Critical incidents for new and experienced college and university presidents

Twenty-six college and university presidents, 12 new and 14 experienced, were interviewed and asked to report at least four incidents which they felt had been critical to their effectiveness as presidents. One hundred and twelve incidents were collected and then analyzed using a modification of the Critical Incident Technique. The great majority of the incidents (94.6%) were found to involve the internal affairs of the institution. Students were found to be involved in more incidents than any other group, followed by the faculty and then the administration. Finances and campus unrest led the list of factors precipitating the incidents, followed by staffing-related concerns and governance issues. Implications for new and experienced presidents are discussed.     

Reconciling differences: Conflict management strategies of catholic college and university presidents

Catholic college and university presidents leadat the confluence of academic authenticity andreligious faith. They attempt to frame anddefine changing realities in institutions thathave become increasingly secular, and subjectedto many of the same problems common to highereducation in the public sector. Externalpressures, including recent efforts tostrengthen the Catholic identities of theseinstitutions, have added a measure ofcomplexity to leadership roles and challengedthe conflict management skills of institutionalexecutives. The purpose of this study was todevelop a profile of conflict managementbehaviors of US Catholic college and universitypresidents. The profile revealed four factorsthat were common to managing conflict with bothfaculty and trustees: avoidance, smoothing overdifferences, compromise, and collaboration. Abureaucratic forcing factor was linked tofaculty conflict, and a defensive assertivenessfactor emerged for conflict with trustees. Presidents seldom employed a bureaucraticforcing strategy with faculty, but defensiveassertiveness was the second most frequentlyadopted strategy in conflict with trustees. Collaboration was the most frequently usedstrategy for dealing with both faculty andtrustee conflict. Some differences in conflictmanagement approaches were noted in terms ofgender, lay-clergy status, years of experience,and institutional size.     

Management priorities of college presidents

All U.S. college and university presidents were recently surveyed to determine their priorities among potential planning and management improvements at their institutions. Based on 900 returned questionnaires, the highest priority areas were: (1) communicating institutional strengths to potential students, their parents, and the general public; (2) communicating institutional strengths to the state legislature and state budget officials (for public institutions); (3) integrating program-review results in program-planning and budget processes; (4) resource allocation and reallocation; (5) faculty vitality and renewal; (6) implementing institutional goals and objectives through the planning and budgeting process; and (7) forecasting institutional revenue needs more accurately. Most of these high priority areas were interpreted as reflecting the current invironment of retrenchment and the need to prepare for a noor slow-growth era.     

Characteristics and careers of Canadian university presidents

This statistical study of Canadian university presidents was prompted by the discovery that there is no systematic demographic information available on university administrators in Canada. The vitae of 98 current Canadian university presidents and their immediate predecessors were collected and statistics such as age and length of tenure were compared with those of American counterparts. The Canadian university presidents assumed office at about 49 years of age and held office for about eight years. They tend to be born in geographical proximity to the institution they will head and to circle it geographically during their careers. A former association with the University of Toronto, either as a student or teacher, was common. There appears to be a career ladder which includes a decanal and/or vice-presidential position, particularly in central Canada; few presidents move to a second presidency, although several move into what might be termed an academic superstructure. Few Canadian presidents majored in the field of Education as a student or teacher and there is generally poor representation from the Arts as compared to the U.S.; on the other hand, the hard sciences are well represented. The implications of these tendencies are discussed.     

试论大学校长评价

大学校长(团队)是高校精神的塑造和维系者.要正确评价一个大学,首先要正确评价该校的校长.笔者提出将国家高级人才培育基地的核心领军人才校长视为核心人力资本进行评价与激励,使他们视校长这一岗位为毕生珍惜的荣誉,能为大学发展担责,而不仅视之为完成组织任务和自身职业生涯的某个过程,应始终以高度负责任的态度看待大学管理,由此,把评价理论及时引入对大学校长的评估管理之中很有必要.还通过比较国外大学校长评价实践,指出我国大学校长评价中存在的五个问题,并针对这些问题,通过专家访谈、问卷调查提出了相应的评价指标.     

A descriptive profile of junior college presidents

This article reports the results of a nationwide survey of the institutional heads of junior and community colleges. Included are statistics regarding sex, ethnicity, age, educational background, academic rank, salary, length of service, professional affiliations, and publication record.     

The role of mentorship in the preparation and success of university presidents

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of mentoring and how it shapes university presidents in higher education. Using phenomenological case studies to understand the lived experiences of university presidents, we analyzed data from eleven interviews. Drawing on tenets of Zachary’s Four Phases of Mentoring, this study reflects the ways in which university presidents were mentored including the effect that mentoring has on executive leadership preparation and success. This study’s findings can inform our understanding of mentoring and the importance of graduate preparation programs, executive leadership programs and organizations, and professional associations for the university presidency.     

Public versus private university presidents pay levels and structure

Existing studies examine the determinants of private university presidents’ compensation, but ignore recent earnings differentials between public and private university presidents. This paper estimates that public university presidents earn approximately 50 percent less than comparable private university presidents. This salary discount is robust to controls for institutional and individual characteristics, and estimation technique.     

