"This study undertakes to determine the relation existing between a group of factors and the professional tenure of graduates of the North Texas State Teachers College during a period of years extending from 1919 to 1931."--1.

Community college and higher education doctoral programs which prepare individuals for the two-year college administrative labor market were analyzed for regional orientation by studying the career experience of administrators, with earned doctorates in community college/ higher education, who were employed in 1990 by two-year colleges in the United States. Employment location relative to location of the doctoral-granting institution was considered at three points in time: three months prior to beginning doctoral study, three months after completing doctoral study, and the current (1990) employment. Contingency tables show strong regional orientation based on four US regions (North, South, Midwest, and West). The in-region association exists independently of in-state associations and may be found for two-year college administrators with both recent (five or less years since earning the doctorate) and for long-standing (fifteen or more years since earning the doctorate) doctoral degrees in community college or higher education. Analysis of individual institutions, however, shows variation in the extent of state, regional, and national orientation. Maps for the top ten doctoral-granting institutions (determined by total cumulative production of community college/higher education doctorates in the two-year college administrative labor market as of 1990) are presented for each of the three points in time. The range of in-state employment among these ten institutions is approximately 15% to 92% at pre-doctoral, post-doctoral, and current (1990) employment locations. The range of in-region employment is narrower (approximately 48% to 100%). In addition, all states in which the individual held a postdoctoral administrative position of at least six months duration were cumulated and mapped by doctoral-granting institution. Two of these top ten institutions, Nova University and the University of Texas at Austin, show the pre- and post-doctoral locations of their community college/higher education doctorates dispersed in the largest number of states; while North Carolina State University, UCLA and University of Southern California have the fewest states reported. / Ed. D.

This study examines the main research hypothesis that there is significant interaction between the effects of computer use/non-use and level of computer training among community college educators in the state of Texas regarding attitudes toward the implementation of administrative and instructional computing. A statewide survey was conducted with deans of instruction and full-time faculty members who represented the three academic transfer departments of natural/physical sciences, social science, and humanities/fine arts. Fifty-five deans of instruction and three hundred fifty-six faculty members participated in the study. A factor analysis of data from the questionnaires revealed four factors which were identified and labeled: Factor One: Computer Applications: Advantages and Disadvantages; Factor Two: Administrative Computer Applications: Advantages and Disadvantages; Factor Three: Apprehensions About Educational Computing; Factor Four: Situational Factors Associated With Computer Applications in Education. A 4x3x2 (professional position x level of computer training x level of computer experience) multivariate analysis of variance of both main and interaction effects was then performed within and across these factors.

The retirement of community college administrators has led to the creation of leadership development institutes. Yet, few studies exist to understand their comprehensive design, practices, and effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of, and a framework for, creating and evaluating effective leadership development institutes. The framework was applied to the El Paso Community College’s Leadership Development Academy (EPCC-LDA) to examine how its program aligned with the framework; assess the EPCC-LDA’s success in meeting its own specified goals of creating more skilled leaders; and understand better how EPCC-LDA decisions, practices, program components and forms of evaluation have led to successful outcomes. The research design followed a descriptive, case study format utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data. This study had several major findings. First, El Paso Community College demonstrated how an effective leadership development institute can be created by focusing its design and implementation on processes, core values, and human interaction. Second, the study’s analytic framework was validated through a triangulation of data: research recommendations; EPCC-LDA coordinating committee interviews; and program participant evaluations. Third, El Paso Community College was accomplishing and surpassing its mission of improving employee leadership skills. This study concluded with recommendations for the refinement of its analytic framework, for EPCC-LDA programmatic considerations, and for future studies. By instituting responsive and focused programming that continually meets the needs of the institution, the participants, and leadership in general, leadership development institutes can serve as one effective resource for increasing the flow into the community college leadership pipeline, increasing the skills of those within the pipeline, and improving the pipeline’s outflow of diverse leaders. / text

Collaboration has become a critical trend in the field of distance education. Many studies indicated that academic administrators believe in the positive impact of distance education, but they did not consider their roles in making distance learning programs effective. It is beneficial to investigate the administrators’ perceptions of establishing relationships with the other partners for enhancing the competitive advantages of their distance learning programs. This study examines the incentives that drive distance education administrators to consider collaboration. It also reveals how the administrator’s role influences the function and development of collaboration. In order to uncover administrators’ incentives for interorganizational coordination, this study implemented semi-structured interviews and document reviews for data collection through a case named INAC, which was an international academic joint venture by using videoconferencing technology. Eight interviewees comprised two higher-level administrators, 4 mid-level administrators, and 2 lower administrators. The open and axial coding techniques were used to process collected data. The findings indentified four administrative incentives: the opportunity of international exchanges, technology, organizational prestige, and commercialization. These incentives influenced the interorganizational coordination in terms of goals development, participant recruitment, resource leveraging, communication enhancing, and course design. In addition, the INAC project was compared with the literature based on Mattessich’s model (2003). It illustrated how the collaboration components, such as leadership, evaluation, communication, goals, budget, and technology, influenced the development of interorganizational coordination in the practical context. / Department of Educational Studies

