Report on

The India/UK
Leadership Development Programme

The Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE) recently embarked on the
second phase of a joint venture with UKIERI and the Indian University Grants
Commission (UGC) through the India/ UK Leadership Development Programme.
The programme, which was aimed at senior leaders from UK and Indian Higher
Education Institutions (HEIs) facilitated the exchange of UK and Indian experiences
on current leadership issues and promoted cooperation in learning, teaching and
research.

Senior leaders from UK HEIs who put themselves forward for the programme were
matched with a broadly equivalent Indian HEI. The first cohort involved 28
participants, 14 from each country. Following an orientation event in the UK, 14 UK
participants travelled to New Delhi in March 2009 to meet up with their Indian
counterparts where they attended a 2-day workshop which focused on developing a
deeper shared understanding of HE issues and for the UK participants, increased their
knowledge of the Indian HE system. After the workshop, each UK participant spent 3
days visiting their twinned Indian partner which provided the UK participants an
insight into the Indian Higher Education system and the framework within which the
institutions operate.

On 15 and 16 June 2009, the reverse process saw senior leaders from Indian HEIs
travel to the UK for a 2-day workshop hosted by the School of Oriental and African
Studies, in London, UK. This second phase aimed to provide programme participants
with an insight into the principal policy issues in UK Higher Education and key
issues in the leadership and management of UK universities.
The workshop was facilitated by Professor Graham Upton, former Vice-Chancellor
of Oxford Brookes University and Leadership Foundation International Associate
and supported by a number of high calibre speakers.

The workshop began with welcome and introductions from the Director and Principal
of SOAS, Professor Paul Webley, and the Chief Executive of the Leadership
Foundation, Ewart Wooldridge. The Chief Executive recalled the successful first
workshop in India and expressed his delight at having this opportunity to welcome
the Indian participants in London. The Programme Director, Professor Graham
Upton, then outlined the structure of the two day workshop and invited the
participants to introduce themselves.

The first presentations were on the theme of Research Developments and

Collaborations. Raegan Hiles, Higher Education Policy Advisor at the Higher
Education Funding Council (HEFCE) explained the working of the Research
Assessment Exercises (RAE) and the role of HEFCE in managing the exercise. He
covered in detail the mechanism of assessment and the way in which the elaborate
peer review exercise was operated. Discussion focused on the ranking and league
tables arising out of the RAE results and on the implications for individual
institutions and their funding. Raegan Hiles was followed by Professor Geoff Wood
of the University of Bath who gave a detailed account of how his University prepared
for, and managed, the submission of publications and other indicators of research
excellence. This case study highlighted the considerable institutional costs
associated with this exercise and the impact on staff morale and relationships
between individuals within the institution. Professor Wood explained how
Universities are now gearing up for the Research Excellence Framework which is to
replace the current RAE.

The workshop gave a warm welcome to Dr John Wood, Vice Chancellor of the
University of Oxford. Dr Wood gave a comprehensive account of the English
speaking world’s oldest University and explained its particular and unique features
and sources of strength. Dr Wood focused particularly on the international character
of the University and the growth in student numbers from Asia, with 25 per cent
increase in students from China over the last ten years and 11 per cent from India –
the second largest increase in international student recruitment.

An across the broader view of the Issues in British Higher Education was provided by Sir
Alan Wilson, former Vice Chancellor of Leeds University and Director General of
Higher Education at the Department of Education and Science. Sir Alan gave a
comprehensive account of the key challenges facing British Universities in respect of
teaching, research and knowledge transfer before moving on to examine the management
challenges.

The second day opened with a presentation on the Business Facing University from
Dr David Pilsbury, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Coventry University. Dr Pilsbury
presented the participants with a novel vision of a University committed to the
sharing of knowledge with a wider society and the commercialisation of its
knowledge base. He explained the starting point as being to create value in society in
ways that did not threaten academic values. The implications for the recruitment of
entrepreneurial staff and recruitment from a far wider spectrum of experience were
central to achieving this vision.

The discussion moved from the UK to India with a detailed presentation on the Changing
Landscape of Higher Education in India by Professor Ved Prakash. Professor Prakash,
Vice Chairman of UGC, concentrated particularly on the rapid growth of the sector and
its acceleration in the 21st century. He emphasized also the decline in public resources
committed to the higher education growth and the shift towards a more stringent
approach to cost recovery on the part of the Universities. Arguing that growth in students
can only be reconciled with reduced funding through privatization and
commercialization, Professor Prakash highlighted the increasing participation of private
interests through the growth of self-financing institutions, the increased presence of
foreign Universities and the move towards self-financing courses in public Universities.
Professor Prakash argued that these trends might have the effect of restricting access to a
wide range of groups. The challenge will be to ensure affordable education in this new
world of higher education.

