Developing Strategic Leadership in Higher Education

Recently leadership at every level in higher education has been tested as never before and the need to support leaders is all the more important. Leadership is enhanced through preparation and continuous development to meet those tests head on. Our aim is to support your institution by equipping your leaders so that they lead with an assured confidence, characterised by agility, innovation and inclusivity.

Our strategic leadership portfolio will support the development of a strategic outlook and skillset to lead across organisational boundaries. 

The last year has seen Advance HE collaborate on, support and develop a range of services that exemplify our understanding of the wide-ranging issues that face HE providers. Our continued legacy of work in strategic leadership includes the flagship Top Management Programme for Higher Education and the Race Equality and Athena Swan Charters. This year we have introduced the new Vice-Chancellor Transition Programme, to support newly appointed Vice-Chancellors to prepare for and transition to their new role, helping them to lead their institutions effectively right from the start of their tenure.

Our portfolio of strategic leadership services use rich and immersive experiential learning delivered by facilitators from inside and outside HE with a deep and enduring knowledge of its wonders and challenges.  

Providing a safe space for open dialogue, critical thinking and exploration of solutions around key sector challenges

This highly interactive Masterclass will be run in partnership with Eden & Partners, who have a long track record of working with leaders across a variety of sectors, including HE, to develop their political understanding skills to be more politically astute and influence politics locally and nationally. 

The day will include conversations with current and former Ministers, civil servants and MPs allowing you to better understand some of the ‘assumptions’ they make about higher education and what they are looking to university leaders for. These include the RT Hon Lord David Willetts (former Minister for Universities and Science) and Stephen Marston (former Director General for Universities and Skills at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, and VC).  

Supporting newly appointed Vice-Chancellors to effectively transition into their new roles.

The role of Vice-Chancellor is an increasingly complex and challenging one and has taken on even greater importance in the current rapidly changing environment in which the higher education sector operates.

Changing geo-political forces; adapting to a post-Covid world; increasing competition and the need to build new relationships; all call for a different kind of leadership that builds and sustains inclusion. Confident, capable leaders adapt, grow and diversify their talents, their teams and their institutions to respond to future challenges.

Aimed at complementing the UUK New Vice-Chancellors' programme, the new Vice-Chancellor Transition Programme supports newly appointed Vice-Chancellors in preparing for and transitioning to their new role, helping them become more effective, develop new skills and confidence, and enabling them to lead their institutions effectively right from the start of their tenure.

Improve your understanding to navigate protected beliefs and freedom of speech in higher education

The interplay between protected beliefs and freedom of speech is at the heart of Higher Education in the UK, a cornerstone of discourse and central to delivering an inclusive experience for students and staff. These fundamental principles can intersect in complex and contentious ways. Securing free speech and academic freedom on topics such as trans inclusion and gender critical feminism, or in relation to Israel/Gaza, whilst also preventing harassment, can pose a challenge for institutions.

Strengthen understanding and build confidence to ensure protected beliefs and freedom of speech are protected and promoted, from ‘classroom to boardroom’.

Developing senior leaders in higher education

A development opportunity specifically created for those in an executive role in a higher education institution. Over 60 of the current UK Vice-Chancellors and Principals are TMP HE alumni, with many of the other past participants of TMP HE holding some of the most senior posts throughout higher education.

The challenges facing higher education both in the UK and internationally continue to grow in their scale and complexity; this emphasises the need for institutions to have confident, forward thinking and effective executive leadership with the agility and innovation to respond.

Executive leaders also need space and opportunity to think differently and build effective networks, skills and insights to sustain their roles and contribution for both their personal benefit and be a fully contributing member of the Executive team.

Leading Through Complexity is our new offer for TMP alumni and executive leaders, which brings together a series of workshop sessions and masterclasses based on what you have told us about your current priorities and challenges.

Using expert facilitators respected for their expertise in higher education, but also in navigating complexity and providing solutions, these sessions will provide a safe space opportunity for beneficial insight but with provocation and exploration of alternative approaches and solutions alongside peers.

Each workshop will also offer an optional added opportunity to extend engagement and support via coaching, action learning sets or sessions within the TMP network.

Leading Educational Change Pilot Programme

Leading Educational Change Pilot Programme is a leadership program that focuses on collaborative management and delivery of education change projects, enhancing understanding and collaboration.

Leading Educational Change will support and develop staff in positions of strategic responsibility for education delivery and change projects. It will prepare and develop education leaders (both academic and professional) to meet current and emerging challenges in relation to student education and experience, understand sector issues and trends that impact their role and optimise their impact and efficacy in relation to education change.

Developing flexible and resilient leaders

The Strategic Leadership Programme aims to build flexible and resilient leaders, capable of delivering large-scale change, by providing opportunities to share insights, work with a support network of peers and reflect on leadership styles and frameworks for life beyond the programme.

Completely redesigned specifically for online delivery, the programme will appeal to those with a portfolio which reaches across the institution and who want to exercise their strategic vision to make a meaningful impact in shaping the future direction of the higher education sector through influence and engagement.

Participants benefit from a learning space that confronts and considers issues such as 'systems thinking', complexity, holistic approaches to organisational development, leadership in the face of wicked problems and the containment of organisational and system dynamics. It is a programme about the place of higher education in its context and the strategic leadership required to sustain it.