Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research P-ISSN 2350-7756 | E-ISSN 2350-8442 | www.apjmr.com | Volume 2, No. 4, August 2014 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 159 P-ISSN 2350-7756 | E-ISSN 2350-8442 | www.apjmr.com Choosing the Qualities of Student Leaders: A Matching of Student Voting Preference and Election Results as a Basis for Policy Formulation NOEL M. CAPULONG Office of Student Affairs, City College of Calamba, Calamba City, Laguna, PHILIPPINES noelcapulong@yahoo.com Date Received: July 15, 2014; Date Published: August 15, 2014 Abstract – The qualities of student-leaders in the 21 st century cannot be underrated. The ability to influence individuals in the context of boundless territories and worldwide integration is of paramount importance to education. Research has revealed that the crux of student leadership in this century is on achieving the right pace and qualities in the changing landscape of borderless society. Choosing the qualities of leaders helps the administrators and students come up with a collaborative policy formulation in the attainment of institutional mission and goals. The research utilized the mixed methods using the qualitative key informant interview, focus group discussions, and researcher’s experience to choose the qualities of student leaders among the students of City College of Calamba. The perceptions of student council leaders from the different schools of Calamba were also surveyed. The student voting preference was matched with the results of Student Council election. The results obtained were recorded and compared to the results of the interview from the experts in the field of educational leadership. Keywords – student-leaders, perception, leadership, policy I. INTRODUCTION Leadership for the 21 st century is an inseparable component of the holistic development of students. The idea of serving the constituents cannot be rated as a less important parameter in determining the academic excellence of students. Acting as a student-leader in an academic institution involved the entire praxis of being a student. The practices and activities being done by student-leaders are actually manifestations of the students’ selected field of academic discipline. The abundance of leadership theories (Rice, 2011) in many books and other publications does not manifest a concise description of leadership qualities, more so, of the native Filipino qualities of student-leaders. The perceptions of the qualities of student-leaders based on the voters criterion and candidates in a student-election remain particularly elusive due to mismatch of orientation and philosophies in life. For this century, the need for collaboration and collective relationship among the student-leaders, students, and administrators must be enhanced in order to facilitate change and create a global understanding for better learning and proactive education. Leadership activities manifested by student-leaders must be centered on communal participation of the group rather than on the individual work of a single leader (Mullen, 2010). At any rate, even with the collective leadership of the students, there is a need to enhance or even develop the potentials of the individual leaders so that they can give more to the organization which is really important especially when the student-leader is leading hundreds or thousands of students in an academic institution. Even in educational leadership, the individual dispositions which are the foundations of leadership skills, characteristics, and abilities are given attention. The assessment and development of core beliefs, attitudes, and values are said to have an important role in leadership effectiveness (Allen et al., 2014). In the context of qualities possessed by student- leaders, the administrators of every educational institution especially those offices handling student affairs services must always be mindful on how to develop the potentials of their student-leaders. Being at the forefront of student engagement, the programs and policies of student affairs must be aligned not only in the realm of the regular programs of the institution but also with the present and unending evolution of needs, strengths, and weaknesses of student-leaders. More than ever before, the offices of student affairs must respond