Ensuring Quality in Teaching and Learning was the next major theme to be explored
in the workshop. It opened with a presentation by Carolyn Campbell on the National
Framework for Quality and Standards. She explained the role of the Quality
Assurance Agency and its programme of audits in institutions. This presentation set
the context for two case studies presented by Professors Mary Stiansy of the
University of London’s Institute of Education and Professor John Raftery of the
Oxford Brooks University. Both speakers explained how their institutions organised
to ensure quality and the structures and processes associated with monitoring of
standards. Professor Stiansy focused on the role of external examiners as guardians
of quality, while Professor Raftery outlined in detail how new programmes are
developed and approved to meet QA criteria.

The substantive sessions of the workshop were drawn to a close by presentation by

Professor Neil Gorman of Nottingham Trent University on the theme of Inspiring
and Delivering change. This was a broad based discussion focused on the experience
of his own University, but applicable across the board. Professor Gorman gave
particular attention to the cultural constraints on change and on the need to embed
shared ideas and vision across the entire institution.

The workshop concluded with Professor Graham Upton and Professor Nirmala Rao
identifying some themes arising from the various sessions and exploring participants’
reactions. Participants had greatly appreciated the opportunities to learn about the other’s
HE systems and institutions: how they worked and where they provided inspiration for
reforms. Seeing the different styles of university, from the unique position of Oxford to
the ‘market facing’ University of Coventry had been inspirational. The discussion
focused on some themes and issues which top managers in the two systems experienced
in common.
Outcomes of the workshop
The following outcomes of the workshop discussions were recorded.

Knowledge and awareness of the British Higher Education system

The participants gained an in-depth knowledge of issues of access, quality and
diversity in HE sector. They benefited from a forward looking discussion that
focused on emerging issues, the changing role of the university particularly with
regard to widening participation, inter-disciplinarity and the move towards
continuous professional development and life long learning. The discussion of
management challenges highlighted the striking differences between the UK and the
Indian systems and there was much shared learning from some of the initial sessions.
The participants were particularly challenged by the alternative visions of University
purpose that was offered to them, including the notion of knowledge transfer from
education to industry and the commercial sector.

Research
The participants gained an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the
complexities of the UK’s Research Assessment Exercise. They took particular
interest in the apparently perverse outcomes of the exercise and the extent to which
funding has been spread more widely, with ring-fencing of STEM subjects, leading
to considerable losses of funding to the some of the strongest non-STEM subjects
whereby even Universities that are greatly improved their performance in absolute
and relative terms received poor monetary rewards.

Teaching quality and standards

The Indian participants engaged strongly with the discussion on quality enhancement
and assurance reflecting upon the common interests in ensuring standards and the
roles of national regulating bodies. It was felt that the sharing of experience in this
area was fruitful and could support further refinements of the quality assurance
processes.
Collaboration
Opportunities to do more together were explored including possible access to EU
funds, dedicated workshops to develop the relationships that were emerging,
developing bid-writing skills jointly, and making joint applications. Greater
collaboration on research was also desirable, possibly involving RCUK and its India
office. The exchange of second-level staff and secondment and sabbatical
opportunities with partners were also identified.

All of these suggestions have informed the proposal to continue with the India-UK
leadership programme with the programme each year being determined around
aspects of the relationships that are proving to be successful. Initially the desire is to
‘broaden’ ie, involve more institutions in the relationship between the two countries
before deepening the relationships within institutions. It is hoped that relationships
based on academic disciplines can be propagated. The methods used during future
sessions will be those judged best able to build lasting interactions.

Evaluation of the workshop

Following the workshop the Indian participants spent 3 days with their twinned UK
institutions to enrich their learning experience. The full programme for the June
workshop can be found at Appendix B.

The workshop was evaluated in accordance with LFHE Quality Assurance

procedures and a full impact evaluation will be conducted at the end of July 2009.
The outcome of this evaluation will be shared with programme partners. At the
conclusion of the June programme, assessments were made of its value by the
participants. The participants felt that the workshop offered an excellent way of
facilitating inter-institutional partnerships and provided an opportunity to understand
higher education systems in each country. The design of the workshop allowed
participants to network and explore other possible partnerships with participating
institutions.
A number of participants offered the following comments which they wished to be shared
more widely in support of the future development of the programme.

The Leadership Development Programme was an excellent way of facilitating inter-

institutional partnerships

An excellent beginning has been made for globalization of education and the need for
academic collaboration has been highlighted, I hope this is followed up

The workshop was a great experience. I am going back with new benchmarks of quality
of management

Next Steps

It is hoped that long-term collaborative relationships will develop between the paired
institutions as a result of the programme and a proposal for the development of future
programmes has been produced.