AKEPT places a premium upon leadership excellence in Malaysian higher education institutions. In implementing this policy, the AKEPT Centre for Leadership Research and Innovation (ACLRI) is guided by two main objectives:

• To promote efective research in critical issues, and innovations in leadership in higher education in order to enhance leadership excellence which would be recognized and acknowledged by the global higher education community
• To pave the way for the practice of state-of-the-art teaching and learning methodologies in higher education institutions and fostering a high performance research culture.

ACLRI holds a strategic position in AKEPT in creating a collaborative and participatory learning environment for excellence in leadership in higher education institutions. To do this, ACLRI maintains an efective collaborative network with leaders from adiverse spectrum of public and private higher education institutions by engaging these leaders in benefcial programmes where they can yield novel yet pragmatic insights, as well as set the direction for the transformation of higher education institutions. Tis role is further accentuated by the rigorous research planned and conducted by ACLRI, and also by employing a varied and innovative participatory approach in exploring issues related to the leadership of higher education institutions, as well as issues in teaching
and learning which constitute the core business of higher education institutions.

ACLRI is committed to its role of creating and maintaining a high performance research culture. Te research conducted by ACLRI’s is focused on the cultivating and expansion of knowledge in tandem with the understanding of leadership and organizational efectiveness. This requires ACLRI to build interdisciplinary and synergistic relationships with programme developers, academic researchers, as well as research establishments, whilst keeping abreast of current issues with multiple organizational stakeholders across industries and sectors, not only within Malaysia but also in the international arena. ACLRI’ role also requires it to actively pursue opportunities in order to partner with scholars and research institutions for the advancement of leadership theory and practice. Tis is realized through one of AKEPT’s initiatives in this centre, that is the awarding of annual research grants. ACLRI has just completed the frst round of grant awards by forwarding disbursements to nine successful academics in anticipation that their research outcomes would uplift higher education leadership to greater heights in human capital development. A series of training programmes have been planned for academics in higher education to enable them to keep abreast with advanced research techniques and methodologies, with a view to nurturing a rich culture of innovation in higher education.

In addition, ACLRI is responsible for administering the Competency Profling Programme, in order to identify the essential skills and knowledge needed for the higher education leaders to excel in their respective areas and levels of management. ACLRI’s fnal aim is to identify and nurture a talent pool for succession planning for higher education by way of continuous assessment and improvement of the participants’ competencies through the provision of pragmatic and relevant training courses. In terms of continuous self-improvement and to help maintain high standards of professionalism in training, ACLRI is also charged with responsibility of analysing the participants’ feedback received at the end of each programme. Te impact of all the training programmes conducted by AKEPT over a year will also be analysed and studied by ACLRI to ensure that only the best practices in training are applied in higher education institutions.

Another project that ACLRI has initiated is the development of programmes using the case writing method, be it for leadership training, or teaching and learning. Case writers will be invited to submit cases that they have already developed. Concurrently, through such programmes, AKEPT will train academics to write cases on issues relevant to our own higher education agenda. ACLRI is also in the process of publishing a Research Monograph, derived from the paper presentations at the conference held in 2008, to provide an in-depth understanding of the key issues facing higher education both locally and globally.

Notwithstanding these commitments, the signature programmes of ACLRI are the annual International and National Research Conferences where leaders from various local and international institutions and organizations will share their experiences and thoughts on leading higher education institutions and developing leaders.

ACLRI is currently in the process of setting up a digital repository to store the research output of AKEPT, in the form of abstracts, summaries, literature reviews, and research fndings. Tis repository will be based in a specifc location but accessible via search engines to all the higher education institutions. In this way, ACLRI will support AKEPT’s goal to attain leadership excellence by closely monitoring its activities to ensure that the fruits of scholarly inquiry are available to higher education institutions, as well as provide information on the efective paths of action that may guide further research on leadership and teaching and learning, in order to guide the shaping of prudent and pragmatic higher education policies, which will ultimately contribute to the creation of the nation’s pool of gifted human capital.