Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has announced the launch of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI)-funded Higher Education Leadership Development Programme for Administrators—Joint/Deputy/ Assistant Registrar and Registrar in Indian Universities to improve their knowledge, competencies, skills and behaviours. First batch of 300 such senior leaders, mid-senior level functionaries and academic faculty across Indian higher education institutes (HEIs) will be trained by UK experts Advance HE by June 2020.
The training is aimed at capacity building and will be delivered by University Grants Commission (UGC) with globally recognised institutional expertise and leadership excellence from the UK. UGC-driven Higher Education Leadership Development Programme for Administrators has been designed to bring about a step change in institutional reforms in the education system in India and will aim to inculcate leadership skills in academic administrators across universities in India offering them a more global outlook, exposure to better career progression and higher quality teaching.
Following a cascade model to amplify impact, the programme will identify and prepare 30 potential Future Leadership Development programme trainers to train others. It also aims to create a network of HEI stakeholders and partners with raised awareness and engagement with key HE leadership issues. The training will be impacted through 02 workshops of one-week duration each at different locations in India. Post training online support and evaluation to implement the learning.
Speaking at the launch, Ramesh Pokhriyal, HRD minister said, “The Higher Education Leadership Development Programme for Administrators will be a step change towards institutional reforms in Higher Education in line with the Indian government’s commitment to improve the quality of education being imparted in the universities. The programme will enable participants with a more global outlook which in turn supports the increasing collaboration between higher education systems both Indian and UK governments would like to see in the future.”
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- Train the academic administrators to enable them to bring about systemic changes with renewed approaches, capacity, tools and skills in the higher education institutions
- Identify and train potential future LDP trainers in order to provide a framework for dissemination and cascading of leadership training to other HEIs
- Create and strengthen sustainable relationship between UK and Indian Higher Education Institutions and utilize UK’s expertise in the field of Higher Education Administration and leadership
Speaking on the roll-out of the leadership development programme, Barbara Wickham, OBE, Director, India, British Council, said, “Over 14 years the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) has worked to realise the knowledge ambitions of both countries. We thank the MHRD for recognising the importance of professional development and capacity building for senior academic staff in India and I hope the selected participants will appreciate the inputs they get from the training by UGC and Advance HE. I look forward to the benefits the programme will bring to its participants and hope it will provide them insights into the benefits of internationalization in higher education.”
Dr. D.P. Singh, Chairman, UGC in his comments said, “With an astute international partner like the Advance HE, we plan to impart top-notch leadership and management skills to vice-chancellors, mid-senior level functionaries and academic administrators across HEIs in India. We are hopeful that this partnership will catalyse a more substantial transformation through which more and more HEIs will find their names on the top in global university ranking in the future.”
