Universities need to remember the true value of education

Has academia prioritised money over integrity? Global education is changing as fast as the world around it. The words “cost-effectiveness”, “break even” and “revenue” are brought up in discussions about the direction institutions should be facing, and the impact of this on academia is visible. We’re overlooking many genuine opportunities for academic growth in favour of the bottom line. 

This is the struggle that academic leaders find themselves in. The key question they face is how to balance doing more with less and academic workload inflation and burnout. 

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To prepare for an academic leadership role, candidates need to understand the true value of education and make sure every decision is aligned with this value. 

Academic leaders under pressure can fall into the numbers trap, which sucks the life out of academic achievement. We must start moving away from models for evaluation that approach education as if it is an industry. This thinking has harmed education processes vastly in my opinion and needs to be reconsidered. 

To manage the evaluation process, academic leaders need to understand that education is their core business and that having appropriate non-numerical key performance indicators (KPIs) is equally as important as having quantifiable outcomes that feed into the sustainability plan of the institution. 

Three virtues for leadership

But what are the virtues needed to be an academic leader? The answer to this question lies in the understanding of the roles and responsibilities of these leaders and how they materialise across different cultures and countries. These responsibilities include creating impactful education, managing workforce and planning and managing the budget. 

If these core responsibilities are addressed as three vectors in the space of educational management, then the job of ensuring the equilaterality of the angles in this three-sided model also falls to the leader. This is what their energy should be channelled into.

The first virtue of this leader is their capacity to invest energy in delivering excellence and to understand when the institution as a whole is suffering from the same energy drain. 

Managing silent frustration

The second virtue is their capacity to manage people within this sense of drained energy and, in many instances, lack of clear priorities. People exhibit frustration in many different scenarios but silent frustration with an institution, turning to resentment, can become challenging. This is why it is important for academic leaders to develop sensing mechanisms to recognise the early signs in the organisation. 

Leaders need to map in advance the signs of frustration and remain on the lookout for them. There are many mapping tools that can be used, such as the polarity map. These help leaders identify signs of frustration early on before they start impeding the progress of the organisation. Some of these early signs might be an increased rate of absence or decreased engagement with social events held on campus.

Once you realise that your institution is walking into employee frustration, corrective actions need to be taken. These leaders can lead the change, but the decision needs to be taken collectively by all stakeholders. This is where the value of committees and task forces comes into play.

Leaders who can do this diagnostic are ahead when it comes to problem identification. Those who have an already available strategy for remedy are always far more in control than those leaders who are more accustomed to reactive mode. 

Be proactive, not reactive

No degree of speed and readiness can manage mass frustration or lack of trust in an institution that’s governed by return on investment. This is why the third virtue of academic leaders is the capacity to plan response strategies in advance and to be ready to deploy unconventional solutions when needed. 

Virtues that were important in the past, such as transparency and the capacity to listen, are important still, but are no longer the priority. In this era, mere transparency can create debilitating frustration. Leaders cannot rely on being open when the facts might cause resentment. 

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), concerns about job security and managing performance will continue to be raised. Academic leaders need to start shedding light on different ways to harness the skills and capacities of employees. This will necessitate a deep, qualitative understanding of the apprehensions that exist among employees and their root causes.

The whole education industry is suffering from uncertainty, with the question raised again and again about the value of the educational system and its cost-effectiveness. This is a wake-up call for us to start redefining success in education and success for education leaders. 

Samar Abdelazim Ahmed is associate dean for academic affairs at the Dubai Medical College for Girls.