The university today is a postmodern, neo-liberal, competitive, boundary-less knowledge conglomerate, a far cry from its historical traditional classical and collegial roots. There is a body of literature on deanship that points to its evolving nature in the contemporary academe characterised by complexity and change. Balancing academic demands simultaneously with the requirements for effective performance, leadership and management, lies at the heart of this very challenging bridging role nowadays. Deans are generally former academics, emerging from a traditional collegial space and often...

The university today is a postmodern, neo-liberal, competitive, boundary-less knowledge conglomerate, a far cry from its historical traditional classical and collegial roots. There is a body of literature on deanship that points to its evolving nature in the contemporary academe characterised by complexity and change. Balancing academic demands simultaneously with the requirements for effective performance, leadership and management, lies at the heart of this very challenging bridging role nowadays. Deans are generally former academics, emerging from a traditional collegial space and often...