From Great Universities in Africa to Great African Universities:

What are the leadership implications?

Felix Maringe

Presented at the NWU Edu-lead Conference

13-15 April 2015

The Central ArgumentDriven by an increasing business model, pushed to the limit by an intensifying competitive environment, moderated by an increasing awareness of the need to project a social justice conscience and mission, and spurred by a desire to become global players in increasingly diversified spaces, university leadership needs to break out from the comfort zone of collegiality as it faces an unprecedented set of new challenges

Overview of the PresentationFive distinct parts1. Background: (the research foundations and methodological

orientation and some of major assumptions)2. The University in Africa (myths and realities, universities

under colonialism, the contemporary university in Africa, the South African university sector)

3. Models and drivers of change4. Findings in relation to strategic priorities, existing models

and identified challenges5. Reflections on new leadership forms

Background to this presentation

The research foundations1.Scrutiny of 100 university websites in top

African universities to identify key areas of strategic focus

2.A global survey of leadership and university governance models in 289 universities across the world

3.A case study of a world class university in South Africa

Methodological orientation

• I am broadly an interpretivist, believing in multiple forms of reality and hence multiple ways of data gathering and multiple ways of interpreting the data.

• I combine survey data, interviews, focus groups and document analysis

A few key assumptions:1. Leadership in universities is severely under researched2. We know more about university governance than about its leadership3. The major obstacle is AUTONOMY (the secret garden phenomenon)4. The myth of a pervasive excellence precludes introspection 5. Many universities especially in South Africa do not work as well as they should6. Universities are complex organisations in which leaders are usually epistemologically distanced from the work their staff do

Part 2: The University in Africa

• Myths and realities• The university under colonialism• The contemporary university in Africa• The South African University sector

The African University: Myths and RealitiesTwo myths about HE in Africa• That Europeans introduced university education in Africa

(Zeleza, 2006)• That greatness is achieved through replication of greatness Pre European HE in Africa• The Museums and Libraries of Alexandra (3BC)• The Monasteries of Egypt and Ethiopia (3AD)• The Islamic universities at Ez-Zitouna in Tunis and Sankore

mosque in Timbuktu in 12 century BC• In Ethiopia, the Zagwe dynasty established QINE BET (School

of Hymns); ZEMA BET (School of Poetry); and the METSAHIFT BET (School of Holy Books)

Universities under colonialism• Missionaries introduced western style universities• The first university in Southern Africa was established in Cape

Town (1829) now UCT, later the Stellenbosch Gymnasium (1886) now US.

• In most of Southern Africa, western University system began after WW2

• Many were established as University colleges of European universities, catering largely for the Settlers and a few blacks

• University education expanded phenomenally following decolonisation in the 60s across Africa

The contemporary university in Africa• About 500 public universities (modelled on European traditions)• 700 private institutions modelled on American traditions)• 10 million university students (tertiary gross enrolment of less than

5% compared to about 60% in Western Europe)

Broadly they face:• Increasing demand• Under funding• Falling instructional standards• Poorly equipped laboratories and libraries• Shrinking wages and faculty morale• Brain drain

The South African University sector• 23 institutions (6 comprehensive; 6 technology institutions; 11

traditional)• 900 000 students• Variable quality but broadly seen positively

Broadly they face:• Diminishing government funding• Increasing demand• Poor throughput from the schooling system• High wastage rate (70% wastage)• Inequities in performance, participation, persistence and ongoing

racism (legacies of apartheid)

Part 3

Models of University governance and leadership and the drivers of change in HE

Models of university governance and leadership (assumptions, enactment and challenges)

• The collegial university (distributed/academic leadership models)

• The marketised university (global business leadership models)

• The entrepreneurial university (innovation centered leadership models)

• The social justice driven university (social justice leadership models)

• The romance with autonomy• The liberalisation of education under the WTO and GATS• The imperatives of a competitive culture• The technologisation and digitalization of society• The imperatives of job and wealth creation• The increasing interconnectedness of economies, politics, cultures, social

life, technologies, due to globalisation• The need for an inclusive HE provision (access and equality arguments)

Drivers of change in university governance and leadership

Part 4

Findings around university strategic priorities, leadership/governance models in universities and the leadership challenges

Top 10 Strategic priorities in African Universities

1. Global and international competitiveness (76)2. Advancing Indigenous Knowledge Systems (62%)3. Knowledge gateway to Africa and the world (64%)4. Promoting African scholarship (62%)5. Promoting Afro-politanism (60%)6. Widening participation and equalising opportunities for

previously disadvantaged groups in society (60%)7. Transformation agenda (black empowerment) (65%)8. Increasing South-South partnerships (60%)9. Increasing the wealth resources of the university (65%)10 Becoming increasingly research driven (82%)

Leadership and governance models

• Collegial models- Global (85%) Africa (87%)• Marketised models-Global (72%) Africa (30%)• Entrepreneurial models-Global (64%) Africa

(25%)• The Social Justice models-Global (94%) Africa

(98%)• The transformative models-Global (75%)

Africa (95%)

Key leadership challenges in the African university

• An Afro pessimism• Training and contextual incompatibility• Cultural dissonance• Institutional poverty• Talent migration• Tendency towards reproducing greatness• Hesitancy among the academy to engage with Afro

centric theory • Overworked academy with little time for strategic

thinking

Part 5:Reflecting potentially productive leadership frameworks for the

African University

• Leadership programmes which embrace African traditional leadership theory

• Researching and developing indigenous pedagogies • Socially just pedagogies and leadership development• Wealth creation • Networking and strengthening partnerships in the

global village of HE• Working with increasing diversity in the academy

Going back to the beginning

The transition from being great universities in Africa to Great African universities is being Facilitated by:1.A global consensus on the centrality of Africa as the new focus of development2.Increasing dissatisfaction and skepticism about the dominance of the westTroubled by:1.Afro pessimism and migration to the North2.Continued dominance of the western hegemony in the academy3.Intuitional leadership too comfortable in the value of collegiality

Comments and Suggestions:

Felix.Maringe@wits.ac.za

Thank you