Between Mission and Market Position

Empirical findings on mission statements of German Higher Education Institutions

verfasst von

Anna Kosmützky

Abstract

Higher education institutions on their way to quasi-markets have to identify their distinct characteristics and nowadays, most of the German universities have published a mission statement. But since the tasks and mission of German universities are set for them by state regulation, the paper analyses for what mission statements have been introduced and what universities are stating in their mission statements. Addressing this question, the article reveals that mission statements contribute to constructing corporate images. Instead of defining a single overarching organizational identity that is distinct from other universities, mission statements express the tasks and missions that are set for them by higher education law and supplement these missions with distinct images. An important implication of this symbolic profile-building is that the underlying intuitional models of these images are related to the history, subject profile and often geographical location of the universities and thus, contribute to creating competitive fields of universities.

Externe Organisation(en)

Universität Kassel

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Tertiary Education and Management

Band

18

Seiten

57-77

Anzahl der Seiten

21

ISSN

1358-3883

Publikationsdatum

03.2012

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Ausbildung bzw. Denomination, Organisationslehre und Personalmanagement

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 4 – Qualitativ hochwertige Bildung

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2011.617466 (Zugang: Unbekannt)