Developing entrepreneurial leader model for educators in a higher learning institution: a case in UiTM Sabah branch, Malaysia

Lecturers in Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) are mainly concentrating on their routine work i.e. teaching. Malaysian Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership under the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) in 2016 conducted the first course related to the Entrepreneurial Leadership among Malaysian HLIs which is known as Entrepreneurial Leaders Program (ELP). ELP concentrated on senior lecturers and above who are also the administrators of HLIs around Malaysia. The course was conducted for seven days with primary objective to create entrepreneurial leaders among educators. HLIs across the globe are facing turbulence and challenges in searching for solutions and opportunities while dealing with the current unpredictable climate and environments. Since few years ago, public universities have been faced with significant budget cuts, thus they have taken steps to increase their own funds through many activities. This scenario coincides with economic upheavals across the globe. Governments nowadays have less resources available to sustain their support for the higher learning institutions like the way they used to. This new phenomenon has led the whole personnel of universities to stand united and demonstrate strong and visionary leadership in becoming more entrepreneurial as a way of responding to the challenges that they face. A few years back, the budget cuts to the universities in Malaysia were done in a very sudden and haphazard fashion. They were not prepared to significantly increase non-government revenue sources. Thus, developing a model of entrepreneurial leaders among educators in HLIs is crucial and timely. This research aims to produce an entrepreneurial framework which is to be implemented, particularly by the lecturers at Universiti Teknologi MARA Sabah Branch