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Collaboration in Presenting Community Leadership Development Programs:  Two and Four-year Institutions of Higher Education Working in Partnership

September 26, 2002

"The synergy created by bringing together multiple institutions of higher education, especially different types of institutions within the higher education community, can create leadership development opportunities that no single institution could possibly provide.  Indeed, the ability to draw from the resources of both two and four-year colleges and universities leads to more complete and inclusive leadership programs. 

Why should institutions of higher education that are traditionally competitive decide to cooperate with each other in providing community leadership development programs?  What are the benefits of institutional cooperation for these programs?  The positive aspects of these associations are as varied as the partnerships themselves; institutions may seek to consolidate services, eliminate duplication, reduce spending, and expand offerings and outcomes of educational activities.  Community leadership development programs also often produce indirect benefits which focus more on the 'politics' or intangibles of collaboration and include, building a positive image with policymakers, government officials, funding organizations, and the taxpaying public.

Because of the variety of institutions found within the higher educational community, institutions of higher education provide community leadership programs with remarkable access to curricula, programming ideas, training techniques, and comparative program data. For example, four-year institutions may (a) serve as sources of knowledge and information about leadership generally, (b) provide data on trends and issues related to leadership, (c) assist in creating and disseminating leadership curricula, (d) supply expertise on program evaluation, and (e) conduct applied research related to leadership programs.  At the same time, community colleges emphasize community service and have developed processes to position themselves to play major roles in resolving community issues such as leadership development (Boone & Vaughn, 1993). 

A recent study (Williams, 2001) examined leaders' perceptions of factors affecting interinstitutional agreements in higher education.  The study involved a survey of presidents, chancellors, and chief executive officers from two and four-year institutions of higher education in North Caroline and Florida.  Three elements of the survey instrument utilized in the study are of interest to an analysis of leadership development as an interinstitutional activity involving two and four-year institutions.  First, the instrument identified four broad types of interinstitutional agreements: community service (including leadership development), academic programs, professional development agreements, and sharing services or facilitates.  Respondents were asked to indicate if their institutions were currently involved in these activities.  Those responding to the survey instrument (n= 115:65 two-year college leaders and 50 leaders of four-year institutions) indicated two-year colleges are more likely to be involved in interinstitutional relationships concerning community service, including community leadership development.  Fifty-four percent of the leaders of two-year colleges said there said there institutions were involved in or had plans to be involved in such agreements, as compared to just 42% of the leaders of four-year institutions.

The same survey instrument also asked leaders their perceptions of the importance of 33 factors affecting interinstitutional agreements in order to compare the perceptions of leaders of two-year institutions of the perceptions of leaders of four-year institutions regarding these factors.  Two of these factors were directly related to community leadership development.  The leaders of two-year colleges were much more likely to consider improving response to external demands as an important factor for interinstitutional activity.  This result is due, in large part, to the important factor for interinstitutional activity.  Leaders of many four-year institutions may see community service as an ancillary function for their institutions.  The data from this study indicate they are significantly less likely to see community service as an important collaborative function. 

Leadership development is often identified as a community need to be addressed (at least in part) by educational institutions.  The data indicates that community college leaders are more likely to see community-identified needs as an important factor in interinstitutional relationships (86% of community college leaders responding as compared to 48% for leaders of four-year institutions).  This is very strong evidence that community college leaders see community service, including community leadership development, as a chance for interinstitutional cooperation and that these leaders may be amenable to partnerships with all types of four-year institutions.

This research suggested the need for institutions to experiment with non-traditional institutional partnerships (e.g., involving community colleges and four-year liberal arts colleges or community colleges and research universities) in providing community services such as leadership development. 

Community leadership development offers an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the potential of partnerships among diverse institutions of higher education.  For stakeholders interested in community leadership development, collaboration among diverse institutions of higher education provides opportunities to effectively address community challenges by bringing different philosophies, points of view, and curriculum resources to leadership development programs (Williams, 2001, pp. 52-61)."

Reference:  Williams, M.R., (2001) Collaboration in presenting community leadership development programs: two and four-year institutions of higher education working in partnership. The Journal of Leadership Studies, 8(2).

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Created: 2007-07-02, Updated: 2009-02-17