Unraveling the Challenges of Leading a Prestigious American University: Is it the Toughest Job in the Nation

Is being the ⁣president of a top university ⁣in ⁢America the most challenging job? The search‍ for new university presidents is ⁤on. The average tenure of a ‍university president ⁢in ​2022 was six years, indicating that hundreds of jobs change hands each year.​ Yet​ the number of vacancies at⁤ America’s most ⁢prestigious ‌schools is striking. Yale’s⁢ president will also step down ‌this summer after 11 years in the​ job; so will the chancellors of​ the publicly funded University ​of California, Los Angeles, and Berkeley.‍ That leaves ​six of the top universities ⁤in the world searching for a new president. These institutions are responsible for shepherding some of the world’s biggest brains ⁢(Nobel prizewinners) and also some of its most impressionable (the coddled offspring of America’s elite). That’s to⁢ say nothing‍ of their hospitals,⁤ thousands of ⁢administrative staff and $160bn of endowments. The responsibility ‌falls on the board of trustees ‍at private universities. Many‍ look similar to those of America’s corporate giants, ​packed ​with financial luminaries. A broader committee, including faculty and students,⁣ is sometimes tasked with aiding the search. Specialist headhunters are often involved.⁢ Source ⁣from www.economist.com