutions
Foreign Countries
formalisation
Governance
Higher education
institutional management
Organisational change
Organizational Change
Universities
University administration
university governance
University planning
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is growing concern about increasing administrative burden within universities around the world. At the same time, the literature explicitly devoted to the issue of administrative burden within universities remains relatively scant. Drawing on various bodies of literature and reflections on the situation at Australian universities, this paper (a) presents a conceptualisation of what constitutes administrative burden, considering its organisational implications for universities, (b) interrogates a range of potential drivers of administrative burden, and (c) outlines avenues for both future research into and for practical responses to the issue. The specific contributions of this paper include, first, showing that administrative burden can impact universities' core activities not only indirectly but also more directly, and second, illustrating that some of the key changes that were meant to make universities more efficient may have inadvertently increased levels of administrative burden.
ISSN:1360-080X
1469-9508
DOI:10.1080/1360080X.2023.2190967