略论近代国立大学校长之任职资格与教师聘任

近代国立大学校长之任命,其路径取向基本上是沿着行政干预减少、教育渐趋独立的方向发展,而校长的任职资格,虽然没有明文专门规定,但于近代中国高等教育法律法令体系中亦可略见其概。析其源流,近代中国国立大学校长的任命与任职资格乃深受德美法大学之综合影响。在校长与教师聘任之关系上,历经了校长独具权责至与其它机构共享聘任权力的过程。     

高校教师创新力特性

本文陈述了研究高校教师创新力特性的意义,论述了确定其创新力特性的依据,一是有关教育法律的依据,二是高等教育基本规律的依据,三是高等学校三大职能的依据,四是高校教师专业化发展的依据。提出了高校教师创新力特性主要是教育教学创新力、科学与技术研究创新力、为社会直接服务创新力的统一,潜在创新力与显现创新力的统一,创新力与创新人格的统一等观点。     

大学校长要坚持用教育理论指导教育实践

大学校长要坚持教育理论研究,并把研究成果运用到工作实践中去,要坚持工作、学习、研究相结合。调查研究是教育科研的基础,教育科研应与实际工作紧密结合,要敢于探索热点和难点问题。     

The impact of university incorporation on college lecturers

In South Africa, recent government plans tochange the institutional landscape of highereducation have resulted in mergers of collegesinto universities or technikons. The researchreported in this article focuses solely on theimpact of a ``college-into-university'incorporation as manifested in the personal,emotional and career experiences of thesecollege staff members. It traces the changes intheir perceptions and emotions during and afterthe incorporation process. It also identifiesrecurring themes and issues evident in thepersonal lives of those affected by thisincorporation.A unique research methodology was engaged: TheCollege staff who had been appointed to theuniversity after the merger, identified sevencritical themes and then designed and conducted30 semi-structured interviews among themselves.This article thus documents the impact ofincorporation into a university on theindividual and collective lives of theresearchers themselves.The data suggest that the emotional impact ofincorporation was intense and that theuncertainty, especially, led to considerabletrauma. The most important concern emanatingfrom this joint research project is that whilea certain degree of distress is unavoidable inany institutional merger, inattention to themanagement of human resources, emotions andaspirations could linger on, possibly having anegative effect on the ambitions for thetransformation of the new entity.     

建设一流的高等学校体系

当前我国高等教育进入以提高质量为中心的新时期,在2020年之前我们的工作重点应该是加强高等学校的体系建设,努力促进体系内每所学校的卓越发展.但在发展中存在着重点学校建设模式的局限性和相关问题,必须警惕高等教育规模进一步膨胀的潜在隐患.在国际比较的基础上,进一步提出今后高等教育建设的重点应由一流的学校建设转向一流的体系建设,促进体系与社会的匹配性及体系内每所学校的卓越发展.对于高等学校分类体系,理论上可按分层、分类的思想设计,实践中可根据管理体制规划学校使命来操作,最后构建出一个"层次、类型、使命"三维的模型.即在"教学型学院--研究型大学"框架、"学科性人才培养--应用性人才培养"框架之上,进一步根据学校的办学使命,实施"世界级大学、国家的大学和地方性高校"操作性分类推进方案,并采取相关的政策给予推动.     

独立学院大学英语教学模式探索

本文通过对独立学院的学生特点和独立学院大学英语教学师资情况的分析,提出了独立学院大学英语的教学模式。     

Scholarship,management, and leadership in academic administration: The case of Canadian university presidents and provosts

Tertiary Education and Management - In the last three decades, Canadian universities have grown in size and complexity and undergone deep transformations. Meanwhile, who should be appointed as...     

中国近代著名大学校长办学的八大特色

中国近代著名大学校长在办学过程中形成了八大特色。即把握大学使命,彰显大学精神,办理想、境界高远的大学;尊重学术研究规律,维护学术尊严,办兼容并蓄、思想自由的大学;重视学校管理的建章立制,办运行有序的法制化大学;注重教授治校与学生自治,构建富有活力的、民主的大学;严格培养过程管理,努力办高质量的大学;既重视开源,更重视节流,办节约型大学;集中力量,形成优势、办有特色的大学;通盘筹划学校发展,创建环境优美、校风纯正的大学。中国近代著名大学校长的办学特色蕴含着大学校长办学治校的基本规律,不仅具有重要的历史价值和理论意义,而且具有重要的现实指导意义。     

关于大学校长治校理念与风格的思考

大学校长的治校理念与风格,对于大学的影响、作用究竟怎样,这个问题近来再次引起人们特别是高教界的关注.现任和将任的大学校长在人类历史已进入21世纪,大学已经开始从社会的边缘走向社会的中心,在这个全新的形势和背景下,应当面临怎样的思考和抉择,我们认为探讨这些问题,应当说是很有意义的.     

A note on attrition among college presidents, 1971–1974

Returning to the same stratified random sample of American colleges and universities studied by Cohen and March (1974) during the 1969–1970 academic year, the authors explore the extent to which theoretical estimates of attrition rates presented by Cohen and March predict recent presidential departures within their sample. They find that in the past four years (1971–1974) there has been little change in the attrition pattern among college presidents in this national sample. If there has been any change it is very small and in the direction of slightly longer tenure among presidents of large universities.