ABSTRACT
Universities are a product of the social and historical context in which they are located. In the last forty years they have undergone a major transformation. The numbers of students entering universities to study at undergraduate and postgraduate levels have increased. The volume of research conducted in universities has undergone considerable development and teaching has received much more attention, with the result that it has greater importance in the overall profile of the higher education sector. In addition, there is a range of activities now in place as part of the routine work of universities that even in the recent past would have been regarded as relatively rare or somewhat obscure. They include: consultancy work, the commercialization of intellectual property, the development of spin-out companies, entrepreneurial activities and systematic fundraising from corporate donors as well as from alumni. Alongside these ‘new’ activities there have also been major national changes in the higher education sector, which has witnessed an increase in accountability through the development of institutional audits of teaching and learning by the Quality Assurance Agency and the audit of research through the Research Assessment Exercise conducted by the Higher Education Funding Councils. As a consequence, the position of both academic and administrative staff in higher education has undergone considerable change. But what patterns have existed in the higher education system?
