KALPESH BANKER

Kalpesh Banker is Managing Partner at EduShine Search Partners, Delhi

A paradigm shift in higher education has begun and is acquiring momentum. Gradually — perhaps too gradually — research, creativity, innovation are becoming more important than knowledge acquisition and retention

India’s universities are at a crossroads. With legacy institutions disappointing students and industry, the need for university leadership overhaul is becoming apparent by the day. In other words, it’s time for the old guard to make way for effective next-gen leaders who can stimulate creativity, negotiate collaborations, and take bold decisions. Admittedly, redefining leadership in education for next-gen leaders is not an easy task. A new crop of leaders to bring something extra to the table is required. What is that “something extra”? Some suggestions for higher ed leaders to consider:

1. Entrepreneurial leadership. Consultation, Coordination, and Collaboration (3Cs) are pillars of the entrepreneurial leadership model on which university leaders must focus. The top-down, centralised approach is no longer suitable. Universities need to go global and learn to accommodate diversified viewpoints and stakeholders’ interests for which the 3Cs leadership model is most appropriate. The entrepreneurial element in leadership is necessary for innovation, improving efficiency, and making universities resilient in the long term.
2. Multifaceted capabilities. As challenges multiply, university leaders need to demonstrate skills on multiple fronts. From strategic vision to global expansion and operational implementation, higher ed leaders require an eye for detail. Uniting faculty for a common cause, inspiring hard work and co-operation are crucial competencies that new-age university leaders must exhibit. Moreover, cultivating transversal capabilities is also necessary to enable leaders to strike a balance between people and task orientation to deliver greater value to stakeholders.
3. Forward-looking mindset. Approaching the future by evaluating the past and executing the present is crucial for transformation of universities into centres of excellence. Academy leaders need to embrace data-based decision-making to plug skill gaps, cultural incoherence, and hands-on learning deficiencies of the current education system. Adopting disruptive new technologies such as AI, ML, and metaverse will help young leaders deliver vibrant and immersive learning to students.
4. Transnational outlook. In a rapidly borderless world for knowledge, next-gen university leaders must have a transnational outlook to offer the best global and local learning to students. A global perspective provides students necessary exposure to new knowledge, information and best practices from around the world. Therefore, it follows that higher ed leaders must take initiatives such as recruiting global faculty, conducting immersion programs, and organising students and faculty exchange to fully internationalise higher education knowledge and learning.
5. Adaptive collaboration. Indisputably, the most important task of latter-day university leaders is to build bridges to connect academia with industry. By bringing live industry projects to campuses, university leaders need to discharge the critically important obligation to stimulate invention, innovation. Most importantly, universities need to transform into centres of research to develop intellectual property for commercialisation by industry.
6. Creative restructuring. Transforming legacy teaching institutions into globally respected centres of research and teaching excellence mandates progressive leaders to develop institution restructuring skills. Clear vision, corporate-style plan implementation, and decisive action are important qualities that next-gen higher ed leaders need to consciously develop. This requires excellent listening skills and receptivity to feedback to enable the transformation of our universities into centres of teaching and research excellence capable of intelligently addressing and solving the myriad problems of Indian society, business and industry.

India’s higher education ecosystem is the second largest in the world. The country hosts 58,000 higher education institutions providing advanced learning to 43.3 million students across specialisations. Given the utmost importance of higher education, revamping its top leadership is no longer a choice, it has become an urgent national priority.

A small number of institutions such as Indian Institutes of Management and Delhi University are transforming India’s higher ed ecosystem. Globally connected institutions such as the Indian School of Business, JNU and Ashoka University provide globally benchmarked liberal arts, humanities, and languages learning, and are making changes in their leadership to keep pace with the dynamic environment. These institutions are inspiring fellow institutions to chalk the path of making learning a dynamic process to transform education into a nation-building enterprise.

As a result, a paradigm shift in higher education has begun and is acquiring momentum. Gradually — perhaps too gradually — research, creativity, innovation are becoming more important than knowledge acquisition and retention in our higher education system. To accelerate the momentum, new generation of higher education leaders need to be given social respect and the autonomy to create a win-win situation for all stakeholders.