Senior University Leadership of Academics

Extract from: Powell, J. and Clark, A. (publication date Jan 2012) Leadership for Improved Academic Enterprise or University Reach-out as it is more traditionally known London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education

Summary

This think-piece is a contribution to debate on how to improve leadership, governance and management of university out-reach in British Universities. It addresses the development of best practice with respect to Reach-out to business, industry, civil and voluntary services and the community, or, to use an umbrella term, Academic Enterprise. It draws on empirical data from interviews with sixty university leaders and academic entrepreneurs undertaken between 2009 and 2011 and presents examples of good practice in Academic Enterprise leadership.

‘Since the 1940 there has been an enormous outpouring of writing on leadership. Yet, there is little consensus on what counts as good leadership’. All agree that ‘effective leadership’ is vital for organisational performance’ (Collinson and Grint, 2005) and this includes the leadership of Academic Enterprise. The research reported here begins to address this lacuna.

Successful leaders of Academic Enterprise are confident, passionate and focused on what they see to be high value issues for business and the community. They are characterized by intrinsic motivation to find and implement solutions that lead to real impact, but are often poorly rewarded by universities for their efforts. The paper offers a series of recommendations on how universities can do more to motivate an even higher quality and level of Academic Enterprise, including the role of senior academic leaders and University Councils. Universities need key leadership from those academic entrepreneurs on their staff who express interest in University Reach-Out.