Managerial roles of Ontario college presidents

Abstract

This study examined the managerial roles of college presidents at the tertiary level within the province of Ontario, Canada in an effort to understand the importance of their position at the apex of their educational institutions, as well as, reveal and substantiate the challenges faced by them within the context of the twenty-first century. In particular, the study aimed to identify the extent to which the new public management ideologies, that impacted over the past decade the area of higher education, influenced their managerial roles. Moreover, there are reasons to believe that the findings of this study will help the Board of Governors in making hiring decisions in the future, as well as, determine if training is required for the candidates chosen for such position. The research model used was based on Mintzberg’s taxonomy of managerial roles. The study used a mixed research methodology for providing answers to the proposed research questions.
 
 Keywords: Higher education, managerial role, college presidents, role theory.