Making of a CEO

4 Educational Institutions

Heads of educational institutes like principals of schools or colleges, or vice chancellors of universities play a key role in shaping the institutions they head and also in the way they impact society through the students. In effect, they play the role of a CEO in an educational setting instead of a corporate one. Changing society and industries, evolving expectations of the learners and technology all influence how educational institutions impart knowledge. Teaching as such is seen as a very noble profession, and leading an educational institution comes with the responsibility of supervising the teachers and focusing on the larger cause.

Largely, the role of the leader of the school, that is the head of the school or the principal, is to provide strategic alignment, administrative excellence, academic excellence and people leadership. This involves providing a vision and aligning the different aspects of the school to realize that vision. This is the key to building a culture of excellence rooted in the purpose of the institution.

An interesting example of how heads of educational institutions lead their organizations to sustained greatness is Ravi J. Matthai, the first full-time director of IIM Ahmedabad. Prof. T.T. Ram Mohan, a professor at IIM Ahmedabad, gives a detailed account in his book, Brick by Red Brick, about Ravi Matthai and the making of IIM Ahmedabad.¹ It talks about how Matthai helped build one of the most respected institutes of management in India. Vikram Sarabhai, a well-known institution builder, appointed Matthai to head IIM Ahmedabad when the latter was just thirty-eight years old. Matthai built a culture that could sustain itself for a long period of time by providing freedom to the faculty and making them the centre of decision-making. Back then, this was rather unusual as directors or the heads of institutions used to take all major decisions.

Matthai also created the vision for the institute and emphasized the application of knowledge where the faculty was encouraged to teach and do research through consulting. This set IIM Ahmedabad apart from the regular management schools that just focused on teaching. At a time when finding faculty to teach at management institutes was difficult, Matthai was able to spot talent that could be groomed. He was instrumental in developing the collaboration with Harvard Business School. Many of the faculty members were encouraged to be trained at Harvard and this showed his commitment to encouraging talent. It is interesting to note that Matthai chose to relinquish his role as director when his first term finished—setting a precedent that IIM Ahmedabad directors were to only hold the position for one term so that there were no issues regarding continued reliance on an individual to lead the institution.

Leading an educational institution is unique in some aspects. The person who heads it is often a well-respected academician with enviable academic degrees and past teaching experience. However, the role that the head of the institution plays has less to do with academic knowledge and more to do with administrative prowess. It is important that the head of the institute is able to manage diverse viewpoints of stakeholders (faculty, students, board, investors and administrative staff), manage day-to-day administration, set governance standards, communicate to external and internal stakeholders, build the brand of the institute, and at the same time set and manage high levels of academic excellence. Leadership and governance are the key elements of educational excellence globally.

Research conducted by Exeter University shares some critical elements that are taken into consideration for hiring the chief executive officer (vice chancellor or principal) of an educational institution. It is observed that while ‘research and academic’ excellence is a given, the ‘credibility’ of a candidate is seen beyond just teaching and research; it also includes management and leadership experience and potential. ‘Thus, candidates are now likely to be considered on a range of factors, including credibility [to peers and colleagues within and beyond the institution], capability [including operational and strategic management experience], character [particularly integrity, distinctiveness, interpersonal skills and personal style] and career tactics [ambition and desire to progress, political skills, self-management and ability to proactively manage change].’² The study also shows that leaders in universities are expected to manage the business side of the institution, inspire the team, manage change and provide a compelling vision. While traditionally, these institutions were insulated from competition due to the demand-supply gap and regulations, the opening up of global competition, institutional ranking and changing expectations of industry and students have also changed the role that a CEO of an educational institution plays. More than academic background, it is the ability to manage multiple stakeholders that sets a vice chancellor apart.

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous body under the University Grants Commission (UGC), assesses the excellence of higher educational institutions on seven broad parameters:

