Higher education requirements for political leadership in developing countries

Political Issues in Higher Education and Leadership

The present world is dynamic in various perspectives related to economic development, political stability and international affairs. As 21st century has paved ways for globalization, the trade barriers are eliminated. This development is paving ways for promotion of international culture and national identities are at stake. With increased globalization and free movement of people from one part of the world to the other, the values and trends have become so diverse that individuals no longer hesitate to quote the precedent from some other country or culture.

The phenomenon is complex in nature and giving birth to many issues. One of the issues is related to higher education and leadership. As media has become powerful and people are aware of the developments and advancements taking place in any corner of the world, the major political issues are rising on global as well as national platforms.

This paper is about the political issues raised by higher education in the context of leadership. The paper revolves around the implication on leadership as resulting from the application of higher education. The main problem is related to higher education level described as eligibility criteria of the leaders. Particularly speaking in the content of political leaders, this eligibility criterion is creating many problems in developing countries where education is not common and hardly a few people get the university education.

There are many people who believe that leaders should be highly qualified while there is a lot who prefers leadership qualities to higher education. The latter group ignores the essence of education and fails to link it with the notion of personal growth and development. People delink potential from higher education ad consider it as innate characteristics of a person. It may be true for ancient times, but in this era of globalization and technology adoption, higher education and technical knowhow has become an important requirement.

Before going into the details of political aspects of higher education in relation to leadership, it is important to define higher education. The next section casts light upon the concept of higher relation in relation to political leaders.

Define Higher Education

Higher education is commonly referred to university level education which is more than 12 years of schooling. Only degree programs are included in higher education. Qualifications like diploma, certificate, and other vocational and technical training are not part of higher education. It is because, these may be done on part time basis, while higher education s formal education requiring full time and effort of students.

Masters level education is imparted in universities all over the world. There are certain institutes which are ranked as colleges but have affiliation with universities to issue Bachelors level degree. Hence, university education starts from Bachelors. In the modern era, which is the fastest era in terms of development and advancement, higher education is considered mandatory for all citizens of any country. What to talk about leaders, they are supposed to be ahead of all the citizens, this is the reason, they are known as leaders.

Importance of higher education

The importance of education could not be denied in any period of human development and existence. But the 21st century has exalted it even further. Education is the main requirement of many employment opportunities these days. Even blue collar jobs require certain level of education and qualification. As individuals grow, they need vision and exposure. It is impossible to have vision and exposure in the 21st century without having knowledge. The reason being, 21st century is characterized with innovation and technology. Technology may not be common sense and one has to enroll in the college to understand the concepts and apply them on real situation. How one applies these concepts effectively, is largely the matter of instinct but training also plays vital role in unveiling the potential (Rees and Porter, 2008).

Higher education plays a unique and critical role in making a healthy and sustainable society. Higher education now has a challenge bigger than any other it has ever faced because humanity is at crossroads without historical precedent. The education of all professionals would reflect a new approach to learning and practice. The learning and benefit to society of higher education forming partnerships with local and regional communities to help make them socially vibrant, economically secure and environmentally sustainable will be a crucial part of successful higher education.

The higher education is important for economic development of individuals and nations alike. Research shows that in developed country, the rich people are the ones who are more educated. There is direct positive relationship between education and income of employees. There are special cases as well, in which luck paves ways for millionaires but exception cannot be made theory.

Is higher education a responsibility of government leaders?

It is interesting to mention here that one of the duties assigned to the leader is promotion of educational, medical healthcare and employment opportunities and facilities in the country. As the leaders approach public and serve at the levels closer to the public, the responsibility related to materializing these goals increases.

In order to ensure that leaders are concerned about the development of their followers, they establish schools and other educational institutes. Every year, the international bodies generate reports on the level of education imparted in a particular country and the number of literate people there. These reports are important as they provide guidelines for development of five years plan for the world development. The governments need to focus on educational development of their people so that they can invite the investors to utilize their skills. On grounds of educational level, the immigrations are offered and Gross National product increases.

How higher education affects leaders negatively?

There was a time when leaders' only wish was to have followers by hook or by crook. History has witnessed many leaders who used coercive power extensively to suppress the voice of their counterparts. The tendency to love power is still not over. Still there are leaders who are more concerned about influence and pay no heed to the needs of people around them.

