UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Course summaries
Course 1: The University Context – an Introduction
Author
Overview
Learning
outcomes
Content
Professor Shelda Debowski
Reviewer Dr Richard Bolden
Professor of Higher Education at the
Senior Lecturer and Head of the Centre
University of Western Australia and
for Leadership Studies at the University
former President of the Higher
of Exeter Business School, UK
Education Research and Development Approx.
1 hour 15 minutes
Society of Australasia
duration
 Are you a new or aspiring manager within higher education?
 Would you like to enhance your skills in key areas such as people management, resource
management, strategic planning, and leadership, as well as develop an understanding of
the culture in which you operate?
If so, then the University Leadership and management programme is for you. This introductory
course sets the scene, frames key elements and current trends in the higher education context
and encourages participants to reflect on their own attributes and what they hope to gain from
completing the programme.
After completing this course, participants will be able to...
 Appreciate the aims and structure of the University Leadership and
Management programme of courses
 Have a better understanding of the broader context in which their university exists
 Identify some of the many dimensions of their position in their own particular
organisation
 Appreciate the importance of reflection and feedback
 Plan for their learning and development as an effective head of department(or
equivalent role)
Welcome to the University Leadership and Management programme
 Introduction to the programme
 The structure of the programme
 Some guiding principles
The higher education context
 The role of universities
 Trends within higher education
 Leadership and management within higher education
Your personal development
 Learning to be an effective leader and manager
 The importance of personal management
 A personal appraisal
Course 2: Leadership and Management
Author
Professor Robert Birnbaum
Professor Emeritus of Higher
Education at the University of
Maryland
Overview



Learning
outcomes
Content
Reviewer
Dr Rajani Naidoo
Director of the PhD Business
Administration in HE Management,
University of Bath
Approx. duration 3 hours
Do you have what it takes to be a leader or manager within higher education?
Do you have to chair department meetings and make key decisions?
Have you reflected on your approach to leadership and maintaining influence?
This course helps heads answer the basic question ‘What do I do, and how do I do it?’ by
introducing a wide range of research findings and professional experiences, and encouraging
reflection on their own views and approaches. It looks at areas such as decision-making,
maintaining influence, cognitive bias and the importance of communication as well as the nature
of leadership and management and key elements of good practice.
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
 Appreciate how management and leadership processes in colleges and universities differ
from those in other organizations
 Understand how different sources of authority available to managers and to leaders in
higher education affect what you can do, and how you can do it
 Apply some principles and techniques to increase their effectiveness in an academic,
professional environment
 Learn how influence can be gained and lost, and what can be done over time to maintain
influence with colleagues and within the institution
 Gain insight into how and why true leadership promotes collegiality, trust, motivation,
and departmental accountability.
Introduction to academic management and leadership
 Do you have what it takes?
 The head in the middle
 What department members do, and don't, want
 Why universities are different
 Making decisions in a university
 Academic management and academic leadership
 Four ways to read a university – and yourself
Becoming an effective academic manager
 To be or not to be: Weighing the costs and benefits
 Academic management tasks
 Managing the department meeting
 Management made simple
Becoming an effective academic leader
 The nature of leadership
 How departments select their leaders
 Leaders and followers: The fair exchange
 Developing a personal philosophy of leadership
 Leadership styles
 Leadership made (relatively) simple
Maintaining influence
 The sources and consequences of social power
 The need for intelligence(s) and communications
 Being true to yourself
 Avoiding cognitive bias
 Seven key lessons for managers and leaders
Course 3: University Cultures
and Organisational Management
Author
Overview
Learning
outcomes
Content
Professor Shelda Debowski
Reviewer
Carol Bolton
Professor of Higher Education at
Organisational Development Manager
the University of Western Australia
at the University of Liverpool
and former President of the Higher Approx.
3 hours
Education Research and
duration
Development Society of
Australasia
 What do you consider to be the ‘culture’ at your university and within your own
department?
