STRATEGIC PLANNING and THE PRINCIPAL-AGENT ISSUE IN HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP

Abstract

Strategic planning is well entrenched in colleges and universities around the globe. It is not onlyessential for effective resource allocation but in some jurisdictions, legislation requires that strategicplans be submitted to government as part of the funding approval process. The difficulties associatedwith strategic planning and indeed planning in general in colleges and universities has not goneunexplored. It is our contention and the thesis of this paper that the failure to develop and executestrategic plans flows from the distinctive aspects of the principal-agent framework within which manyhigher education institutions work. Understanding and responding to the deficiencies that beset thismodel in higher education should improve the effectiveness of planning.