Pursuing Excellence in Higher Education: Eight Fundamental Challenges

Citation

Narasimhan, K. (2005), "Pursuing Excellence in Higher Education: Eight Fundamental Challenges", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 69-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/13683040510617014

Dr Ruben is the executive director of the Center for Organizational Development and Leadership at Rutgers University, and also the distinguished professor of communication and organizational psychology. He is a member of the Board and founding chairperson of the National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education. He is the author or editor of 30 books.

This book comprises ten chapters in addition to the introduction, and offers an in‐depth examination of key challenges for the academy (faculty, staff and administrators). The first and the last chapters are written by Dr Ruben; and 36 other authors, who range from assistant professors to chancellors and presidents of various American universities, have contributed to the rest.

In Chapter 1, Ruben summarises the eight challenges after establishing the need for the study of the topic of academic excellence. Each of the following eight chapters explores the eight challenges in turn. The chapters end with two to four brief narratives by leading practitioners that describe what they are doing and why.

Chapter 2 is about how to widen the appreciation for the work of the academy by improving the dialogue and engagement with external stakeholders. Such a dialogue will also helps institutions to understand the perspectives of those who have concerns and aid reducing, if not eliminating, misunderstandings given the multiple missions, programmes and services, beneficiaries and stakeholders, and the intricate web of collaborative relationships.

In Chapter 3, the importance of higher education's role in preparing graduates for the workplace is dealt with. It is emphasized that it is crucial to understand and address the needs of workplaces for institutions to survive in the global market. For example, one of the narratives describes how the classroom and workplace can be brought together without leaving the campus, in which students studies, learned and applied an array of communication and organizational competencies to address a challenge (environmental health and safety issue) facing the institution.

How to become a more effective learning organisation is the theme of Chapter 4. The need for clarifying goals and evaluating outcomes and how measures are selected using the balanced scorecard approach and outcomes are evaluated are covered. In Chapter 5, the focus is on integrating organizational assessment, planning and improvement. The application of higher education model of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is briefly covered, with an example of its application to finance and administrative services at Miami University.

The focus of Chapter 6 is on the need for, and the ways of, achieving academic collaboration across disciplines and campuses for aligning the rhetoric and reality of campus culture (that is, respecting individual differences while at the same time collaborate to achieve the common goal). The barriers between faculty and staff and the need to overcome them by establishing cross‐functional approaches are briefly covered.

Overall student experience is the theme of Chapter 7. It is emphasized that students are affected not only by the teaching environment but also by the learning environment, which includes facilities, accommodation, physical environment, policies and procedures, and more importantly, interpersonal relations and communication; and from every encounter they experience. Hence, the faculty, staff and administrators have to set good examples by their deeds and recognize that everyone in an institution is a teacher. Rutger University's CASE (Citizenship and Service Education) Program is briefly described.

In Chapter 8, attention is turned to attracting, developing and retaining outstanding leaders who can help to achieve new levels of excellence and innovation. In Chapter 9, it is emphasized that pursuing academic excellence though necessary is not sufficient. Higher education institutions should also strive to excel in the provision of services (both content and communication: instruction and interaction); and the way they function (that is the work processes and procedures). The challenge is to improve organisational effectiveness; access and responsiveness, while at the same time improve the efficiency. In the final Chapter, Ruben briefly reviews the eight challenges covered in the preceding chapters and their implications.

This is a useful book for everyone interested in making higher education institutions more effective and efficient as well as for researchers. I found the book extremely useful and can apply some of the ideas into practice.