European Institute for Academic and Professional Development

Taking on a deanship is exciting and challenging at the same time: exciting because it is an opportunity to shape the direction of an entire faculty; challenging because it means leading colleagues you cannot instruct and to whom you will return as a peer once your term ends. At the same time, deans lead an administrative team — a form of leadership that differs fundamentally from supervising doctoral researchers or postdocs. Most deans step into this role without ever having been prepared for either of these tasks. The course "Academic Leadership for Deans and Vice-Deans" enables academic leaders to manage their mandate with confidence, clarity and awareness. With this aim, central topics such as role and mandate, chairing committees, deciding under conflicting demands, leading an administrative team, strategy and change, and communication in times of crisis are developed together with peers from across Europe and repeatedly related to leadership practice.