Knowledge Strategy and Leadership and Their Roles in Change at Universities

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to bring to light a new perspective on the transformational role of universities by considering knowledge strategies for increasing research and academic capabilities. Change usually comes about because of a crisis in an organization; however, such change can also be due to permanent competition and rapid developments. As the world has moved into the twenty-first century, change has become indispensable, and organizations of many kinds face a variety of challenges. The first questions to ask are “Why change?” and “Why is change important?” Change is a fundamental factor behind an organization’s success and can transform an organization into a global competitor. The three big factors that can impact a university are funding, leadership, and the research system, all of which have been directly affected by disturbances from the external environment and indirectly affected by changes to the university context in response to those disturbances. Many universities around the world have built good reputations, but they need to speedily react to future changes. Collaboration between universities and research institutes plays an essential role in developing the research context. In addition, associations based on specialist studies promote continued professional development among university staff. This paper therefore attempts to highlight the need for change in the realm of universities and answer questions regarding the whys and hows of such change.

Cultural Dimension in Internationalization of the Curriculum in Higher Education

“…Aljuwaiber [24], in his literature review on the transformational role of universities, carried out a PEST (Economic, Social, and Technological) analysis with the aim of understanding the macro-environmental factors that are likely to determine the future of HEIs. Table 3 presents the issues that may impact on HEIs in the future based on the PEST analysis performed, considering political, economic, social, and technological factors.…”

Sustainable Development of Employability of University Students Based on Participation in the Internship Promotion Programme of Zhejiang Province

“…The survey title was "The correlation between individual employability, career sustainability and the IPP" (Table A1 in Appendix A). The survey included measures to assess students' feelings by asking them to choose suitable items relating to employability and sustainability according to the literature [24][25][26][27]. In IPP, the university will build the bridges between enterprises and students through universityenterprise cooperation committees, regularly releasing a number of internships positions and organising the students systematically into enterprises.…”

“…The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) is a system that uses economic competitiveness to determine a company's ranking in the world. The selection of some variables i.e., execution and communication level, is explained by theoretical and empirical research [26][27][28][29][30], and such an index can be used to support students' sustainable development. In general, students with high employment competitiveness tend to enjoy higher salaries and benefits and have a better chance of working in Fortune 500 companies.…”