Document Type

Conference Paper

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

5.3 EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

Publication Details

Paper presented at the Higher Education in Transformation Conference, Dublin, 31st. May - 1st. April, 2015.

Abstract

This paper derives from a Doctoral case study completed in the Technological University Dublin (DIT) in 2008. The main issues of the case study are still being addressed today as DIT prepares to amalgamate with the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) and Institute of Technology Tallaght (ITT) in 2015. The combined new institute will become a university in 2016 and is in the process of a move to a green field site. The rate and scope of these changes are challenging for all concerned. Through a series of interviews and focus groups in 2008, a story of DIT emerged. The McNay model was used as a Conceptual Framework and Analytical Tool to examine various types of university model and compare them with the cultures, practices and understandings of stakeholders in DIT. The classic entrepreneurial model from the USA was shown to be unlikely to be successful, largely because of the Institute’s inability to raise money on the scale of the US model. The corporate model using managerialist practice was also rejected by stakeholders. It was concluded that a European style of University with Collegial Innovation was appropriate, that bureaucracy needed be greatly reduced and that the culture and power residing within the organisation must be acknowledged in the process of change.


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