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Learning across teams and organisational levels enables organisations to deal with challenges that arise from changing contexts. Project-oriented organisations increasingly use programme management to cope with such challenges and improve performance. This paper aims to find out how different programme configurations affect learning across project teams and between project teams and their parent organisation in project-oriented organisations.

A case study of a project-oriented organisation involved in five infrastructure programmes was performed.

The studied programmes linked learning processes at group and organisational levels by creating relationships across project teams and their parent organisation and acting as a knowledge centre. Team learning benefits from the learning culture and stable environment that programmes create for project teams. This study indicates that a programme’s features and focus strongly determines whether a programme predominantly enhances learning across project teams or learning between project teams and their parent organisation.

Although programme management is increasingly used by project-oriented organisations, there are few studies relating to learning in programmes. This study provides new insights into learning across teams through programmes.

Starting in the late 1950s with the creation of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), followed by the formation of other professional organisations both in the USA and Europe, there was a growing sense that research management was indeed a profession. One goal was the creation of professional standards that would lead to a standard training curriculum and, ultimately, a professional credential, and there have been many attempts at developing research administration certification. Now, in the US, accreditation through the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC) exam has become ubiquitous, whereas in other parts of the world, certification by portfolio is more common. This chapter will compare and contrast the salient features of certification, certificates, and degree programs in research administration and review their development and growth over the past 30 years. The chapter will discuss their relative merits and how they work to advance the profession of research administration.

In the last few decades, the growth in management institutions in India has become significant. The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions also have started offering management programmes at various levels. In the ODL scenario, the learning path has been shifting from the traditional Self-Learning Material (SLM) -based model to technology-mediated platform. The digital divide in India is also a widely discussed area. In this context, a need has been felt to understand the implications for educators, more specifically, for the programmes offered through technology-enabled ODL mode.

This study uses triangulation method covering literature review, personal interview and survey. Primary data have been collected through structured questionnaire in the Google Form administered on the learners of UG and PG progammes of management in Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU), India. The sample size is 101, and the sampling frame is within Assam, a province of India. Select interviews (15 nos.) were also conducted with a cross section of learners to capture the emerging shift in the learning path and the limiting factors of digital divide.

Learners possess multiple digital devices for e-learning (41.8% uses laptop and 88.8% uses android phone). Interaction in WhatsApp and Telegram groups are mostly related with evaluation and course administration, rather than content and academic discussion. eSLMs are widely used. Though promoted, video lectures are not widely used. Some of the problems faced by the learners are low bandwidth, high cost of data subscription etc. Learners are not constrained by digital device, and they are engaged in positive communication with stake holders in digital platform.

This study will help in understanding the technology-enabled learning for management education in ODL mode in India. As a wide majority of the learners (88%) are dependent on small screen; print SLM and eSLM on a larger screen can provide augmented learning in case of complex topics like analysis of financial statements, project scheduling etc. Though the COVID-19 pandemic forced a shift in learning path, the transition is not full. The digitally constrained learners still look for solutions to complex learning problems mainly through print SLM and counselling. The talent of the students cannot be facilitated in WhatsApp and Telegram e-mentoring groups, like the way it could be done in learning management system (LMS)-mediated platforms.

This case study will illustrate how the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) set in motion a professionalisation journey through close collaboration with its members while leveraging strategic partnerships and funding opportunities. The case study will highlight the impetus that inspired the journey, and the outputs aimed at accelerating the professionalisation of research management and administration (RMA) beyond Southern Africa.

Kerala is one of India's most advanced states in human development and other social indices. This study aims to look at the management education scenario in Kerala from a macro-perspective and examines the existing trends, major issues and present challenges facing the sector.

The study is driven by previously unexplored secondary data published by India's apex technical education regulator–All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Qualitative and quantitative assessments are assimilated from the organization, dissection and categorization of unit-level data.

