Assessing Resilience in Educational Institutions A Regional Study

Educational institutions are subject to many pressures. Adaptive capability and planning foresight (resilience) measures familiar in industrial enterprises were assessed for their usefulness in educational institutions. A business sector questionnaire was modified and tested for validity (Cronbach’s α). Participants (N=258) were faculty and administrators from four tertiary institutions across three countries who volunteered to respond on a five point Likert scale. The independent factors of adaptive capability exerted significant influences on the dependent planning foresight variable. Institutions could improve their resilience by adopting remedial solutions suggested by the research literature. The adaptation of a non-educational organization instrument for educational institutions, as done in this study, would facilitate improvement of resilience and take advantage of the human, social and psychological capital held by its faculty. The research indicated that structural changes and directed leadership initiatives could improve resilience scores.

Keywords: Adaptive capability, planning foresight, resilience, educational institutions