The Challenges Facing University Leadership in the New Asian Context for Education

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to review the changed role of the university in the context of challenges from globalization, technology changes, government responsibility, workplace requirements and the demands of various stakeholders, including students, employers, professional bodies and the community.

 In light of the above, the traditional role of the university and the way it delivers its value propositions has to be adapted. A number of critical questions arise: What is or should be the new role of universities? What are their responsibility areas? What is leadership required? How do universities use the new technologies? What are the new learning environments and teaching approaches? What is the role of government, professional bodies, and corporations is this new nexus. Above all, what should students expect from investing in a university education? And how should universities interact with the community and interested stakeholders like the media and NGOs. There are other critical issues:  funding for growth and research, governance, standards, student employability and mobility?

Managing a university thus requires a new leadership who is sensitive to these challenges and which has the capability to solve complex problems. We shall illustrate the above using our own experiences at HELP University and from other universities.