India has seen a rapid growth in higher and technical education in the recent past, which is evident from the number of institutes, student population in each institute, class size, faculty strength and the operating budget. As a result, higher education sector in India has seen massive expansion in the past two decades. Expectations have become exceedingly high, with the faculty expected to provide innovations of relevance to the society, while continuing to push the boundaries of knowledge through scholarly research. Students are expected to be profession-ready, while becoming entrepreneurs themselves. The institute is expected to house and develop state-of-the-art research, development and testing facilities, thus enabling all-round creativity among all stake-holders. These developments demand a reorganization of the institute government structure, business model and inter-personal interactions. The informal spirit of previous generation is no longer acceptable and definite more formalism is in order. 

Leading IITs and NITs continue to appoint high-achieving scholars as administrators at the levels of Heads, Deans and other important positions. The role of the administrator is to continuously communicate with the faculty, staff, and students on their respective roles and responsibilities, institutional goals, and the means available to fulfill their objectives. The issue of competition within the institute and across institutes, within national boundaries and beyond cannot be ignored. Academic scholar may not be an automatic fit for such positions, unless the individual is provided additional training sessions and exposure in a suitable ambience.

The leadership program proposed here is intended for the second level leadership in major government-held technology institutes. The goal of the program is to sensitize the participants of the need to address the issue of good governance and responsibility in a manner that will generate an enabling environment for the practitioners of the trade – students and faculty, to perform and flourish, and take their respective organizations to greater heights of performance.

This course is expected to provide the required leadership and managerial skills to the participants. They will be trained to understand the complexity & challenges involved in governance in HEI’s, which will enable them to handle stress, team building, conflict management, etc. These trainings will be less academic and more experiential in nature.