This link provides interesting info.

'When facing difficulties, many of us have been trained to define the challenge, brainstorm possibilities and create solutions to take to stakeholders for their support. Such a process works OK if a problem is merely hard; after all, our supervisors, donors and board members want us to provide leadership, including solving problems.  But when a problem is “wicked,” our impulse to bring a solution to stakeholders -- rather than engaging them in generating the solution -- won’t adequately address the challenge.  Solutions to a wicked problem can only be found by expanding our field of vision and attacking the problem from various angles.

Engaging stakeholders early in the process will often expand an institution’s view of the salient features of a wicked problem. Because institutions are often intimately involved with some particular dimensions of the problem they are trying to solve, their leaders tend to overlook other, more subtle dimensions of the problem.'  (What are your experiences?)

http://www.faithandleadership.com/content/l-gregory-jones-and-nathan-jones-engaging-stakeholders-problem-solving

Problems, arising within an academic institution, are normal. Solving the problems requires capacities of thinking, following up the implementation of the solutions, and listening to the grievances. It is inappropriate to silence critics by claiming that there is an elite, which plans in “abnormal” way, the academic setting. All ought to be allowed to express their views freely including the stakeholders “provided they are knowledgeable & not illiterates”.

Thanks dear Dr Nizar.  It could be that I'm teaching pre-university that I meet so many spoon fed students who prefer to memorize, and think it's too much trouble to understand.  But they really need to be independent and think!!  I think that dependent people/students can't even cope with working life, let alone take care of our own parents in their old age.

Dear Miranda, 

Thank you! You have a marvelously simple ways of adressing fundamental issues, such as the importance of education...

The keys to most of the problems of Humanity reside , deep down, in good Education, and its global expansion. /globalization. 

The internet does a good job at this, and dear Nizar adds the necessary value of Ethics, which will undoubtebly result as an inevitable consequence.

The foremost consequence to adding Education and Ethics would be global Wisdom, which to me is the only way to combat struggles and bring Peace. 

I believe stakeholders should be involved in strategic planning, student plan, problem solving of big problem, etc. At the same time, stakeholders must not be involved in all kind of problem solving.

In many universities, you may find stakeholders` members participate in the meeting of the department  or faculty meetings to have their views in the student plan. We should not forget that stakeholders include employees, students, suppliers, community, and others.

The situation I had was different in that I worked at a statistical agency, supplying official statistics for an extremely wide group of stakeholders. In that case, some stakeholders could get annoyed or perhaps angry that we were not working solely on the information they wanted. One group would say something was not important, and another group would say that was the only thing that was important. Having a management that was too motivated to please anyone if it would help their careers, but not knowledgeable about statistics themselves, made for very stressful situations for those few who actually knew what they were doing and were trying to do it. Also, when management was a barrier between the experts and the stakeholders, and confused the issues, that just made it worse. - My guess is that some of this applies in some form on occasion everywhere, including at educational institutions. And yes, a lot of young people coming along can need/want a great deal of 'spoonfeeding,' but I have also seen a great deal of that with older people as well. - And definitely, the skill needed most is 'problem solving.' - Thanks.    

Dear Maria and dear all, it's not just broadly about education in terms of gaining or having info.  James Knaub got it beautifully.  It's more about being able to think, to understand issues and solve problems.

Thanks @James, I think that many colleges want to top the list in terms of the A's received by students.  And the teachers/lecturers resort to spoon feeding.  But if the A's do not reflect the ability to think, it brings little benefit to society.

Stake holder(s) at my College is Government (tax payers)! Such problems that You have elaborated dear @Miranda are very small one, but College Administration should plan better! If possible, stake holders should be involved at the strategic level! Strategy brings solutions to many problems then!

Definitely, the role of stake holders should be built in Statute of the College/University!

Thanks @Roland.  'Any stakeholder's involvement is important. Some can be decisive. Even wrong thoughts and acts can be useful in a systematical approach for improvement.'  Yes, sometimes we are so worried about doing 'wrong or unwise actions'...