Submitted in fulfillment of 1he requirements of the Master of Technology degree in Commercial Administration, Department of lnformation and Corporate and Management, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / The higher education landscape in South Africa has undergone significant change and transformation in recent decades, obliging all higher education institutions to be more competitive and provide services of quality to attract and retain students. Since their emergence as universities in the years of 2003-2004 Universities of Technology (UoTs) have been required to engage in research and to improve research output and throughput rapidly despite having their roots in a former colonial and apartheid era in which they were required to play a purely technical role. Importantly, the government funding formula for universities in South Africa is now the same for all public universities (based on publications and throughput) even though traditional universities were always research-oriented. This makes it likely that UoTs will continue to lag behind traditional universities if drastic measures to increase research capacity are not put in place. In order to service the provision of this sustainable research output different measures and research structures have therefore been designed by UoTs to support the increasing pressure to produce M and DTech graduates and upgrade the qualifications of teaching staff. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the administrative support of research services and structures at faculty level at a selected UoT; to provide insights in terms of staff and student perceptions of postgraduate support and to make recommendations as to how to enhance existing research services and improve research structures to support research functions. The study was a case study of a selected UoT. It used mixed method research to enable the researcher to collect both qualitative and quantitative data from academics and M and DTech students and Faculty Research Office staff members. Questionnaires and interviews were used as data collection instruments. Supported by the Gap Model of service quality and delivery and an adapted SERVQUAL instrument, the study sought to determine staff and postgraduate students' perceptions and expectations of research structures and service quality across four dimensions, namely reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Analysis of the data revealed that Faculty Research Offices across each of the six faculties were lacking in certain respects in providing research support and development in each of the four identified service dimensions. They were particularly lacking in terms of communicating the nature and details of the research support services they offer. The study concluded that with improved research structures and more skilled personnel all research activities could be incorporated and be facilitated by Faculty Research Offices, taking these functions away from departmental research committees where these exist. It also concluded that by communicating these research services through faculty orientations, workshop sessions, and online forums, academics and students' awareness would be enhanced. This could also have a positive impact on handling research matters and processes, improving the reliability of the research office services and allowing students to associate with the research office on a more regular basis. This study therefore recommended that the identified quality gaps should be attended to in order to improve research services. Further, issues of research capacity development and support and service quality need to be urgently considered by the institution in order in the longer term to be in a position to improve enrolment and graduation rates, increase scholarly publications and contribute to the knowledge society. Inviting research experts and drawing on the greater experience and expertise of their Australian counterparts in the ATN network (with whom SA UoTs have a formal MoU) could lead to further research and development in the area investigated. This should go a long way in ensuring progress and growth in research output within the faculties of the institution investigated and could be of interest to other UoTs facing similar challenges.

A case study was conducted to document the changes in the attitudes of academic administrators at Langston University with regards to the use of various types of information sources for strategic planning. Environmental scanning of external factors was accomplished for six months by the use of a selective dissemination of information (SDI) service. Pre- and post-assessments of the perceived reliance on, satisfaction with and adequacy of personal and library-type information sources were conducted. Findings indicated the continued reliance on personal sources. No statistically significant changes were found in perceived adequacy levels in the use of library-type materials. The overall satisfaction level for the use of library-type information sources and retrieval methods showed a significant increase. Further study is recommended that will utilize additional information technology and other academic institutions.

