Scoping leadership development needs in Indian higher education

1. Scoping leadership development needs in Indian higher education Dr Barrie S Morgan International Associate

2. Leadership Foundation • Leadership Foundation (LF) is committed to developing and improving the management and leadership skills of existing and future leaders of higher education. • It has worked in 30 countries to effect change through leadership interventions • In partnership with UKIERI, LF has organised two leadership development programmes resulting in partnerships between UK and Indian universities

3. Sources of information • Meetings in Haryana and Delhi with key governmental stakeholders and selected universities in June 2012 • Visits to 6 public HEIs in both Haryana and West Bengal, along with JNU, to interview VCs, Pro-VCs, College Principals, Registrars and Deans in September 2012 about their goals and their training needs to achieve them • Supplemented by desk research

4. Top 6 Self-identified leadership needs to achieve goals • Skills to engage professionally and credibly with external stakeholders (VCs) • Human resource management skills to motivate and manage staff (VCs, Rs1 & Ds1) • Skills to generate new income streams (VCs) • Financial management (VCs, Rs2 & Ds4) • Skills to maximise benefit of IT (Rs3, Ds3) • Personal development (Ds2)

5. Some aspects of the change agenda • 12th Five-Year Plan envisages universities changing from bureaucratic institutions reliant on the public purse to enterprising competitors for funding (leads to need for strategic planning skills) • Management, along with management practices and structures, needs professionalising at all levels with staff taking personal responsibility for what is devolved to them • There needs to be a career structure for potential leaders with associated training culminating in a fair and transparent appointment process for VCs

6. 3 key questions • How is the culture of Indian HEIs most effectively changed, and what is the role of leadership development programmes in this? • What is the most appropriate infrastructure of leadership centres to underpin leadership development? How many are needed? Should they be centrally planned or market-led? • How is a leadership programme designed to be scalable given the massive size of the sector?

7. Some guiding principles for a leadership development strategy (1) • All leadership development activity should support the achievement of national and state objectives • The scale of the task requires a cascade model – training leaders who can train their peers as well as reform their institutions • Universities should be prioritised and then be responsible for training constituent colleges • The first stage should aim to develop a set of exemplar universities which would serve as role models in a competitive environment • A small team of leaders from each HEI should be trained to facilitate adoption and encourage teamwork

8. Some guiding principles for a leadership development strategy (2) • While senior leaders in the early stage of the programme should usefully have direct exposure to international experience, this would be reduced as good practice in increasingly found in Indian HEIs • Each stage and element should be evaluated and the learning incorporated in subsequent programmes. A road map is required rather than a fully worked-out plan • As knowledge of successful approaches develops, greater emphasis should be placed on developing modules for blended and computer-based learning • Learning from good Indian practices from inside and outside education in managing change while respecting traditional values should be a key element of the programme from the outset

9. Indian and UK Cultural styles