The opinions of administrators and lecturers on the strategic thinking skills of administrators of education faculties and the innovation in higher education

The aim of this research is to reveal the strategic thinking skills of education faculty administrators working in public universities in Ankara and the views of administrators and faculty members on innovation in higher education. It is descriptive study in which relational screening and causal comparison models are used together. Quantitative and qualitative stages were applied consecutively in the mixed research method, which was conducted with an explanatory sequential design. Data collection tools were developed by the researcher. The sample for the research consists of 60 administrators and 229 faculty members who work in education faculties in Ankara while the study group for the research consists of seven administrators and 16 faculty members. In this study, stratified sampling was used to determine the sample, and the purposive sampling method was used to determine the study group. In data analysis, the arithmetic mean and standard deviation are used. In comparisons, the Mann-Whitney U test was used if the independent variable consisted of two groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used if it consisted of three or more groups. The relationship between the variables was examined by the Spearman test, regression analysis, and structural equation models. In the qualitative stage, the phenomenology design was used, and the data were analyzed by content analysis. According to the opinions of the administrators and faculty members, education faculty administrators focus on the strategy implementation dimension rather than the strategy formation dimension. Education faculty administrators appreciate the successful practices of the education faculty members in strategy formation but don't assign responsibilities compatible with their competencies. In addition, education faculty administrators make efforts to distribute existing resources effectively and create alternative resources, but they don't determine all the resources that can be used at present. Also, education faculty administrators don't set rules that prevent the repetition of failure and don't carry out assessment and evaluation studies to determine the overall success, though they improve the practices that they realize do not work by controlling the work while applying the strategies. According to administrators' and faculty members' opinions, innovation in higher education mostly takes place in the field of education. However, there are also faculty members who state that there is no innovation in the field of education in higher education organizations. Also, according to the opinions of the administrators and lecturers, although distance education opportunities are provided in the digital area, there isn't any innovation in teaching technologies and technological infrastructure. In the field of innovation in service to the community, services that add value to the city are provided, and research that contributes to social development is carried out. On the other hand, while collaborative innovation is carried out mostly through studies that produce innovation with the participation of students, new services are not offered according to stakeholder feedback, and lifelong learning programs that bring current developments to society are not carried out. The research results show that there is a moderately significant positive relationship between the strategic thinking skills of education faculty and administrators and innovation in higher education. Strategic thinking skills of education faculty administrators positively predict innovation in higher education. Qualitative findings show that the strategic thinking skills of administrators play a central role in innovation in higher education due to their ability to see the world holistically and predict the future. So organizational climate, lack of resources and limitations of authority affect strategic thinking ability while lack of policy and communication in organization affect innovation in higher education.