Managing a meritocracy or an equitable organisation? Senior managers’ and employees’ views about equal opportunities policies in UK universities

Abstract

This article examines the views of staff employed in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) about how those institutions are dealing with the impact of recent UK equality legislation and related European employment directives. Assumptions underlying current approaches to equality in UK HEIs are examined, particularly the notion of meritocracy, which advocates job selection and promotion based on normatively and culturally neutral measures of merit. The article is based on a project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, using qualitative case studies of six English, Welsh and Scottish HEIs. The project data suggest that equality policies for staff and students are in tension with each other, that staff policies may clash with other institutional policies, for example on research excellence or enhancing the student experience, and that the rhetoric of equality policies is not always matched by the day‐to‐day experience of staff. The article suggests that the case study UK HEIs, with their continued focus on meritocracy and excellence, have not yet adapted to the new climate of employee equality legislation and perhaps need to consider a different approach than the meritocratic one.

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the European Conference of Educational Researchers, University College, Dublin, 7–10 September 2005, and session participants provided very useful feedback. The article is based on work done in collaboration with Louise Morley and Anwar Tlili and thanks are due to both of them for their role in the HEFCE project and their ideas, which have been freely plundered here. Thanks are also due to the project administrator Nikki Hicks and her team of tape transcribers, Judith Squires for very helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper and members of the HEFCE equal opportunity programme steering group for their feedback on the project findings.

Notes

1. Most students take out loans which mean that the fees only have to be paid back (on an income‐related basis) after graduation. Those from low‐income households can also now get financial help with maintenance costs.

2. A full analysis of the policies can be found in Deem et al. (2005).