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This paper presents base‐line data about the incumbency or length of time spent in office by Australian vice‐chancellors who held appointments in the years 1963 to 1983. Principal findings of the analysis are that the average length of incumbency has declined from 13.6 years for 1963 to 8.0 years for 1983 vice‐chancellors, that the period 1983 to 1987 will witness an unprecedentedly high rate of turnover among vice‐chancellors, and that an increasing proportion of vice‐chancellors no longer regard their incumbency as their final full‐time professional appointment. The conclusions are related to apparent stratification and ranking among Australian universities in an emerging system of higher education which is becoming more complex.

It is useful to provide a context for the elaboration of this argument by referring to the historical and intellectual roots of Nigerian federalism, the nature of Nigeria's ethnic mosaic, and the influence or impact of ethnicity on the architecture of Nigerian federalism. The foundational or theoretical building block of Nigerian federalism was and continues to be ethnic, as opposed to geographical, diversity. The artisanal design and construction of this ethnicized federalism was informed by the imperative of elite accommodation initially between the departing British colonial administration and the emergent leadership of the inheritance elite and thereafter, at various times between 1960 and the present time, among the political leadership of the various fractions of the politically significant and mobilized ethnic groups (Jinadu, 1985, 2002).

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how women managers in Swedish higher education (HE) both support and resist policies about equal representation, and to discuss which factors influenced if, and how, these managers took on the role as change agents for gender equality.

The paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 22 women in senior academic management positions (vice-chancellors, pro vice-chancellors, deans and pro deans) in ten Swedish HE institutions.

The paper highlights how these women situated themselves in an academic context where gender relations were changing. They supported equal representation policies in their everyday managerial practice and also by accepting management positions that they were nominated and elected to on the basis of such policies. However, they also resisted these policies when they experienced a need to “protect” women from being exploited “in the name of gender equality”.

The paper addresses the call for research on the role of women managers in promoting, or preventing, change towards more gender balanced organizations. The paper builds on a small qualitative study with women only interviews. The study is therefore to be considered as explorative.

The paper makes a contribution to the research literature in the area of gender and change in academic organizations. The findings highlight how policies have different consequences in different settings and that people use their own (different) experiences when interpreting the effects of these policies. The findings thus show the varying impacts equal representation policies can have on women.

The discussion in the paper is situated in a unique empirical context characterized by demographic feminization and organizational restructuring. Most international literature on women in HE and in HE management is based on US or UK contexts. Swedish HE therefore provides an interesting setting. The analysis also addresses the call for more research that takes into account the multifaceted character of HE and that discusses disciplinary differences.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key demographics and social characteristics of Vice‐Chancellors of Australian universities so that an accurate profile of Vice‐Chancellors can be established. At present, there is no contemporary profile of incumbents despite the high level of responsibility associated with these roles.

A qualitative approach was used in the research that required the collation and analysis of public domain material regarding vice‐chancellors. Multiple sources were used in order to ensure depth, breadth and accuracy of data collected. A questionnaire that was used as part of the PhD research allowed new data to be accessed and existing data verified. Finally, interviews with various incumbents allowed pertinent information to be discussed where applicable.

The research outlines the changes in the roles of Vice‐Chancellors that have occurred since 1960. The changes in the role reflect changes in government policy and social trends. Further, the research demonstrates that incumbents are now chief executive officers and require a broader range of business competencies and academic experience compared to their predecessors in order to meet contemporary challenges. These changes are reflected in the demographics and social characteristics of incumbents.

This paper addresses this gap in knowledge and provides information about the people who are appointed vice‐chancellors. The research gives an insight into all incumbents between 1960 and 2000 and where possible, examples of post‐2000 trends have also been given. The creation of this profile will allow further and more in‐depth research to be undertaken.

The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to explore if and how management ideals are gendered within the context of Swedish higher education management and second, to investigate if and how the gendered character of these ideals has been challenged by new managerialism.

The paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 22 women in senior academic management positions (Vice Chancellors, Pro Vice Chancellors, Deans and Pro deans) in ten Swedish higher education institutions. Discourse analysis is used to explore the constructions of the management ideal in the interviews.

The paper identifies how the interviewed women managers constructed two different management ideals: one old-fashioned and traditional masculine ideal that was superseded by a feminine ideal that they identified themselves with. The masculine ideal was presented as being replaced by the feminine ideal due to the restructuring of higher education and the reforms in line with new managerialism. However, the feminine ideal was also associated with a number of professional challenges.

The research study is limited to management in the higher education sector, but the results have general implications as it adds richness to our understanding of the gendered effects of new managerialism. However, the paper builds on a small qualitative study with women only interviews. The paper is therefore to be considered as explorative. More research is needed, especially including men.

