Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some type of separate administrative structure exists at almost all academic institutions. Fewer institutions are governed by employees who are also involved in academic or scholarly work. Many senior administrators are academics who have advanced degrees and no longer teach or conduct research.
Key responsibilities
Key broad administrative responsibilities (and thus administrative units) in academic institutions include: Admissions Supervision of academic affairs such as hiring, promotion, tenure, and evaluation (with faculty input where appropriate); Maintenance of official records (typically supervised by a registrar); Maintenance and audit of financial flows and records; Maintenance and construction of campus buildings and grounds (the physical plant); Safety and security of people and property on the campus (often organized as an office of public safety or campus police); Supervision and support of campus computers and network (information technology). Fundraising from private individuals and foundations ("development" or "advancement") Research administration (including grants and contract administration, and institutional compliance with federal and state regulations) Public affairs (including relations with the media, the community, and local, state, and federal governments) Student services such as disability services, career counselling and library staff.
Administrative titles
The chief executive, the administrative and educational head of a university, depending on tradition and location, may be termed the university president, the provost, the chancellor (the United States), the vice-chancellor (many Commonwealth countries), principal (Scotland and Canada), or rector (Europe, Russia, Asia, the Middle East and South America).
An administrative executive in charge of a university department or of some schools, may be termed a dean or some variation. The chief executive of academic establishments other than universities, may be termed headmaster or head teacher (schools), director (used to reflect various positions ranging from the head of an institution to the head of a program), or principal, as used in primary education.
Administrative communication
Like other professional areas, academic administration follows a specialized and often highly abstract terminology. This terminology often depends on that used in military strategy (as in Strategic Planning) and business management (including Public Relations).
Digital era brings a communication overload and intense stresses of the job are threatening administrators mental or physical health. Administrators are operating in an era of multiple continuing crises, unreliable supply chains etc. Prof. David D. Perlmutter dean of the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University suggests several questions to ask about the regular meetings which administrators hold:
Are these meetings necessary? Do they have to happen as often as they do? What is the best way to distribute information, especially in a governance culture, so people can be aware of it and act upon it without being overwhelmed? Do people understand the steps and goals of the process, or are they just participating out of tradition? Can the number of participants be reduced without hurting governance? Do we need to modify any of our processes because of the lack of face-to-face interactions that have occurred off and on since the pandemic began?
By country
Academic administrations are structured in various ways at different institutions and in different countries.
Australia
Full-time tertiary education administrators emerged as a distinct role in Australia from the mid-1970s, as institutions sought to deal with their increasing size and complexity, along with a broadening of their aspirations. As the professionalism of tertiary administrators has developed, there has been a corresponding push to recognise the uniqueness and validity of their role in the academic environment.
, general staff composed over half the employees at Australian universities. Around 65% of these are female. There has recently been a shift in the preferred nomenclature for non-academic staff at Australian universities, from "general staff" to "professional staff". It has been argued that the changing in role of the professional staff has been due to the changing work that they are performing, as professional staff assist students with technology.