Background: Higher education is in essence vital for its direct function of providing intellectual progress and development through advanced manpower production process, research development and promotion of advanced technologies. The nation's higher education has been supported and promoted to bring about fundamental and continuous development despite its failure to rapid progress at certain pace. There is a system of educational quality assurance comprising both internal and external quality assurance, as the mechanism to maintain the quality and standard of higher education institutions.
Two-year colleges are facing major change. The majority will undergo a turnover in college presidencies in the next ten years, at a time when they are being asked to be engines for economic growth, enable more students - and a greater diversity of students - to gain 21st century qualifications, and provide a pathway to higher degrees, all with reduced state and local funding. Recognizing that future community college leaders - at all levels- will manage increasingly complex organizations, and face very different challenges than their predecessors, this book provides a multidimensional model of leadership suited to these new demands and environments. The model addresses issues of leader cognition, race and gender, the importance of culture, and the need for more collaborative modes of communication and decision making to frame and implement change. It recognizes that there is no longer any one way to lead, and that the next generation of leaders will be more diverse, possess experience and qualifications from a wider variety of careers, and follow new pathways to their positions. Leaders in the future will possess a cultural competency that is fostered by being lifelong learners.Through over 75 individual interviews with leaders and campus members, Eddy is able to provide examples of the model's components in practice and to illuminate which experiences proved the most relevant for these leaders on their route to upper administration. She shows how her model intersects with the leadership competencies defined by the American Association of Community Colleges, and proposes strategies for future leadership development. This book is intended for anyone considering a leadership position, at any level, in a community college; for college administrators and boards responsible for leadership development programs; and for individuals in corresponding organizations who conduct training programs for aspiring leaders. Likewise, those employed at four-year universities may find value in the model as a developmental tool.
How do the benefits of higher education compare with its costs, and how does this comparison vary across individuals and institutions? These questions are fundamental to quantifying the productivity of the education sector. The studies in Productivity in Higher Education use rich and novel administrative data, modern econometric methods, and careful institutional analysis to explore productivity issues. The authors examine the returns to undergraduate education, differences in costs by major, the productivity of for-profit schools, the productivity of various types of faculty and of outcomes, the effects of online education on the higher education market, and the ways in which the productivity of different institutions responds to market forces. The analyses recognize five key challenges to assessing productivity in higher education: the potential for multiple student outcomes in terms of skills, earnings, invention, and employment; the fact that colleges and universities are “multiproduct” firms that conduct varied activities across many domains; the fact that students select which school to attend based in part on their aptitude; the difficulty of attributing outcomes to individual institutions when students attend more than one; and the possibility that some of the benefits of higher education may arise from the system as a whole rather than from a single institution. The findings and the approaches illustrated can facilitate decision-making processes in higher education.
This book offers a national view of trends and statistics related to today's community colleges. The new edition includes completely revised text as well as updates to charts and tables on topics such as enrollment, student outcomes, population, curriculum, faculty, workforce, and financial aid. Informative narrative introduces and provides context for the data. An excellent resource for presentations, public information, media relations, and long-range planning. Chapter 1, Community Colleges Past and Present, recounts the history of community colleges and summarizes some of the more pressing issues facing them today. Chapter 2, Community College Enrollment, provides detailed information and demographics concerning enrollment at community colleges and puts it in perspective with the rest of higher education. Chapter 3, The Social and Economic Impact of Community Colleges, describes the impact of community colleges on students and their communities through measures such as degree and certificate completion, employment data, and educational attainment within the general population. Chapter 4, Community College Staff and Services, offers a view of staffing at community colleges, from the presidency and senior administration to faculty and support staff. Chapter 5, College Education Costs and Financing, focuses on the financial aspects of community colleges, as they affect the institution and its students. Chapter 6, A Look at the Future, presages trends and issues that will define the community college of the future. The book also contains a Preface, Glossary, References, Index, and About the Authors. (Contains 39 figures and 77 tables.).