This is the situation, when education starts affecting leaders badly. Described below are the ways which prove to be harmful to the leaders and threaten their power.

a. People Become Aware of Their Rights

Education enables the people to learn about their rights and responsibilities. Most importantly, people come to know of purpose of their existence and the goal of their life. When their vision is broadened, they start analyzing the things happening around them. As a matter of fact, the concept of implied slavery dissatisfies them and they plant o change the situation.

It also happens more commonly in a culture that is ripe for revolution that people form informal groups and teams to spread awareness about their rights. People become motivated by emergent leaders (Martin, 2006) and they enjoy much love and respect by their followers who are fed up of the pathetic approaches of non-qualified but influential leaders.

b. People Question Leaders

As dissatisfaction increases, people approach the limits of their tolerance and planning riots against the leaders. The youth plays an important role in giving voice to the emotions of people. It is also important to mention that youth has the best learning capacity and when full of energy, they have the ability to lead countable people and face utmost critique as well. History has seen many such young leaders (Hava and Kwokbun, 2012) whose followers were ready to die at one command of leader without any question or objection.

The awareness of youth forces them to express their dissatisfaction towards the system and they start questioning the political leaders. Almost every day, there is a commentary on the decision or initiative of the state officials. People ask them for justification and they have to answer them as media is active and their no show can turn against them.

c. People Participate in Decisions

This is the most serious form of initiative which people take in any form of government, regardless of democracy and dictatorship. People assume that the leaders are leaders as they have followers; hence their primary obligation is to consider and go by the wish of followers. At this extreme, the leaders become the coordinators to express the wishes of their followers on proper platform. The leaders lose their power to influence and followers are the main drivers for any decision.

This situation is detrimental to the existence of any leadership policy. Leaders are supposed to lead the people and not only go by their wishes. But it is possible only when they are accepted as leaders. It is not possible merely by using coercive or reward power. The leaders need to have charismatic personalities through which they can motivate the people to follow them not only as a duty but as a wish (Daft and Lane, 2008). This quality is rarely found in any leader, but these are the most successful leaders. It is no exaggeration to mention that they are the most influential leaders as well. Their power is their followers and the followers feel pride in following such a charismatic leader whose concerns are perfectly aligned with their developmental goals.

If leaders are charismatic and their leadership is accepted, the process of legislation becomes easier. It is because; leaders take into consideration the concerns of their followers and present them as theirs. In case, there is a situation when they cannot comply with the wishes of followers, the followers have no objection in obeying their leaders.

The fact why matter of higher education has become as issue on political platforms finds its roots in the missing harmony between the leaders and followers. The mismatch between the expectation and performance converts itself into dissatisfaction and issues arise. The issues are bound to propagate if right solution is not implemented at right time.

Without any prejudice to developing and developed country, it is mandatory to mention that conflict resolution methods play vital role in aligning the interests of leaders and followers. Conflict is a natural phenomenon and whenever there are multiple people; conflict of interest gives birth to conflict (Coltri, 2003). The conflict can be resolved to a win-win situation and if it stays unresolved, in the perspective of countries, it becomes the foundation of revolution. Revolution does not come in one day. There is homework or grudge of years and centuries behind it. The reason of all revolutionary actions can be found in conflicts.

It is the job of leader to resolve conflicts, but this technique is learnt through education. If the leader has no flair of higher education, he may not even know that conflict resolution is emerging as a subject and it is an important subject in the present era. The essence of subject is increasing on continuous rate as the dynamism of global world is adding to the complexities and diversities. People are becoming more wishful about attaining their dreams and they do not like anybody opposing their views.

With advent in digital technology and free media, people have abundant information and they think that their views are more authentic. Learning how to celebrate the difference and respect others' views is the key to sustain in this dynamic world. Tolerance is possible if there is wish to give space to others and admit that they may be correct at their own place. Education plays an important role in enabling people to learn tolerance as a scholar has rightLY defined education as the process of learning how to stay confident facing defeat and criticism. It is all about holding the temper even the world has turned against one or the most well designed plans have failed.