Preparing new professionals for administrative leadership in higher education: identifying specific skills for training

ABSTRACT

Working as an administrator in higher education often requires a graduate degree in order to qualify for entry-level positions. Yet, graduate programmes in higher education are often criticised for not adequately training students for their first administrative responsibilities. In this qualitative study, researchers asked a wide range of higher education administrators to identify specific skills and tasks they observed as challenging to new professionals that needed to be addressed as part of their training. Findings suggest that new professionals may need guidance on navigating and understanding institutional culture; performing required tasks and processes; adjusting their own behaviour, expectations and performance based on feedback and experiences; managing and supervising personnel; and making sound decisions without direct guidance. Implications for preparation programmes and administrative practice are shared.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• training
• new professionals
• career development
• college administrators
• universities and colleges

Notes on contributors

Peggy C. Holzweiss is an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She holds a Master’s of Science in Student Affairs Administration and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Texas A&M University. She teaches graduate level courses in online and face-to-face formats, and her research focuses on professional development for higher education administrators, distance education students, and teaching and learning in the online environment.

Daniel W. Walker is an Assistant Director in the distance education department of Sam Houston State University with over 8 years of higher education experience. Daniel is a graduate from Sam Houston State University with a M.A in Higher Education Administration. His research focuses on professional development, student worker employees, higher education technology, and teaching and learning in distance education.

Meredith Conrey is the Director of Leadership Initiatives at Sam Houston State University. She received both her bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication and her master’s degree in Educational Administration with a focus in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education from Texas A&M University. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Higher Education Administration from Sam Houston State University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Peggy C. Holzweiss http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8504-0826