The Role of Leadership in Promoting Internationalisation and Sustainability in African Higher Education: A Narrative Review

Abstract

In advanced economies, educational institutions such as MIT, Imperial College London, Stanford, Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge, and Caltech lead in most benchmark areas used by assessors in university rankings. Despite the growing importance of internationalisation and sustainability in higher education, most African institutions face unique challenges in areas such as resource allocation, brain drain, infrastructure, vision, governance, faculty and staff development, student support services, community engagement, and communication. For some of these challenges to be addressed effectively, leadership, which focuses on internationalisation and sustainability, is needed. Therefore, this narrative review paper aims to assess the role that leadership plays in the digital revolution in terms of boosting internationalisation and sustainability in African higher education institutions. The paper, thus, synthesises existing literature on leadership in African higher educational institutions (HEIs), highlighting the challenges and opportunities, especially in the areas of internationalisation, sustainability, funding, and capacity building. The findings show that effective leadership strategies, which include strategic planning, collaborative leadership, visionary leadership, cultural competence, and stakeholder engagement, are the catalyst for promoting internationalisation and sustainability in most HEIs. The paper also proposes a framework for effective leadership that can facilitate internationalisation and sustainability in African HEIs. The findings of this review paper have implications for African higher educational institution leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders who desire to lead the market in terms of internationalisation and sustainability. By stressing the critical role of leadership in this context, this review contributes to the development of more effective strategies for promoting internationalisation and sustainability in African higher education institutions, and elsewhere.