الكفايات المهنية اللازمة للقيادة الأكاديمية في ضوء التحول نحو الجامعات المستقلة
The study aimed to reveal the availability of professional competencies necessary for academic leadership among department heads in the College of Education at King Saud University from the perspective of its faculty members in light of the shift towards independent universities. The researcher used the survey descriptive approach and the questionnaire as a tool for data collection. A simple random sample of (252) faculty members participated in the study. The results indicated that the professional competencies necessary for academic leadership are available to a high degree among the heads of academic departments. Communication competencies ranked first in terms of availability, followed by personal competencies, then administrative competencies, and leadership competencies, while teaching and learning competencies ranked last. The results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between the participants' responses about the total degree of availability of professional competencies and their sub-dimensions necessary for academic leadership according to gender and academic rank with the exception of teaching and learning competencies which came in favor of the teaching assistants. The study presented a number of recommendations that hopefully will contribute to the development of professional competencies for heads of academic departments. (Published abstract)