Introduction

Our study discusses the management of Brazilian Community Universities. Community universities are a public heritage and have a strong bond with their communities (^{ALMEIDA, 2006}). While being not for profit, most have already adopted the system of democratic and participatory management and are authentic non-state public institutions. These universities work in a contemporary environment with continuous and rapid changes that require managers to understand the types and forms of these changes for strategic adjustments and interventions. To stay in that competitive environment, a university must have a management aware of the types of changes to which they are willing to be subject (^{ALMEIDA FILHO, 2008}).

For universities to follow and remain in the market, paradigmatic changes are necessary for terms of visions, strategies and the development of entrepreneurial and proactive attitudes that enable the loyalty of the clients and the detection of new market niches (^{MOÇO, 2007}; ^{DITTADI, 2008}). In the field of education, which is characterized as belonging to the service sector, there is an increasing number of private educational institutions thus gaining a significant space in the global economy. However, this segment still needs to receive more attention by its managers, due to the growing proliferation of new institutions, increased competitiveness in the product supply and, above all, the existence of an administrative culture based on intuitive behaviors.

Higher Education Institutions, regardless of their nature and objectives, that is, whether they are public-governmental, community or private, have as a common feature their insertion in the service sector. Thus, they must professionalize their management by beginning with the formation of their leadership. This need is shown by ^{Ésther (2011)} when studied the managerial skills of federal Deans in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The political skill was emphasized when compared to others considered as important for the management, such as administrative, academic and managerial skill.

In this context, according to ^{Janeiro, Proença and Gonçalves (2013)}, they train professionals, conduct research and develop applied knowledge. Thus, the university is one of the sources of development and innovation in a world characterized by continuous changes. According to ^{Bernheim (2008)}, we are living in a new economic and productive paradigm where the most critical factor is the intensive use of knowledge and information. ^{Síveres (2011)} reinforces the mission of the university from its founding period as a formative institution, which contributes to the people and deepens the social, political and economic relationships through its pedagogical and social processes. The aims extend to professional training and qualification for citizenship promoted through teaching, research, and extension.

When reporting to the community institutions, these are found in the same scenario. They make up a specific segment of not-for-profit HEIs which, because of their connection and commitments to the society, are set up as non-state public organizations. They have as a legal framework the Law number 12,881, 2013 which confers certain prerogatives specific to the public institutions, such as participation in government bids and differentiating those exclusively directed to profitable interests in the educational market. This new legal basis leads the Community HEIs to a unique responsibility regarding management capacity. They must fulfill social commitments and responsibilities because of their community condition and require to be competent in marketing strategies.

Therefore, the relevance of the study is established by the need to describe the profile of the manager of this type of Higher Education Institution. This is our focus, which is justified because we believe that the human talents of an educational institution are responsible for transferring knowledge to students, either by generating innovation through research or by creating a relationship with the community. Similarly, the technical qualification of the collaborators in their respective areas of knowledge is essential. It lacks the development of leadership with a governance capacity to ensure that universities give the innovative and entrepreneurial responses needed for the present times.

^{Amorim (2017)} denounces the lack of new educational leaders and points out the demand for a new contemporary managerial profile that transforms educational institutions into true laboratories of learning and innovation, with new teaching and learning methodologies. To make this reality possible, it requires a manager who works collegially with peers, professors, students, and the community. Also, ^{Cancino and Monrroy (2017)} address educational policies to reinforce the educational leadership in Chile, given the influence of the educational manager on the educational quality. However, we have observed the need for the development and training of educational managers (^{MUGHAL; MUHAMMAD; SHARIF; SABA; REHMAN, 2017}), mainly because HEI managers are also professors and researchers (^{HOTHO, 2013}).