In this qualitative study, the research objective was to present a theoretical framework for the phenomenon of discovering principals’ experiences when providing management and strategic leadership at Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in South Africa. Furthermore, the college Senior Management Team (SMT) members were also part of the study as they support and contribute towards to the functioning of TVET colleges. According to Hoy and Miskel (2013), an open social-systems model of schools provides an overarching and useful conceptual framework that organizes and relates this theory and research for educational administrators. At the heart of our social-systems model are four critical elements of school life—structure, motivation, culture, and politics (Hoy &Miskel 2013). The data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with participants, while the observation of how principals provided strategic management and leadership was done on a daily basis. The researcher was deputy principal corporate services at a TVET College therefore the contact with other TVET colleges and the DHET was used as a better way to conduct observation. It against the above background that the main themes were developed from the participants’ responses in the bureaucratic, political, and cultural sub-dimensions of the social system. In terms of the incorporation of the sub-dimensions of a social system, it was found that college SMTs should actively model and promote effective management and strategic leadership. This study focused on the strategic leadership and management initiatives, legislations and regulations aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of day-to-day operations of TVET colleges in South Africa. The study explored in depth the management and strategic leadership roles and responsibilities of the TVET college principals. A comparative study of South Africa’s public TVET college as well as the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia was also conducted. Furthermore, there is a need to contribute to the organizational culture and climate, job performance, employee morale and engagement, and staff retention. These may be achieved by capacitating college principals and their SMTs with relevant short courses. It is recommended that the role of the DHET and college council must shift from enforcing bureaucratic compliance to collective capacity building within the TVET colleges. This can be achieved by establishing processes and procedures that are supported by sound monitoring and reporting systems. Finally, recommendations made from this study are expected to empower principals and other middle managers and administrators to assist them to achieve the strategic objectives and to relate with all stakeholder that exists within the TVET sector. / Educational Management and Leadership / Ph. D. (Education Management)

The purpose of this study was to explore the causes of underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions of public universities in south Ethiopia. There were few or no women in senior leadership positions in these public universities. Therefore, these universities could not enjoy the benefits of leadership qualities of women. To achieve the aforementioned purpose, the vice-presidents, deans and/or directors of public universities in south Ethiopia were involved as the target population. Four public universities: Wachamo, Wolaita Sodo, Dilla and Hawassa were involved as research sites. Four vicepresidents (one from each university), twelve deans and academic directors (three from each university) who constituted a focus group of four participants from each of the four universities, participated in the study. An exploratory multiple case study design was used in this qualitative study. The purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of the samples. Unstructured interviews were conducted with the vice-presidents of the selected universities and focus group discussions were held with college deans and directors. Participant observation was conducted on issues related to women empowerment at universities under study. The findings showed that women were greatly underrepresented in senior academic leadership positions at all the selected public universities of south Ethiopia because of various institutional, women-related, economic, socio-cultural, and political- legal factors. The study identified some gaps in the government’s oversight role of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of women empowerment policies at universities prescribed by the Federal Government including the higher education legislation. Moreover, higher education institutions (HEIs) themselves have also failed to empower women through different mechanisms. Therefore, it could be concluded that HEIs pay little attention to empowerment of women. Currently, there are some initiatives meant to empower women. However, these, seem to a reaction to pressure by the higher political authorities. It could be concluded that women are still illiterate about their rights and are not keen to be empowered. Negative societal attitudes and lack of attractive incentives for the leadership positions contribute to the underrepresentation of women in senior positions. Furthermore, a shortage of teaching staff in academe plays a negative role in this underrepresentation. Finally, it is recommended that the government, society, institutions, and women themselves should step up efforts to empower women, particularly their appointment to senior leadership positions. This is critical as they constitute half of the population of both the institutions and the country. Finally, the study proposes a model that could be adopted by the government, HEIs and different institutions to improve the empowerment of women, especially their appointment to senior leadership positions in HEIs. / Educational Management and Leadership / Ph. D. (Education Management)

For many years, community colleges that chose to offer community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs were looked upon in a negative light (Rice, 2015). However, as the need for specialized baccalaureates within specific fields and job markets have continued to grow (McKee, 2005), CCB programs are becoming more widely accepted throughout the United States. In spite of this paradigm shift, Mississippi is one of the remaining states that have not embraced the idea of CCB programs, in spite of its statistical deficiency in regards to baccalaureate degree holding citizens (Williams, 2010). The focus of this study was to explore the perceptions of community college administrators in Mississippi with regards to the influence of CCB programs to the community college mission of institutions in their state. This study indicates that administrators in Mississippi recognize the benefits of offering CCB programs, but do not want CCB programs to take away from the well-established statewide higher education system through mission creep. Many of the strong position statements received overwhelmingly neutral responses. In contrast, Administrators who chose to give their opinion indicated that they are not familiar with how CCB programs are implemented, and do not believe that Mississippi is ready for CCB programs across the state. However, respondents felt that the community college mission is always evolving, should meet students’ needs, and varies from location to location. The findings also show that administrators are favorable to the piloting of CCB programs at a few (1-2) institutions, even though they believe the programs will take funding away from current programs and do not want community colleges evolving into 4-year institutions. The study also concludes that there is a significant difference between institution size and survey questions #18 and #20. There is also a significant difference between length of time in the community college sector and survey questions #15, #17, and #18.