Thanks dear Prof Mahfuz for your answer.  Admin profs like you will have more experience than people like me in this.  Yes I agree that stakeholders should be involved in strategic planning, student plan, problem solving of big problem, etc. At the same time, stakeholders must not be involved in all areas.  'In many universities, you may find stakeholders` members participate in the meeting of the department or faculty meetings to have their views in the student plan. We should not forget that stakeholders include employees, students, suppliers, community, and others.'

Thanks dear Prof Ljubomir.  You probably have students who are a lot more mature and independent, but my students have problems with their learning.  I asked them how will they solve the problems in our country: our annual floods, our haze, our crime rates, our pollution, when they cannot work consistently and maintain their own motivation. (But please don't look down on them, or on me for working so hard to help them.)

This was the place I went for my conference recently.  I sent this pic to my students by whatsapp.  I told them they must study hard to solve problems like the pollution of our rivers.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/So_much_is_spent_to_clean_up_our_rivers_Is_it_the_same_in_your_country_or_how_have_you_been_able_to_care_for_the_health_of_your_rivers

Dear @Miranda, for Your research question, here is some more reading!  Identifying and Analyzing Stakeholders and Their Interests - the first link!

"Educational administrators are increasingly recognizing what businesses have long understood: customer satisfaction matters!" Second link follows!

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/participation/encouraging-involvement/identify-stakeholders/main

http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/educations-many-stakeholders

Thanks very much dear Prof Ljubomir.  I was waiting for you to supply me with links.  I will go through them.  (You know that I'm half buried in my writing, better say re-writing my papers!)

'Although academic institutions have been loath to employ business strategies into their operational thinking (at least until quite recently, as David Kirp demonstrates), there is one approach that begs to be transported into the academic arena--business stakeholder analysis (BSA). BSA is a useful tool for learning how to think more expansively about stakeholders, and then actively to incorporate these newly identified stakeholders into the corporate decision-making process without sacrificing institutional values.'

http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/educations-many-stakeholders

Fashioning effective leadership and governance of policy domains is a large part in the effective management of stakeholder relationships.moving into an era when networks of  stakeholders are becoming important, than markets and hierarchies, even if they are operating in the shadow of hierarchy' . Producing these decisions and actions requires organizing participation; creating ideas for strategic intervention (which in turn depends on formulating problems and searching for solutions); building a winning coalition around proposal development, review and adoption; and implementing, monitoring and evaluating strategic  interventions.

https://www.hhh.umn.edu/people/jmbryson/pdf/stakeholder_identification_analysis_techniques.pdf

In any society, there is a tension between the creative and talented individual and society. Society is built according to the laws of the majority. Creative and talented individuals are always a minority. The way out of this situation is the legal organization of the education of children and adolescents. The only obstacle to this is the solution to a financial question.

Students and staff along with graduates can be very powerful positive voices. They can give independent, verification to back-up a university’s marketing messages.

Stake holders very well know the problems, since problems are mostly general and being posed continuously from time time and may take different shapes, if properly handled, monitored and treated with all holistic visions could be solved to much extent.

Awareness, motivation, boosting, encouragement, monitoring and surveillance systems, high team spirit, and ground level works from top to bottom with making task forces and good committees wherever necessary would be highly beneficial and output oriented for best solutions.

Stake holders are the source of identifying the gaps in the content and delivery. their involvement would get us to know the issues that need to be addressed so as to create an eco system for ensuring a complete focus on the core issue of learning. Knowing the stakeholders would also help is designing the delivery mechanism. 

Thanks Cecilia, for being specific and honest.  'None of these measures seems to help the larger situation, since, though they help some lazy students finish a class, they slow down a good education that could be attained by average to good students. Perhaps the Administration should not include stakeholders, and go back to running parallel classes at different levels of difficulty?'  Here, we do practice streaming to some extent in schools, but not in college. 

