Centre for Teaching & Learning conducts five-day residential ‘Academic Leadership Programme’ for senior academic leaders
The programme, supported by the Ministry of Education, is designed to achieve global excellence in higher education
30 December, 2025, Bengaluru: The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) conducted an ‘Academic Leadership Programme’, supported by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India, from 1st to 5th December 2025, at the Institute campus. The ALP incorporated sessions on various aspects of leadership, personal and institutional vision building, strategy, digital transformation, legal and sustainable integration, stakeholder management, decision-making, and constraint management. The Programme Directors were Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Professor In-charge, New Campus, and faculty of the Strategy area, and Prof. Sushanta Kumar Mishra, Chairperson, Centre for Teaching & Learning, and faculty of the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area.
The participants of the five-day residential programme included Vice Chancellors, Directors, Deans and other senior leaders of reputed organizations. The second cohort had approved nominations from Assam University, Banaras Hindu University, BOAT, Central University of Karnataka, Digital University Kerala, Gujarat Technological University, IIIT Sonepat, IIIT Raichur, IIM Amritsar, IIM Kashipur, IIM Raipur, IIT Jammu, IIT Bombay, IIT Roorkee, Jamia Millia Islamia, J.C. Bose University of Science and Technology, NIAMT, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi VishwaVidyalaya, Punjab University and Sikkim University.
Programme Design
The ALP equipped academic leaders with an orientation to the critical tasks they are to perform, with an awareness of the responsibilities their roles entail, including the internal and external challenges required to be handled while on the job. The programme enabled the participants in creating systems for global excellence in higher education, while focussing on core activities as well as preparing for internal and external challenges.
The programme was structured towards focusing on personal development, while simultaneously enabling a systemic organizational culture to increase ownership with collective decision making and to tap into the rich resource pool.
Programme Sessions
The programme was inaugurated by Prof. U Dinesh Kumar, Director In-charge, IIM Bangalore, along with the Programme Directors, who welcomed the participants and provided a detailed introduction to the programme, and more.
A session on, ‘Strategy and its Implementation’ was led by Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, who spoke about select eminent leaders and their roles in institution building. Through the case of leadership changes at IIMB, he highlighted the importance of change and of constantly reacting to the external environment.
Prof. Sushanta Kumar Mishra, who is also Chairperson of Research & Publications and C-DOCTA, and Editor-in-Chief of IIMB Management Review, spoke on, ‘Leadership Mindset’, explaining the role of competencies, processes, priorities, commitment and connection. It was an interactive discussion on leadership and its application in educational institutions. The discussion highlighted the impact of higher education institutions on society.
The talk on, ‘Institution Building’ was delivered by Prof. Ashok Misra, past Director of IIT Bombay and one of India’s leading educators who has contributed to building educational institutions as well as policies. Sharing from his own life experiences, Prof. Misra delved into the two pillars of leadership and governance. “Higher education is the backbone of the country and institutions are temples”, he observed.
He also spoke about balancing education, research & development, innovations, inventions and entrepreneurship. His checklist for creating higher educational institutions of global standards included vision and strong leadership, curriculum updating, systems attracting funds via alumni, corporate entities and government, infrastructure, attracting and retaining expert faculty, providing high quality education, research focus, and value systems.
Prof. Misra took the participants through frameworks like the SWOT analysis for higher education institutions and ended the session with a townhall style Q&A session, during which participants discussed issues specific to their own institutions.
A session on, ‘AI and Higher Education’ was conducted by Prof. Rahul Dé, former IIMB faculty from the Information Systems area, which included live demonstrations of the capabilities of AI and the use of the same in higher educational institutions. Touching upon AI tools available for institutes and stressing on the need for policies on utilization of AI by students and faculty, he added that harnessing the power of AI would create future ready institutions and students.
The talk on, ‘Sustainability Initiatives’ was delivered by Prof. Sourav Mukherji, Dean, Faculty and Alumni Relations & Development, and faculty of the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area. He threw light on sustainability and inclusion using case studies and live examples during the interactive discussion. He showcased the role of educational institutions in being future ready and creating responsible citizens of the future by embracing initiatives at the institute level and by encouraging student participation. Sharing best practices of IIMB, he urged the heads of institutions to create sustainability practices and enforce the same in their respective institutions.
