Faced with a looming reelection bid in May, Prime Minister Modi of India must demonstrate that he has taken actions to improve the prospects of India joining the knowledge-based economies of the world. One of the ways Modi has chosen to do this is by launching a faculty leadership development initiative. "Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) is a customized three-week leadership development prorate for professors in publicly-funded higher education institutions in India. The program's main objective is to provide select senior professors with necessary leadership and managerial training to respond to challenges under the National Mission on Teachers and Teaching Scheme. Professional development with a focus on institutional competitiveness, learning outcomes, resources mobilization, autonomy, accountability, research capacity, internationalization, and institutional performance are key components of this programme."
While Modi's purpose is laudable and a number of highly respectable universities around the world are involved in the LEAP initiative, a three-week faculty training program focused on institutional competitiveness, learning outcomes, resource mobilization, etc. is hardly leadership development. Barbara Kellerman at Harvard has highlighted the importance of a professionalizing leadership in ways that: "differentiate management from leadership; offers leadership training, education, and development; recognizes that bad leadership exists; gives credit and equal attention to teaching and cultivating followership; makes leadership urgent, and acknowledges that learning to be effective and ethical in leadership is a life-long learning and development commitment.
It's tragic to have so much need in higher education capacity building and then to land on a simplistic strategy that has little chance of making a real difference. Indian higher education needs reform and one can only hope that Modi's LEAP will at least begin a process that will eventually drive to a deeper level of true leadership development.
While Modi's purpose is laudable and a number of highly respectable universities around the world are involved in the LEAP initiative, a three-week faculty training program focused on institutional competitiveness, learning outcomes, resource mobilization, etc. is hardly leadership development. Barbara Kellerman at Harvard has highlighted the importance of a professionalizing leadership in ways that: "differentiate management from leadership; offers leadership training, education, and development; recognizes that bad leadership exists; gives credit and equal attention to teaching and cultivating followership; makes leadership urgent, and acknowledges that learning to be effective and ethical in leadership is a life-long learning and development commitment.
It's tragic to have so much need in higher education capacity building and then to land on a simplistic strategy that has little chance of making a real difference. Indian higher education needs reform and one can only hope that Modi's LEAP will at least begin a process that will eventually drive to a deeper level of true leadership development.
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