The Institutional Leadership Paradigm project: Improving institutional leadership for Indigenous outcomes

This article provides the context for a project undertaken as part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Leadership for Excellence in Learning and Teaching program, entitled An Institutional Leadership Paradigm: transforming practices, structures and conditions in Indigenous higher education. The project addressed an ongoing need to improve higher education institutional leadership for Indigenous outcomes. Although Indigenous participation in higher education in Australia has increased significantly in recent years, it still has a long way to go. Poor higher education access, retention and graduation rates for Indigenous students persist. The project networked eight Australian and international higher education institutions to create and trial a new values-based tool for transforming the practices, structures and conditions of the sector.