Events

In many countries, there is growing concern about levels of administrative burden within universities, reflecting the fact that increasing administrative burden usually implies that less time and energy can be devoted to the core activities of research and teaching. As a concept, administrative burden refers to the various costs or demands associated with completing administrative tasks, both for individuals and organizations. Yet despite growing concern, our understanding of the specific dimensions and organisational drivers of administrative burdens within universities remains limited. Addressing the resulting lacuna and drawing on analyses of survey data, this paper presents insights into what academic staff (n=392) working at Australian universities (n=37) regard as the key dimensions and specific drivers of the administrative burdens they encounter at work in their workplace.

In terms of key dimensions, the focus will be on analysis of staff perceptions of the frequency by which they undertake a range of typical administrative tasks and of the associated time demands. In terms of drivers, the focus of analysis will be on how specifically a range of contextual factors – such as universities’ organizational re-(structures) or their use of digital technologies – are seen to be impacting administrative burdens. Ultimately, the findings arising from our survey suggest that key initiatives such as administrative service centralization and self-service automation Australian universities have embarked on to increase their operational efficiency have translated into what is widely experienced as an intensification in administrative burdens on the ground.