Given this "blackout" scenario of educational leaders, we ask ourselves: which would be the opportunities for leadership training that meet the institutional demands of the 21st century? ^{Friga, Bettis, and Sullivan (2004)} present strategic options for today's business schools. They indicate the importance of managerial education in an attempt to ensure educational institutions in the future, considering the great forces of globalization, technologies of rupture, demographic changes, and deregulation. As an attempt to solve this, ^{Barbosa and Mendonça (2016)} signal to the alternative of training professors for university management. In turn, regardless of the institutional nature, ^{Muzzio (2017)} and ^{Beech and Macintosh (2012)} address the problem of lack of managerial creativity, lack of strategic management of the higher management, and the urgency to solve this gap with specific training for a management of creativity with effective actions involving people, leaders, and organizational culture. Therefore, it may have a competitive advantage in the academic and innovation world.

This study contributes to understanding the profile of the manager of the community universities, differentiating it from the researchers and scientists (^{GOEL; SAUNORIS, 2017}; ^{PERKMANN; KING; PAVELIN, 2011}). At the same time, the relevance of community universities to society, especially to their communities in Southern Brazil, is highlighted by the wide range of teaching, research and community extension fields associated with management, giving space to the dissemination of knowledge back to industry (^{FISCHER; SCHAEFFER; VONORTAS, 2018}). In such terms, this topic is justified by the need and lack in the market of managers with a profile consistent with the new institutional demands of the 21st century, as pointed out in this research.

Methodology

This is a case study where the quantitative approach supports the qualitative approach. This investigation includes 14 institutions of higher education of Comung (Universities and Colleges) which have the same characteristics of not-for-profit, Community HEIs, according to Law 12881 (^{Brazil, 2013}). Our study has chosen this group because of the following: because of the few and remote similar studies in higher education from Comung that problematize this subject; the relevance of this study for the Community Higher Education Institutions (CHEI) of Comung; the need to train university managers by Comung to better respond to the current challenges of the Academic Management and the Sustainability Management of their CHEI; and the expression of the CHEI of Comung in the community in Southern Brazil, considering the tradition and quality in education. This is shown in the number of 208,000 scholars regularly enrolled in their undergraduate and graduate programs.

To respond to the investigative problem, which dialogues with the profile of the manager at a community university, we carry out this qualitative research through empirical and secondary data. In this sense, we interviewed 67 managers (deans, assistant deans, directors or equivalent functions) from 14 universities that are part of the Consortium of the 15 Gaucho Community Universities (Comung, Consórcio das Universidades Comunitárias Gaúchas). The inclusion criterion in this study required the subject to hold the position of Dean, Assistant Dean or Vice-Dean in any University Center or University of Comung since they are considered as higher management positions within our sample. The constituent steps of the methodological approach and data collection instruments included: a) Literature Review. b) Document analysis of the legal provisions that guide the institutions under study. c) Analysis of the information in the official web pages of the HEIs studied here. d) Curriculum analysis of the Deans, Assistant Deans, and Vice-Deans. e) Applying an online questionnaire for Deans, Assistant Deans, and Vice-Deans with closed and open questions about Academic Management and Sustainability Management. f) Semi-structured interview with Deans, Assistant Deans, and Vice-Deans, following the ethical principles of research.

The qualitative analysis of the data collected from the research was carried out through the content analysis proposed by ^{Bardin (2011)}. This analysis integrates a set of techniques that, through systematic procedures of content description, make inferences about the production and/or reception of a given message (^{BARDIN, 2011}). Regarding the process of content analysis, ^{Bardin (2011)} introduces three steps, which are accomplished in our study: pre-analysis, exploration of the material, and treatment of the results, inference, and interpretation. Also, the contents were considered as manifest and latent, according to ^{Fox (1981)}.

Theoretical background

Brazilian higher education and its management

Brazilian higher education comprehends 2,407 higher education institutions, according to the 2016 higher education census. Of this total, 197 universities, 166 university centers, 2,004 colleges and 40 Federal Institutes (FI) and Federal Centers of Technological Education (CEFET; in Portuguese, Centros Federais de Educação Tecnológica) (^{Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (Inep, 2018)}. The professionalization of management in HEIs is increasingly necessary. When analyzing the university management, ^{Tachizawa and Andrade (2006)} also point to the systemic focus and quality principles driving their efforts towards the management tool of a Higher Education Institution. They understand that management is making decisions that aim to balance the mission, objectives, means, and administrative and academic activities. ^{Barbosa and Mendonça (2016)} also highlight the training of professors for university management.

