Benchmarking Succession Planning & Executive Development in Higher Education

Higher education has historically been slow to adopt many corporate management processes. Succession planning is an especially difficult concept to apply in academia due to dramatic cultural differences between the boardroom and the campus. College and universities often have complex and sometimes bureaucratic procedures for hiring compared with many business corporations (Rosse & Levin, 2003). In a tightening economic and growing competitive climate, innovative colleges and universities are re-examining whether succession planning, coupled with executive development, could be adapted for more cost effective transitions of power and authority