Higher education, bridging capital, and developmental leadership in the Philippines: Learning to be a crossover reformer

14 Aug 2026

RESEARCH | This study suggests that in the Philippines, higher education experiences are important sources of the social capital which facilitates resource mobilization. Prevailing evidence (Brannelly et al., 2011) and individual studies elsewhere (e.g. Jones et al., 2014) also point to the importance of higher education in providing opportunities for the proliferation of such networks. However, beyond the simple accumulation of this social capital, it is also the skill of working across these diverse networks and the cultivating of bridging capital as well as the exploitation of bonding capital that make a difference. The particularities of the Philippines as a diverse and stratified society make this especially important – but it is certainly not alone in these characteristics. It is not just the acquisition of this capital that is important, but the skills to mobilise it in ways that break through political blockages and build deep and broad support for developmental change. In this study, it was experiential learning – trialled and tested in extra-curricular activities during study and then refined and operationalized in cross-over activities in later career – that developed such skills.

Higher education is arguably a necessary but not sufficient condition for the nurturing of developmental leadership and such networks and skills. What is particularly intriguing about the perspectives of the developmental leaders in this study is that they shed new light on the purposes of higher education and the mechanisms through which it can contribute to development. The human capital arguments which drive much of higher education policy globally overlook other significant roles for universities: as sites of leadership development; as sources of bridging capital and the skills to acquire and use it; and as a workplace where leaders can spend part of their time or part of their career and cross-fertilise skills and knowledge with other sectors. The formal teaching and learning functions of universities for students seemed to play relatively insignificant roles in these.

Authors: M. Schweisfurth, L. Davies, L. P. Symaco, & O. Valiente
Published in International Journal of Educational Development

Read more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073805931730202X

Higher education, bridging capital, and developmental leadership in the Philippines: Learning to be a crossover reformer

RESEARCH | This study suggests that in the Philippines, higher education experiences are important sources of the social capital which facilitates resource mobilization. Prevailing evidence (Brannelly et al., 2011) and individual studies elsewhere (e.g. Jones et al., 2014) also point to the importance of higher education in providing opportunities for the proliferation of such networks. However, beyond the simple accumulation of this social capital, it is also the skill of working across these diverse networks and the cultivating of bridging capital as well as the exploitation of bonding capital that make a difference. The particularities of the Philippines as a diverse and stratified society make this especially important – but it is certainly not alone in these characteristics. It is not just the acquisition of this capital that is important, but the skills to mobilise it in ways that break through political blockages and build deep and broad support for developmental change. In this study, it was experiential learning – trialled and tested in extra-curricular activities during study and then refined and operationalized in cross-over activities in later career – that developed such skills.

Higher education is arguably a necessary but not sufficient condition for the nurturing of developmental leadership and such networks and skills. What is particularly intriguing about the perspectives of the developmental leaders in this study is that they shed new light on the purposes of higher education and the mechanisms through which it can contribute to development. The human capital arguments which drive much of higher education policy globally overlook other significant roles for universities: as sites of leadership development; as sources of bridging capital and the skills to acquire and use it; and as a workplace where leaders can spend part of their time or part of their career and cross-fertilise skills and knowledge with other sectors. The formal teaching and learning functions of universities for students seemed to play relatively insignificant roles in these.

Authors: M. Schweisfurth, L. Davies, L. P. Symaco, & O. Valiente
Published in International Journal of Educational Development

Read more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073805931730202X