ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on exploratory research analysing the values, experiences and practices of women academics who occupy academic management roles in a variety of higher education institutions in the UK. The backdrop to the study is a period of rapid, uncertain and externally imposed policy changes in UK higher education, including declining public funding, demands for greater public accountability with respect to research and teaching activities, pressures for enhanced efficiency and intensification in working practices, worsening staff to student ratios and considerable diversification in the curricula and the purposes of higher education. The global context of such developments includes worldwide constraints on public expenditures, increased economic competition between western countries and the Pacific rim, and a move from centrally-managed to market-led economies.
