| Higher education like many sectors is experiencing financial instability during recent turbulent economic conditions. Many institutions of higher education rely on tuition dollars as a major portion of the operating budget and therefore need to manage enrollment effectively. With enrollment management being critical to the viability of an institution, leadership in the chief enrollment officer's position is essential. The purpose of this study was to explore leadership qualities intrinsic to the chief enrollment management officer. This non-experimental quantitative study explored Maxwell's (1999) 21 leadership qualities in the context of enrollment management. The Enrollment Management Leadership Quality Assessment Tool (EMLQAT) was developed and used in this study for participants to rate the 21 leadership qualities. The 154 respondents in this data set worked at four-year, public-funded or private-funded, nonprofit, American colleges or universities. Variables in the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi Square, and Mann Whitney-U. The findings of this study identify a set of qualities perceived to be advantageous to a leader in enrollment management and provide insightful information for researchers, practitioners and policy makers. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended enrollment leaders develop within themselves the leadership qualities identified as well as create leadership assessments and educational training tools focusing on these leadership qualities. |
