Planning Ahead: Exploring the Leadership Competencies That Transnational Higher Education Leaders and Managers Need

Introduction

Leadership is an area that encompasses almost every conceivable field, industry and life area. Indeed, history is full of acclaimed, revered and respected figures who ultimately left a legacy because of what they managed to achieve in a certain time frame and given the conditions in which they had to work. Many of these individuals take on almost mythical qualities, but the reality is that they had a temporal role to perform within set contextual and situational circumstances. Many also had trusted and able people around them and displayed qualities or traits that they needed to in order to accomplish their goals. The positive news is that a lot of this can be learned and refined, as Ericsson and Pool (2016) highlight, with systematic, guided and targeted practice. Of course, other key considerations are also important, such as awareness, knowledge and critical reflection. In the world of Transnational Higher Education (TNHE) leadership, an educational area in which teaching and learning can and does transcend national boarders, the qualities, skills and knowledge that leadership and management figures need have evolved in light of changing international parameters. This is in part the result of the global pandemic’s legacy, but also due to the emergence of new technology like generative AI. The way in which a diverse staff and student body also interact and their evolving life outlooks also necessitates greater awareness, understanding and appreciation. The difficulty is that many higher education systems have locked themselves into a business mindset as Collini (2012) cautions against, with smaller operational units at times set in their ways and locked in by invested personal interests. Consequently, this research chapter will adopt an interpretative ontological and epistemological stance to explore what skills, qualities and traits senior TNHE leaders believe that future managers and leaders do and will need to display and develop. It will also draw on existing literature-based discussions to consider the stance of educational staff. Having elaborated on the paradigmatic or worldview of this paper, as Kojo Otoo (2020) advocates, it is also important to note that this work will be interpretative in orientation and explore three individual case study perspectives. The findings from this work should be of interest to a wide range of researchers, policy makers, leadership figures and educators.