Curricular aspects: This aspect looks at the relevance of the curriculum, flexibility in the learning process, career orientation of the curriculum and learner centricity. It also looks at the flexibility provided to the learner.
Teaching—learning and evaluation: The second aspect looks at how the learning process takes place, including the quality of the students and the faculty. It also looks at the multiple methodologies adopted in the classroom. The evaluation of the learning outcome and the faculty is also a key element of this aspect.
Research, consultancy and extension: The key elements here are to create a culture of research—encouraging the faculty to do relevant and impactful research in their domains, collaborating with external stakeholders through research/consultancy; ability of the institution to get external grants; and having mutually beneficial collaboration with other institutions or organizations.
Infrastructure and learning resources: This aspect looks into the institute’s capability to provide cutting-edge resources in terms of physical infrastructure related to learning, such as libraries, IT laboratories and other facilities that enable the institution to grow.
Student support and progression: The fifth criterion looks at the support for student progression. This aspect looks at whether the institute is able to provide the necessary resources to prepare the students for the job market and higher education; and whether there are enough enablers to handle student grievances and concerns. These are the key elements here.
Governance, leadership and management: This criterion covers institutional vision, strategy deployment, faculty empowerment, internal quality, and various human resource development aspects. This is a core element that readies the institution for the future. Leaders of the institutions play a key role in developing the vision and the road map for excellence. Developing next-level leadership is also a key aspect to be considered here.
Innovation and best practices: The seventh criterion in the NAAC assessment is about innovation and best practices. It talks about how the institution should be environment conscious, how it should bring in best practices related to education, and create a culture of innovation.

A leader of an institution, a vice chancellor or a principal, has to work towards the vision, garner necessary resources to sustain and grow, develop research and academic excellence, enable student progress, nurture innovation and best practices, and attract and develop faculty and administrative talent.³

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Globally, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings is considered a definitive guide to the ranking of universities worldwide. The rankings are based on thirteen performance indicators. The performance indicators are grouped into five areas: teaching (the learning environment), research (volume, income and reputation), citations (research influence), international outlook (staff, students and research), and industry income (knowledge transfer).

As part of this project, I interviewed twelve vice chancellors of Indian universities to understand the challenges they face in managing the institutions and how they influences their role. The responses varied from state universities to central universities and the autonomous/private ones. Vice chancellors of state-run universities, central universities and autonomous/private universities participated and shared their views. The summary is as follows:

Key Challenges Leaders Face in State-run Universities

Managing external stakeholders including the government, political pressures and unions
Managing student expectations—including unrest
Driving a common goal with different parties within the university
Leading in a democratic environment driven sometimes by non-academic stakeholders in key decision-making bodies like the senate or the syndicate
Ensuring compliance to regulations and regulatory bodies like the UGC
Managing the budget of the university and the finances
Creating academic and research excellence
Providing cost-effective service
Managing administrative issues, including human resources, facilities and social aspects
Being the spokesperson/ambassador for the university
Influencing faculty and aligning them to a common vision

In the case of central universities and autonomous/private universities, many of the challenges like political involvement or student problems may be less, and hence the leader is able to focus on key goals of academic excellence.

The growth of a leader in a university is mostly organic. The evolution from a pure academician to an academic leader requires exposure to multiple elements of administration. Typically, most vice chancellors take up multiple stints in administrative roles before opting for the top role.

Additional Responsibilities That Help in Administrative Excellence

Leading student activities like warden of hostels, heading committees, leading student guidance and placement unit
Dean of institutions; academic and administrative activities
Special assignments related to global collaborations
Leading the university’s quality initiatives
Managing key activities like inspection by regulatory bodies

The appointment of vice chancellors of government-supported universities is of critical significance as the person can have a major impact on the future of the organization. As per the present UGC norms, a candidate applying for the post of vice chancellor should be an academician with a minimum of ten years’ experience as a professor in a university or in an equivalent position in a reputed research and/or academic administrative organization. In their paper on the appointment of vice chancellors, Sudha Rao, senior fellow of ASERF (Apeejay Stya Education Research Foundation), and Mithilesh Singh, vice chancellor, Karnataka State Open University,⁴ pointed out that the vice chancellor is the bridge between academics and the administrative department of a university. Apart from the basic qualifications, many committees/panels that look at academic excellence in the country stated that vice chancellors should have high respectability and integrity, they should be holders of values and should have a strategic vision.

Building academic and administrative excellence is the key role of a leader of a university. Drew Gilpin Faust, the twenty-eighth president of Harvard University, describes the role she played in institution building. ‘As [the] president of Harvard, [I] have expanded financial aid to improve access to Harvard College for students of all economic backgrounds and advocated for increased federal funding for scientific research. [I have] broadened the university’s international reach, raised the profile of arts on campus, embraced sustainability, launched edX—the online learning partnership with MIT, and promoted collaboration across academic disciplines and administrative units.’ Clearly the achievements Faust lists show the expectations from leaders of universities. A leader should be able to manage resources from various sources, broaden global outlook, build sustainability, embrace technology and create a well-oiled engine for a functional organization.

Time magazine in its list of the top presidents of universities mentions the influence that the role of a leader of a university can command. While many presidents get embroiled with internal issues, the most influential ones understand the larger social impact that they can have and are able to effectively leverage their positions. They are able to lead wider social campaigns, influence decision makers on larger matters related to society and education, and play a key role in making the university visible beyond its campus.

