Abstract
The real-world problem concerning the question of leadership preparedness of international students attending private, Jesuit Catholic universities was studied using a constructivist narrative inquiry method. From the rich stories of five participants, six experiential themes emerged from the data analysis done by hand coding. The themes were leadership role opportunities, support systems and relationships, collaborative leadership, values and principles, orientation towards personal growth to prepare for leadership, and purpose and personal mission (vocation and calling). There were also two surprise themes that where not related to the research question but were noteworthy. The surprise themes were a) scholarships were the deciding factor and not the Jesuit education brand and b) Jesuit education values were not tangibly felt. Based on the findings and the principles of authentic leadership, a framework called The SELP framework was designed. SELP stands for self-exploration for leadership preparation. It was named by the researcher, Vivian A. Amu. SELP is a framework to guide international students through a personal analysis of their leadership preparedness using storytelling, reflection, and experiential learning. The framework informs leadership education and leadership development programing required for leadership preparedness. This dissertation in practice also includes recommendations for the implementation of SELP.
Keywords: leadership preparedness, leadership, Jesuit education, international students, narrative inquiry