Thanks @Umachandran for a good link.  'The story continues with Paul Nutt's Why Decisions Fail (2002), a careful analysis of 400 strategic decisions. Nutt finds that half of the decisions 'failed' -that is they were not implemented, only partially implemented or otherwise produced poor results -in large part because decision makers failed to attend to interests and information held by key stakeholders. Other quantitative and qualitative studies report broadly similar findings with respect to the importance of paying attention to stakeholders (e. g. Bryson et al. 1990; Bryson and Bromiley 1993; Burby 2003; Margerum 2002). Failure to attend to the information and concerns of stakeholders clearly is a kind of flaw in thinking or action that too often and too predictably leads to poor performance, outright failure or even disaster. Stakeholder analyses are now arguably more important than ever because of the increasingly interconnected nature of the world. Choose any public problem - economic development, poor educational performance, natural resources management, crime, AIDS, global warming, terrorism -and it is clear that 'the problem' encompasses or affects numerous people, groups and organizations.'

https://www.hhh.umn.edu/people/jmbryson/pdf/stakeholder_identification_analysis_techniques.pdf

Thanks Barbara and Vladimir.  Dear Barbara, here many Chemistry lecturers use PBL but for Biology, the challenge is to understand info, organize info and remember info, using strategies.  Most of you know that the strategy I used since my university days was mnemonics.

Dear Vladimir, it's the creative teachers who have a whatsapp group that we call IL, meaning independent learning.  Our aim it to have students who are self directed and can survive in university.  That's why we do not spoon feed.  I encourage students to create their own strategies, but I do meet up so many lazy students who don't even study sufficiently.  Have a look at Dr Nizar's thread!  We have similar challenges, despite the distance that separates us!

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_Can_We_Encourage_Students_to_Study_Continuously#view=54a8e066d4c11858628b45e1

Dear friends, please share specific info and specific experiences that you have come across.  Then this thread will have more value to all of us and RG.  Dear Prof Mahfuz, Kuldeep and all, I must share that here, we all take attendance, even for college and university classes.  Students who do not have satisfactory attendance may not be allowed to sit for exams.  But in some places, students who are irresponsible to attend classes can still take exams, isn't it so?  And if they fail, the students take the responsibility, right?

Let me speak figuratively. In all epochs of civilization was evil and it was good. If they were, then there is a reason. These reasons are internal and external. Under the internal causes scientists understand the genetic characteristics of a person. The external factors are understood by many factors surrounding human (education in the family, at school, on the street, in the media, the company ...). Both are interrelated reasons (for the manifestation of the internal causes of the necessary external conditions, and vice versa, innate characteristics can change the world). Therefore, we should welcome all efforts of good (a lot of examples in the responses Miranda) so that there is less of conditions for the triumph of evil.

Dear Miranda, this link may be of interest:

conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/.../132.htm

European Convention on Transfrontier Television amended by the Protocol

Strasbourg, May 5, 1989

Dear Vladimir, on social media it's may be better to speak plainly, so that we do not misunderstand and aren't misunderstood.

Dear Enzo, is there a softcopy?  Thanks.

It is the norm in my own institution to have boards of studies twice per semester with one student representative from each level of a programme voicing student opinions/concerns on the courses as well as any environmental issues that effect their learning. Staff are present and the discussions/feedback are minuted and form action points - it is an integral part of our university quality process.

additionally students feed back through annual surveys (a national exercise) and the results compiled by a national independent body and fed back to institutions. This forms an important indicator in a national league table.

Sent from my iPhone

Dear @Enzo, the link is not operative! "** Page Not Found ** The webpage cannot be found." appear when You open this page of Council of Europe!

Is the following one the real one?

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/.../132.htm

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?CL=ENG&CM=1&NT=171

Dear friends, this link is working (in this moment i succesfully had the access):

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/132.htm

Dear Ierardi,

I successfully got access to the link you provided. The link is really very vauable.

