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The purpose of this study is to provide a polemic on the evolution of universities and business schools over the past two decades. During this period, universities have increasingly adopted a self-interested stance using business-like practices and behaviours to justify their transformation. The authors provide recommendations aimed at enhancing universities’ contributions and relevance to society, increasing their sustainability broadly defined and better positioning them to help solve wicked problems in a post-COVID-19 world.

This polemic analyses prior literature relating to the evolution of universities and uses this to generate a framework for ways forward for their improvement.

The authors argue that the evolution of universities into entities with missions and operations designed to mimic business and commercial imperatives has yielded undesirable outcomes including the muddling of the core mission of universities, alienation of key stakeholders and an excessive focus on income growth. Business schools face a tension between forging their own, unique identities and simultaneously striving to meet university university objectives. We term this “the Business School identity paradox”. The authors contend that the way forward requires senior management to re-discover the essence of what it means to be a university, re-establish collegial decision-making within universities that includes built-in feedback loops and a fundamental emphasis on developing graduates with an enlightened perspective that goes beyond technical skills.

This paper is novel in that it analyses the evolution of the “Enterprise University” some 20 years after this term was first coined and in a radically changed environment following the COVID-19 pandemic. This analysis is also forward-looking as the authors re-imagine universities and business schools by identifying opportunities for renewal and improvement in their focus and societal impact. The authors also develop a schema that identifies major influences on universities and business schools, the impact of COVID-19 and strategies for them post-COVID-19.

IF we devote this page largely to the Library Association we believe our readers, who are the most active workers in librarianship, will think us justified because the Association is the central fact in our lives. Its Annual Report for 1955 has reached us. It is a document to be read, appreciated and criticised; we only wish we could say that it always is, for then surely some of the tart utterances about the inactivity, even uselessness, of our organization would be evaluated at their real worth or want of it. The Association does not work by means of press campaigns, or illegal dismissal of members who do not fulfil all its professional ethical codes. It has more direct access to the Government than is usually known. It was not quiescent when the Post‐master General increased book and newspaper postage; with other folk of influence it went to see him. It is not idle when posts are advertised at rates unsuitably parsimonious; it protests to the authorities issuing them invariably, and it makes it clear to chartered librarians that in applying for such posts they undersell and betray us all. Unfortunately these, the only lawful methods open to the Association, do not influence certain members. In fifteen cases, twelve were filled by those who will remember all their lives that they “let down the side” and probably at least five times as many were also their competitors. This is merely an explanatory word to those who complain of inaction.

THE parliamentary White Paper issued on May 2nd by the Minister of Local Government has not yet been debated by the House. It may have repercussions on public library control, although specific proposals on most of the matters involved, including this, have Still to be made. Our readers will know that its purport is to intensify the local side of local government; that is, to take certain powers that are exclusively the business of county councils and to place them in the hands of the non‐county borough, urban district, and other councils. Public libraries are to be considered by a committee to be appointed; they are probably unique in that they are a nationally universal service, or almost that, which has no specified Ministerial department concerned in their direction except in a few matters. A number of questions are therefore left in the air ; for example, the future of the county library system would differ considerably from the present set‐up if every local authority became independent in library matters. Complete independence would mean a locally‐raised and controlled rate, not one raised locally to the amount prescribed for county purposes by the county. Such independence is probably not expected as it would seem that the county is to exercise supervision; and those who are supervised can rarely be free agents, if ever. The Committee, if and when formed, might have many matters to debate, such as the desirability of an adequate local Standard of service which conformed to a reasonable national level, in book provision, the training and payment of librarians—the latter in scandalous need of settlement as advertisements of posts every week demonstrate—and in satisfactory accommodation. With these matters the whole national service should be considered ; the relations of the regional systems and their solvency and their workings with the National Central Library and, when founded, the National Science and Technology Library. Moreover, the interrelations of public libraries with the libraries of Schools, Colleges of all kinds, including Technical Colleges and the accessibility and liaison of all state libraries and others receiving public money with the whole system should be surveyed. Thus it might seem that a unique opportunity for great advance may be offered. On the other hand, unless those who know have access to and are heard by the prospective committee, many things that bitter experience shows to be evil may be done and what is almost as bad, many things may be left undone which ought to be done. We are sure the Library Association will be vigilant.

Under this heading are published regularly abstracts of all Reports and Memoranda of the Aeronautical Research Council, Reports and Technical Notes of the United States National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and publications of other similar Research Bodies as issued

This bibliography was originally compiled for the purpose of a Doctoral degree submitted to Loughborough University of Technology in March 1993. The information in this bibliography, which was started in the last quarter of 1989, was continuously updated by collecting data from all the important current journals and abstracting and indexing sources. It covers all of hypertext, including HyperCard and other hypertext/hypermedia systems which are being used for teaching and training. These systems are also used for conducting research in this field. Full efforts were made to cover all the publications such as periodical articles, conference papers/Proceedings, books and reports that were published until the first quarter of 1993.

Function libraries, and indeed the majority of organisations, especially those operating on a commercial basis or utilising public funds, consist of material and human structures. The leaders of the human structure utilise personnel and materials in the pursuit of certain goals. Brech itemises four main elements in this process of planning and regulating enterprise activities. They comprise:

THE changes in London local government which came into operation on 1st April, 1965, cut across the existing regional library bureaux organisation.

THE earliest libraries in any kind of community were run by interested members of the community with enthusiasm but no special training. Their communities asked them for very little more than they could get or do for themselves but did not care to find the time for, and because the librarian was one of their own, but no longer functioning fully in their world, the members of the community tended to have, however loyally or gently, a lower opinion of the man and consequently hisoffice. For the failed academic or businessman this was little less than just, but it was quite unjust to the profession of librarianship.

Although the literature is clear on what comprises effective project stakeholder management, communication between key stakeholders and project managers is often ineffective. Research is silent on stakeholders' insufficient knowledge of project management terminology, which is a barrier for such effective communication. This paper aims to identify the project management concepts that key stakeholders should understand to improve effective communication.

This paper employs a three-step research design. In the first step, based on threshold concept theory, the authors identify the key project management concepts through interviews with 20 project management practitioners, trainers and trainees. In the second step, the authors confirm the findings from the first step and identify effective approaches to enhance project stakeholders' communication through seven additional interviews with project stakeholders. In the third step, the authors construct a functional model of the research findings by employing a system-level modeling tool.

This research identifies five project management threshold concepts (TC) that are challenging for project stakeholders to understand (1) project benefits, (2) the iron triangle, (3) the critical path, (4) uncertainty and (5) project leadership. Following these knowledge barriers, the paper proposes unique approaches to develop effective project stakeholder communication.

This paper advances project stakeholder management research by identifying knowledge barriers and providing project managers with more effective approaches to better engage with their stakeholders.