A university president manages the institution’s daily operations and executes the board of trustees’ decisions. But it’s tough to find an effective president. If you’re a member of the board of trustees, who’s in charge of finding a new president, can you ensure you hire a transformative leader consistently, always? The solution lies in asking the correct interview questions. Here’s a list of 45 interview questions that will help.

General

1.     Share a revolutionary higher education innovation you know of. What makes it novel, what is it worth to our university, and how have you integrated it into your presidency?
2.     If you could modify a single thing in education, what would be your choice and execution process? 
3.     Why are you applying for this post?
4.     Do you possess appropriate credentials, educational background, or professional experience that makes you qualified to handle this job’s scope and scale?
5.     Guessing that you had studied our university and the neighboring communities, what did you find?  
6.     If your present university tried to persuade you not to leave after we offered you this position, what would your decision be?
7.     How do you plan to stay updated and keep the board well-informed on present concerns and trends in the domain of higher education?

Board-President Relations

1.     According to you, what’s the university president’s role and that of the board of trustees?
2.     Are you competent to work with the board to establish university goals?
3.     Have you ever written or worked on any university board policies?
4.     Should the president recommend to the school board every agenda item needing any board action?
5.     Do you know Robert’s Rule of Order (Revised)?

Personnel

1.     How do you perceive the chain of command functioning at a university of this magnitude?
2.     What role do the professors, staff members and administrators, president, and board of trustees play in hiring?
3.     What role do the professors, staff members and administrators, president, and board of trustees play in personnel assessment?
4.     Have you ever revised or written a university’s evaluation system? 
5.     What’s your idea on authority delegation, and how do you execute it?

Professional Negotiations

1.     What’re employee unions’ advantages and disadvantages?
2.     What role do the professors, staff members and administrators, president, and board of trustees play in negotiation?

Higher Education Finance

1.     Do you comprehend university-level financial accounting?
2.     Have you ever created an extensive university budget?
3.     What do you think of deficit spending and deficit financing?
4.     Are you aware of how this state’s funding formula functions?
5.     Explain our university’s financial condition.
6.     Did you ever have to run a campaign meant for an annual general budget vote or a capital project campaign and vote?

Curriculum & Instruction

1.     Should you hold the university liable for improving its professors’ instructional efficacy?
2.     How would you execute a university-wide curriculum modification?
3.     How would you systematize the university, vis-à-vis academic disciplines, to optimize student potential and performance?
4.     What role do the board of trustees and president play in curriculum development?
5.     How many academic course offerings should our university have?
6.     How will you guarantee the university’s curriculum audit and alignment with discipline-specific standards?

Transportation, Maintenance, and Food Service Programs

1.     Are you experienced in creating or handling a student transportation program?
2.     Would you craft a preventive and custodial maintenance plan for this university?
3.     Are you experienced in handling a university food-service program?

School/Community Relations

1.     How would you set up optimistic university-community public relations?
2.     Are you receptive to the community’s use of university resources?

Accreditation

1.     What’s your experience with the process of university accreditation?
2.     What’s your experience with a university’s discipline-specific accreditation?
3.     Have you ever written an accreditation report or co-authored it? What was the experience like, and what did it teach you?
4.     Have you ever conducted an accreditation visit as a university official or evaluator? What was the experience like, and what did it teach you?
5.   Was any university put on probation or had its accreditation annulled under your presidency? If yes, what did it teach you, and how will you use the learning in your subsequent presidency?

Athletics

1.     Are you experienced in managing a university’s athletic program?
2.     How vital is a thriving athletics program to a university?
3.     At your last university, what was the student-athlete graduation rate?
4.     How will you handle the situation and take preventative steps when a coach or student-athlete is charged with sexual assault, domestic violence, etc.?

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