The challenges and opportunities in leading a multi-campus university

Leadership in higher education on the best of days is complex and challenging due to the many competing internal and external demands and constituents. In today's climate of decreased funding, dwindling enrollments and political debate over the value of higher education, the higher education leader is often in the crossfires of debate and conflict. Nursing education leaders have the added requirement of protecting the public safety by graduating competent and safe practitioners. The role of the higher education leader is even more complex when the institution has multiple campuses, whether within one state or across states. This article addresses the unique challenges of leading across multiple college campus sites including autonomy in decision-making, communication, quality academic outcomes, consistency, culture, and knowledge management. Approaches to enhance leadership success include establishing system-wide goals and strategies; technology to facilitate knowledge management, communication and consistent policies; system-wide committees or councils and a central office to provide support and consistency. By building the appropriate infrastructure and processes, multiple benefits of scale, expanded access, and efficiencies can be derived in multi-campus educational institutions.