2)     They focus on what they can control, not what they can’t.  The surest sign a university isn’t effective is that it spends a lot of time moaning about what government is or isn’t doing.  Sure, government can have positive or deleterious effects.  And it’s important for universities to make their voices heard in order to promote good policies over bad ones.  But it’s even more important not to dwell on this subject.  In most developed counties – and certainly here in Canada – institutions have sufficient control over finance and policy to make an enormous amount of difference over their own situation.  Effective institutions maintain focus on this fact.

3)     They Pay Attention to Hiring.  At the end of the day, an institution’s nature and culture is a product of the hiring process.  Make a mistake – bring in a prof who is a whinger, or who is inclined to slack off gradually after gaining tenure – and you infect a department for a generation.  Every academic hire shapes the institution’s academic profile; every academic hire is implicitly a multi-million dollar decision.  There is literally no job more important at a post-secondary institutions than hiring.

4)     They Set High Standards.  There cannot be high performance without standards.  These need not always be written down; in fact, arguably, at the very highest-performing institutions there is no need for codified standards.  But one way or another, institutions need to ensure that units are performing at their best; they also need to have ways to be seen to be holding people accountable for working at the best.

5)    They Tell Stories.  Strong institutional cultures require a common belief in a narrative about what makes the institution great.  Great university and college leaders spend a lot of time finding ways to create and reinforce those narratives.  The sign of a great institution?  People all tell the same anecdotes to explain how and why their institution came to greatness.

6)     They Know How to Decide and Move On.  Whether they have strong Presidencies, or whether they have remarkably effective governance processes, effective universities don’t faff around.  They take strategy seriously and they take important decisions with due consideration, but not undue delay.

7)     Respect.  The best institutions treat everyone with respect.  Students.  Staff.  Stakeholders (particularly government and taxpayers).  That doesn’t mean they bend over to accommodate every whim from these groups; it just means they treat them with due regard.  Students and staff aren’t patronized; discussions with government and the public are honest and evidence-based.

This isn’t to say money, age, and size don’t help.  But in their absence, these seven traits make it easy to distinguish between the top performers and the rest.