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Dr Rajesh Panda, who heads the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management in Bengaluru, mentioned how some of the softer aspects of leadership helped him successfully manage the role at a young age. While it is typical to assume that the chief executive of an educational institute would be well above fifty years, Dr Rajesh is an interesting example of how somebody can take up the role at a rather young age—thirty years. It is important that the head of the institution is able to gain the trust of the various stakeholders, including the faculty, staff and students. The different aspects of institution building as mentioned by Dr Rajesh are: capability building in terms of academic excellence, attracting quality talent, building administrative excellence with the faculty members, and building a value-based culture—in this case building mutual respect and trust.

Rajesh Panda, Director, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru (SIBM-B)

Rajesh Panda is a graduate of IIM Ahmedabad and holds a master’s degree in Economics and a PhD in retailing. Besides being a director and professor at SIBM-B, he is also an adjunct faculty with the School of International Business and Entrepreneurship, Steinbeis University, Berlin, and a visiting faculty at IIM Ranchi. Dr Panda has been awarded the best professor in marketing by National Educational Leadership Awards (2014). He is a member of the ‘Board of Studies (Faculty of Management)’, ‘Planning and Monitoring Board’ and ‘Academic Council’ of Symbiosis International University. He has also served as a member of academic councils of Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning in the past. He became the director of the institute at the young age of thirty-three.

How did you make the choice to lead an educational institution?

I started my academic career as an assistant professor with Symbiosis Institute of Business Management [SIBM], Pune, way back in 2005. This was just one and a half years after graduating from IIM Ahmedabad. I worked briefly in the industry as an area manager [product development]. Frankly speaking, I had neither aspired nor worked towards heading an academic institution. My love for teaching and research got me into academics, and I always wanted to pursue my career as a faculty member. My experience in SIBM, Pune, gave me a lot of exposure to various administrative and corporate-related activities. However, I wanted to teach students and corporate participants after completing my doctoral degree. Subsequently, I was involved in various committees at the university level for enhancement of academic and exam processes. This made me familiar with various administrative processes at the university level, and gave me an opportunity to contribute towards academic and procedural reforms. I completed my PhD and in between was promoted as an associate professor. In 2011, the deputy director of SIBM, Pune, resigned, and I was promoted to this position. I was just thirty-one years old at that time, and there were many faculty members who were much older than me. However, I always believed in treating human beings with dignity and respecting my elders. I enjoyed the cooperation and support of the faculty members. Moreover, I had known these people for years and had a cordial relationship with them. I hardly faced any challenges as the deputy director.

There was a vacancy for the position of director at SIBM, Bengaluru, in 2013. I was offered this position. If opportunity knocks at your door, you have to carefully evaluate it. I knew I liked teaching and research more than administration. The decision was not easy. I thought over the offer, consulted well-wishers, and then finally decided to accept it. But I had to take time out from my busy schedule for teaching and research. It was up to me how well I could manage my time and prioritize various activities. So, I joined SIBM, Bengaluru, on 1 April 2013, as the director at the age of thirty-three. I was a little nervous, but looked forward to the new assignment.

You are a young leader heading a well-known educational institution. What are the challenges you face?

When I took over as the director of SIBM, Bengaluru, the institute was only five years old, and before me there had been five directors. Hence, my first priority was to bring stability to the place and reinforce the standard academic procedures. Unlike my earlier institute, I was meeting the faculty members and the staff for the first time. When I took over as the deputy director at SIBM, Pune, I knew all the faculty and staff members and shared a cordial relationship with them. However, in Bengaluru everybody was new. Maybe I was lucky; we had a great set of faculty members and supporting staff who cooperated and supported me. I am happy to say there were hardly any challenges where people were concerned.

I faced a few operational challenges while bringing in the right processes, but it took only a few months to set up all the processes.

To build up the rigour in academics, we started subscribing to case studies, simulations and reading materials from Harvard Business School Publishing. Most of the faculty members were sent for various faculty development programmes to get trained in case method teaching. We made substantial efforts to upgrade the research skills and capabilities of faculty members. We formally appointed a faculty member with good research credentials as the head of research. We subsequently took various steps to establish the right research culture in terms of brown bag seminars, symposia, research camps and informal faculty meetings.

We had a student council with different coordinators for various student-driven activities like management conclave, management fest, placement, etc. I believed the student council represented the students and the right culture of academic rigour could be built by treating the council members as ambassadors. Today, there is hardly any indiscipline on the campus, students are dedicated to the institute; they work hard, not just for academics, but also for various institution-building activities.

