Normally both undergraduate and postgraduate courses are offered in a university. It is well known that higher education can not go without research and therefore it is expected that academic leader of a university should be an eminent researcher. However is it justified that a person with extremely good academic and research records but having no teaching experience is appointed to the above post?
Dear Anup,
I think it desirable teaching experience as a teacher. We must remember that he was once a student, who also is a considerable part of the educational experience. Then maybe we can consider it "dominates" the side of the teaching and learning process equation. Not sure if teaching experience is a guarantee for successful academic leader. The academic leader on the other hand, must have functions that exceed by far the teaching function and perhaps a teacher has not. So also here it would only one side of the equation. Our friend Sergei Sergeenkov did very well to ask what the duties of the academic leader. I think the new academic leader, in any of the cases above, must be confronted with such duties and their profile and skills necessary to hold such a position, you should have a great demand for management skills, conflict resolution, management skills money, account for academic quality of production, etc ... I imagine that the list should be long. There are management tools to check his profile with their assignments. In this scenario, perhaps the fact of lack of teaching experience is not such a major factor.
Regards,
S.
Dear Anup,
I think it desirable teaching experience as a teacher. We must remember that he was once a student, who also is a considerable part of the educational experience. Then maybe we can consider it "dominates" the side of the teaching and learning process equation. Not sure if teaching experience is a guarantee for successful academic leader. The academic leader on the other hand, must have functions that exceed by far the teaching function and perhaps a teacher has not. So also here it would only one side of the equation. Our friend Sergei Sergeenkov did very well to ask what the duties of the academic leader. I think the new academic leader, in any of the cases above, must be confronted with such duties and their profile and skills necessary to hold such a position, you should have a great demand for management skills, conflict resolution, management skills money, account for academic quality of production, etc ... I imagine that the list should be long. There are management tools to check his profile with their assignments. In this scenario, perhaps the fact of lack of teaching experience is not such a major factor.
Regards,
S.
Dear Anup
If you say the leader is the top most position, a very clear no.
The very essential requirement for inculcating good academic values depend on the top most person if he/she do not have any teaching experience cannot deliver the goods. A university position involves a lot of teaching and research in proper mix. We have seen in India in a number of places where this was done, with disastrous results. Those universities had to spend considerable amount of team after that leader left to come to the main academic stream.
By academic leader I mean, as pointed out by Prof. Nageswara Rao Posinasetti , the top most position. In India s/he is called the Vice-Chancellor.
A senior academic position need experience in teaching, research and management. It is not only their ability to carry out the job that is important but the confidence of the staff who have to work for them. A senior academic who has never taught will not gain that confidence.
Anup:
I believe there are other important qualities of a University Academic Leader and one being considered for the position would depend on characteristics other than those based on expeience in teaching.
The answer would depend on the individual’s skills including and other than as an academic or as an eminent researcher. Some of the most important qualities of an Academic Leader would be their abilities in the area of Management, especially managing Change (and overcoming staff resistance), the person’s cultural competency, their communication skills from the ground level up (politician), credibility within the academic community, visionary, and a firm understanding of public and international policy issues, and conflict resolution, maintaining the competitive advantage (dollars and cents).
There was a question posed on RG about the definition of Time, I think an Academic Leader should notice that the definition of was much different between the physicist and the psychologist and that both were right or neither were wrong.
---Just my point-of-view :0) --Marilyn
Dear Marilyn,
I accept all your points but my question was "Should an eminent researcher with no teaching experience be appointed as the academic leader of a university? Now let me ask your views about the following. Should a person with all the qualities as you described along with a very good research experience and with absolutely no teaching experience be appointed as the academic leader of a university?
Regards,
Anup
I think the academic leader of a university should have a good teaching experience.
Best Regardsc@Anup Kumar Bandyopadhyay
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