Creating reluctant academic intrapreneurs?
Intrapreneur, noun, an employee who is tasked with developing an innovative idea or project within a company.
Dr David Crighton from Education at Wrexham University and Dr William Shepherd from the University of the West of Scotland recently published a paper on the changing roles of university lecturers. Nowadays, lecturers have increasing pressure to act as ‘intrapreneurs’ at their institutions, leading to reluctance or lack of enthusiasm to adopting new practices.
Background
The landscape of higher education has been shaped by academic capitalism, i.e., the shift towards market-driven practices and adoption of business principles. Today, universities are far removed from their inception, where they were once privileged institutions providing exclusive education for those who could afford it. The shift from an exclusive to an inclusive model of higher education has created challenges and opportunities for students and universities alike. It has expanded access for students who previously lacked opportunities to study, though at a personal financial cost. For universities, deregulation and the removal of student caps have enabled growth but introduced uncertainty in funding due to market competition. This fundamentally encourages a neoliberal approach within the sector, in which students are cast as consumers and universities respond to them as such.
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism encourages individual accountability, and theoretically empowers people to influence the goods and services they receive. In higher education, this means that students fund their own studies through fees and perceive their education as an investment, potentially shifting the dynamics of teaching and learning. Universities are competing to recruit students, which aligns with the trend of focusing on market relevance of skills. Consequently, lecturers are foisted into a reluctant role of intrapreneur, in which the scope of their work is dominated by the need to generate revenue and satisfy consumer demands.
From Academic to Reluctant Intrapreneur
To survive in the ever-increasing pressured environment of higher education institutions, individuals must adapt to university strategies. This can be challenging for some academics. With pressures to demonstrate financial value and meet non-educational targets around student recruitment and research funding, they may feel compelled to take an entrepreneurial approach to their role out of necessity rather than genuine interest.
This shift presents challenges and opportunities for academic staff, as entrepreneurial traits such as risk-taking and creativity can potentially enhance traditional academic practices. Read the full paper.
Further Research
The team is currently developing this research through a joint Scottish-Welsh qualitative study aimed at identifying activities that lecturers perceive as academically or commercially focused. While examining elements of academic capitalism, the main goal is to understand the extent to which adopting entrepreneurial traits can enhance academic practices.
If you are interested in this work, please contact David.crighton@wrexham.ac.uk.