The competitive environment leads organizations to work systematically to build a solid and positive image in the minds of their audience. Thus, the Universities create plans to improve their public image to compete more successfully with a broader audience and for more resources. The development of the attributes created in the organization goes through the existence of a common motivating interest between the organization and the specific groups of collaborators.

According to the seminal study of ^{Mannheim (1957)}, these groups are organized and subject to some characteristics that are summarized below: persistence; division of activities; individual traditional habits; standards; different ideologies among members; collective interest; personal interest; organizational form; power distribution; typical tensions; repression and conflicts. Therefore, an organization consolidates itself with people who are at the forefront of processes, that is, its leaders. Their success depends mainly on the quality of the training of leaders, their discourses, practices, attitudes and established relationships.

In the case of educational institutions, this concern is critical because they are people who take on the responsibility to contribute to the education and training of other people. Investing in the knowledge of experience (^{MARIUCCI, 2014}; ^{BONDÍA, 2002}), in human potential seems to be the first strategy within the scope of academic and sustainability management (^{ETZKOWITZ; ZHOU, 2006}). In this context, we must not neglect the guidance given by ^{Falconi (2009)} considering that a successful method for corporate actions is based on three pillars: leadership (understood as the fulfillment of goals through the team), method, and knowledge of the process.

We address here the importance of leadership as the focus of this study (STUART; SÁNCHEZ, 2011; ^{FOSSATTI; CONTRERAS; JUNG, 2017}; ^{CABRERA, 2004}). It must be aware of a number of factors such as cost reduction, increased production, qualification of the employees, customer service improvements, and product enhancements. Terms such as participation, partnership (^{CROPPER; EBERS; HUXHAM; SMITH RING, 2014}; ^{NOTEBOOM, 2014}; ^{TOMLINSON, 2005}), process, planning, systemic vision, self-sustainability, and interdependence relationships have become essential in vocabulary and administrative actions. Therefore, an organization is consolidated with the quality of people and the quality of life at work (^{GUTHS, 2016}) who are at the forefront of processes. The success of an organization depends mainly on the quality of the training, discourses, practices (^{NEIDHART; LAMB, 2016}), attitudes and established relationships. In the case of educational institutions, this concern is vital because they are people who assume the responsibility to contribute to the education and training of other people. Investing in human potential (^{PALMEIRAS; SGARI; SZILAGYI, 2015}), especially of its leading managers, seems to be the first skill in the scope of strategic management.

Analysis and discussion of the results

The data were examined considering the manifest and latent contents, according to ^{Fox (1981)}. The content analysis (^{BARDIN, 2011}) that enabled the identification of three categories: teaching experience along with management; strategic leadership and technical, human and soft skills, as we will see in the analysis and discussion below.

Teaching experience concurring with management

The interviewees have a hybrid professional identity, where teaching and management cohabit, similar to the perception of ^{Hotho (2013)} who observed the blurring of roles among academic managers, professors, and researchers. In our research, most began as professors, and later accumulated the activities of managers. Others began by management and extended their training to meet the teaching demand. All managers interviewed by the HEIs of Comung simultaneously carry out teaching activities. Such reality is seen by the interviewees as a characteristic peculiar to the managers of Comung. They state that this double face is relatively well reconciled. They state that such a condition, although often overloading the manager and occurring through "learning by doing," bring key elements of the teaching experience and management in the decision making. Thus, they feel safer to move between these two activities. However, when dealing specifically with management, the vast majority admits training gaps for management and fragmentation of managerial attention with "pre-occupations" and tactical-level occupations, with little time for strategic issues.

^{Barbosa and Mendonça (2016)} analyzed the training of professors for university management. Their data show a lack of institutional policies to train managerial skills expected from these academic managers, as well reported by our interviewees.