• Powerful and mostly unspoken consensus on the part of dominant political actors:
• The essential efficiency and capacity of the market to provide and,
• the democratic legitimacy of nonprofits (especially “community-based” ones) to play a leading role in society..

https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=48&ved=0CEkQFjAHOCg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fresearch.hks.harvard.edu%2Fpublications%2FgetFile.aspx%3FId%3D34&ei=zBOqVLPEKIa4uASg64HgCQ&usg=AFQjCNGJIoAZbN9nqVSbSu09toGIaY9cnA&sig2=kgdcQrwrHW2uk2edX3YlFg&bvm=bv.82001339,d.c2E&cad=rja

Miranda,

Collegiality among peers, communities of practice, sufficient resources, belief in the ability of the individuals and organization to grow and learn, work locus of control, and adequate space for individuals to meet and express their opinions, receive support and feedback from the organization, and to develop a group identity that has a cultural memory, all contribute to successful outcomes in an organization. Developing a cultural identity within an institution takes time and definitely requires participation on the part of all stakeholders. A good resource on the purpose of non-profit organizations is Carver's (2001) Policy Governance Model.

There are many organizational models using organic metaphors however, theory and practice are two different discussions. From reading your question I understand you are interested in practical means to achieve results or at least turn the rudder of the ship a small degree in the direction of meaningful learning. Best approach for this is to begin open dialogue, engaging all participants to discover key issues of current need unique to your organization and then develop a strategy to address those needs that works for the individuals and the group and is seen as attainable, supported by the administration, and will receive adequate resources and commitment from those with the authority to direct the resources in that direction.

If the collective mind of the organization is committed and believes in the goal, you will begin to see a change.

Janet

If you do not take into account the rare altruism teacher (the teacher should feed his family), the question of high-level education is facing financial problems. This fact is a kind of division between the routine and high-quality level of education that require special modern equipment and devices. This problem is solved in every society in different ways, depending on the problems of society, the level of general culture, financial possibilities of society.

I believe involving stakeholders in solving big problems is one of the pillars in Total Quality Management. Anyhow, the style of management may change accoding to the situation. 

Thanks for your comments and views.  I'm sorry that I had internet connection problems for about 20 hours, and couldn't post any response yet so far.  But I will be back after my classes today.  Have a good day, local time is 8.25 am Tuesday.

@Robert James, it's a good practice to have boards of studies meet up twice per semester with one student representative on the courses as well as any environmental issues that effect their learning.  I believe it's a good method to monitor your university quality process, besides the annual survey.

Friends, here we have a student body to bring the student ideas to the management.  For teacher assessment, we have observations of our lectures, tutorials and practicals once a year.  We have a management person, a senior lecturer from our own subject and 20 - 30 students to give their appraisal of the teacher's lesson.  Our survey is online, and is twice a year.

Dear Janet and all, thanks for your ideas.  Janet, you understand my question very well indeed.  I'm very interested in 'practical means to achieve results or at least turn the rudder of the ship a small degree in the direction of meaningful learning. Best approach for this is to begin open dialogue, engaging all participants to discover key issues of current need unique to your organization and then develop a strategy to address those needs that works for the individuals and the group and is seen as attainable'.

 But if the heads do not agree to the ideas for independent learning, it may not be so successful, right?  But I still discuss with my students simple things like Cornell note taking, concept maps and tables to organize info, and improving info literacy to survive in the university, where there's no spoon feeding.

Thanks for all your views.  Thanks dear @Enzo, for the link.  Even this part of the  Preamble already sounds so grand and deep indeed.

'Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members, for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage;

Considering that the dignity and equal worth of every human being constitute fundamental elements of those principles;

Considering that the freedom of expression and information, as embodied in Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, constitutes one of the essential principles of a democratic society and one of the basic conditions for its progress and for the development of every human being;

Reaffirming their commitment to the principles of the free flow of information and ideas and the independence of broadcasters, which constitute an indispensable basis for their broadcasting policy;

Affirming the importance of broadcasting for the development of culture and the free formation of opinions in conditions safeguarding pluralism and equality of opportunity among all democratic groups and political parties;

Convinced that the continued development of information and communication technology should serve to further the right, regardless of frontiers, to express, to seek, to receive and to impart information and ideas whatever their source.'

Miranda,

Yes you are correct that the administration must support the goals of the group in order to affect meaningful change. There is a difference between managing and leading an organization. Remember that management seeks stability through planning, organizing, and directing the activities of the organization while leadership involves creating change and motivating individuals to  reach the goals of the group. The same administration can perform both tasks, however, avoiding chaos often becomes the most prominent activity of administration during times of uncertainty and budget stresses.

