At first glance, Canadian universities are much like their counterparts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and many of the Commonwealth nations. As is the case with so many other Canadian institutions, however, there are significant differences, and these are critical to an understanding of the challenges faced by Canadian universities as well as to their governance and management. Any discussion of the role of the president of a Canadian university must begin by taking into account the distinguishing characteristics of the higher education system and the national culture within which it functions.

A good place to start is...

Universities have become more central in the knowledge society. They no longer focus only on grooming the elite for future leadership but increasingly seek to provide equal opportunity for all, as society has recognized the importance of higher overall levels of educational attainment and the value of research and scholarship that will drive our future economic and social development.

One result of this change has been a greater interest in the position of university president, and a greater sense of the importance of this position, not just to our universities, but to Canada as a whole. This draws particular attention...

While none of the rich and growing literature, primarily American, around organizational leadership is yet definitive or conclusive, the most elusive studies of all concern the leadership of colleges and universities. Leadership studies are central to the management of a private sector organization, but efforts to apply them to universities have had to wrestle first with such prior questions as, What are the goals of a university and who should be responsible for their realization? However optimistic or cynical the approach, the results are inevitably the same – universities are among the most difficult of all organizations to lead.

Leadership...

Like Frank Rhodes, many writers see the most important task of a university president as being to manage the “big picture” – to develop and communicate a mission, vision, and long-term objectives for the institution. There is a huge body of literature on strategic leadership, notably for the private sector. More than anyone else in the organization, the chief executive officer is expected to be preoccupied with the long term, to look at the strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities and threats facing the institution, and to forge an action plan that realizes the vision that emerges from the whole exercise....

Almost every book about the challenges of being a university president recognizes the delicate balance that a successful incumbent must find between understanding and respecting the academic culture that defines a university and working through and around it to initiate change deemed in the long-term interests of the institution. While such leadership should be easier for an internal appointee to the presidency, given that he or she knows the key players and understands how things work in the particular institution, this advantage is often offset by the much shorter honeymoon period that exists for an insider. It may be no...

One of the inherent dangers in the role of a modern Canadian university president is that the incumbent becomes so preoccupied with government and community relations, fundraising, collective bargaining, research productivity, institutional reputation, and governance issues that he or she overlooks the crucial issue of the evolving student experience on campus.

The issue of the quality of today’s campus experience is seen in a variety of ways by such different constituencies as students, faculty, alumni, board members, the general public, and the president.

For the most part, today’s undergraduate students inhabit a campus that is much larger and less personal...

We have seen that most Canadian universities were relatively small and even parochial in both their clientele and outlook until well into the 1960s. While there is considerable variation on campuses across the country, almost every university today has made a significant commitment to internationalism through the recruitment of international students and faculty, faculty and student exchange programs, research partnerships, and even mandatory overseas components for specific degree programs.

Like many of my contemporaries, I benefited tremendously from international experiences as a student. In 1964 I graduated from Bishop’s University, a wonderful institution that was so small (550 students), homogeneous,...

No discussion of presidential leadership among Canadian public universities will last very long without the matter of money coming up. In terms of time investment, no issue is more preoccupying for a president, both in terms of ensuring the revenues and carefully managing the expenditures.

On the revenue side, the president’s challenge starts with having to persuade governments and taxpayers of the vital importance of investing in universities for the future economic and social health of the country. On the expenditure side, it means tight fiscal management and doing everything possible to make optimum use of the resources available. An...

It is one thing to develop great plans for change in a university and quite another to see them through to full implementation. There are many books on university leadership but far fewer on the day-to-day administration that is necessary to ensure its effectiveness.²

While leadership styles are many and varied, every university president has to be effective in the day-to-day administration that comprises so much of his or her role. As reflected in cross-section of presidents selected for this book, almost none of Canada’s executive heads had significant management training before assuming the presidency. Most learn to be leaders...

As previously observed, the role of university president in Canada has evolved swiftly in recent years away from on-campus leadership to an increasingly busy and important external function. There are mixed feelings about this trend, both within the institutions and among the presidents themselves.

David Johnston, well known for his many community activities, would have spent more time outside the institution if he could have, while Bill Leggett and Myer Horowitz regret the trend towards president as ceo, preferring the older model of president as academic leader. This is not to suggest that the two styles are mutually exclusive; I...

As the chief executive officer of the modern public university, the president is hired by the board of governors (in consultation with the senate) to, among other responsibilities,

help the institution to define its mission, mandate, and priorities;

ensure the effective management of the institution, its programs, and services;

ensure the institution’s fiscal health;

ensure the quality of its academic endeavours – programs, teaching, research and scholarship, support services – primarily through the recruitment and management of faculty and staff;

ensure a climate of academic freedom and support for the pursuit of knowledge and truth;

ensure the reputation and effective...

The nearly universal high standard of Canadian universities is a matter of considerable pride within the academic community, but it comes at the expense of system diversity relative to most postsecondary education systems. The Canadian university is an excellent institution, but as set out in chapter 6, it may not be the most appropriate choice for every one of the students (who represent a much wider spectrum) now attending it. Many young Canadians might be better served by an entity more suited to their individual needs and capabilities.

At the university level, other choices might take the form of a...

As I stated at the outset of this book and have emphasized throughout, the role of university president in Canada is both more important and more difficult than ever. While university presidents might not make as much difference as they often think they do, they are in a position to play a pivotal role at a time when Canada needs both to reaffirm the importance of its universities and to reform them.

Writing in the American context, where the president usually has more ascribed authority than his or her counterpart in Canada, Cohen and March do not paint a very...

This book makes the case that, given an appropriate institutional fit, a good president can make a significant difference to his or her institution, especially if there is some continuity of purpose and direction under successive incumbents. It contrasts the challenges of managing in earlier times with the more complex, public, and multifaceted role of the president in the twenty-first century, and emphasizes that both the context and the role are continually changing, especially since long-standing traditions of university governance are subject to public scrutiny and accountability as never before.

Canadian universities and their leaders are increasingly under fire from...