338 Global Ethics for Leadership
robust regulation, good governance and ethical leadership is becoming
increasingly entrenched: however, good governance is not just about
financial health and regulatory compliance, it also includes sustained
and responsible monitoring of the social and environmental impact of
the institution and its responsiveness to both the intrinsic and extrinsic
factors for which is conforms responsibility. Moving beyond the com-
pliance genre of governance to a values-driven paradigm provides criti-
cal context for higher education role-players and stakeholders to reach
towards a standard of moral commitments.
Taking account of the changing environment, the concomitant en-
quiry is made: Do university managers understand the emerging empha-
sis on leadership and management and the demand for regulatory gov-
ernance that has become a sine qua non for institutional sustainability?
Do they understand the character of the Millennials at whom the higher
education offerings are directed? How much of what is done at universi-
ties is informed by benefit attributes of student profiling and data analyt-
ics? Do institutional leaders fully comprehend the impact of fiscal aus-
terity and the need to improve cost-effectiveness and enhance efficien-
cies of the university system?
The analysis by Küng^270 on the failures of the capitalist system is so
apposite for the university system today that it warrants repeating: he
notes inter alia that institutions fail because of inefficient functioning of
the regulatory and supervisory systems, an inadequate legal and finan-
cial infrastructure, and an inability to understand the obligations of ac-
countability and/or transparency. Within the university sector, the gov-
ernance platform is perceived as anti-academic and a descent into the
world of ‘managerialism’ with the consequential demise of autonomy
and creativity. Realistically, university leadership must recognise that
the notion of the university being ‘only for the public good’ has dimin-
ished and a defensible equilibrium is a critical need—governance that
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