Leading Institutions Through Change to Improve Learning

Student success in higher education depends on a complex set of services that must be integrated seamlessly and delivered to students. This chapter looks at the complex, and often competing, interests of students, faculty, administration, and external stakeholders as they seek to improve student success in higher education. Administrators, mid-level managers, change agents, faculty and ancillary student support services all need to understand the importance of their role in working together to make the changes necessary to improve teaching and learning. The great challenge is managing the change that this will require. Educational institutions in the 21st century need to become agile and able to manage change imposed by both internal and external pressures.

Towards Inclusive Education for Special Need Students in Higher Education from the Perspective of Faculty Members: A Systematic Literature Review

Special need individuals’ participation in various sectors including education has gained full attention and support from the government. However, they remain underrepresented in getting access to tertiary education. Higher education is committed in providing inclusive campus environment for special need students. Currently, there are several issues faced by higher education administration in providing inclusive campus. Studies that systematically review the literature on issues and challenge in providing inclusive campus for special need students (SNS) remain insufficient. Hence, this article intends to present a systematic literature review on the challenges in creating inclusive campus environment among higher education administrators. The review was based on the publication standard, namely ROSES (RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses). Two leading databases of Scopus and Web of Science, and five supporting databases were selected. Based on the thematic analysis, this review has four main themes namely 1) special need student; 2) inclusive campus; 3) challenges; 4) faculty member. The study offered several significant contributions for practical purposes. Findings from this review offer an insight for the higher education administrator to strategize in creating an inclusive campus for the SNS. To be more certain, future studies on SNS inclusively especially in Malaysia context are recommended. Keywords: Higher Education, Inclusive environment, Special need student

Leading in Higher Education with Emotional Competence

The aim of this interpretative study was to find out how higher education administrators thought about emotional competence and what emotional competence ideas and skills they thought were essential for success. Specifically, the aim of this study was to get a better understanding of how administrators in departments of higher education may use their emotional skills to their benefit in their professions. In-depth interviewing takes one step further by focusing in considerable detail on the life experiences and social behavior of selected individual respondents in qualitative research. An in-depth interview was conducted for this qualitative research with eight experienced heads of departments who shared their experiences for a number of reasons. In order to get meaning from the narratives, certain techniques and templates were used. Purposive sampling was used in the 2019-2020 academic year for eight heads of departments at a public university in Izmir, Turkey, with an emphasis on phenomena relevant to the topic and at least four years of administration experience in selecting criteria. The key insight from the study's findings is that participants interpreted emotional competence to entail the ability for university administrators to develop connections by generating trust in order to lead their department. Having an open mind, having an optimistic attitude, being respectful, being inclusive, listening actively were all regarded as key subthemes by higher education administrators. Longitudinal or mixed methods studies, as well as demographic variations in leaders' use of emotional competencies, might be explored in future research.

Exploring Dog-Assisted Interventions in Higher Education: Students’ Attitudes and Perceived Effects on Well-Being

Both, in the transition to university and during it, students experience a multitude of different changes. Thus, it is no surprise that many students in higher education report suffering from mental health problems. To address their concerns, animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) have gained more and more attention over the past few years. Nonetheless, AAIs have neither yet been used nor researched at German universities. Two studies were carried out to address this issue. In Study I, 709 university students answered a questionnaire evaluating their attitude towards dogs, AAIs and interest in its use at their home university. In Study II, 27 students participated in a dog-assisted intervention (DAI) in which they were allowed to interact with a qualified dog for 15 min. To gain information about their well-being, blood pressure was measured and the Basler Befindlichkeitsskala had to be answered before and after the intervention. Results showed a positive attitude among German students toward dogs, AAIs, and the use of DAIs at their home university. Although an effect on physical well-being could not be found, results showed that a 15-min DAI can improve students’ psychological well-being. Thus, higher education administrators should consider using DAIs as a way to improve student well-being.

