UK: Graduate trainee schemes in higher education

While the leadership and management of higher education institutions have become a subject for increased research and discussion, it is a concern that most of the sector has made little progress in ensuring its ability to recruit and develop the next generation of senior managers and leaders.
How many commercial organisations would opt to meet their challenges without a well-structured, well-publicised recruitment programme, hoping instead to fill vacancies at all levels from whatever pool of applicants is available?

Almost all companies, even those much smaller than the typical university, and many public sector organisations have long-established management/graduate trainee programmes. These are the prizes for which thousands of our graduates compete so enthusiastically and yet higher education offers only scattered examples of such programmes.

In 2006, I conducted a survey among directors of human resources at every university in the UK. Through a simple questionnaire which required little investigation to complete I sought to determine the extent of graduate or management trainee programmes operating during the period 2002-03 to 2005-06.

Replies reported the existence of such a programme at only nine institutions. From observation, three other such schemes became evident. It is likely there was under-reporting because of competing demands on staff time and it was evident some jobs with titles such as 'Registry Officer' had some of the broad-based characteristics of a trainee programme and explicitly welcomed applications from new graduates and those seeking experience in the sector.

Nevertheless, it is reasonable to conclude the majority of institutions prefer to attract their junior managers into jobs which are more specialised than a trainee programme. What are the characteristics of graduate trainee programmes where they exist in higher education? They combine immersion in operational detail with a context which builds an understanding of institutional strategy.

They normally comprise a planned rotation of projects which, together, can cover most of the major elements of university management. Trainees typically have a fixed-term contract of two to three years, at the end of which they should be well prepared for an appointment almost anywhere in the sector or indeed outside it.

Naturally, where a trainee has performed well, the employer aims to retain and assign them to a substantive position, possibly working towards a higher grade. All trainees are provided with extensive in-house training and development and in some cases the employer may part-fund a professional qualification.

Opportunities to hire trainees can arise through maternity leave. For example, a trainee can undertake a six-month immersion in the vacant role then transfer to other projects. This makes use of some available funding and avoids the difficulties of recruiting to a short-term appointment. At current levels of activity, the trainee schemes are making a tiny contribution to the future needs of higher education for leaders and managers, though one hopes that quality compensates for lack of quantity.

Do existing schemes attract good candidates? The overwhelming view of the respondents was positive, as one would expect, from programmes which tend not to require experience. This can lead to a further difficulty - that of selection.

Some programmes have specifically targeted recent graduates but this may now conflict with age discrimination legislation. It hence becomes more likely there will be large fields of applicants comprising recent graduates, returners to the job market and career switchers, making short-listing a challenge. And yet, the sector cannot take its attractiveness for granted and there appears to be a decline in job mobility.

Research on graduate training schemes outside higher education has indicated their project-based nature provides an excellent way of learning about the enterprise and that the combination of highly competitive entry and strongly managed activities provides better results than recruitment to more specialised individual roles lying outside a structured scheme.

The de-layering and downsizing of companies has brought about a 'new deal' which expects trainees to become immediately effective in real jobs and without expectations of being treated as 'high flyers' or with guaranteed career progression.

The proliferation of specialist positions lower down the organisation may suit a short-term agenda but it contributes to a shortage of talent suitable for middle and senior management positions. It is arguable that specialist positions tend to be characterised by monotony, some of it cyclical. This feature can limit individuals' career prospects and underlies a strong case for the more extensive, preferably planned, use of secondments within or between institutions.

For the employer, a lack of suitable internal candidates has led to an increased tendency to appoint from outside the sector. The re-naming of key posts, such as 'Registrar' tending to become 'Chief Operating Officer' which is arguably appropriate, if unwelcome to traditionalists, emphasises that they may be suitable for candidates with no previous experience of management.

Whilst the experience of institutions recruiting staff from the commercial sector is overwhelmingly positive, it seems more appropriate that higher education should locate such recruits either in specialisms such as computing and information technology, human resources and marketing, or in graduate trainee programmes, rather than direct into general management positions. A rolling programme of graduate traineeships requires net investment in the short term but, if highly able appointments are made, the organisational benefits are potentially enormous.

Careful selection of trainees with academic qualifications which enable them to engage on equal terms with academic colleagues for work which is both policy-informed and operation-rich in a challenging environment, is conducive to successful development of professional managers.

Rapid learning is facilitated most when trainees have close contact with and reporting lines to senior managers, so that they gain insights into policy issues and leadership as well as operational experience.

A structured trainee programme can help ensure future management and leadership, and also promote organisational knowledge, effectiveness and mutual understanding. Through a well-considered set of projects and attachments, trainees work across boundaries within central services and between central services and faculties.

Institutions are happy to see their business schools negotiating attractive internships for their students in leading companies, greatly enhancing the students' employability. They may be missing the point, that they should emulate those enlightened companies by establishing their own entry schemes to attract and nurture the management talent they require for their future success.

It remains to be seen whether higher education is on the way to embedding the more effective development of high-potential managers through in-sector MBA programmes. If it is, this provides a means by which promising middle managers may become the senior managers and leaders of the future. Arguably more urgent is the need to take control of the quality of recruitment to the profession and the need for early investment in that talent.

* Allan Bolton is General Manager of Leeds University Business School.

This is an edited extract from a paper published in Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, Volume 12, Issue 2 April 2008, the journal of the UK-based Association of University Administrators, published by Taylor & Francis.

To read the full paper, go to: www.informaworld.com