Regarding the degrees of the managers interviewed, 38% have a master's degree, and 62% have doctorate degrees. The high rates of those with masters and doctoral degrees show an attention to the teaching qualification, before the Department of Education (MEC), to account for the qualification required for university teaching. For the most part, the professor managers or academic managers justify their qualification as having a master’s or doctorate degree not because of the Management (for the latter many went to some MBA Course) but because of the prerequisites of degrees required for teaching.

As for the management function, the emphasis on the interviews lies in the knowledge from the experience (MAIRUCCI, 2014). Learning by doing since the beginning of a professional career has been shown in years of experience in university management (^{BONDÍA, 2002}). From 3 to 5 years in management, we have 4%; from 6 to 10 years, 39%; and from 11 to 15 years, the percentage rises to 57% of the managers interviewed. The reality presented by the managers of Comung makes us see the gains and losses activities are accumulated, with many of them being tactical and operational, taking the manager out of their strategic focus. What would be the consequences of this manager profile? How can such managers deal with the strategic demands of their institutions once they are immersed in many demands that distract their best energies with operational attributions?

Strategic leadership: relationship, governance, and quadruple helix

Despite being aware of a hybridism between teaching and operational, tactically and minimally strategic management, these managers manifest the desire and need to evolve towards the consolidation of strategic management, as we will see below. The timidly emerging, strategic leader, according to the participants, knows how to relate to people, promotes the evolution from the administration to governance, and fosters a relationship with the triple helix and the community. According to the interviewees, the strategic leadership necessarily goes through the knowledge and the experience of the institutional identity. According to ^{Almeida (2006)}, several researchers reinforce that culture provides the contact that answers the central question of identity in organizations and contributes to the symbolic material for this construction. For this author, since it is a construction of meaning, the organizational identity is neither stable nor fixed, but socially and historically constructed, subject to contradictions, revision, and changes, since it is the essence of the organization to develop a strategic direction (^{BEECH; MACINTOSH, 2012}).

The strategic leadership considers the increasing competition in Brazilian higher education, also by foreign private institutions. The concern with research and the extension, in addition to the commitment to their communities, reinforces once again the reason for the public community universities to exist. Therefore, the major challenge of the CHEI, in the current socioeconomic and higher education context in Brazil, is the fulfillment of its mission focused on strategic management of their leadership, with sustainability and competitiveness necessary to guarantee the mission, development, and continuity of their work.

Leaving the operational and focusing on what is strategic is considered by the current managers a critical and necessary attitude, to better build sustainability strategies in the face of an unstable scenario in the management of higher education institutions. The term "sustainability" emerged in 1987 and is defined as: "[…] ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs" (^{COMISSÃO MUNDIAL SOBRE MEIO AMBIENTE E DESENVOLVIMENTO, 1988}, p. 9, our translation). With the growing number of laws and regulations, thinking about sustainable management of organizations has become almost a must. In light of this concept, it is possible to understand the training of strategic managers and the creation of the identity of community universities. Such understanding must take into account, for example, its pedagogy, history, objectives, values, beliefs, the relationship with employees and the community in particular, as well as commitment to science, knowledge, ethics and social well-being.

The constitutive nature, origins, and purpose make the Community Universities identify with the Modern University, which, according to ^{Fernandes (2011)}, is based on three inseparable pillars: teaching, research, and extension. However, to fulfill this mission, strategic and professional management is required that surpasses the operational and merely intuitive practices.

Such strategic leadership resigns its relationships network in the daily life of the management. The investment in structuring relationship networks works towards partnerships with the community both external and internal to the university. Such institutional culture generates large and meaningful contact networks that materialize in partnerships, ideas and actions of engagement with voluntary social actions (^{CROPPER; EBERS; HUXHAM; SMITH RING, 2014}; ^{NOTEBOOM, 2014}; ^{TOMLINSON, 2005}). The concepts and practices of the triple helix of innovation (^{WEBSTER; ETZKOWITZ, 1991}; ^{ETZKOWITZ, 2002}), along with the triple helix of sustainability (^{ETZKOWITZ; ZHOU, 2006}) allow these institutions to exercise a management directed to partnerships and collaborative agreements that facilitate research and extension policies aiming for local and regional development.

