Academic Leadership: Fundamental Building Blocks
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and Vice-Chancellors of the future. Thus not only is it important to build the capacity of
this group as leaders for the immediate quality improvement of our programs, it is also
necessary for the long term.
Barriers to Uptake of Academic Leadership
A recent exploratory study (Vilkinas, Leask, & Rogers, 2007) undertaken in the Division
of Business, University of South Australia, interviewed Program Directors and others
with knowledge of this role to gain an understanding of the impediments to academic
leadership at this level. The difficulties appear, at this preliminary stage in the research,
to encompass both institutional and individual dimensions. That is, there is evidence of
a systemic problem that reduces the capacity of both the organisation and the individual
Program Directors to deliver academic leadership.
Institutional
On the institutional front, there are a number of environmental conditions that appear to
contribute to the difficulties experienced by Program Directors. As Figure 1 shows,
these conditions, in concert with the University’s response to them, create a system that
is not conducive to good outcomes for either the Program Directors or the institution.
Figure 2: Vilkinas, Leask and Rogers’ Mapping of the Relevant Initial Conditions
Clearly, as identified in earlier research, governmental policy sets the scene for local
outcomes at the University level. Increasingly, not just in Australia but elsewhere in New
Zealand, Europe and particularly the UK, the funding of Universities from governments is
