Effective Leadership Strategies for Enhancing Student Success in Higher Education

This chapter examines the instrumental role effective leadership plays in enhancing student success in higher education. As colleges and universities face mounting pressures to demonstrate outcomes around retention, progression, attainment, career readiness and more, leadership has become mission critical to driving systemic reforms that enable these student achievement aims. The chapter provides higher education administrators, teams and policymakers research-backed principles to translate leadership vision, strategy and capabilities into tangible initiatives and cultural change that help all students thrive. Concluding insights discuss emerging challenges leaders must creatively navigate, such as demographic shifts, funding constraints, remote learning and calls for even greater equity or reform. With pressure on higher education mounting, the need for strategic leadership committed to student advancement has never been more acute or consequential. This chapter seeks to inform this charge.