This study used the naturalistic inquiry method to explore the perceptions of the
selected administrators from Chinese Ministry of Education Directed universities
regarding what kind of institutional challenges their institutions confront and how their
institutions function in the present, how their own roles have been affected by the
changing situations they face in their own contexts, and consequently, what are the
competencies that universities leaders will need in their universities in the near future.
Special emphases are placed on the differences that exist in the challenges facing
Chinese MOE directed universities located in differently geographical, cultural and
economical contexts, and the differences among the perceptions of current university
leaders, aspiring leaders, and retired university leaders regarding institutional challenges
and leadership competencies. In this study, eight kinds of challenges have been identified by selected Chinese
university administrators. There are no substantial differences in perceptions of these
eight kinds of challenges, for all these MOE-directed universities live in a similar policy
environment; they are governed, funded and evaluated by the Ministry of Education.
However, due to their personal background such as different ages, historical background
and working experiences, they showed some differences in their perceptions more
individually than as a group.
According to the respondents’ reflections, the location of a university powerfully
influences the university, positively or negatively. Being located in developed areas
usually has a positive influence on a university. On the contrary, being located in
undeveloped areas has a negative impact on a university.
There are four categories of leadership competencies identified by the respondents:
personality and disposition, personal knowledge and skill, administrative competency,
and social responsibility competency. It is not surprising that administrators from these
universities did not show substantial differences in their perceptions of leadership
competency because members of all the groups live in a similar policy environment.
However, due to their personal background, they actually showed some differences in
their perceptions as individuals rather than as a group.
The researcher found that university administrator training is absolutely necessary.
However, the current training programs do not meet the demands, more needs to be done
to improve the training programs through renewing training content and methods.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/3336 |
| Date | 12 April 2006 |
| Creators | Yang, Xiaobo |
| Contributors | Cole, Bryan R. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 870024 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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