Gender and prestige in Swedish academia: Exploring senior management in universities and university colleges

ABSTRACT

This article highlights the multifaceted character of the Swedish higher education sector and investigates senior academic management positions from a gender perspective using theories about an academic prestige economy and academic capitalism. The focus is on an aspect often overseen in research on Swedish academia: the distinction between universities and university colleges. The analysis draws on interviews with 22 women in senior management positions in Swedish higher education and a quantitative mapping of the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor positions in universities and university colleges between 1990 and 2015. The results illustrate that the academic prestige economy is interwoven with both gender and academic capitalism and produce different working conditions and requirements for senior managers at universities and university colleges.

KEYWORDS:

• higher education
• Sweden
• senior management
• vice-chancellor
• universities
• university colleges
• gender
• prestige economy
• academic capitalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Helen Peterson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5171-2783

Notes

1 The following 16 universities are included (year 2015): Uppsala University; Lund University; University of Gothenburg; Stockholm University; Umeå University, Linköping University; Karolinska Institutet; KTH Royal Institute of Technology; Chalmers University of Technology; Luleå University of Technology; Stockholm School of Economics; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Karlstad University; Linnaeus University; Örebro University; Mid Sweden University.

The following 12 university colleges are included (year 2015): Blekinge Institute of Technology; Malmö University; Mälardalen University; University of Borås; University of Gävle; Halmstad University; University of Skövde; Södertörn University; University West; Jönköping University; Dalarna University; Kristianstad University.

2 The following six HEIs, accountable to the Government and entitled to award first and second-cycle qualifications, are excluded from this study: University of Dance and Circus; Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts; University College of Arts, Crafts and Design; Royal Institute of Art; Royal College of Music in Stockholm; University College of Opera, Stockholm.

3 This means that, for example, Beckmans College of Design; Ersta Sköndal University, Sophiahemmet University; Stockholm School of Theology, and Örebro School of Theology are excluded.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare [grant number 2012-1159].