Procedure for appointing Vice Chancellors outdated

New breed of institutional leaders for internationalising SL Universities- III

May 31, 2012, 7:40 pm , the island


By Professor Ranjith Senaratne

Vice Chairman

University Grants Commission

(E-mail:ransen.ru@gmail.com)

Origin of the post of Vice Chancellor

Continued from yesterday

How to recruit such leaders?

The procedure presently adopted in appointing Vice Chancellors is outdated and out of step with current needs. The advertisement presently used by the universities calling for applications for the post of Vice Chancellor does not adequately describe the type of candidate who should be sought to meet the current and emerging challenges and opportunities in the highly globalised higher education sector and the national policy of promoting innovation and entrepreneurialism, raising the world-ranking of Sri Lankan universities and making Sri Lanka an educational hub. Notably, the advertisement does not define the role and responsibilities of the Vice Chancellor and the attributes one should possess to perform the role and deliver the responsibilities effectively. Circular no. 880 of 15.08.2006 concerning the appointment of a Search Committee to identify suitable candidates is in this respect faulty and self-defeating. This is because the above circular allows the appointment the Search Committee to be done under the chairmanship of the incumbent Vice Chancellor. Therefore if someone is interested in having another term or is interested in appointing a successor of his or her choice, the point of appointing a search committee is lost: it cannot perform its proper role. All of us subscribe to the adage that "Justice should not only be done, it should also seem to be done". Therefore the appointment of the Search Committee should be made by a high-profile independent body appointed by the UGC, whose composition may be similar for all universities. This matter is currently under review by the UGC.

Presently announcements of vacancy for the post of Vice Chancellor are published only in local newspapers and the university webpage. In addition, except in newly established universities, the candidates who apply are mostly from the university where the vacancy exists, with hardly any candidates from other well established universities. For instance, if the vacancy is in the University of Peradeniya, there will be hardly any applicants from other universities. This "inbreeding tradition" is inimical to maintaining and fostering high academic standards and should be discontinued forthwith. It is always desirable to have a larger pool to select from. As pointed out earlier, even countries less developed than Sri Lanka, i.e. Bangladesh, Uganda and Rwanda, publish such announcements in international, widely read, high profile journals such as the Economist, the Times Higher Education Supplement, Time and the like in order to attract the best possible leaders. As mentioned the above, even universities such as Oxford and Cambridge are breaking with their jealously guarded traditions and are calling for application internationally and recruiting Vice Chancellors from outside the UK, something that was simply unimaginable in the past. That is how universities elsewhere are responding to change in order to be competitive or rather "surpetitive" – a word coined by Edward de Bono to mean to surpass others, to be ahead of others.

Here, the Search Committee has a crucial role to play in headhunting at home and abroad, particularly among Sri Lankan expatriates with a view to encouraging high calibre senior dons with necessary attributes, capacity and proven track record to apply for positions such as Vice Chancellor. To this end, attention may also be paid to invite accomplished senior executives from the civil service and the private sector. It is pertinent to note that, breaking away from established tradition, the first Vice Chancellor of the Uva-Wellassa University (UWU), Mr. Chandra Embuldeniya was appointed from the private sector. This university has emerged as a model with an entrepreneurial dimension under the able leadership of Mr. Embuldeniya. The ratio of academic staff to non-academic staff of this university is about 1:0.5 as opposed to 1: 2 (or even more) in other universities, thus the former does not carry excess "baggage" so that the funds thus saved have been used to enhance the academic programmes. In addition, of the 15 universities in Sri Lanka, it is the only the UWU, which has not been paying a single hour of overtime to its employees, which is truly commendable. Besides, there has been absolutely no interruption to the academic programmes due to student protests or trade union action at the UWU during his tenure as the Vice Chancellor, while academic programmes in other universities have been brought to a grinding halt on several occasions in the past few years owing to trade union action. Such interruptions do not augur well when the Government is promoting the recruitment of foreign students to Sri Lankan universities with a view to making Sri Lanka an educational hub. Therefore, future Vice Chancellors should have the necessary skills and strategies to minimise such interruption in universities so that they can attract and retain foreign students in line with government policy.

