Identify industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Identify industry - Essay Example Despite of number of economic and social benefits of education, spending on education is experiencing increased pressure these days. As economies are finding ways to recover from global financial crisis, they are shrinking budgets, resulting in scarcer funds left for education sector. Economic complications are also resulting in tightening of enrolment levels in large numbers of institutions, as students proceed for less expensive educational programs or opt out for any educational program altogether. The aim of this paper is to identify top challenges that are facing the educational sector nowadays; however identifying challenges is merely a first step in fundamental transformation of educational sector. Issues in Education Sector The first issue in education sector pertains to over budgeting and underfunding. The impact was global financial crisis was detrimental on education sector. Private and public schools saw their endowments declining. It affected private donors as well who l ost their capability of investing significant sum of money within the industry. Another issue is related to intensification of rivalry. As competition intensifies, higher education looks for ways to differentiate themselves by attracting students and top faculty. Some schools are enhancing their curricula to attract students in fields of engineering or science. Others schools are gearing programs to target specific groups such as high-school dropouts or adult learners (Deloitte., 2001). Technological upgrade is another emerging challenge for education sector. Schools that have invested in latest technology are not utilizing its full capacity. Office systems, used to manage information of students, human resource and finances, are woefully outdated. Many schools have homegrown IT departments that make it complicated to centralize or upgrade the parallel system that causes inefficiency or redundancy (Deloitte., 2001). Education sector need to reconsider infrastructure. In order to red uce the cost of infrastructure, institutions are heading for partnerships with private sector to develop share facilities that can be utilized by citizens and students. A strategic approach is essential if schools intend to keep costs aligned in the upcoming years (Deloitte., 2001). Reporting and regulatory requirement oblige the education sector to invest strategically. Cost containment and funding constraints are not the only byproducts of financial crisis. Due to international economic meltdown, governments globally have been speeding up oversight in educational industry by flexing the muscles of regulatory authority. In numerous other cases, antagonism has caught educational sector. In order to differentiate themselves from crowded marketplace, educational institutions need to invest in information systems that are more sophisticated (Deloitte., 2001). Leadership Process: A Catalyst for Change in Educational Sector These critical issues call for assistance from the side of leade rs in educational sector. According to Heifetz, (1994), leadership is a process â€Å"to address conflicts in the values people hold, or to diminish the gap between the values people stand for and the reality they face† (p. 22). Noonan (2003) in ‘The Elements of Leadership’, states that, â€Å"Leadership is developing potential and building community† (p. 3). Conventional views referred school leadership as operational or