Abstract

Leadership has been extensively studied and analyzed since the 20th century, increasing its importance in present days. This is due to the decisiveness of this factor in the success and failure of organizations. However, this situation has been less studied in the case of universities, mainly in Ibero-American universities. This work focuses on analyzing the opinion of experts of Ibero-American universities regarding leadership in university governance, emphasizing the link between the high est university authorities and the superior collegiate body of the universities. To this end, a closed question survey was applied to a deliberate sample of 858 cases. In general terms, the interviewees agree that, aside from the bureaucratic conditions and the levels of complexity of the universities, their efficiency depends mainly on the leadership skills of their top level management. All of this confirms that this variable is definitely a critical factor of success for any kind of organization.