Abstract
Vice chancellors of public universities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region face a myriad of challenges that require research- and data-driven decision-making. This paper presents a decision-making model for college and university leadership - The Two-Way Practitioner-Researcher Loop. This scholarship of practice has the twin goals of developing a knowledge base for college and university leadership and improving leadership practice in the university. The scholarship of practice comprises two “loops”. In the practitioner-to-researcher loop, vice chancellors develop practitioner-defined research agenda to be researched internally by Departments of Institutional Research and externally by members of Higher Education research communities. In the researcher-to-practitioner loop, research findings are communicated back to vice chancellors for immediate application to institutional planning, policy formulation, and decision making. This scholarship of practice develops a knowledge base comprised of both “knowledge for practice” and “knowledge in practice” at the level of university leadership. To build capacity for vice chancellors to craft research agenda and questions emanating from their “knowledge in practice”, we identify internal mechanisms and external associations, training programmes and other forums that provide leadership development and support for these university executives.
Highlights
The twenty-first century is rapidly forcing, not just encouraging, a different skill-set crucial for effective presidents of colleges/universities
Practical solutions are sought for problems related to quality; problems faced by students; and problems related to limited resources and autonomy (World Bank, 2000)
In order to provide the basis for a scholarship of practice, three research questions drove the exploratory first part of this study: 1. To what extent do vice chancellors at Southern African Development Community (SADC) universities possess a terminal degree in education?
Summary
The twenty-first century is rapidly forcing, not just encouraging, a different skill-set crucial for effective presidents of colleges/universities. Principal academic and administrative officers of college and universities face a myriad of global and institutional challenges that require research- and data-driven decision-making. Practical solutions are sought for problems related to quality (e.g., faculty quality, underdeveloped curriculum, and teacher-centred teaching approaches); problems faced by students (e.g., inequalities of access and outcomes, overcrowded classrooms, inadequate library and laboratory facilities, academically underprepared students at entry, limited access to remedial programmes, low enrollment rates, high graduate unemployment, and the need to promote an entrepreneurial culture among students); and problems related to limited resources and autonomy (e.g., high dependence on central government for financial resources, reduced and poorly coordinated capital and operating budgets, deteriorating buildings, scientific equipment in need of parts and supplies, and limited research funding for elite scholars and scientists) (World Bank, 2000)
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