Therefore, as a teacher you can promote meaningful learning in your students using the tools you described. I'm impressed!

Finally, if the collective consciousness in your university has identified an emergent leader that is not part of the assigned management, you may be able to suggest ideas for improving organizational learning through open dialogue using the tools described in the resources previously provided. Yes it is a slow process and that is to ensure chaos doesn't disrupt or cause dysfunction in the system. Hierarchical structure provides the foundation for orderly and safe processes upon which to create meaningful learning and adapt to new circumstances.

Best of wishes and it sounds like you have a great insight into your school's needs.

Janet Hanson

Stakeholders can be defined by one or more of the categories simultaneously.

• Stakeholder: any individual or group who has a vested interest in the outcome of a body of work.
• Key stakeholder: any stakeholder with significant influence on or significantly impacted by the work and where these interests and influence must be recognised if the work is to be successful.
• Clients: people who use our programs and services or are subject to our regulation. Clients are included in the department’s key stakeholder template as a major category of stakeholders.

https://www.immi.gov.au/about/stakeholder-engagement/_pdf/stakeholder-engagement-practitioner-handbook.pdf

Thanks @Janet, Umachandran and all.  You probably know that I have been busy indeed, doing my various duties.  Yesterday, I had a visit from an ex-student who is now in 5th semester at medical school.  He came to visit me at college, and so my colleague and I got info from him about the learning methods he and his classmates practiced, and how each one was doing at varsity.  We got many insights.  Yes, our students, past and present, are stakeholders.  My IL (Independent Learning) Group will suggest a few things to our college admin; we are just trying to make some improvement for our students.  It's not right to do nothing to improve student motivation!

Dear @Miranda, this is an example from Singapore!  "The school believes in engaging stakeholders to support the school in delivering holistic education to our pupils and seeks to develop effective partnerships with our key stakeholders. The school taps and leverages on its stakeholders to maximise educational impact and enhance resources...."

http://www.beattysec.moe.edu.sg/cos/o.x?c=/wbn/pagetree&func=view&rid=1197908

Miranda,

I am excited for both you and your school. The results of the research I have read and performed reveals that developing influence to promote school improvements results from building relationships and from being viewed as similar to those whom you wish to influence.

Therefore, the best approach is to spend time working and participating in activities with your administrators in a capacity where they view you as like them. Are there any outside school activities or organizations that you can join where you will work together with those in administrator such as community help groups? For example, fund raisers, church affiliations, athletic clubs, etc. where you can participate with your fellow workers and administrators to develop understandings in an informal setting? This type of interaction is the foundation for trust and reciprocity. Most of the actual decision making goes on outside of formal meetings and discussions.

Best wishes,

Janet

Dear all. We should be proud of the fact that among us there are people who are creative belong to the issues of education and learning. We must teach each person to appreciate beauty around, created by previous generations. We must learn to respect each other themselves.

Yes dear @Vladimir, "We must learn to respect each other themselves."

http://www.slideshare.net/downing/decolonizing-the-academy

The involvement of stakeholders in solving a problem is key to assume roles and especially focusing the problem process, conducted this stage can be considered consensus group or options, test and refine solutions, build capacity, implement and then analyze the lessons learned.

Educational Institution is a community, the kind and intensity of capacity building that may be needed to sustain engagement efforts is not entirely known; too often, Leaders can be caught up in "selling" the engagement effort without an accurate idea of the resources needed to actually support it over the long term.

http://www.cdc.gov/phppo/pce/part1.htm

Thanks for your posts.  Dear friends, this example is priceless to me:  'The school believes in engaging stakeholders to support the school in delivering holistic education to our pupils and seeks to develop effective partnerships with our key stakeholders. The school's key partners are the PSG, SAC, Beatty Alumni and others which include the community, institutions of higher learning, international exchange partner schools and MOE. Within the community, the school has sustained partnership with organizations like Toa Payoh Care Centre, Singapore Children Society, Tzu Chi Foundation and SPH. IHL will include Nanyang Poly and ITE College Central while there are four International Exchange Partner Schools which are Mutsuzawa High School, Japan (1990);Tauhara College, New Zealand (2007); Sacred Heart High School, Taiwan (2009); Nguyen Du Junior High School, Vietnam (2009). The collaboration with MOE HQ has been primarily with CPDD and ETD with the emphasis on the teaching and learning process. In developing the partnership with our key stakeholders, the school has identified three approaches/practices which are purposeful collaboration, collaborative climate and sustainability.'

