President of AU

It was very interesting to hear President of AU Dr. Frits Pannekoek speak last night. I have not received and heard the recording yet. However, I will here on my blog give a summary of what I heard in the session in Adobe Connect on March 22nd.

Firstly, the Presidents emphasizes strong and clear values as something important in leadership in a higher education institution (HEI). In the case of AU, it was obvious that the mission to change educational patterns so that more people can get a degree from a HEI is a strong driver for Dr. Frits. For him success is when AU enrolls students from families without any educational background, because it increases the possibilities for their children to get educated. Therefore, he criticizes the ranking-systems for universities focusing on output rather than on outcome.

Secondly, I think it was great to hear Dr. Frits speaking about his own leadership. How he values empowerment. Therefore, he depends on a dedicated and engaged staff. For him it is an indicator of success if he can leave the institution for one month without anyone hardly noticing it. He also mentions the need for ethical leadership – in a period of time – where there is lots of different economic and political pressure on HEI. It was also very refreshing to hear him speaking about students learning, culture of learning and higher quality in DE as essential parts of his work.

Eventhough Dr. Frits finds that leadership theory tends to be common sense, he recommends a book: Paul, R. (2011) Leadership Under Fire: The Challenging Role of the Canadian University President Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. I have not read the book yet. However, Tony Bates http://www.tonybates.ca/2011/10/26/book-review-ross-pauls-leadership-under-fire/ gives an inspiring review which supports Dr. Frits' recommendations of the book. So, I will ask my liberary to buy an example of the book to learn more about Canadian Higher Education.
Finally, he points at integrity as something very important for a leader in HEI.

Through Dr. Frits' interactions with the cohort and the answers he gave us  on the questions we had posted to him, he supported his points of views and therefore he was a great illustration of an engaged, authentic and visionary leader - from my point of view.

Now, I look forward to receive the recording – and to compare his actual words with the words I heard and have reflected on today.