Conflicts between faculty and administration have become particularly virulent and disruptive in recent years, as institutions have struggled to adapt to intensifying pressures for efficiency and accountability. Analyzing common sources of conflict and challenges on campus that impede attempts to address these conflicts, Bridging the Divide between Faculty and Administration provides a theory-driven and research-based approach for authentic discourse between faculty and administration. This important resource presents a wealth of strategies for improving communication in colleges and universities, ultimately enhancing organizational effectiveness and institutional performance. Special Features: End-of-chapter "Implications for Practice" provide practical tips and advice for faculty and administrators to use in their own contexts. Analysis of actual conflicts based on extensive interviews with administrators and faculty across a variety of college and university settings. Exploration of creative ways for faculty and administrators to work across differences in their belief systems and to address the underlying sources of conflict.
Understanding Community Colleges provides a comprehensive review of the community college landscape--management and governance, finance, student demographics and development, teaching and learning, policy, faculty, and workforce development--and bridges the gap between research and practice. This contributed volume brings together highly respected scholars in the field who rely upon substantial theoretical perspectives--critical theory, social theory, institutional theory, and organizational theory--for a rich and expansive analysis of community colleges. The latest text to publish in the Core Concepts in Higher Education series, this exciting new text fills a gap in the higher education literature available for students enrolled in Higher Education and Community College graduate programs. This text provides students with: A review of salient research related to the community college field. Critical theoretical perspectives underlying current policies. An understanding of how theory links to practice, including focused end-of-chapter discussion questions. A fresh examination of emerging issues and insight into contemporary community college practices and policy.
This book presents leaders and aspiring leaders in community colleges with a theoretical and practical framework for analyzing their leadership styles, and determining the dimensions of leadership they need to improve in order to strengthen their capacity to resolve complex issues and effectively guide their institutions. It does so through presenting theories about leadership that are congruent with the notions of equity, access, diversity, ethics, critical inquiry, transformational change, and social justice that drive the missions of community colleges, and at the same time provides the reader with the strategic skills to prepare for and navigate the profound changes ahead.Readers will gain an understanding of how to use theory as a tool to guide their practice, better understand the intricacies of the issues confronting them, the power dynamics and organizational context in which they operate, predict potential outcomes, and develop processes to achieve desired outcomes. Utilizing theory in conjunction with case study analysis provides community college leaders with the tools needed to comprehensively interrogate and inform decision-making processes. The authors provide a number of rich and realistically complex case studies, all of which are situated in a community college environment, to which readers can apply the various theories and perspectives, develop their view about the principles and actions most likely to lead to satisfactory outcomes, and hone the approaches to leadership that are authentic to them, and effective. The authors aim to help readers develop the multi-faceted approach to leadership that is essential to running complex organizations. They aim to promote development of the “whole” leader through a three-fold framework of theory, practice, and introspection in context of institutional change. In doing so, leaders will be better equipped to lead community colleges in challenging times.The authors tie AACC’s competencies to the leadership theories they cover, as well as to the analysis of the case studies, and leadership inventories, as an essential framework for developing the skill sets to enact the community college mission.The book is suitable for personal reading and reflection, institutional leadership retreats and training, and as a text for higher education courses.
Community colleges are under intense pressure to change in response to shifts in an increasingly complex environment. Stakeholders are placing simultaneously contradictory demands on colleges for more and better service, increased accountability, and more efficient use of resources in order to get the most from colleges in tough economic times. These demands have contributed to cultural fragmentation in community colleges as staff are pulled in competing directions by events beyond their control. The upshot is a circumstance in which leaders are finding that culture is perhaps the most powerful element affecting organizational performance and change. The old saw “culture eats strategy for breakfast’ epitomizes the importance of culture as a means for enhancing the long-term viability of an organization. This book provides fresh analysis of organizational culture in the community college context with a critical examination of the relationship between organizational culture and change. Readers will benefit from frank advice with insights to drive change by transforming and leveraging culture to shape the future of community colleges.
Presidents, executive teams, governing boards, administrators, faculty leaders, and graduate students alike will benefit from this comprehensive primer. Designed to help professionals at all stages of their careers, this resource is particularly useful to the growing number of new CEOs. Thorough attention is paid to operational principles and organizational design as well as policy development in both general and specific contexts such as students, curriculum, staff, and resource development. Look for special chapters on crisis management as well as practical advice for new CEOs.
