Institutional challenges and leadership competencies in Chinese Ministry of Education directed universities in implementing the 1999 Chinese action scheme for invigorating education towards the 21st century

摘要

This study used the naturalistic inquiry method to explore the perceptions of theselected administrators from Chinese Ministry of Education Directed universitiesregarding what kind of institutional challenges their institutions confront and how theirinstitutions function in the present, how their own roles have been affected by thechanging situations they face in their own contexts, and consequently, what are thecompetencies that universities leaders will need in their universities in the near future.Special emphases are placed on the differences that exist in the challenges facingChinese MOE directed universities located in differently geographical, cultural andeconomical contexts, and the differences among the perceptions of current universityleaders, aspiring leaders, and retired university leaders regarding institutional challengesand leadership competencies. In this study, eight kinds of challenges have been identified by selected Chineseuniversity administrators. There are no substantial differences in perceptions of theseeight kinds of challenges, for all these MOE-directed universities live in a similar policyenvironment; they are governed, funded and evaluated by the Ministry of Education.However, due to their personal background such as different ages, historical backgroundand working experiences, they showed some differences in their perceptions moreindividually than as a group.According to the respondents?? reflections, the location of a university powerfullyinfluences the university, positively or negatively. Being located in developed areasusually has a positive influence on a university. On the contrary, being located inundeveloped 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 theseuniversities did not show substantial differences in their perceptions of leadershipcompetency because members of all the groups live in a similar policy environment.However, due to their personal background, they actually showed some differences intheir 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 doneto improve the training programs through renewing training content and methods.