Universities in China have faced great challenges in the past decade, such as challenges driven by globalization and technological progress. This requires leaders to meet the challenge of change. Little has been written from the perspective of educational leadership in Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs). This study aims to explore academic members’ perceptions of educational leadership and to explore factors contributing to the professional learning and growth of academic members in Chinese HEIs. Through a qualitative study, we explored the perceptions of 12 academic members from eight Chinese universities. The results provide us with a comprehensive conceptualized educational leadership, perceived effective educational leadership, and perceived need for capacity building. The results can be helpful to support sustainable professional development and also for administrators, universities, and policymakers in China in creating the environment and policies that facilitate the implementation of successful educational leadership experiences.

Digital academic leadership (DAL) in higher education has been recognised as an important aspect in the enhancement of academic development in the stage of new normal and the academic achievement of academic members and learners across higher education contexts. DAL is seen as leadership that integrates the portfolio of technologies and instruments such as e-platforms (webinars) and social media in academic settings. A systematic literature review was employed in this study to map the relevant literature on the topics of 1) what is DAL? 2) what are the core dimensions of digital academic leadership? The source database includes 39 English articles related to the topics of DAL published between January 2003 and June 2023 in high-indexed journals. This review provides theoretical-conceptual and empirical contributions to the DAL literature. This study synthesises the related theories and conceptual frameworks for elucidating the concept of DAL. The results imply the need and how to enhance DAL in higher education contexts.

Purpose: The challenges faced by universities in China have presented opportunities to enhance the leadership of educational leaders in universities. Little has been written about the leadership styles of mid-level educational leaders in Chinese higher education (HE). The objective of this study is to provide an authentic understanding of 1) the leadership styles of mid-level educational leaders as experienced by academic members, 2) experienced contextual factors related to the leadership styles of mid-level educational leaders. Design: Qualitative research was conducted, and the perceptions of 13 academic members from nine universities in China were explored. Findings: This study revealed authoritarian leadership style was the most reported leadership style of the mid-level educational leaders, followed by transformational and transactional leadership styles. Participants suggested to minimise the adoption of authoritarian leadership style and to encourage the application of transformational leadership style. Regarding the factors that shape leadership style of mid-level educational leaders, this research supports the following factors: culture, organizational policies & administration, discipline, and incentive mechanism. Originality: We gained a deep understanding of the leadership styles of mid-level educational leaders and the contextual factors that shape the leadership styles in this study. The results can be conducive to future leadership training and to the mid-level educational leaders to create environments that facilitate the application of educational leadership practices.

While demands on academic leadership in higher education have been increasing, there has been a lack of empirical studies exploring the effectiveness and impacts of leadership development interventions. In addition, recent studies suggest a model of leadership development based on an international approach. Unfortunately, the evaluation of those programs is limited in the available literature. This study thus presents the results of the impacts of a higher education (HE) academic leadership development program at the international level which consist of 12 universities in China and Europe. The project was implemented over a 4-year period, delivered through workshops, training programs, and exchanges. Following 2 years of project implementation, the mid-term impact was assessed through surveys and semi-structured interviews. Among the participants who had joined the program for more than 12 months, 51 Chinese participants and 41 European participants voluntarily took part in the online survey; of those, 21 participants were involved in the semi-structured interviews. Ultimately, the findings indicated that the program has had positive impacts on a variety of aspects, including cross-institutional networking, collaboration, partnership, and HE-related policy development and practices. Furthermore, this study has provided empirical evidence on how an academic leadership development program contributes to assisting academic institutions in broadening their connections, networking, and partnerships in order to achieve their institutional goals of development and innovation. As such, the research findings are useful for policymakers, university administrators, and related stakeholders. Lastly, the approaches taken by the academic leadership development program utilized in the current study can be applied widely in different contexts.