LNVH publishes research report Managing Academia: Access, Professional Appreciation, and Institutional Influence in Dutch Academic Management Roles

Access, motivation, appreciation, power, and influence
The LNVH, in collaboration with Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), commissioned a study into academic management within Dutch universities. The research, conducted by scholars at Erasmus University Rotterdam, examines the range of management roles fulfilled by academics, how they gain access to these positions, their motivations for taking them on, and how they experience recognition, power, and influence in these roles. Drawing on the findings, the report provides recommendations to make academic management more inclusive and sustainable.

Research design
The study was conducted in three phases. First, twelve semi-structured interviews were held with academics in leadership positions to explore how academic management is organised and experienced. This was followed by a sector-wide survey targeting all assistant, associate, and full professors across the fourteen Dutch universities, yielding 3,094 fully completed questionnaires (a response rate of 21.6%). Finally, three focus groups with academics in management roles were convened to further contextualise the findings. This mixed-methods approach allows both the identification of sector-wide patterns and the provision of rich, contextualised insights into the lived realities of academic managers.

Key findings

Broad participation in management roles
Over two-thirds of respondents reported holding a management role, ranging from faculty- or department-level positions to specific committee and council responsibilities. The higher the academic rank, the more likely respondents were to hold formal management positions. Professors more frequently occupy official leadership roles, whereas assistant professors are more often involved in management tasks without holding formal titles.

Gender and internationality differences
Although gender differences are relatively small, clear patterns emerge. Men more often hold formal management positions with decision-making authority and allocated time budgets, while women are more frequently tasked with management responsibilities that carry less formal status and recognition. Furthermore, international academics remain underrepresented in leadership positions, suggesting a relatively restricted accessibility of these roles.

Access through informal procedures
Pathways into academic management are frequently shaped by closed appointment procedures. At departmental level in particular, roles are often filled through personal approach or internal nomination rather than through open calls. This lack of transparency risks perpetuating unequal access and hampers inclusivity.

Motivations for academic management
Academics are primarily driven by three motivations: a sense of duty, a wish to contribute to organisational improvement, and opportunities for personal development. Men more frequently cite a sense of obligation, whereas women more often report personal development as a primary driver.

Perceived appreciation and career prospects
Academics in faculty-level management positions report greater recognition in terms of time, resources, and visibility compared to colleagues with departmental-level responsibilities. At the same time, scepticism persists about whether management tasks contribute meaningfully to career progression. Women, on average, report receiving less social recognition from supervisors and peers than their male counterparts.

Power, influence, and social safety
Perceptions of influence are unevenly distributed: men report more influence over policy, budgets, and appointments. Social safety is a recurrent theme: about half of the academics with management roles were approached in the year preceding the survey regarding situations of social unsafety, and over a quarter report having witnessed undesirable behaviour. Women report such incidents more frequently than men. Responses often remain informal - providing emotional support or discussing matters with those involved - while structural or formal measures are taken less often. Notably, male leaders more frequently report following up on reports of social unsafety with concrete actions than their female counterparts.

Recommendations

Based on the findings, the researchers make several recommendations to render academic management more inclusive and resilient.

Formal and transparent appointment procedures
First and foremost, the report stresses the need for formal and transparent appointment procedures for all management roles at faculty and departmental levels. This is essential to ensuring fair access and to advancing diversity in a meaningful way.

Mentoring, guidance, and resources
The report further calls for both formal and informal mentoring and guidance structures, enabling academics to make well-informed career choices and to determine the role that management may play in their professional development. Universities must provide sufficient resources - time, recognition, and support - so that academic leaders can carry out their responsibilities to a high professional standard.

Further professionalisation of academic leadership
The researchers recommend sustained investment in structural training and professional development on leadership and inclusive management. Valuing and integrating diverse perspectives is indispensable, as are regular feedback, evaluation, and accountability mechanisms.

Linking social safety to academic management
Social safety must be an integral part of academic management. Academic leaders share responsibility for fostering a safe working environment and for recognising and addressing socially undesirable behaviour. They must be equipped with the skills to intervene effectively and to cultivate a culture of trust and safety.

Continuous dialogue
Finally, the report emphasises that these recommendations will only be effective if implemented cohesively and systematically. Ongoing sector-wide initiatives under the national Recognition and Rewards programme offer a valuable point of departure. Universities and their umbrella organisation UNL play a key role in facilitating continuous dialogue on inclusive academic management. The report also calls for future longitudinal research to monitor the effects of management roles on academic career trajectories and to identify which organisational practices most effectively contribute to an inclusive and safe academic culture.

Call to action
The LNVH stresses that this research was conducted in a different political and financial climate than the one in which it is now being published. Dutch universities are currently facing significant challenges: severe budget cuts, a political climate that undervalues scientific work, and international developments that place academic freedom under pressure - especially on topics such as sex, gender, diversity, and inclusion. This study demonstrates how rapidly circumstances can shift and underscores the importance of courage, decisiveness, and perseverance - particularly from those in leadership positions. The LNVH calls on university boards and policymakers to demonstrate these qualities and to act upon the report’s recommendations. In the coming months, the LNVH will actively disseminate the findings and recommendations, advocating for sector-wide commitment to an inclusive and future-proof academic work culture.

• Download the report here. 

About the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH)
The LNVH is a networking, knowledge, and advocacy organisation representing over 1,800 women associate and full professors in the Netherlands. The LNVH is committed to the equitable representation of women in academia, to improving the position of all women in science - regardless of background - and to fostering an inclusive and safe academic environment in which equal pay is the norm. www.LNVH.nl

LNVH research projects
In a national and comparative perspective, the LNVH commissions research on themes that contribute to a future-proof, robust, and innovative academic sector. Our aim is to provide the sector with contextually relevant, evidence-based knowledge that supports policy development, institutional initiatives, and informed decision-making. This allows us to move sector dialogues from assumption-driven debates toward evidence-based, solution-oriented exchange.

In keeping with the LNVH mission to promote intersectional gender equality in academia, explicit attention is paid to potential gender differences in our studies. We are mindful that gender is not a binary category. In line with our standard research practice, we account for this in our reporting. Where group size permits, results are reported separately. At present, however, the number of academics identifying as non-binary or bi-gender remains too small to allow for statistically robust subgroup analyses in all cases.

About the authors
This research was conducted by Prof. dr. Laura den Dulk (Professor of Public Administration in Employment, Organisation, and Work–Life Issues), Dr. Daphne van Helden (Assistant Professor of Organisation and Management), and Dr. Samantha Metselaar (Postdoctoral Researcher), all affiliated with Erasmus University Rotterdam.

About Universities of the Netherlands (UNL)
Dutch universities have a societal mission: to provide high-quality academic education and to conduct excellent research, thereby contributing to a strong knowledge society. They study and, where possible, solve major scientific and societal questions, creating knowledge that fosters innovation. In doing so, universities strengthen society and ensure that the Netherlands retains its leading international position. Through UNL, the universities collectively express their ambitions for academic education and research and advocate for the structural conditions needed to achieve them. www.universiteitenvannederland.nl

Press contact
For additional information or interview requests, please contact Lidwien Poorthuis, Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH), +31 (0)6 15207225 – poorthuis@lnvh.nl

Suggested citation
Van den Dulk, Van Helden, Metselaar & LNVH (2025). Managing Academia: Access, Professional Appreciation, and Institutional Influence in Dutch Academic Management Roles. Utrecht: LNVH.