INTELLECTUAL PERSPECTIVE

It is stated that strong leadership can lead even the most inexperienced soldiers to victory over a weak leader and his toughest troops. Indeed, leaders are responsible for bringing about change in any system. And in the sphere of academia, the same holds true. It makes sense that one of the main issues affecting the current situation of higher education in our state is the absence of good leadership. The most difficult barrier in higher education, particularly in colleges today, is identifying appropriate academic leaders who can successfully turn things around to introduce innovation and improve upon declining academic standards and organizational dysfunction. This is despite the state’s rapid growth in the number of colleges, the poor quality of academics, the employability factor of our restless youth, and the idea of introducing job-oriented courses. Yes, teachers are not always to fault for poor performance or laziness. Our government institutions have highly skilled and talented professors, and it seems that the majority of them want to perform a good job, but we need to offer them some guidance. We need to make use of their talent, and the only academic leaders who can motivate and inspire students to achieve high individual performance are those who are powerful and compassionate. It appears that today’s institutions, especially government colleges, are on the scene of petty politics and lobbying. Our academic leaders typically feel uneasy around the senior employees and prefer to work along with the sycophants to engage in dishonest politics against others. Various positions, benefits including award recommendations, deputations, committee coordinators, and other innumerable concessions are typically awarded on the basis of personal connections. As a result of the dysfunctional culture, unjust treatment, and improper favours, faculty performance, motivation, and dedication all suffer, driving a gulf between the institutions and preventing them from succeeding academically. Here, it is important to realize that effective leadership involves having a clear goal, motivating others, embracing diversity, allowing for dissent, and ensuring that the system works well. It is the highest-capability personality. Leadership must not consist of empty platitudes, monitoring just employee attendance, concentrating on clerical tasks, and being uncommunicative and unresponsive to staff and student issues. If we don’t develop leadership qualities in others, we’ll simply have followers in the future. We do a disservice to our cause if we dismiss sincere and committed teachers due to personal issues or on the advice of chamchas. We find up at dead ends, making unproductive decisions, and getting subpar results as a result of unquestioning approval and caving to the demands of a few sycophants. Additionally, it needs to be understood that preparing numerous college events for press coverage should not take precedence over teaching in institutions, which is the primary responsibility. The point is that while academic leaders must unquestionably be creative scholars and teachers, selecting college presidents based on seniority who appear to lack administrative experience and who also have a number of health issues due to their advanced age and family obligations is simply harmful to the cause of advancing higher education. It’s difficult to run an academic administration. Along with academic aptitude, one requires training, abilities, discipline, persistence, and stamina, and it is not for everyone. It is past time for the state higher education department to update its hiring practices for college presidents. So that candidates with high professional integrity, ethical standards, a solid track record of demanding to teach, and other academic credentials like publication record are selected for the job, either UGC guidelines must be strictly adhered to, or there should be a departmental competitive exam on the model of the civil service.

It is obvious that we must stop the current trend, and to achieve that, we want collective understanding. Our institutions require strong leadership in order to become intellectually vibrant and forward-looking, rather than a haven for intriguers, sycophants, and deadwood. Because mediocrity will undoubtedly spread if we encourage it.