The leaders, as managers, have a supportive presence that reflects and understands the personal and community demands. The leader is there "for" and "with" their academic community. Such relational quality legitimizes its relationship network and places it in the circles of partnerships with the helices.

Being a strategic leader, in the interviewees' perception, is a facilitator to exercise the university governance. Knowing how to manage people (leader's role), evolving to governance, relating to society, public entity, a profile in leading movements is another noteworthy feature in this research. ^{Fossatti, Contreras, and Jung (2017)}, when analyzing the Latin American university governance point to the importance of the

qualification in its form of government, academia and administration; with innovative, creative governance, responsible, autonomous governance and it shows to be effective before society and public sector, with the development of its environment, with evident progress of the region and even of the country (^{FOSSATTI; CONTRERAS; JUNG, 2017}, p. 1, our translation).

Finally, the strategic leader considers the principles of the quadruple helix, that is, articulates relationships and partnerships with other educational institutions, governments, firms, and their communities. The interviews show their managements having strong contact with higher education institutions in Brazil and abroad, mainly aimed at the internationalization of the CHEI and its development focused on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Another branch of the partnerships is working together with local and regional businesses. The innovation parks facilitate the creation of new prototypes and solutions to the problems of the firms regarding these universities. More than the financial funding, the contribution of human capital, the credibility of the community universities' brand, which makes local and regional firms loyal, become a competitive differential in the development of the economy.

The development of the quadruple helix is necessary for universities to recognize and be recognized by their peers, governments, markets and the academic community. The consequence of a history that dates back to a recent past shows Brazil performing lower than other countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) regarding firms collaborating with universities and government to generate innovation (^{OECD, 2014}). The managers of these community universities are rewriting other pages of history regarding the quadruple helix. Such evidence is worthy to be recorded with the term "community" occurring 375 times in the interviews. This term unfolds in commitment to the region (73 occurrences); status as community extension (66 occurrences); synonymous with partnerships (66 occurrences), and in projects with the public sector (55 occurrences).

The presence of the fourth helix (dialogue with the community besides the dialogue with other HEIs, with the Government and with the firms), is an emerging topic. Similarly, the presence, the use, and the mastering of new technologies are seen in the educational management. Working with goals and no more with empiricism, managing by results and not by emotional criteria, taking on management and based on technical and management arguments are categorical imperatives that are imposed on the current manager profile, according to our interviewees.

Data show the important role that community universities play in the context of Rio Grande do Sul, both with their commitment to quality education and their involvement with other Higher Education Institutions, their Governments, local and regional development, and their original communities.

Technical, human, and soft skills

The third category, skills, unfolds in three subcategories: technical, human, and soft skills. The technical skills are related to their area in educational management, knowledge management, especially regarding the main administrative and law concepts. Technical skills require the professionalization of the management in Community HEIs.

This new timing of Brazilian higher education determined that the institutions are aiming to remain in the market, without having to close the doors or be merged with larger groups, would engage in paradigmatic changes in organizational and strategic terms. Similarly, it required the development of entrepreneurial and proactive actions aimed at attracting new clients and retaining the current ones. This goes through the development of new innovative segments of market, products, and services.

In Brazil, traditionally, the segment of higher-education institutions in the community has been characterized by deficiencies in the professionalization of management, while an administrative culture based on intuitive behavior is prominent, due to a demand for places that guarantees a sufficient income. Until then, the biggest concern of the community institutions was with social-educational objectives. Therefore, if on the one hand changes in the environmental context caused "fears," on the other hand, opportunities and new possibilities were presented. To this end, the CHEI must adapt to the model of management of most organizations of the competing market (^{MOÇO, 2007}; ^{DITTADI, 2008}). The diversity of undergraduate courses in which the managers interviewed carried out their training is noteworthy. Among the highest percentages, we find: 9% Education; 8% Administration; 4% Health; 4% Social Sciences; 3% Philosophy; 3% Economy; 2% Law; 2% Management; 2% Exact Sciences; 2% Engineering. The other percentages are distributed in less than 2% in different courses.