 Have you thought about benefits which your department could gain from positive
adjustments to its cultural dynamic?
 Would you like to be equipped with the tools and confidence to manage difficult working
relationships within your department?
This course helps heads explore the culture within which they work and understand its
implications for the way they plan and develop their department. It investigates the features of
higher education cultures and knowledge communities, social and professional identity, the
psychological framework, how to deal with difficult cultures, conflict resolution, bullying and
inclusion.
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
 Explain the impact of values and beliefs on university culture
 Apply strategies that will contribute to a productive and constructive university culture
 Identify the causes and impacts of different behaviours within a university community
 Ensure all members of your community experience a safe, rewarding and motivating
work environment
 Identify and address behaviours or practices that are destructive or counter-productive
 Lead change initiatives and transitions with confidence.
Understanding university cultures
 What is culture?
 Are universities really different?
 Stakeholder expectations of academic communities
 Defining academic culture
 Social and professional identity
 Strong and weak cultures
 Competing values framework
Leading organisational change
 Types and levels of change
 Leading cultural shifts
 Why things stay the same
 Undertaking a cultural audit
 The transition process
 Implementing change
 Consulting with your colleagues
Building an effective organisational culture
 Knowledge communities
 Managing constructively
 Balancing productivity and innovation
 Managing up and across
 Being inclusive
Dealing with conflict in your department
 Case study: when things go wrong
 Resolving conflict
 Bullying
 You are not alone: sources of support
Course 4: Strategic planning
Author
Overview
Learning
outcomes
Content
Professor Peter McCaffery
Deputy Vice Chancellor at London
Metropolitan University. Author of
The Higher Education Manager’s
Handbook (Routledge, 2010)


Reviewer
Associate Professor Mark Brown
Director: Teaching, Learning and
Distance Education at Massey
University, New Zealand
2 hours
Approx.
duration
Are you responsible for developing your department’s strategic plan?
Would you like further support with how to understand, develop, implement and review
your strategic plan?
This course supports heads in developing a strategic plan for their department that is collectively
owned by colleagues and can be used as a means of securing necessary change and
improvement. It considers the value and purpose of strategic planning, the planning process,
envisioning, scanning, analysis, consultation, key performance indicators, risk management and
– crucially – implementing and monitoring the plan.
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
 Review your own leadership and management approach and identify areas to enhance
your effectiveness in strategic planning and implementation
 Understand the principles of strategic planning and how to apply them in your academic
environment
 Develop a strategic plan that is collectively owned by colleagues throughout your
department and is consistent with your institutional strategic objectives
 Understand and recognize the strengths and limitations of different approaches to
strategic implementation, and how to secure lasting change that improves departmental
performance.
The role of strategic planning
 The value and purpose of strategic planning
 Strategy management in your university
 The strategic planning process
 Envisioning your initial role in the strategic planning process
 Case studies: envisioning in practice
Developing the strategic plan
 Scanning your university’s environment
 Traditional v. new higher education
 Scanning and analysing your department’s environment
 Building a SWOT analysis
 Consulting and engaging your colleagues
 Consulting others beyond your department and achieving strategic fit
 Identify key performance indicators
 Assessing and managing risk
Implementing your strategic plan
 Deciding your approach to implementation
 Engaging and communicating with your colleagues
 When strategic implementation goes wrong: lessons from failure
 When strategic implementation goes right: lessons from success
 Leading strategic implementation
Integrating effective planning
 Monitoring your strategic plan
 Reviewing and revising your strategic plan
Course 5: Managing people
Author
Overview
Learning
outcomes
Content
Professor Peter McCaffery
Deputy Vice Chancellor at London
Metropolitan University. Author of
The Higher Education Manager’s
Handbook (Routledge, 2010)


Reviewer
Margaret Orr
Director of the Centre for Learning,
Teaching and Development at the
University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg.
