VIRTUAL EVENT: Isomorphic influences on English university governing bodies

Governing bodies have been mostly overlooked in studies of university governance. Historic UK research found a predominance of governing body members were older, white men with lay members coming from professional and industrial backgrounds. More recently, the focus has shifted to female participation. 

The regulatory regime re-enforces the role of governing bodies. Scholars have identified trends towards boardism along with the corporatisation and laicisation of university governance and raised concerns about the failure of shared governance.

This webinar reviews findings from a study which considers how the concept of isomorphism applies to the study of university governing body attributes. 

The event commences with an analysis of sector-level documentary evidence since the mid-1980s. A new dataset across 120 English universities is then compared to available historic data. Considerations for future research are also explored.

Speaker

• Alison Wheaton, PhD student at the UCL Institute of Education

Links

• Centre for Global Higher Education
• Department of Education, Practice and Society

Image: Mary Hinkley for UCL Digital Media