Private sector bosses - role models for university leaders?
29 January 2009
University staff are to shadow private sector executives as part of a pioneering higher education (HE) leadership programme just launched at the Institute of Education, London.
University staff are to shadow private sector executives as part of a pioneering higher education (HE) leadership programme just launched at the Institute of Education, London.
The participants, who range from professors to administrators, will begin their year-long programme, called Aspire, by observing and talking to successful leaders in private sector firms from finance to retailing.
Professor Alma Harris, co-organiser of Aspire (with Jacqui MacDonald and Nic Armitage), explains: "By involving business organisations as partners in the leadership programme, we offer alternative perspectives on leadership and diverse experiences that challenge participants to think again about their leadership practice."
Aspire is unique among HE leadership programmes in that it is offered to aspiring HE leaders as well as those with formal responsibilities. It is also more concerned with improving leadership practice than with preparation for a specific leadership role.
Alma Harris said: "The aim is to offer alternative perspectives on leadership and diverse experiences that challenge participants to think again about their leadership practice. Aspire is less of a leadership course and more of a leadership experience."
Speaking at the launch of Aspire, Higher Education Minister David Lammy said: "It is still a common view that leaders are born rather than made. Don't subscribe to that view. Leadership is about every day and everyone. What counts is our experiences and how we deal with them. Also, as this programme shows, how we work together to develop the potential in each of us."
Funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, Aspire is a collaboration between the Institute of Education and Enzyme Consulting.
Notes for editors
Further information from Helen Green, press officer, +44 (0)20 7612 6459, h.green@ioe.ac.uk
Alma Harris is professor of educational leadership at the Institute of Education and editor of the journal School Leadership and Management. Jacqui MacDonald is head of staff development at the IOE.
Enzyme Consulting is a specialist leadership and coaching practice headed by Nic Armitage.
The Institute of Education is a college of the University of London, specialising in teaching, research and consultancy in education and related areas of social science and professional practice.