I visited the universities of Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, and the New South Wales University of Technology, and attended a week’s Seminar on Science in Australia at Canberra. At Canberra I had an opportunity to talk informally in the hotel lobby with a number of scientists from different universities as well as to listen to the formal discussions for five days. On that occasion I also had an opportunity to talk briefly with the Vice‐Chancellors of two of the three universities which I did not visit personally, namely, Currie of Western Australia an Hytten of Hobart. About the University of Queensland I am totally uninformed and it may possibly be an exception to all that follows, though if it were a marked exception it would seem that this fact would have been called to my attention in a number of the conversations. In addition to these direct sources of information about the academic world, my talks with some of the industrial leaders at Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, with some of the political people of both parties, and one or two short comments by reporters and radio interviewers gave me some indication of the feeling of the general public about the universities. Likewise the controversy which has been quite acute in Sydney about the relation of the technical college to the University and the development of the New South Wales University of Technology threw a good deal of light on academic politics.

Universities claim to provide many benefits to their context. What remains less clear is what is meant by context. Whatever it is, context is fundamental to decision-making. Understanding what context means is crucial to understanding leadership in higher education.

Theoretically informed by Eacott's relational approach, this study is based on interview data from a purposive sample of ten English vice-chancellors and nine Canadian university presidents. Transcripts were analysed for the assumptions participants held regarding the work of universities and how that played out in practice.

Context is not an external variable engaged with or acted upon. It is not separate to leadership and the work of universities but is constitutive of and emergent from activities. There is no single definition of context, and this has major implications for university activities.

Context(s) is based on assumptions. Making explicit the assumptions of participants, without pre-defining them, is a key task of research on leadership in higher education.

Leaders need to explicitly articulate their assumptions regarding the work of universities. Assessment should be based on the coherence between the espoused position and activities undertaken.

Through the emerging resources of relational scholarship, this paper demonstrates how context is constitutive of and emergent from the activities of universities. More than novel vocabulary, the paper makes a fundamental point about the generative nature of context. De-centring entities (e.g. university, leader, context) and focusing on relations our approach provide a path forward by encouraging the articulation of intended purpose(s) and perspective on the work of universities.

This paper seeks to investigate the role of the university chancellor in the appointment of Australian vice‐chancellors.

Prior to this research it was evident that little research had been undertaken on the role of the chancellor. While the chancellor chairs Council, the incumbent also presides over quite a complex selection process, including chairing the selection Panel, when the need to appoint a new VC arises. Research into the recruitment and selection practices used to appoint vice‐chancellors in Australia, undertaken as part of a PhD, yielded a wide range of useful material. The research also exposed some unexpected surprises, one of which was the role of the chancellor in the appointment process.

The chancellor not only appeared to lead these processes, as would be expected, but was viewed as the key, if not sole, person who determined the successful candidate. It was found that the relationship between the chancellor and vice‐chancellor was crucial and this was evident both in determining successful candidates and the decision for incumbents to seek a role elsewhere. However, in almost all cases the chancellor made the final decision when appointing a new VC. In some cases it appeared that selection panels considered their role as being simply to assist the chancellor to make a decision. This contrasted with the expectation that the panel as a whole would make a decision and recommend it to Council.

Thus understanding the role of the chancellor is important when considering university governance and VC succession. This paper provides the findings of the research highlighting the significance of the chancellor's role in the context of appointing a new VC.

This paper reports on a research study examining opportunities for and characteristics of effective leadership for whole university approaches to health, well-being and sustainability.

A multi-method qualitative approach was used: semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with vice chancellors (n = 12) and UK Healthy Universities Network members (n = 10) and online questionnaires were completed by non-UK network coordinators (n = 6) and non-UK health promoting university coordinators (n = 10), supplemented with two interviews.

A total of two overarching themes emerged: opportunities to secure and sustain effective senior-level leadership and characteristics of effective senior-level leadership. Sub-themes under “Opportunities” included aligning work with core business so that health and well-being becomes a strategic priority, harnessing the personal qualities and values of senior-level advocates and using charters and policy drivers as levers to engage and catalyse action. Sub-themes under “Characteristics” included commitment to whole university/whole system working; an understanding that health underpins core business and is a strategic priority; enabling effective coordination through appropriate resourcing; balancing top-down and distributed leadership models and complementing strategic leadership with cultural change.

This study is one of the first to explore leadership in relation to health promoting universities. Drawing on the findings, it presents a guide to developing and securing effective leadership for health promoting universities – of value to researchers, practitioners and policymakers worldwide.