Educational leadership in enhancing University performance: Societal expectations

• Main Author: Palaniappan, A.K.
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: L Education (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/13075/1/0001.pdf; http://eprints.um.edu.my/13075/

Much is expected from the leadership at a university to ensure high performance in all aspects of tertiary education. This includes teaching, research, publication and service to the society, among others. This is so because it has become increasingly important for universities to prove that they are living up to their societal expectations in terms of their performance, especially in areas that society deems crucial - quality of teaching and contribution to society, for example. However, universities are finding it increasingly difficult to meet these expectations as funds from government or other sources continue to decrease. Leaders at universities are left to their own devices and creativity to generate more revenue or to channel their limited resources to those areas that society deems important which are dependent on culture and other factors. Hence it is crucial for university leadership to know what society'S expectations are so that they can channel these limited resources to those areas. This paper will discuss the expectations of several sections of Malaysian society relating to what universities and university leaders should do and what aspects of the universities' performance are valued. Via surveys administered to parents of university undergraduates and postgraduates, employers and lecturers, this study hopes to provide the relevant information to the university leadership relating to society'S expectations of key university performance indicators which they use to optimize the usage of the limited resources and tax-payers' money. It is recommended that further investigation are undertaken to provide the leadership with the relevant information to enhance university performance.