Institutional Management in Higher Education: Management Process of the Academic Units and Problems Encountered

Abstract

Management structures and internal mechanisms of higher education institutions have a significant place in the higher education literature. However, there are only a few studies that focus on management of higher education institutions in Turkey. Therefore, this study aims to find out the administrative structure of the academic units of higher education institutions in Turkey, reveal the existing problems, and offer solutions. As a qualitative research method, phenomenology was used to examine individual experiences in this study. The participants of the study include faculty members with administrative duties working in academic branches, such as college, institute, and junior college, of higher education institutions in Konya, Izmir, and Istanbul. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews and analyzed through the content analysis method. The results show that managerial work and transactions have an important place in the management of the academic units of the state higher education institutions and these processes are carried out mostly within the framework of related regulations/directives and the framework drawn by the Council of Higher Education (CoHE- YOK). Most of the managerial problems were found to be related to budget and personnel shortage. Some of the managers stated that good communication, knowing the organization, and clear task delegation facilitate the management process. The conclusion section includes some recommendations to solve the existing problems in the academic unit management based on the findings.