Initially, we needed more qualified faculty members. We were able to hire many good professors through references and build a strong team. The team is now a perfect mix of people with both academic and industry experience.

What is your style of managing?

I believe in a flat organization with limited or no hierarchy. When I trust somebody’s ability, I prefer to delegate and empower the person. My experience says that a person performs better when she/he is given a free hand but is also held accountable for the consequences. In a private B-school, the director is involved in all important activities on a day-to-day basis. However, I wanted to do it differently. We identified a few faculty members with great administrative skills and created virtual departments for various key activities under them. Now we have faculty chairpersons for various activities like admissions, research, placements, exams, corporate training, etc. Today, I don’t have to monitor these activities on a daily basis, and this has also given me time for teaching and research.

What are the key values that you hold close to your heart?

I believe in respecting the people for their work and contribution towards the institute as per their capabilities. In my opinion, employees should be happy to come to the workplace and should respect the work they do. We introduced a statement at the institute for everybody to follow: ‘Respect for work and respect at the workplace’. Everybody respects each other, irrespective of their rank or position, even when there is an inadvertent error or breach of procedures by a colleague/subordinate.

So, I believe that when faculty members and staff respect the workplace, other virtues like integrity, honesty and dedication automatically flow. And they always remain ambassadors of the institute even after they leave the job for better opportunities or relocate to a different place.

What do you think are some of the success factors of a head of an institution?

Some of the factors that have helped are:

Trust in your own people. You can’t do everything; one must learn to delegate to the capable and deserving.
Supervision is hardly required, but guidance is important.
Share your vision with everyone and make all the employees part of it.
Respect each and every individual, even the external stakeholders.
Appoint the right people for key positions. While recruiting people, I always see if they will be able to fit in and not just their ability.
You don’t always have to lead from the front; you can be a team player and hand the baton to somebody who is more capable.
Be receptive to the opinion of others, especially those who are older than you.
In my opinion, the most important factor is that you as the leader of the organization have to be happy, content and satisfied with your work.

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The leadership in educational institutions starts from schools. Many evolved curriculums of education focus on imbibing strong values and knowledge building in their students. The leaders of the schools are also expected to have strong skills to ensure that the vision of the programme is met. For example, in the case of the international baccalaureate (IB) programme, the focus on building international-mindedness in the students is the key aspect. Definitely, in a programme like IB, the leader of the school should have a global mindset and should be able to manage students, faculty, staff and parents from diverse international backgrounds. In typical schools, the head, mostly the principal, should have a mix of skills to enable strategic thinking, academic excellence, administrative excellence, people leadership and personal leadership. This would enable a strong vision for the school and help plan future strategies. The key would be to manage expectations of students, parents, teachers and other stakeholders, including school management. The leader should be able to leverage technology, balance curricular and extra-curricular activities, and ensure a safe environment for learning.

The Curious Case of Manipal University

Manipal University, situated in the suburb of Manipal close to Mangaluru, is a case of transformation of barren hills to a sprawling campus that hosts more than 28,000 students from fifty-seven countries. Over a period of sixty years, the university has transformed into a prestigious centre of higher learning and is also recognized globally. Dr T.M.A. Pai is the founder of Manipal University. He started the concept of self-financing education in the country. He was the first to start a private, self-financed medical college, offering a medical degree, in India. Dr Pai established the Kasturba Medical College in 1953, Manipal Institute of Technology in 1957, and also other education institutions such as Kasturba Medical College, Mangaluru, Manipal College of Dental Sciences and Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr Pai is an excellent example of entrepreneurship and vision in the education space. His ability to conceive something that was never thought of in the country, and to pool resources for the institutions to grow set the tone for many similar institutions in the country.

The university improved its status under the leadership of his son, Dr Ramdas Pai, who is currently the vice chancellor of the university. Dr Ramdas Pai led efforts to acquire deemed university status. Currently, the university has grown in size in terms of number of students and also in ranking in terms of research and academic excellence. The university has been able to institutionalize its running under the leadership of professionally qualified teams of academic administrators. This is an excellent example of how leaders in academic institutions are able to instil sustainability and take the vision of the founder to greater heights.

The current vice chancellor of the university, Dr Vinod Bhat, focused on building a sustainable organization that is globally respected. He has streamlined the efforts for Vision 2020 that focuses on research excellence, international visibility, academic reputation and employer reputation.

Here is an interview with Dr Vinod Bhat, vice chancellor, Manipal University.