http://www.beattysec.moe.edu.sg/cos/o.x?c=/wbn/pagetree&func=view&rid=1197908

Dear @Miranda,it is very important that  stakeholders do understand their role and responsibilities in the area of security problems, mainly in preventing and preparing for disturbance related activity. Such story is attached! It is about University of Massachusetts at Amherst!

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/03/14_police_agencies_to_help_amh.html

Thanks @Prof Ljubomir for specific info.  In view of criminal activities in schools that endanger students and teachers, it's good that the police are also stake holders.  (@Norah, I appreciate specific comments on this thread.  Thanks.)

'The cameras will feed directly to the police emergency center to allow officials "to view real time activity," according to the latest planning release.  Police will be able to use the video "to further all criminal investigations, assist to identify combatants" as well as to be used in evidence in criminal prosecutions.'

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/03/14_police_agencies_to_help_amh.html

These days management and governance in an educational institution is very complex. While the primary stakeholder is the student community, it is equally important to keep the other stakeholders concerned satisfied with their requirements. Staff members and faculty need the basic infrastructure for their offices and residences.

Good medical facilities are required for all residents including students, faculty and staff. Alumni association has to be assured that the institute is progressing well. Government rules and regulations including the provisions of inclusive education, reservation issues have to be taken care of.

values base needs to be nurtured, alongside critical thinking, problem-solving and interpersonal skills. This requires proficient scholarship, with the ability to understand and generate research and use its findings in practice, and to update skills and knowledge.

http://www.nursingtimes.net/Journals/2012/11/02/j/c/c/Willis-Commission-report-2012.pdf

“University presses function at the leading edge of knowledge production around the world. As such, we have a vital responsibility to implement anti-racist and anti-colonialist practices in our curatorial, marketing, and business activities, including the hiring, retention, and promotion of staff.”

These lines from the Statement on Equity and Anti-Racism, issued in 2020 by the Association of University Presses (AUPresses), contain a core commitment of the Association’s current work. In making explicit our community’s need to pursue specifically anti-racist practices in staff hiring, development, and reward, the Association seeks to propel university presses forward — and to generate change across publishing. However, the Association must acknowledge and address our own lack of progress, despite decades of diversity work, in building a publishing workforce that directly supports equitable knowledge production...

https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2021/03/18/guest-post-reckoning-with-whiteness-in-scholarly-publishing/?informz=1

Dear Miranda Yeoh , dear peers. this article belongs here.

Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing

While we still have a long way to go before our community is truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive, it’s been great to see a range of DEI initiatives flourish in scholarly communications and publishing over the past few years. Individual organizations and the community at large alike are now taking seriously the challenges we face in working to create a level playing field and making our industry truly welcoming to all. It’s been especially pleasing to see the development of a number of cross-organizational initiatives, both formal and informal, to address these challenges...

https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2021/04/21/joint-commitment-for-action-on-inclusion-and-diversity-in-publishing-an-interview-with-laura-norton-and-nicola-nugent-of-the-rsc/?informz=1

I totally agree with Dr. Maria Bettencourt Pires.

Dr. Miranda Yeoh 's proposal is very interesting to me. I recommend your answers.

Dear Miranda Yeoh , here is another example.

"Māori scholars say their work is not getting fair recognition because of racism and unconscious bias within the world of publishing."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/441753/maori-scholars-say-they-face-racism-unconscious-bias-when-publishing-work

It's very important to get involve all the stakeholders in problem solving in education institutions.

End of affirmative action badly hit medical student diversity

Minority public medical school enrolment seen down by more than third in five years in US states that banned racial considerations in admissions...

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/end-affirmative-action-badly-hit-medical-student-diversity?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial-daily