Academic manager job description

Professional spotlight: academic manager

Feller: Academic managers mainly work at universities, non-university research institutions, scientific organisations, and ministries. Management takes place everywhere that independent control tasks are performed.

academics: What are typical tasks?

Feller: It is difficult to narrow it down to specific tasks. The management tasks are extremely varied and necessary in many areas. One naturally first thinks of management functions in university management, school management, administration, and central establishments. In recent years though, entirely new fields have been added to this, such as diversity, alumni and quality management. Moreover, existing functions have gained new perspectives, such as personnel development and building management.

"The higher the position, the higher the proportion of men"

academics: Which skills must academic managers possess?

Feller: Above all, they must have an affinity for academic life and be familiar with its particularities. Expertise specific to each individual function is naturally also necessary. Methodology capabilities, such as management, organisation and communication skills, are also important.

academics: Do more women or more men strive for a role in this profession?

Feller: On the lower career levels of academic management, there are more women. Women often work in the new professions in particular. Unfortunately, the same applies here as in many other fields: the higher the position, the higher the proportion of men.

academics: Is there a risk that the job degenerates to a rather dry administrative one?

Feller: Certainly not. Academia is a fascinating field of application for management. Of course, many processes involve administrative activities - after all, that is the legal framework. However, the overriding principle makes the work a challenge.

"The demand for the professionalisation of academic management is set to increase"

academics: Where do difficulties currently exist?

Feller: No clear career paths exist - there are no classic routes as there are in other professions. This can deter those potentially interested in the profession. What's more, there is in part still a lack of professional identity. There are now many actors, who see themselves as academic managers, but this continues to grow and presents a challenge to the network.

academics: What would you say of the preconception that academic managers do not really fit in anywhere?

Feller: Some people speak of how academic managers are "in-betweeners" that they do not really fit into academia nor do they fit into the classic university administration. Some also call this the "third space". I see things differently. Science institutions are complex organisations in which a great many different functions are performed. All organisational units contribute to the success of the institution with their respective function. A distinction between academia on the one hand, administration on the other and something "in between" does not seem useful to me. If new tasks emerge, the according organisational units must be integrated into the organisation as appropriate.

academics: How will the profession develop in the future?

Feller: It will gain in significance. The German academic landscape is currently undergoing a transition. Competitiveness and autonomy are the buzzwords. The institutions are increasingly responsible for their own success or failure. The demand for the professionalisation of academic management is set to increase, and the profession itself will develop.

academics: Despite the lack of career paths, how would you rate the career prospects?

Feller: Academic management is a profession of the future. Demand for qualified personnel is currently high, and this will remain the case for the time being.