First insights into senior leaders’ general management competencies at Swiss higher education institutions: A national study

These and other questions are currently being explored by the SSPG in a national study surveying senior leaders in Swiss HEI (see here for more information on this research project ).

We are pleased to share our initial findings, which you can download here in Download English (PDF, 1.4 MB) and Download German (PDF, 1.4 MB). These findings are based on the responses of 312 senior leaders to our online survey carried out in March-April 2024. With a 64% response rate the respondents are representative in terms of different types of higher education institutions (cantonal universities, federal institutes of technology (ETHs), universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education, research institutes of the ETH domain), functions groups (senior leaders with overall responsibility, with an academic area responsibility and with a non-academic are responsibility i.e. support responsibility), management levels (54% are members of the [extended] Executive Board), and career paths. You can find more information on the sample here .

We are pleased to share selected highlights from the initial findings:

Career paths of the surveyed senior leaders

- 49% have a purely academic or professorial background, 51% a professional or mixed background
- 84% had already worked at a HEI before taking up their current position (most of them at their own HEI)
- Around one in two have experience from the private sector (52%), one in three from the public sector (31%)
- 51% have experience abroad; this proportion is highest among those with an academic area responsibility

Women in the lead

Although the proportion of women among executive board members in Swiss HEI is still considerably lower than that of men (33% of women and 67% of men), they are taking up in 2024-2025. For example, the University of Geneva, the University of Bern and the ZHAW appointed their first female rectors. In the ETH domain, EPFL will also have its first female president from 2025.

The profile of required general management competencies is relatively homogeneous

Across all surveyed senior leaders, the results show that the requirements for senior leaders at Swiss HEIs are wide-ranging and demanding both today and in the future. These competencies requirements are unexpectedly homogeneous, especially across the different types of HEIs. For a deeper insight into the underlying leadership requirements in different university contexts, we are currently conducting in-depth interviews with around 25 seniors leaders from different types of HEI and with diverse functions and professional backgrounds.

The surveyed senior leaders identified a lack of basic management competencies when taking up their current position

Finance & HR management, change management, understanding how higher education institutions work, and a better understanding of the dynamics of the political ERI arena were among the top challenges at the start of the surveyed senior leaders’ careers, for which they wish they had received more targeted preparation.

Savings pressure and resource availability is overall today’s most pressing challenge for HEI, while digitalization and artificial intelligence will gain the most relevance in future

The surveyed senior leaders indicate that Swiss HEI face a variety of strategic challenges today and in future. Moreover, today's most relevant challenges will continue to shape the higher education environment in the future and become even more important.

Please stay tuned for further updates, which we will publish on our website in November. We are currently finalizing the in-depth interviews with selected senior leaders and we continue to work on the data analysis.