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primary topic: Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education.

Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education.
type: AcademicArticle
type: Article
abstract: As higher education institutions face intensifying pressures, effective leadership has become a cornerstone of institutional resilience. Yet leadership careers in higher education remain ad hoc and fragmented. This article explores how senior leaders perceive institutional and structural barriers that hinder sustainable leadership careers. Combining the Systems Theory Framework with the Sustainable Careers Model, we refer to sustainable careers as the alignment between individual needs and institutional conditions, leading to viable trajectories. Drawing on a mixed-methods study on senior higher education leaders in Switzerland (survey N = 312; 24 inter-views), we show that perceived key barriers include weak succession planning, insufficient preparation, limited peer exchange, expanding competency demands, and excessive managerialisation, reinforced by systemic knowledge expectations and cultural hierarchies privileging academic prestige. Addressing these challenges requires institutional reforms that strengthen professionalisation, succession planning, role clarity, and peer networks, alongside structural measures such as simplifying accountability, expanding mobility, and building system-wide leadership programs.
date: 2025-12
volume: 48
issue: 2-3
status: peerReviewed
status: published
author list: authors
type: EPrint
type: ArticleEPrint
is part of: repository
has document: Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education. (PDF)
subject: L Education (General)

Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education. (PDF)
type: Document
has file: Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education.pdf
has part: Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education.pdf

JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY AND MANAGEMENT2026
type: Collection

Danya He
type: Person
given name: Danya
family name: He

Robert Perich
type: Person
given name: Robert
family name: Perich

Ladina Rageth
type: Person
given name: Ladina
family name: Rageth

Maryna Lakhno
type: Person
given name: Maryna
family name: Lakhno

HTML Summary of #1686 Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education.
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primary topic: Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education.

L Education (General)
type: Concept