Learning to Manage the University: Tales of Training and Experience

The paper draws on interviews with ‘manager‐academics’ (Pro‐Vice Chancellors, Deputy Vice Chancellors and Heads of Department) in UK universities to examine their views on their preparation, training and support for their roles. Following a brief description of the ESRC‐funded study, the paper describes manager‐academics' reported career trajectories, motivations and initial experiences, and the training they received: their views both of training and of less formal learning are ambivalent and often hesitant. However, the interviews reveal processes and contexts that manager‐academics consider beneficial to their own learning and development, and this analysis suggests both theoretical understanding and practical guidelines. Manager‐academics' learning occurs through engagement in practice and through social interaction, and is context‐specific. Institutions can foster learning and good management by acknowledging these characteristics and promoting opportunities for self‐critical reflection, peer feedback and collective articulation and sharing of experience.