According to the interviewees, the human skills, as required for today's manager profile, involve the capacity for motivational and institutional relationship directly affecting the quality of the institutional climate. In other words, even considering motivation as an intrinsic factor, the manager will always be perceived as an external device that can activate behaviors, emotions, values, and attitudes of their teams. Therefore, the institutional climate will derive not only from the material and environmental conditions for the quality of life at work but also from the human skills of the leader and their energies. Similarly, ^{Fossatti and Danesi (2018)} discuss the identity of the community university in Brazil, necessarily going through the technical and human training of their leaders, collaborators, and students.

Finally, the participants also point out skills identified here as soft skills because they involve emerging topics, such as network capacity and implementing the culture of entrepreneurship and institutional innovation. ^{Neidhart and Lamb (2016)} in a study of the expected characteristics of leadership in Australian Catholic schools emphasize the importance of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to engaging leadership in a changing social and cultural context. Similarly, it encourages leaders to set goals, decision-making, and effective commitment to social action.

^{Guths (2016, p. 111, our translation)} addresses the university leadership as a macro-element, with contributory activity for the quality of working life in higher education institutions in Brazil. The author states the need for: "[…] Inspiring leaders; succession processes; breaking resistances; engagement of people; involvement of leadership in construction processes; identification of the leadership profile".

The look outside Brazil brings other crosscutting features for the university education management. ^{Crasto, Marín, and Senior (2016)} stress in their studies the social responsibility of university management in Venezuelan universities as a collective construction. By turning the structures more flexible, the manager can bring the university closer to social realities. In turn, ^{Palmeiras, Sgari, and Szilagyi (2015)} conclude that university management impacts the training of human capital in a globalized economy and informational development. Results suggest the managerial profile attending a set of technical, behavioral and mainly political skills to account for the various interests and their actors (professors, students, employees, collegiates, external community etc.) in the process of university decision-making.

^{Cabrera (2004)} when analyzing Spanish educational leaders, argues for a transformational educational leadership characterized by the participation of the members of the academic community, the satisfaction with the teaching work, and the pedagogical effectiveness perceived with a sense of change that drives the whole process of leadership. While responding to the skills of Chilean educational leaders, ^{Stuardo and Sánchez (2011)} call attention to a homogeneous training system that does not consider critical skills for effective leadership. Such training system can compromise the educational governance.

Final considerations

The results of this study emphasized the complexity of the manager profile and the need for training policies aimed at the development of multiple managerial skills. These become a range of three dimensions strongly articulated with each other: the technical, human, soft skills. The technical skills, as seen above, are related to the knowledge of the area of managing activity. Although the research data showed that most managers have teaching experience, it does not guarantee that a good professor will be a good manager. A solid technical training in management is required because the market no longer allows experiences based on intuition, common sense, or trial and error.

On the other hand, we must not forget the human skills. That is, the manager is also, according to the data of the research, responsible for the organizational climate, the motivation of his/her team, and a mobilizer of energies. As ^{Fossatti and Danesi (2018)} argue, leaders have followers and not subordinates, aiming to develop the best that there is in the potential of each of their employees, with life quality at work.

Finally, soft skills demand to understand that the university, especially the community university, develops and works in close coordination with the global community. This is the ability to link with emerging issues ranging from the issue of immigration to the capacity to implement the culture of entrepreneurship and institutional innovation.

One of the limitations of the present research is the scarce scientific literature devoted to a deeper study of the profile of managers of the CHEI. Thus, we hope to stimulate future studies in order to explore in greater detail and possibly find other features of this complex profile. Or yet experiences of training policies aimed at developing multiple managerial competencies, mainly solving the difficulty of development and training of educational managers in HEI.