ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Part 2 – Conclusions of the review
than a “bottom-up” approach to strategy. A top-down component
of planning is however vital. Without it, major opportunities and
efficient ways of utilizing resources can be missed.
79. Some departments are very creative in strategy formulation, either
through an energetic head who confers and communicates well
with colleagues, or through an effective tradition of debate where
the head acts as chair. There are others however where we were
not aware of strategic thinking about priorities. This view was
strengthened by the fact that many of the individual self-assessments
presented to us lacked a well-formulated view of the future
plans of the units involved. We suggest that the university’s capacity
for strategic thinking and planning could be enhanced in the two
following ways.
80. In some departments, heads appear to be so overburdened by
routine management tasks that time for dispassionate analysis or
promotion of strategic options is rarely available. In these cases we
suspect that many Heads of Department undertake their roles without
enthusiasm because it is “their turn”. It important that such an
ethos is overturned. HoDs and Deans have an important strategic
role, and they should be enabled to undertake it by stripping them
of many routine tasks. The University should consider developing
a larger cohort of professional managers to do these tasks. It would
not increase the amount of administration, merely make it more
efficiently progressed through a division of labour and by freeing
senior academics to undertake what they do best.
81. At a University level, we were not made aware of any formal topdown/bottom-up
process to ensure that the University’s medium
term plans are appropriately formulated and efficiently implemented.
If this does not yet exist, we suggest that the University’s response
to this review could be the occasion to develop such a process. This
could then be rolled forward through an annual planning cycle.
F4. Doctoral studies
82. In general the proportion of PhD students compared with other
research staff is small in comparison with universities that score
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