Abstract
The paper presents a case-study about the experience of leading sector-wide change from within a national agency. This experience is analysed in relation to the literature on leadership and change and against the back-drop of wider social, economic and political changes affecting higher education in the UK -- changes that have parallels in other countries. From the literature, the author draws out certain 'principles' about leading change and highlights the activities that were developed in practice. The case that is discussed is that of the 3-year 'Graduate Standards Programme' mounted by the former Higher Education Quality Council in the UK. This Programme (the GSP) was formally set up to define and establish threshold standards for undergraduate degrees in the UK, but also sought to examine UK approaches to defining and assuring standards in the light of far-reaching changes affecting the higher education system. Lessons about leadership, managing change and quality enhancement in an academic context are drawn out. The author concludes that 'good process' is more important than the static notion of 'good practice' when seeking to create and lead change in higher education.
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Middlehurst, R. Quality Enhancement in Principle and Practice: A Case Study in Leading Change. Tertiary Education and Management 5, 23–46 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018793707171
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018793707171