Purpose: The concept of distributed leadership (DL) has been widely advocated within higher education (HE). Yet, there have been few empirical investigations and little theory development outside Western contexts to date. This study presents a unique conceptualisation of DL and tests it empirically in India. Design/methodology/approach: This study…

Despite post-1994 legislative and policy efforts aimed at the transformation of South African higher education, it remains entrenched in colonial and neoliberal frameworks that perpetuate exclusion, inequality and dehumanisation. This article argues that the failure to achieve meaningful institutional transformation stems from top-down,…

Since 2019, the European Union has encouraged the establishment of 'new' university alliances, that is transnational strategic groupings involving more than three hundred higher education institutions in the European Union and associated partner countries. This paper treats the European Universities Initiative (EUI) as an instance of a…

This paper proposes a governance model framework for online learning marketplaces in Indonesia. This research uses a case study approach to explore a model that is adequate and suitable to be applied in the context of the Indonesia Cyber Education Institute, which was initiated by Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia. The proposed model was prepared…

Both 'collegiality' and 'distributed leadership' have, as terms, occasioned a good deal of debate. Conceptually elastic, they are often used interchangeably, or not appreciated as embodying a range of leadership styles and relationships. Spurred by an unanswered query from a research project, this theoretical article attempts to clarify what the…

A persistent issue in Australia, and globally, is how to improve participation rates in higher education for students from regional and rural areas. In this paper, we tackle this challenge by exploring the idea of a Community Embedded University (CEU). We draw on empirical data from three participatory co-design workshops with university students…

A recognised challenge for women in higher education learning and teaching is of rightfully claiming leadership. Higher education processes for recruitment, promotion, awards, grants and fellowship are founded on an ability to document and convincingly present one's leadership contribution. The focus is on evidencing from a traditional, formal…

This article is a case study describing the University College of the North's (UCN) response to the COVID-19 pandemic, outlining pandemic planning and management processes at UCN from March 11, 2020, to September 30, 2021. UCN's planning processes evolved from a top-down approach led by administration to an approach that saw greater shared…

This report is part of the International Study of Leadership Development in Higher Education project (ISLDHE) project which is examining leadership development for university leaders. This paper presents an update to our original exploration of the literature about university contexts and leadership development, but also compares the themes as…

This book contains vital information on the historical, philosophical, and legal foundations for shared governance, and it makes the link between fundamentals of law and policy as related to professional practice in student affairs. Practical insights and suggestions for student affairs are offered for practitioners at all levels to ensure…

Implementing teaching enhancement is especially challenging when undertaken on a large-scale and with a range of participating institutions and stakeholders. This study sought to advance understanding of this under-researched area through cultural-historical activity theory, investigating four government-funded, cross-institutional teaching…

Higher education continues to face evolving challenges related to educating students and engaging in research. These challenges include changing funding models, increasing demands for service and accountability for student outcomes, and increasing scrutiny from stakeholders. One way to address these challenges is by studying the role of leaders…

China has adopted policy experimentation (PE) as a means of introducing and testing innovative policy options for reforms in higher education (HE). This paper explores how PE plays out in the HE sector, involving state actors and university actors in a dynamic interactive process and bringing about institutional changes. This paper proposes a…

This paper presents a conceptual framework for predicting whether power will have a unifying or subversive effect in specific organizational cultures. The Cultural Interaction Model of Leadership and Power (LP-CIM) asserts cultural norms constrain what leadership approaches will be successful in particular organizational contexts. These…

Quality assurance processes often include reductive quantitative metrics that view higher education through a neoliberal lens. This paper reports on a student-faculty partnership that conducted a quality review of an undergraduate program at a large research university and shows that working in partnership brings integrity and constructive…