From Gaps to Modules: A Design Thinking–Driven Academic Management Framework for Meta-Skills Development in Chinese Private Universities
Abstract
This study addresses the persistent misalignment between academic management practices and meta-skills development in Chinese private higher education institutions (HEIs). It aimed to design, validate, and disseminate an academic management innovation that systematically embeds meta-skills—adaptive expertise, relational dynamics, creative agility, and strategic synthesis—into curriculum, teaching, and assessment in Sichuan private HEIs. A multi-phase mixed-methods design, aligned with Design Thinking (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test), was employed. Data were collected from 400 undergraduates (meta-skills questionnaire), 805 academic and administrative staff (PNImodified needs survey), and 20 experts (interviews, focus groups, and rubric-based evaluations). Quantitative analyses used descriptive statistics, ANOVA, reliability indices, and PNImodified calculations, while qualitative data underwent thematic content analysis and integrative synthesis. Results showed moderate meta-skills overall, with Strategic Synthesis and Relational Dynamics as the weakest domains and significant disciplinary variation for Strategic Synthesis. PNImodified analysis identified curriculum design as the highest reform priority, followed by assessment and teaching–learning practices. Expert ratings across two validation rounds indicated significant gains in perceived feasibility and consistently high scores for relevance and innovation. The resulting “Next-Gen Academic Management” framework—featuring agile curriculum integration, experiential pedagogy, and smart assessment strategies—offers an empirically grounded, open-access, infographic-based tool for institutional adoption and a replicable pathway for design-based academic management innovation.
Keywords
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v20i3.26930
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