School of Leadership, Mentorship & Professional Development
Specializes in institutional leadership, academic administration, and governance models + Focuses on academic mentorship, career development, and emotional intelligence in professional settings
Department of Academic Leadership and Governance
Department of Mentorship, Career Development & Emotional Intelligence
Courses in this School
Change Management and Organizational Culture
A practice-focused course for senior academics, heads of department, deans, senate/council members, and academic administrators who must lead institutional change and shape organizational culture. It develops understanding of organizational behaviour in the unique collegial context of higher education, the dynamics of resistance to change, the application of established change-management models (Lewin, Kotter's 8 Steps, ADKAR, McKinsey 7S), and the deliberate shaping of culture for sustainable transformation. Grounded in African institutional realities and CAA's ethos of excellence and transformation, the course equips leaders to drive lasting, contextually grounded change in resource-constrained settings.
Digital Leadership and the Future of Higher Education
A forward-looking, practice-focused course that equips senior academics, heads of department, deans, directors, institutional leaders, and academic administrators to lead digital transformation in higher education. It develops the vision and competence to govern with technology, embed digital pedagogy, foster institutional innovation, and build agile, future-ready academic institutions — grounded in African realities of connectivity, mobile-first access, and edtech leapfrogging. The course completes the Certificate in Educational Management and Institutional Transformation.
Emotional Intelligence and the Practice of Academic Mentorship
This mini-course equips academics — from early-career lecturers to postgraduate supervisors, heads of department, and aspiring mentors — with the emotional and relational competencies essential to excellent academic mentorship. Blending internationally recognised emotional intelligence (EI) frameworks (Goleman, Mayer–Salovey–Caruso, Bar-On) with the communal African value of Ubuntu ("I am because we are"), the course positions mentorship as a deeply human, dignity-respecting practice rather than a purely procedural or supervisory task. Participants learn to recognise, understand, and regulate emotions in themselves and others, and to translate these capacities into trust-based mentoring relationships that foster publication, career advancement, and well-being across African higher education.
Financial Management and Resource Mobilization in Academia
A practice-focused course that builds the financial literacy and resource-mobilization competence of senior academics, heads of department, deans, directors, senate/council members, and academic administrators responsible for budgets, resource allocation, fundraising, and financial accountability. It covers the foundations of university financial management, strategic budgeting and cost management, resource mobilization and funding diversification (including grants, philanthropy, and partnerships), and rigorous financial accountability, internal control, and audit. Anchored in African higher-education funding realities, the course completes the Certificate in Academic Leadership and Governance.
Governance of Higher Education Institutions
A rigorous, structure-focused course for senior academics, heads of department, deans, senate/council members, and academic administrators who must understand how universities are governed, regulated, and held accountable. It maps the internal governance architecture of higher education institutions and the statutory, regulatory, and quality-assurance frameworks that shape them, explicitly grounded in African institutional realities and CAA's accreditation ethos. The course equips leaders to interpret institutional instruments, clarify the roles and boundaries of governance actors, and safeguard academic standards through effective quality assurance and accreditation readiness.
Policy Formulation, Advocacy, and Educational Diplomacy
A practice-focused course for senior academics, heads of department, deans, senate/council members, academic administrators, and institutional policy leaders who must shape, negotiate, and advance education policy. It develops the craft of evidence-based policy formulation, the principles of negotiation and strategic advocacy, and the skills of educational diplomacy at national, pan-African, and global levels. Grounded in Africa's higher-education agenda — including Agenda 2063 and continental and UNESCO frameworks — the course equips participants to advance their institutions and Africa's interests on the world stage.
Principles and Practice of Academic Leadership
A foundational, practice-focused course for senior academics, heads of department, deans, and aspirant academic administrators seeking to lead academic units, committees, and institutions with vision, influence, service, and accountability. Grounded in international best practice and African leadership values (including ubuntu — leadership as collective flourishing), the course equips participants to distinguish leadership from management, exercise principled influence in collegial settings, and mentor the next generation of scholarly leaders. It is the entry module of the Department of Academic Leadership and Governance and the gateway to Senior Member (SCAA) and Fellow (FCAA) progression.
Strategic Planning and Institutional Development
A practice-focused course that equips senior academics, heads of department, deans, senate/council members, and academic administrators to develop, implement, and sustain institutional strategies. It covers environmental and situational analysis, formulation of vision, mission, and strategic goals aligned to stakeholder needs and African development agendas, translation of strategy into operational plans and resource allocation, and design of robust performance-management systems including KPIs and balanced scorecards. Grounded in African institutional realities and CAA's ethos of strategic, evidence-based transformation.
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