Higher education teachers to be trained for leadership

India has collaborated with 12 top-rated universities in the world including Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and Stanford to prepare its senior faculty members for leadership roles in public-funded higher education institutions in the country.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has come up with a flagship programme under which a three-week specialised training will be provided to senior and eligible faculty members of the the higher education institutions.

The faculty members to be registered for the programme will undergo two-weeks specialised training on leadership development at 15 top-rated institutions in India including IITs and one-week training at abroad at partner foreign institutions.

The London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Michigan, University of Viginia, Purdue University, Kyoto University, Penn Engineering, Nanyang Technological University and Monash University are among the top rated foreign institutions where Indian higher education teachers will be sent for one-week training in different batches under the programme.

The first batch of the faculty members is expected to undertake the specialised training under the Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) in December.

The HRD ministry on Tuesday invited faculty members of the higher education institutions to apply for the LEAP.

The online registration for the LEAP will start from Wednesday at the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching's (PMMMNMTT) webportal.

“The training programme will empower our senior faculty members and prepare them for taking up various leadership role in the public funded higher education institutions like vice chancellor, director and head of department,” a HRD ministry official said.

The LEAP seeks to prepare “second tier academic heads” who are potentially likely to assume leadership roles in the future.

The training programme will equip the faculty members with a range of skills required in a leadership role like problem-solving, handling stress, team building work, conflict management, understanding and coping with the complexity and challenges of governance in higher education institutions.

The faculty members, who are below 55 years, have at least 3 years experience in administrative positions and at least 8 years of experience in the grade of professor with “impeccable integrity” are eligible for the training programnme.

“They must also have at least 30 publications in ‘SCOPUS’ indexed international journals,” the official added.