Navigating the First Amendment in Higher Education and Supporting Students to Be Engaged Citizens

Higher education administrators continue to encounter ever evolving challenges related to the First Amendment on college campuses. As administrators encounter lawsuits ranging from protests, student media, student organization funding, campus speakers, and beyond, they must be equipped to navigate these scenarios. Ultimately, the key is gaining a better understanding of the history, relevant case law, tools to analyze the situation, and how the First Amendment may appear in their work. The chapter seeks to provide a foundation of knowledge related to the First Amendment and its application to higher education.

Is It Accessible?

This chapter discusses the role of accessibility in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Under the law, administrators in higher education are obligated to provide accessible programs and services to students. They are also required to provide accessible work environments for employees. Administrators also have other incentives for doing so, such as building a sense of community. As a result of the shift to hybrid and or totally virtual delivery models of instruction, institutional administrators need a research-based methodology to assess their programs and services for accessibility consideration. This chapter provides higher education administrators with such a methodology. It also makes recommendations for creating return to campus plans, including how universal design can be implemented as part of the plan.

Women Higher Education Administrators

In the multiple crises of 2020, a common narrative emerged about the effectiveness of women leaders in responding at the local, national, and international levels. Their behaviors suggested a reliance on adaptation. As microcosms of the social structures in which they exist, postsecondary institutions are not exempt from the task of leadership through crises; however, little is known about women leaders in higher education administration in times of crisis. Though having the ability to adapt has shown to be paramount for organizational success and thriving, it is virtually unknown whether women higher education leaders take an adaptive approach during crises. Thus, the authors went beyond recent headlines to understand women higher education leaders in contexts riddled with crises. Findings provide illustrative evidence of the six tenets of adaptive leadership to inform practice and future research.

The Importance of Student Services for Adult Learners

Institutions of higher education provide numerous support services to undergraduate students. However, it is debatable that those services assist the adult learner population because most services are structured to assist traditional undergraduate students. Gathering an understanding of factors such as the student's individual needs, age/experience, course modality preference, work, and familial obligations will allow higher education administrators and faculty to provide resources specific to the adult learner. The development of key student services such as tutoring, advising, career development, library services, and counseling with post-traditional adult learners in mind will contribute to the success of all students regardless of demographic and/or individual challenges or situations. This chapter explores how higher education institutions can best support academic success for adult learners in an environment typically designed for traditionally aged students.

The university as a terrain for hidden language conflicts? German, English and the silence beyond them

In this paper, language policy (LP) at the University of Salzburg (Austria), a mid-size seemingly monolingual university, serves as an example to analyse (potential) language conflicts at the institutional level considering the roles played by German, English and ‘immigrant’ languages at the university. Language management, beliefs, and (reported) language use by different stakeholders in higher education (administrators, academic and administrative staff and students) are contrasted, also taking into consideration different linguistic backgrounds (German as L1, German as L2 and German as a foreign language). This offers an overall perspective on institutional LP that is still group sensitive, one that reveals two different hidden language conflicts: the non-addressed conflict between the two most important and visible languages at the university by far, German and English, as well as the neglected and negated conflict between German and the hidden “immigrant” languages. A consistent ‘internationalisation at home’ strategy would address these hidden conflicts and show backwash effects on ideas of language use in education as well as in society in general.

Critical Factors Related to Student Success Technology

This study examines university students’ perspectives on student success technology. Efforts to improve graduation and retention rates for undergraduates (i.e. “student success”) and initiatives to enhance the overall student experience are critical for higher education administrators, faculty and staff. These actors are significantly dependent on technology and technology-mediated services. To help understand student perspectives on online services related to student success, this study uses data from a 2016 survey of ABC University students about the importance and satisfaction that students placed on accomplishing key tasks online ([Formula: see text] respondents). The main questions in this inquiry are: (1) What, if any, factors, or latent variables, are in the data set? (2) If there are latent variables, what might they tell us about students’ perspectives on accomplishing critical online tasks? The study’s main findings are that five factors — navigation, tactical, funding, personalization and planning - are present in the data and statistically significant. The findings also suggest that a sixth factor, funding, is not significant. This study contributes to the literature by supporting the notion that there is harmony between the technology that universities utilize to support students and the value that students derive from such tools.