University Engagement with Professional Clients in the Provision of Executive Development
| Date | 01 September 2012 |
| Published date | 01 September 2012 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0144739412459295 |
| Author | Kerstin Altherr,Colin Copus |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Teaching Public Administration
University Engagement
30(2) 106–113
ª The Author(s) 2012
with Professional Clients
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DOI: 10.1177/0144739412459295
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Executive Development:
An International Perspective
Colin Copus
De Montfort University, UK
Kerstin Altherr
University of Potsdam, Germany
Abstract
The paper is presented as a think-piece. It is designed to stimulate discussion and con-
sideration of the pressures and tensions experienced by universities entering the market
for the provision of programmes to external public sector clients. The paper draws on
the experiences of universities in England and Germany in providing executive devel-
opment programmes to a range of public sector clients. It looks at the questions raised
for academics and universities exploring this market and the benefits for research and
impact that could be achieved.
Keywords
Executive development, Public sector, Client-based training
Introduction
In the paper we look at issues raised for universities in the provision of client-based
training for the public sector. We draw on experiences from England and Germany to
identify the wider questions and challenges that face universities when dealing with
professional clients with specific sets of demands. The paper is meant as a stimulus for
discussion and reflection on the tasks that face universities in the design and provision of
executive development programmes and to highlight questions that we all need to
Corresponding author:
Colin Copus, De Montfort University Hugh Aston Building The Gateway Leicester, LE1 9BH United Kingdom.
e-mail: ccopus@dmu.ac.uk
Copus
107
address. As the questions and issues raised are very similar we do not provide separate
sections on England and Germany; rather we have drawn together common themes, as it
is of note that in these two different national and institutional settings, the questions and
challenges are similar. Thus we feel there are lessons here about the engagement of
universities with professional clients that cut across national boundaries.
A University Mission: External Client Provision
In the provision of executive development programmes, universities face stiff
competition from private sector providers and training organisations and the latter
often have an institutional set-up designed to respond to and win tenders, if not
always to comprehensively provide the end product. Public sector clients are often
impressed by the presentational skills of private providers and perhaps suffer from a
sectoral inferiority complex, believing that the private sector has the range of skills,
knowledge, abilities and insights that the public sector feels they somehow lack.
Thus, universities, which are still part of the public landscape in both our countries,
must convince clients that they have the required base from which to provide such
programmes and to do so in a way that meets clients’ needs and ironically is not too
‘academic’ or theoretical, rather practically orientated.
In Germany, the problem for universities is a lack of tradition in the field of client
provision which goes along with a lack of suitable structures and organisational
knowledge. It seems that some private German universities moved quickly into this market
–as did those that made an early decision to develop new structures – to be able to respond
more easily to client demands. A similar though not identical experience exists in England
where some universities recognised the benefits, not least in terms of income generation, of
client-based work and reconfigured their structural and organisational framework
accordingly; while others have been more tentative in their approach and developed this
work stream further as the ‘impact’ potential has become apparent. What remains to be
explored in some detail are the motivations for plunging into the client-based sector,
leaving us to ask: why do we do it and what is the purpose of that engagement?
Whenever universities step into the market of professional and external client-based
executive development, a number of key challenges emerge. The first is the often very
complex negotiations required around content, curriculum development and delivery
options. These negotiations mean compromising and dealing with clients who are not the
core target group of a university but who are becoming an important source of income
generation and a way in which some research impact can be evidenced. The way univer-
sities deal with this is that a group of academics will often specialise, or at least develop
an interest in, the sort of programmes required by external public sector clients, all of
whom give the academic a different challenge and set of experiences from that gleaned
from undergraduate programmes. It is that challenge and the need to constantly keep in
...
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