course for heads of departments

I just had a meeting with my supervisor and he said he’d been very busy last two weeks. He said he attended a four-day course about "how to be head of a department". He is head of the department (school) at UCL and he was for a few years at City as well. He said he didn't want to attend but it was compulsory! He said that now he is very glad that he has attended the course. I asked him what they taught them and who led the course. he said first there were a few of high officials of the university like the Dean and etc told them how the university works, how is the finance and what are the main strategies and goals and etc. Then they had a few tasks and practices. For example a management expert discussed with them some managerial issues that they might face, or they discussed how to motivate the staff and etc. The course generally has been very interactive. My supervisor said it was a great opportunity for networking and knowing other heads of departments.

It’s very interesting to know that how highly ranked universities like Oxford and UCL try to guarantee the quality of their departments and education. A good university like UCL wants quality from its department and if a daprtment fails, the university might simply shut that depratment down.