MED.HELA - Mediterranean Higher Education Leadership Academy

The Algerian and Tunisian Higher Education (HE) sectors are facing significant change as they move to enhance accessibility and quality for students, and impact for its economy and society. The reform and restructuring of the HE systems in Algeria and Tunisia needed to deliver on these objectives is being slowed by a lack of leadership capacity. Universities in Algerian and Tunisian need to build the capacity of their leaders for governance, strategic planning and management in order to deliver these reforms.The project addresses the need for development for university leaders in Algeria and Tunisia through the creation and implementation of a Mediterranean Higher Education Leadership Academy (MHELA) and an associated certificated Mediterranean Higher Education Leadership Development Programme (MHE-LDP)When creating the MHELA and its MHE-LDP, it will create the constitution and operating procedures for the Academy; develop an App for the easy diagnosis of HE leaders’ strengths and weaknesses; structures and materials to support the programme; and identify and equip dedicated executive training rooms where the development activities will take place. Learning will take place through networking meetings, lectures from visiting speakers, action learning sets, and promote immediate improvements through national change projects.The project will develop and deliver train the trainer workshops for Algerian and Tunisian university staff responsible for establishing the academy and implementing the programme. During the life of the project, over 1200 Algerian and Tunisian HE leaders will engage with the MHELA, of which 144 will benefit from the MHE-LDP with a demonstrable impact on their capacity to operate the governance, strategic plans and management of HEIs. In the 5-years following the project, it is expected that over 4000 additional leaders will benefit from engaging with MHELA activities including its annual symposium and 240 from taking part in the MHE-LDP.