Improving operational - developmental connections: foregrounding an alignment - dealignment - realignment perspective

On the basis of our administrative experiences and gaps in the literature, the authors develop a very practical theory, namely the (ADR) alignment-dealignment-realignment perspective. Using a sample of 80 questionnaires targeting university administrators in Albania, the authors hypothesise direct linkages between education process, quality of support services, achieving sustainability in higher education. The SSPS statistical package was employed to receive reliability analysis, Spearman's correlation, and Chi-square test results. If from one side, budgeting, research, human resource issues, and student's matters are found to have a strong positive monotonic correlation between both, quantity-quality aspects, and information given on a timely basis, the academic policies and degree programs are showing a weak relationship. Additionally, different management categories have different opinions regarding the reasons for which the problem in the HE system occurs. The survey analysis provides valuable insights regarding the existing communication gap among the university administrators and the challenges of HEIs.