Holding Higher Education to Account: Measuring What Matters in the Development of Students as Leaders
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: A common claim among institutions of higher education is that “we make leaders.” Although the vastmajority of leaders will certainly pass through the hallowed halls of colleges and universities, whetherand to what extent educational institutions have any actual impact on leader development is an openquestion with little supporting evidence. What would such evidence look like if we were to search for it?And how might we use an evidence-based approach to increase the effectiveness of leader developmentinitiatives in higher education? This article describes a new initiative at Rice University, the Ann and JohnDoerr Institute for New Leaders, the purpose of which is to increase the leadership capacity of studentsacross the entire university. This institute takes an evidence-based approach to leader development,uses only professional leader developers in its work, and self-skeptically determines success and failurethrough rigorous measurement of outcomes. We present preliminary evidence of progress in studentleader development, along with a call for a more scientific approach to leader development throughoutinstitutions of higher education.
Authors: Ryan P. Brown, Lebena Varghese
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2965795926