| As the main body of school management,the university President is responsible for making,implementing,supervising and revising various decisions of the school and plays a leading role in the development of the school.A good university always reflects the successful leadership of several generations of presidents.Although American higher education has a history of nearly 400 years,it is a typical late-developing country in higher education.Owing to its rapid development in the late 19 th and 20 th centuries,it has become a developed country of global higher education,and the quality is the best in the world.The great vision and hard work of the President of American universities can not be ignored for the success of American higher education.Most American college presidents follow the path of academic career promotion,that is,from teacher to dean,vice President,provost and finally promoted to President.However,there are also a number of presidents from outside the higher education system in American universities.These people,most of whom have neither an academic background nor college experience,are often referred as non-traditional presidents.According to the American council on education,since the beginning of the 21 st century,the percentage of non-traditional presidents of colleges and universities has reached about 15% of the total.The number of links to American universities is considerable.This study mainly adopts text analysis and case study to make a thorough discussion on the group characteristics and reasons of the rise of non-traditional presidents in American colleges and universities,as well as the advantages and challenges of non-traditional presidents in school governance.The conclusions are as follows:First,in terms of demography,the non-traditional presidents of American colleges and universities are mainly male and white,with an average age of 61.7years.Most of them have doctorates,and only a few(2.0%)of presidents’ highest degree is bachelor’s degree.Most of them come from humanities and social sciences background,but less from science and engineering background.Most of them work in private universities and professional colleges.Second,the reasons for the rise of non-traditional presidents in American universities mainly include several factors: the change of the role of university presidents;the evolution of the selection criteria for university presidents;the reduction of traditional presidential candidates and the decline of the attractiveness of presidential positions.Third,The non-traditional presidents of American colleges and universities have unique leadership advantages,such as excellent fundraising skills,unique advantages of political leadership,decisive decision-making style and good communication skills.But at the same time,the non-traditional presidents of American universities also face many challenges in the process of governing,including the threat of legitimacy,the resistance of university teachers,and the lack of understanding of university culture and environment. |
