Living in an ‘entrepreneurial’ university

Abstract

This study set out to test the major criticisms of Burton Clark's book Creating Entrepreneurial Universities: organisational pathways of transformation (1998). Both Deem (2001) and Smith (1999) criticise Clark on the grounds that he interviewed only a selection of senior staff in the institutions he surveyed and, hence, did not get a closely grained account of change within those institutions. In this study, a selection of staff in one of the universities studied by Clark was interviewed to test the reliability of his findings. The article concludes that Clark's perspective reflects only one of a range of views held within the university in which there are a variety of cultures operating. © 2004 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.