Article
The Role and Development of University Staff
A Survey of Private Universities
2004 Volume 7 Pages 157-176
Details
2004 Volume 7 Pages 157-176
The role of administrative staff in universities is currently an important issue for higher education in Japan. Since the late 1990s it has been the subject of frequent discussion, often concerning practical issues regarding administrative staff and/or university administration and proposals to resolve them. However, there remain some important issues concerning administrative staff which have not yet been clearly discussed. What are the actual roles of administrative staff? What kinds of abilities are required of them? In this article, the discussion regarding administrative staff in Japanese universities is reviewed. The article then draws clear conclusions based upon empirical data.
Data was gathered through the conduct of a questionnaire survey. The survey was distributed to chief administrative officers of all four year private universities in Japan. The article refers to two points. Firstly, what kinds of abilities are required of administrative staff, and how may administrative staff be trained in these abilities? Secondly, it is argued that administrative staff should become more integrated in university decision making. At this point in time however, how do they get involved in these activities and to what extent?
The following conclusions may be drawn from the survey :
1. In terms of required abilities there are many differences between roles.
2. In-house training is commonly used to develop staff abilities. However, in house training does not address the required abilities identified in one above. Therefore, there should be a re-consideration of what in-house training is required and whether another means to develop required abilities should be provided.
3. In many universities, administrative staff can get involved in the process of decision making to some degree, but it is still thought that the degree of staff participation is not enough. The participation of administrative staff in university decision making is still under development.