3 hours
Approx.
duration
Do you feel confident in your ability to establish and motivate a well-performing team?
Are there any parts of your team-building approach which you think would benefit from
some expert advice?
This course aims to help heads establish a well-motivated and high-performing department. It
encourages participants to reflect on and develop their own particular approach to managing
people, as well as offering tips and advice on recruitment, induction, team-building, motivational
climate, performance review, staff development, diversity and handling difficult situations.
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
 Review your own leadership and management behaviour and identify areas to enhance
your effectiveness in managing people
 Understand the theory and principles of motivation and performance management, and
how to apply them in your own academic environment to establish and sustain high
performance among the individuals and teams in your department
 Approach the difficult situations you will face in your role knowing how you can improve
working relationships, service and performance
 Understand and realize the full potential of staff development to enhance individual and
departmental performance
 Apply the principles of diversity to make the best use of people's differences for the
benefit of the individual and the department
The HR challenge for HE managers
 The university as a working environment
 Your approach to managing people
Motivating staff
 Understanding and improving your university’s motivational climate
 Motivation and trust
 Case study: What does a well-motivated and high-performing department look like?
 Putting motivational theory into practice
Recruiting and inducting staff
 Some common pitfalls
 Job descriptions and person specifications
 The selection process
 The induction process
Managing for high performance
 Principles and challenges
 Establishing and reviewing performance standards
Managing difficult situations
 Tackling poor performance
 Handling complaints, discipline and grievances
 Managing redundancies
Developing staff
 The learning organization
 Understanding and valuing staff development
 Establishing a learning climate in your department
 Effective team-building
 Understanding and valuing diversity
 Celebrating and leading diversity
Course 6: Managing resources
Authors
Overview
Professor Margaret Barr
Professor emeritus in the School of
Education and Social Policy at
Northwestern University.
Professor George S. McClellan
Vice Chancellor for student affairs
at Indiana University – Purdue
University Fort Wayne (IPUFW)
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Learning
outcomes
Content
Reviewers
Professor Donald E. Helller
Professor of Education and Senior
Scientist, and Director of the Center for
the Study of Higher Education at The
Pennsylvania State University.
Professor Peter McCaffery
Deputy Vice Chancellor at London
Metropolitan University
2 hours
Approx.
duration
Are you responsible for effectively setting and monitoring your department budget?
Have you ever felt that there must be a more effective way to manage the administrative
and financial aspects of your job?
Would you benefit from expert tips for professional and ethical practice in the context of
resource management?
This course focuses on helping heads of department become more effective as managers of the
fiscal and facilities resources available to them. It covers the roles and responsibilities of a
department head in this regard, revenue, expenses, budgeting models and management,
facilities management as well as how to build relationships with key individuals, units and offices
within your institution.
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
 Identify the responsibilities and roles of a department manager
 Understand the relationship of governance, mission, strategic plan, and resource
management
 Recognise revenue and expenses as the two key considerations in the management of
financial resources and recognize common sources of revenue and common categories
of expense in higher education
 Understand the broad construct of budgets and budgeting, the processes of developing
and managing a budget, and the annual budget cycle
 Comprehend operational and fiscal considerations in facilities management
 Identify resource management as artful and ethical and identify practical tips related to
its practice
Responsibilities and roles of a department head
 Assessing departmental programmes and services
 Serving as an advocate
 Managing the expectations of those around you
 Identifying creative solutions
 Building and sustaining relationships
Relationship of managing resources to governance, mission and strategic planning
 Governance
 Mission
 Strategic plan
Understanding departmental finances
 Revenue
 Public and private institutions
 Expenses
Managing departmental budgets
 Purposes and types of budgets
 Models of budgeting
 Budget development and reading budget documents
 Managing budgets and budget cycles
Managing departmental facilities
 Operational considerations
 Financial considerations
The art and ethics of resource management
 Practical tips for department managers