The implications of a diversifying workforce for higher education systems, institutions and individuals

In the context of significant changes in the employment contract for academic staff worldwide, the paper reports on a study of the developing implications of a diversifying higher education workforce for systems, institutions and individuals. It reviews official datasets in the light of interviews with a range of respondents in eight case study institutions, and finds that approaches to work and careers may be influenced as much by informal opportunities and relationships as by formal structures and processes. It offers findings from case studies to show how individuals navigate the structures in which they find themselves, the extent of policy adjustments at local level, and ways in which institutions can optimise bottom-up initiatives and dialogue. It explores how greater instrumentality as reflected in, for instance, workload models and an ‘over-engineering’ of ‘teaching- or research-only’ roles, is counterbalanced by accommodations between individuals and local managers that are not necessarily formally articulated.