At present, the role of the Vice Chancellor is not clearly defined in the light of current needs and challenges and the attributes one should have in order to discharge the role are also not identified. These are of prime importance in selecting and recruiting the right candidate as Vice Chancellor. It should be stressed, however, that attractive remuneration and employment conditions are prerequisites to attract top-flight leaders as Vice Chancellors. At present, there is hardly any financial incentive to take on the demanding role of a Vice Chancellor. The salary differences between the institution’s CEO and its other officials are often so small that they do not compensate for the added burden of work, the greater responsibilities and the "occupational hazards" entailed. In a number of cases, the Vice Chancellor is not even receiving the highest salary paid at the institution. Thus offering remuneration befitting the coveted position is important to attract outstanding CEOs for the universities.

Proposed role and attributes of institutional leaders in a competitive knowledge-based globalised environment

Proposed role and attributes a Vice-Chancellor should have in order to meet the emerging challenges and the opportunities in a competitive globalised environment are given below.

Proposed role:

* To provide strategic, inspirational and operational leadership to the University

* To promote an outward facing profile of the University

* To articulate a compelling and distinctive strategy for the University to elevate its profile

* To enhance student outcomes and all aspects of the student experience

* To drive forward academic excellence with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit

* To act as a highly visible and persuasive advocate for the University in enhancing its image

* To champion and represent the interests of the University to the government, the public, the local community, funding bodies and donors

* To act as an ambassador, and promote and build trans-sector University partnerships and collaboration, regionally, nationally and internationally

Desired attributes:

* Should be able to demonstrate a strong resonance with the University’s values and ethos and articulate an ambitious and strategic vision for its future development

* Must have significant leadership experience with academic credibility, intellectual standing, political acumen and a strong record of achievement and successful change management

* Should demonstrate strong commitment to excellence in teaching, research, business and industrial liaison and community services with international outlook

* Should be entrepreneurial, commercially and financially astute with a deep understanding of the complexities and challenges of the Higher Education Sector

* Should have excellent communication, networking and fundraising skills as well as sound judgment

* Should posses a genuine empathy with students

* Should have the ability to foster relationship at the highest levels with political, educational, industrial and business partners at regional, national and international levels

It should be stressed that even visionary and dynamic Vice-Chancellors with right mindset, attributes and skills are appointed, if they are not given adequate operational autonomy, much improvement in the performance of the universities cannot be expected. It is a frequent complaint of the Vice-Chancellors that they are shackled and straitjacketed owing to outdated and anachronistic administrative and financial regulations (AR & FR) and lack of adequate autonomy. This has hindered and undermined their performance. Thus Universities should also be given unfettered operational autonomy along with accountability while ensuring the appointment of right leaders. Moreover, for the operational autonomy to be meaningful and effective, it is essential to have a highly competent and independent Council that can advise and guide the university administration. These matters are due to be taken up shortly at a workshop to be conducted by the UGC jointly with the Ministry of Higher Education.

Here I wish to stress that this paper by no means makes any reference to the calibre, capacity and attributes of the present Vice-Chancellors in the Sri Lankan Universities in relation to the role that they are expected to play. The proposals only represent a realistic vision of institutional leaders with attributes that will enable them to play effectively and efficiently the role that they are likely to be assigned in a fast changing global context so that they may fulfil contemporary needs in keeping with national policy.

Conclusions

Sri Lanka is currently moving towards a knowledge-based society with attendant transformation of its economy from national to global. This, while opening up manifold opportunities for expanding higher education and attracting foreign students, poses numerous challenges and threats to the local universities. Therefore while tapping into emerging opportunities, it is of utmost importance to deal with the new challenges. This situation demands innovative and entrepreneurial approach, creative solutions and a new leadership - one that is conversant with the behaviour of complex adaptive systems and able to make effective decisions under different strategic and risk scenarios. To this end, Sri Lankan universities badly need leaders who are vested with strong interpersonal skills, who are politically astute, economically savvy, business aware and who use their emotional intelligence to lead universities towards internationalisation.

This demands a new breed of top-flight transformative leaders with right mindset, skills and attitude to respond to change that is sweeping across the higher education landscape. Offering remunerations befitting the position is, however, a pre-requisite to attract and retain such leaders. I must add that the ideas expressed herein are purely those of the author, and they do not any way reflect the views of the UGC or its stand in regard to the subject at issue. The author would appreciate the comments and observations of readers on this subject.

(Concled)