The Institute of Advanced Leadership's Home Page / Partnership with the World University of Leadership



The Institute of Advanced Leadership are representing and partnering with the World University of Leadership to provide a revolutionary Distance Education program to African leaders. Unlike other Institutions who treat their students like children, this program is designed for adults who want to learn and are willing to take responsibility for their own education. As a result, the program is totally tailored to the individual's interests and needs, it's highly practical, and it contains the very latest management teachings (unlike some textbooks other organizations use, most of the contents is less than a year or two old).

Most American universities charge students many tens of thousands of dollars a year to study with them. We are delighted that World University of Leadership have given a large number of scholarships to African students enrolling through us. Students awarded a scholarship can study for as little as $220 a semester (for Bachelors students), or $520 a semester (for Masters students) - including all books.

As part of the program students receive large quantities of CD's designed to help them and other leaders in their country to make a large difference to the quality of life of the population in that country. The Institute is particularly targeting Government Leaders, Charity/NGO/Spiritual Leaders etc and has ensured they can access the very generous scholarship program to make it easy for them to study.

As an example of the richness of the CD contents, just 2 of the CD's alone contain over 30 courses, 15 books, some Audio/Visual materials, and over 10,000 articles relating to Leadership and related areas (eg Teambuilding, Customer Service, Training skills etc), Personal Development (including counselling skills, relationships etc), Spirituality in Business, Setting up NGO's (charities) and community organisations, and many other areas.

Additional CD's given to students include a lot of Audio Visual materials such as computer videos of many of our live courses, computer training programs, computer applications, and many thousands more articles, courses, books, and other resources. The internet and email is also used to keep in touch (and in a way that works for those who have very slow connections or only occasional access to the internet - eg those living in remote villages). For those who are able to travel to our offices, there are also regular meetings every week for students to get together and learn at our Institute.

Some underpinning elements of the Distance-Education program are:

  • Breadth and Depth - Each student is issued with over 10 computer CD's. Yet just one of these CD's contains over 50,000 files on over 650 topics. With such a broad range of content, students are able to study as widely and as deeply as they wish. Although a student only needs to study some of these topics, the additional topics and files are there if they wish to learn more. e.g. - Although students only need to do 2 modules of computer studies, they are given 60 computer tutorials so that if they wish to do further study (e.g. when they buy a new computer program or a get a job requiring different skills) they have the materials on hand to learn the new program(s).

    You actually become a great leader (rather than just a knowledgeable one) - We've asked thousands of people to think about the best manager they've worked for as well as the worst, and to tell us the difference. 95% of the answers relate to the person's character - the type of person the manager is: - whether they really listen to, understand, care for, and support their employees, or not. The bad managers are said to be negative, unable to see things from someone else's viewpoint, they have a lot of ego, and are dis-empowering. Now if these are the elements that make the difference between great and lousy management then its essential that a Leadership or Management Degree helps people to be more understanding, more caring, and to be good listeners who are able to see things from many viewpoints - and that the degree helps students become less egotistical, negative and dis-empowering. World University's program have a strong focus on these areas to ensure that graduates become the sort of people who bring out the best in their workforce - and their country. For us, this is the true measure of a person's success (not their ability to answer academic questions on Corporate Law or 'Financial Institutions and Markets' in an exam).

  • The Degrees are affordable - American universities such as New York University charge approximately US$35,000 a year for similar degrees. In addition, students need to allow for an absolute minimum of $15,000 a year for living expenses in New York. Although we believe World University's degrees are better than any other similar programs available, they are priced at an affordable level so that current and future leaders in developing countries can afford it. Students who are given a scholarship can study for as little as $220 a semester (for Bachelors students), or $520 a semester (for Masters students) - with all the books provided.

  • Flexibility - To a great extent, World University students can choose to study whatever they feel will be most helpful to them. Many people find they loved reading before they started to do a degree, but because they had no choice in what they had to read they changed from having an attitude of wanting to learn, to grow, to discover; and instead ended up with an approach of "let's just get this degree over with... I'll do what I need and give the lecturers what they want - that's all I'm focused on". We provide a vast electronic library of materials so that students can study the most interesting, relevant and useful materials for whatever career or interests they have.

  • Application to the real world - A little while ago, one of the directors of World University of Leadership was a guest lecturer at a well respected university. He had a look through the notes of a student and saw they'd recently finished studying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. They knew all the right names and levels but when he asked who knew what level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs they operated from, no one knew. The next day this director asked another group about how they could add value - to make their service more valuable to their customers. Again no one could answer. They had studied the subject intellectually but hadn't applied it to the real world - or to themselves. When he asked the same question to students studying with the Institute of Advanced Leadership (who hadn't been studying the topic) they all had numerous suggestions of what they could do. We believe the difference is that all of our programs are designed to make people great managers, entrepreneurs, and leaders: - people with the skills, attitudes and approaches that will really make a difference. This is what's important - not just filling someone up with more intellectual knowledge.

    In fact, the most important test for us, is not whether students pass an exam. The most important test is whether students are successful in the field they work in. And this is what World University of Leadership measure their success by. As many of their students hold jobs as CEO's of successful businesses and N.G.O.'s, as Government Ministers, Assistants to Presidents, senior officials in Universities etc., and many have received substantial promotions or found their businesses and organizations have thrived due to what they've learnt, we believe they should be happy with their results.

  • A marking system that encourages learning - It is important to ensure that everyone who has a degree from World University of Leadership has done the required work, and have learnt what they need to learn. However, in aiming to ensure this is the case, many universities create in their students a focus on passing exams, and writing essays that give the marker what they want; - rather than focusing on learning, questioning, growing, and becoming the type of manager who brings out the best in others. For part-time students, often the grading process results in so much work - (assignments, essays, late night cramming etc.) that the person's work suffers (when the degree should be enhancing their work). With World University's degrees, we ensure people have learnt well, but we make the grading system a secondary component of the program instead of the main focus. - e.g. As students study each area they can write a short summary of what they learnt, and what thoughts it stimulated in them. Alternatively they can share how they actually put the teachings into practice.

  • World University of Leadership's degrees are provided by distance education using computers and computer C.D.'s. This allows students to study from anywhere in the world, while learning from amongst the best experts in the world. (e.g. You learn from ex-presidents and top government officials, from the CEO's of many of the world's largest companies, from many of the best-selling authors and from dozens of the top management gurus in the world, and from the leaders of UN agencies, other universities and major NGO's.) Students can stay in contact through internet-based discussion groups & can chat with faculty and other students - yet all materials are available whether you are connected or not.
© Copyright 2003, The Institute of Advanced Leadership ( All rights reserved. Last updated 10 October 2003
Main Pages: Home | Our Partners in Transforming Leadership: - The World University of Leadership | Transforming Leadership Throughout The World | A Summary of Our Programs Training: Group Training | One-on-One Leadership Development | Performance Improvement Intensives Additional Information: Our Trainers & Facilitators | Our Purpose, Activities, & Directors | Testimonials | Options | Our Floating (City) Office, Other Offices, & Our Weekend Retreat Miscellaneous: Thoughts On Leadership | Contact Us