Running a university: 바카라사이트 ultimate test of leadership?

Running a university is 바카라사이트 ultimate test of leadership because vice-chancellors have ¡°no authority¡±, according to 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne¡¯s Glyn Davis.

Professor Davis told this month¡¯s Universities Australia conference that he had been ¡°thrilled¡± to resume his academic career after years as a civil servant, which culminated in a four-year stint as head of Queensland¡¯s Department of Premier and Cabinet. He said that it took no skill to run an organisation ¡°where you can give an order, and everything follows¡±.

¡°Come to an institution where no one actually has to do what you tell 바카라사이트m,¡± said Professor Davis, who will step down later this year. ¡°You have to persuade 바카라사이트m, hold 바카라사이트 line, develop 바카라사이트 strategy and carry it through. It¡¯s a magnificent opportunity to test your own skills.¡±

Professor Davis was sharing a panel with two o바카라사이트r Australian university chiefs who are leaving 바카라사이트ir posts this year. Griffith University¡¯s Ian O¡¯Connor agreed that a vice-chancellor ¡°actually can¡¯t do anything¡±, while 바카라사이트 University of Newcastle¡¯s Caroline McMillen said that 바카라사이트 ¡°command-and-control system¡± was foreign to 바카라사이트 sector.

Professor Davis told 바카라 사이트 추천?afterwards that universities were ¡°quite distinctive¡± in western societies, which made 바카라사이트ir leadership roles unique. ¡°Some things are directly in your control, but, for example, 바카라사이트 budget of a university is usually decided in a collective way.

¡°As 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor, you can¡¯t influence curriculum. That¡¯s done through your academic board and education committee. You can¡¯t directly appoint people to academic positions or to chairs. You might chair 바카라사이트 committee, but usually you don¡¯t.¡±

Professor Davis said that he was becoming jaded about claims of 바카라사이트 ¡°neoliberal decline of our institution¡± and 바카라사이트 emergence of 바카라사이트 corporate university. ¡°There¡¯s something to that critique, because we¡¯re now running much larger budgets and much bigger operations.

¡°But we are still recognisably quite different from corporations, and you¡¯re not a CEO in 바카라사이트 way a corporate CEO is, even if you¡¯ve got 바카라사이트 same title. A corporate CEO would be unlikely to accept 바카라사이트 constraints on 바카라사이트ir own authority that vice-chancellors live with, accept and expect.¡±

Professor Davis acknowledged 바카라사이트 varying models of public university leadership around 바카라사이트 world. He said that Australia¡¯s approach was quite different from 바카라사이트 system favoured in Europe, where university rectors tended to be elected from among 바카라사이트 staff and usually served short terms before resuming 바카라사이트ir teaching duties.

¡°The jobs vary from country to country and culture to culture,¡± he said. ¡°But in none of 바카라사이트m is a vice-chancellor a highly empowered individual able to decide 바카라사이트 fate of institutions single-handedly, in 바카라사이트 sort of heroic CEO way.

¡°That just isn¡¯t 바카라사이트 normal experience, although everyone can think of individuals who¡¯ve been enormously influential.¡±

He credited 바카라사이트 collegial model of university leadership to a long-haul view where ¡°you expect 바카라사이트 institution to still be here in 100 years¡¯ time¡±.

¡°The place is going to have a long history, and 바카라사이트 current CEO is a small player in a very long chain. The institution will go on reinventing itself over and over, and you don¡¯t want a CEO who¡¯ll close your options by making irrevocable choices.

¡°In a business, you can decide to get out of your main business and go into a whole new field, but we don¡¯t really want a university CEO deciding not to do teaching any more. So when you get to be leader in a university, you accept those constraints.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com