Henley Modeled Institution Informed Transformative Potential of Nepal’s Administrative Staff College

Abstract

Administrative Staff College at Henley-on-Thames in the United Kingdom has left a distinctive mark in the development history of executive training. It was a pioneer in drawing managerial staff from both civil service and business sectors for collaborative learning. Henley modeled institutions sprang up in different parts of the world, either as locally contextualized versions of the prototype or modified ones to cater to civil service cohort only. Although not a direct offshoot, the administrative staff college in Nepal is documented as having learned from Henley at its founding in 1982, and much of whose training structure is still retained today. The objective of the study was to review the transformation that Henley modeled administrative staff colleges took in response to the needs of time, and to draw an analysis informative for Nepal’s administrative staff college to plan out its future course. This comparative public administration study treated Henley model as a benchmark and shed light on the transformation of some Henley modeled institutions, including the original Henley. The finding revealed that there is a decisive factor for Henley modeled institutions’ survival. It was if the institution could continue to provide a meaningful platform for public and private sector leaders to contemplate how to co-lead the changing society. In Nepal, executive training strategically tailored for a mix of public and private sector managers is a domain yet to grow. Devising a way to involve non-public sector minds into the forum of executive training for select civil servants seems a logical lesson drawn from the transformative experiences of Henley modeled institutions, for it allows the civil service institution to continue to be relevant to the needs of the changing society it serves.