Ethical Leadership in Higher Education in the Era of Complexity 197structures and cultures, increased accountability, new demands
associated with accelerated internationalisation, dwindling collegiality
and trust, decreased autonomy, and challenges to academic freedom.
These add to the mix of pressures and influences which impact upon the
university and the challenges of leadership, making proactive and
consistent leadership all that more difficult, and more imperative.
11.3 University Leadership in the Era of Complexity
As part of good governance, a university is expected to account to a
number of stakeholders with an interest in higher education. These
include government, employers, students and industry. Greater public
accountability has been a steady feature of public policy and practice for
institutions funded by the public purse. The central public concern is
whether universities are producing graduates with the necessary
knowledge and skills to enter the world of work in the 21st century and
become ‘good citizens’ who can contribute to development and
sustainability.
As the relationship between an educated citizenry and a nation’s
economic prosperity is assumed as trite, universities have been under
steady pressure to increase access (especially for students from
previously disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds), to offer quality
academic programmes to enable graduates to access job opportunities,
while at the same time generating knowledge and research that will
assist in resolving national development challenges such as
unemployment, health and food security.
The obligation of institutions to transform finds expression in a
number of expectations. Universities are required to (a) increase and
broaden participation, including greater “access for black, women,
disabled and mature students” and “equity of access and fair chances of
success to all... while eradicating all forms of unfair discrimination and