Welcome to the Institute for Higher Education Management

Barbara Sporn

The Institute for Higher Education Management is part of the Department of Strategy and Innovation at WU and is led by Univ. Prof. Dr. Barbara Sporn.

IHM activities include research, teaching, policy advising and external engagement with different stakeholders, as well as involvement in international associations. Areas of interest at IHM combine theories of business and management applied to the complex organization of universities. With this focus, IHM provides insights for higher education scholars and practitioners but also beyond that for research and practice interested in expert and nonprofit organizational settings.

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Publications

NEWS

LV "Business Planning and Performance Management" nominated for Ars Docendi Staatspreis für exzellente Lehre 2023

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We are very proud and pleased that our course "Business Planning and Performance Management" by Prof. Barbara Sporn and Bernhard Böhm, MSc was published on the "Atlas der guten Lehre" homepage (www.gutelehre.at) and has been nominated for the Ars Docendi Staatspreis für exzellente Lehre 2023.

In the "Atlas der guten Lehre", good practice examples are made publicly available as a generic “online reference work”. Through its function as an overview tool and for the mutual exchange of information, the website is intended to support the continuous improvement of the quality of teaching and make relevant activities visible.

CHER annual conference 2023

CHER 2023 Team

From August 30 to September 1, 2023 the CHER annual conference 2023 took place at WU - organised from the Institute of Higher Education Management.

121 paper presentations, 6 panels, 46 poster presentations, 4 interactive activities, 3 inspiring keynotes and much more made the conference to an successfull event. The photos of the conference can be found here.

Mit 121 Paper-Präsentationen, 6 Panels, 46 Poster-Präsentationen, 4 interaktiven Aktivitäten und 3 inspirierenden Keynotes konnten wir eine erfolgreiche Konferenz abhalten. Die Konferenzfotos finden Sie hier.

We are looking forward to CHER 2024 in Luxembourg.

Courses Winter Term 2023-24

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During the upcoming winter term we offer the following courses with interesting (guest-)lecturer:

LV 1316: Elective - Leading Complex Organizations

LV 1454: Strategic Management and Strategic Leadership

LV 1455: Advanced Strategic Leadership

LV 1683: Project Seminar in Strategic Management and Strategic Leadership

LV 1319: Research in Higher Education Science and Management

The WU Course Catalogue for the summer term with dates and details can be found here.

Bachelor-/Masterthesis

Our Institute welcomes interest from students who would like to write their thesis under our supervision. The following topics are available for Bachelor’s and Master’s theses:

  • Strategy and Innovation in Expert Organizations

  • Strategic Leadership and Organizational Outcomes

  • Responsible Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility

  • Governance and Performance Management in (Non-profit) Organizations

  • Competitiveness and Innovative Capacity of Expert Organizations

  • Business Models in Complex Organizations

  • Business Planning and Modelling

  • Marketing and Employer Branding in the Higher Education Sector  

You can find the guides to your thesis here.

Publications

We are happy to share that the article "The conceptualisation of socially responsible universities in higher education research: a systematic literature review", authored by Ana Godonoga and Prof. Barbara Sporn is now published open access in the journal Studies in Higher Education! If you are interested to learn more about what it means to be a socially responsible university, please check our work here!

global focus - The EFMD Business Magazine

Together with Kenneth Qua Prof. Sporn published the article "Contextualising change with social network analysis" in global focus - The EFMD Business Magazine.