Shelda Debowski’s Theoretical And Practical Research On The Development Of Academic Leaders In Universities

Shelda Debowski has a long history in higher education as a leading international expert on educational leadership and higher education development,He has served as Vice-Chancellor,Professor of Higher Education Development,Academic Professor of Business and Education,and Chairman of the Australian Higher Education Research and Development Association(HERDSA)and Chairman of the International Alliance for Educational Development(ICED),providing high-level leadership to the higher Education Network and holding a pivotal position in the field of academic leadership development.Her extensive educational practice,leadership practice and profound theoretical knowledge have shaped her scientific insights into the development of academic leaders,and she has led many large collaborative projects.In addition,Debowski’s writings and lectures have had a wide and profound academic impact on the field of academic leader development.In this dynamic era,the importance of universities to social development is self-evident,and universities shoulder the important mission of improving the quality of the whole people and cultivating good citizens.In the process of leading universities forward,insightful,brave,strategic and generous leaders are needed.Without high-quality academic leaders,universities can hardly complete such important tasks.Therefore,the development of academic leaders is an important part of education reform strategy and an important measure to improve the quality of university education.Based on the whole career stage of Shelda Debowski,this paper uses literature research method and historical research method to review Debowski’s theoretical and practical projects on the development of university academic leaders in his early career,middle career and later career.First,in her early career,Debowski captured the changes in the higher education environment and divided the development of academic leaders into three stages,namely,the early stage,the middle stage and the late stage.Second,during Debowski’s mid-career,she began to explore and study the early and middle development of academic leaders and was involved in developing the Future Research Leaders Program to provide better training for academic leaders in practice.Thirdly,in her later career,Debowski explored the later development of academic leaders,leading several practical projects and visiting the UK,the US and New Zealand to examine researcher development strategies.Finally,this paper discusses the theoretical and practical value of Debowski’s research on the development of academic leaders in universities,as well as its limitations.