Could you share your journey of becoming the vice chancellor of the university?

I have been with Manipal University for the past thirty years. I started as a project officer and was confirmed as a faculty member within six months of joining. My first big assignment was to start a rural hospital in a place called Karkala near Mangaluru. I spent thirteen years building the hospital (1987–2000). This experience helped me learn a lot about growing an organization with limited resources. The hospital was started in a place that had limited facilities—with six beds and six employees. Two of them being my wife and me. I was a practising paediatrician at the hospital and available most of the time for the patients in need.

When I moved back to the university from the hospital, it had grown from six to 120 beds and 150 employees. The aim of the hospital was to provide best-quality care at the most affordable cost. I learnt how to balance business and academic targets while working at the hospital. Even when we had limited resources and tight control on capital investments, we managed to grow the hospital with alternate sources—contributions from the society, foundations, and by running projects in the hospital funded by external agencies. A lot of our equipment came through the funding and projects.

After moving to the hospital, I handled the roles of head of department, registrar, pro-vice-chancellor, and I was finally selected for the role of vice chancellor. While heading the department of community medicine, my focus was on adding value to the university beyond its regular activities. In the years 2001–2003, we did fourteen big projects that helped to advance the department.

Later, I took on the role of registrar. I was the head of administration at the university and my role was to facilitate multiple issues—operational and people oriented. However, this job was also very tedious, even though it had a major impact on the smooth running of the university.

I voluntarily took up two additional responsibilities as part of institution building at this point of time. To internationalize the university—collaborations, joint programmes, exchange programmes and research collaboration with institutions worldwide—and to build the research portfolio. I still have these two responsibilities and it helped the institution grow in terms of its capabilities and international rankings. I later took on the role of pro-vice-chancellor. My responsibilities included building the institution keeping in mind the future trends of higher education.

What was your vision as the vice chancellor?

The selection committee unanimously recommended me for the position of vice chancellor. I had certain advantages since I had worked with the university in multiple roles. I had a deep understanding of the academic process and the administrative responsibilities of the university. Before I took charge as vice chancellor, I had a thirty-day window. I formed a small team to decide what would be the vision of the university by 2020. The team worked with me and we arrived at four pillars of excellence—academic reputation, employer reputation, internationalization and research. We went on to operationalize the efforts of the various institutions of Manipal University in line with the vision. We had an ambitious target to be among the top 200 universities worldwide.

Two years after taking on the role of vice chancellor, we are No. 1 in Karnataka. Some of the departments at the university such as pharmacy and medicine are ranked among the top 400 worldwide.

Manipal University is definitely finding its place as a top university in the country. My aim is to fulfil the vision in my five-year term as vice chancellor.

With your experience, what would be the key skills required for a successful vice chancellor?

I would put the key skills into three buckets. The first one would be domain expertise. A vice chancellor should have a deep understanding of how higher educational institutes work. He/she should have an understanding of the rules and regulations that govern the university in India and abroad. The vice chancellor should also be able to understand the competition’s role and how to create an advantage.

The second major aspect is to understand that higher education is a service industry with a high people interface. The head of the university should be able to manage different stakeholders—students, faculty, regulatory bodies and the many others involved. There should be a deep understanding of how to manage people like your team members or the authority above you.

The third aspect is business skills—understanding of finance and managing resources.

Another example of a visionary educational leader is Achyuta Samanta, founder of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT University) and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) that host more than 50,000 students. Started in 1992 with a funding of just Rs 5000, these institutions made a large social impact. In the case of KISS, Samanta was able to bring in 25,000 young children from interior Orissa and transform their lives through education. KISS was also granted a deemed university status in 2017 and is the first tribal university to be granted the status.⁵ KIIT hosts close to 30,000 students from streams like engineering, management, law and nursing. Samanta is an excellent example of how a person’s vision led to building an educational institution. He went on to serve KIIT University as its first vice chancellor and is the youngest chancellor of any Indian university.

A successful vice chancellor/head of a university should be able to see the trends of higher education and steer the levers of change to enhance effectiveness. With globalization, education has a global canvas and extends beyond national boundaries. The global factors are: influence of technology on education, international standards of research excellence, extension of boundaries of knowledge, and even movement of students and faculty beyond boundaries. Dr Vinod Bhat of Manipal University, in his interview, explains how having a strategic view and an understanding of parameters that influence the global rating of a university can help educational leaders have clarity on the strategy to achieve their vision. Local constraints on infrastructure, regulatory bodies, operational nuances and local job market expectations are here to stay. A successful leader should be able to balance local and global factors to run his/her institution successfully.