A Group Exercise with premade groups of heads of similar institutions had the participants collaborating with, and learning from, one another – culminating in group wise presentations and discussions. Delving on ‘How to make HEIs relevant’ and showcasing initiatives and best practices from the participants’ own institutions, the sessions facilitated peer networking and knowledge sharing. The key takeaways included best practices from each other’s organizations.
‘Institutional Legal Aspects’ was covered by Prof. Anil B Suraj, Chairperson of N.S. Ramaswamy Pre-doctoral Fellowship and the Committee on Diversity & Inclusion, and faculty of the Public Policy area. Using real life examples and role play, he touched upon diverse facets of legal issues and compliances, and the leaders’ role in navigating the same effectively. Focusing on information flow, response to RTIs and also diversity inclusion, Prof. Suraj’s session saw participants sharing specific legal challenges – both within the organization and with external bodies.
The programme also included a Movie Session. Showcasing the movie ‘Invictus’, Prof. Sushanta K Mishra facilitated learning through observation of key values like visionary leadership, empathy and reconciliation, the power of symbolism, building trust and strong purpose to align diverse teams, etc.
A session on, ‘Visioning’ was conducted by Prof. Gopal Mahapatra, Chairperson and faculty, Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area. Using instruments, videos, lecture and group discussion, he deep delved into personal visioning and the importance of the same for institutional heads. Stressing on the importance of learning agility, he ended the session with a detailed case study on, ‘Academic Leadership’, which enabled application of the learnings from the session.
‘From Constraints to Impact’ by Prof. Nishant Kumar Verma, Chairperson, Career Development Services and faculty of the Production & Operations Management area, was a two-part session on using fundamentals of operations management in enabling institutional leaders, using a combination of a case study followed by a workshop teaching methodology. The first session laid the foundation of process flow, and included identification of roadblocks in the case that was shared with the participants. The second session had groups of participants who worked on building internal systems during the application process for the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking.
Prof. Mukta Kulkarni, Dean, Programmes, Chairperson, Office of International Affairs and faculty of the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area, led a session on, ‘Decision Making’. Using demonstrative videos, role play and interactive discussions, she spotlighted concepts such as sticky thinking and reference groups. Including examples from the participants, she further underlined the management of both agreement and disagreement, while leading educational institutions.
‘Stakeholder Management’ by Prof. P D Jose, Professor In-charge, UG Programmes and faculty of the Strategy area, was a session which stressed that understanding the roles played by the key stakeholders like students, faculty, society at large and the government, is an essential strength for heads of higher education institutions. Prof. Jose demonstrated frameworks to identify stakeholders and their needs and tools to balance the same. He also focused on conflict management in that context and the impact of both internal and external stakeholders in institution building.
The ‘Campus Walk’ was another highlight, focusing on various initiatives of the Institute such as sustainability, student welfare, the Centres of Excellence, etc. The integration of companies, government bodies and institutions was amplified during the guided tour.
The Yoga sessions conducted every morning focused on holistic personal development, mindfulness and wellness, enabling participants to further embrace patience, compassion, focus and resilience.
During the valedictory, the Programme Directors urged the participants to connect for continual application of the programme content.
The academic leaders participating from across the country stand to gain significantly from the programme and go on to lead higher education institutions that understand as well as align local and national needs with emerging global standards and practices.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, a visionary document, highlights the goal of developing effective academic leaders by evolving a systemic programme on the training needs of top functionaries and institutional heads of centrally funded premier Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and state funded public universities. The fifth cohort of the residential Academic Leadership Programme (ALP) conceptualized under the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme by the Department of Higher Education, the Ministry of Education, Government of India, was hosted by IIMB’s Centre for Teaching and Learning. In line with the goal of the NEP 2020, the programme provided specialized training through case studies, movie-based pedagogy, various participatory learning exercises and best practice exchanges on issues of critical relevance with a view to enhancing institutional quality and impact, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration, transformations, and innovation.