Leadership challenges to transformative change for quality education in public universities: A case of Wolaita Sodo University

Abstract

The present study was designed with the purpose of examining challenges to transformative change for quality education enhancement as perceived by the university community. More importantly, attempt was made to examine extent of implementation of the intended change. Descriptive cross sectional survey type research design was used under the study. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative data. Currently, WSU has eight schools; of these the present study involved four (50%) schools. The sample consisted of 14 academic leaders of the institution: the university president and two vice-presidents, two members of managing board, director of registrar, four deans of schools, four department heads, one quality officer, 78 (32.7%) senior academic staff from total of 238, and eight senior students of the institution. The sample schools were randomly selected while stratified random sampling technique was employed to select school deans, academic staff members and students. The selection of the president, vice-presidents, head of registrar and managing board members was made purposefully. In total 102 participants took part in the study. The tools used to gather relevant data were questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), and relevant document analysis. The study results revealed that institutional context analysis was not well conducted, the effort to introduce change to the university community was limited and the attempt to prepare and motivate the university community towards the change was almost nonexistent. Most importantly, academic leaders rarely exhibit transformational behaviors. The study recommended that the transformational leaders should focus on strategic issues instead of wasting time in changing and re-changing structures. Moreover, stakeholders should collaborate in order to support the effort towards transformation. To this end, power should be decentralized; distributed leadership should be practiced in the institution. The Government needs to avail adequate budget and manpower to assist the transformation. On the other hand, the institution should diversify its sources of income instead of relying on Government subsidy.

Keywords: Leadership, transformation, transformative change, quality education.