Business schools (B-schools) in the state are facing acute distress in enrolments. There are intra-regional variations in institution count and occupancy rates. The vast majority of the institutions have no accreditation at all. The entire sector is facing a protracted decline.

The study has relied primarily on descriptive statistics considering a single discipline within the higher education sector in Kerala. Future studies should look at other disciplines (engineering, medicine) simultaneously. Use of statistical methods like panel data regression would be beneficial to find hidden trends in cross-sectional and longitudinal time-series data.

Management education in Kerala is facing an existential crisis. This has implications for the state's economic development. The paper creates strong imperatives for government policymaking to forestall the complete decline of the sector.

A highly literate state with advanced human development indices need not be a suitable location for building a knowledge-based economy. Government policy has strong implications for the development and sustenance of higher education. The relationship between government and business schools are symbiotic.

The paper maps the progression of B-schools from local to global. A typology of privately funded B-schools is proposed. The conceptual framework advanced in this study can contribute to further literature development. The suggested policy initiatives are applicable not only to Kerala but also to other tightly regulated markets.

This study aims to properly and objectively assess the students’ study progress in bachelor programmes by applying statistical process control (SPC). Specifically, the authors focused their analysis on the variation in performance rates in business studies courses taught at a Spanish University.

A qualitative methodology was used, using an action-based case study developed in a public university. Previous research and theoretical issues related to quality indicators of the training programmes were discussed, followed by the application of SPC to assess these outputs.

The evaluation of the performance rate of the courses that comprised the training programs through the SPC revealed significant differences with respect to the evaluations obtained through traditional evaluation procedures. Similarly, the results show differences in the control parameters (central line and control interval), depending on the adopted approach (by programmes, by academic year and by department).

This study has inherent limitations linked to both the methodology and selection of data sources.

The SPC approach provides a framework to properly and objectively assess the quality indicators involved in quality assurance processes in higher education.

This paper contributes to the discourse on the importance of a robust and effective assessment of quality indicators of the academic curriculum in the higher education context through the application of quality control tools such as SPC.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the organizational structure and R&D management alignment in an internationalized public company.

The authors performed a descriptive qualitative research using the single case method of EMBRAPA.

The results indicated that EMBRAPA organizational structure provides a structural framework for R&D management, promoting knowledge and infrastructure sharing. The internationalization, especially through LABEX, allows researchers to interact with research centers of excellence abroad. This makes strategic planning (Sistema de Inteligência Estratégico da EMBRAPA – Agropensa, portfolios and project arrangements) results in R&D projects, through macro programs, generating innovations for Brazilian agriculture.

It should be noted that this study presents some limitations, among them, the fact that only one company is being analyzed.

Therefore, EMBRAPA’s organizational structure provides a structural framework for R&D management, promoting knowledge sharing and infrastructure. This makes the strategic planning (Agropensa, portfolios and arrangements) to result in R&D projects, via macro programs, generating innovations for the Brazilian agriculture. On the contributions to the advancement of knowledge with regard to the professional management of public research institutes, it is worth synthesizing, therefore, the following practical evidence in the field and that they were key to the successful management of R&D activities in EMBRAPA.

The choice of this company is due to its importance for the Brazilian agricultural development, to the innovations generated for the modernization of agriculture and due to it being a public, internationalized R&D company, and with a trajectory of four decades of existence.

This chapter provides an overview of the current state of research policy and research management and administration (RMA) in Kenya. Although RMA is an emerging field globally, it is not yet fully recognised in Kenya. The main objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of the vibrant research environment in Kenya, its most important challenges in the field of management and administration of research, and how some Kenyan Universities are dealing with them.

The findings in this chapter are based first on a research policy documents analysis and on literature review. In a second phase, qualitative data were collected through desk-based research and informant questionnaires and interviews.

In the conclusions, concrete suggestions are formulated that could support the enrichment of the research environment, find solutions for RMA-related challenges, but also lead to the development and establishment of RMA as a profession in the country.