Governance in South African Higher Education

2002

9 Clark 1983: 28. Clark has more recently restated this view: "Universities are much more than a business. They have unique genetic features, and they have developmental trajectories projected by their own generic trends and societal commitments. And proactive universities shape their environments as much as they are shaped by them. Using common terms, they are selfinitiating, self-steering, self-regulating, self-reliant, progressive".

Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia, 2021

The recent spate of changes in university management worldwide should be carefully considered, interrogated and assessed against its impact on the capacity of the university fulfilling its unique role in society. For various justifiable reasons, South African higher education has been finding itself under the spotlight of the international community since 1994. The article surveys the South African academic profession vis à vis the changes that have been taking place regarding university governance and management. It is concluded that the South African academic profession, as far as (de jure and de facto) governance and management are concerned, find themselves sandwiched between two forces: from national and institutional governance on top, and the student corps from the bottom. This threatens the very survival of the university. A new exercise surveying the South African academic profession, as provided for by the Academic Profession in Knowledge Society (APIKS) international surv...

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 2004

The South African public higher education system is at a point of transition as the mould of segregation is broken through a process of mergers and incorporations. This paper reports a study of governance at this transitional stage. Using case studies of 12 institutions, representative of the system as a whole, four types of governance were identified, differentiated by the representivity of those participating in decision-making processes, organizational effectiveness and capacity for implementation of policies. Together, these governance types constitute organizational cultures with distinctive characteristics. While the current restructuring exercise is addressing some core problems, the culture of governance is more than a set of technical arrangements. The case studies show that governance practices are shaped by institutional histories and complex sets of interests that have a durability that might require more than legislation to change.

Leadership and Governance in Higher Education, 2013

This article frames the lived experiences of management and educators in further education and training (FET) colleges in South Africa, against the backdrop of the radical transformation in the governance of this sector over the past twenty years. The reforms are first described and analysed in terms of their integration and rationale for agency. Second, issues of disjuncture between the internationalized ideal of decentralisation and the emergent, problematic reality of deconcentration and delegation will be explored. Third, data from interviews with principals, council chairpersons and lecturers detail the lived experience of the reform. Governance reforms are perceived as incoherent and lacking a clearly discernible trajectory, and have resulted in highly stressful experiences of alienation, disillusionment and disempowerment by those at ‘the chalkface’. As South Africa faces another cycle of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) reforms, this article suggests that policy makers must take into account the capacities of the people in the system to implement the proposed changes.

Higher Education in South Africa - A scholarly look behind the scenes, 2009

This chapter explores the role of institutional governance against the background of the nature of the university as an organisation, and the changing context in which universities currently operate. Three 'conventional' models of institutional governance are discussed, and more recent developments in this regard are investigated. She concludes with some guiding principles for effective institutional governance in a contested and changing university context. INTRODUCTION: THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSITY AS ORGANISATION Universities, being complex organisations, can be examined at distinctly different levels: the inter-organisational or systems level that portrays the relationships among different institutions in a region or country, and particularly the relationship between institutions and government, institutions and society and institutions and the market; the organisational level that studies the institution as an organisation, attempts to understand its functions, structure and dynamics, and particularly the relationships between different actors in the organisation; the intra-organisational level that focuses on the individual units of the organisation, how they are organised and managed and how they interact.

University governing bodies in comprehensive universities in post-1994 South Africa have been grappling with various forms of institutional instability that have been manifesting through periodic institutional protests. Indeed, some of these institutions have come under administration. A significant amount of this institutional instability may be attributed to the dysfunctionality at the institutional structures, systems and cultures of the different university governing councils. This research design was developed to examine the role of these governance aspects of the university council in a comprehensive university context at bringing about effective governance. This research design was guided by the following research questions from the research project: To what extent are institutional structures, systems and cultures within university councils perceived as contributing to effective institutional governance practices in comprehensive universities? What forms of data could be developed from this relationship? The research design utilised the concept of structures, systems and cultures developed from a multi-theoretical approach being brought to the framing of good university governance by governing bodies. The research design used for this research project was a Sequential-exploratory mixed method research paradigm and justifying the location of the study within the interpretive paradigm. The research design explains the advantages and disadvantages of each of research methods explicitly and justifications for using documentarily sources, interviews and surveys after the interviews. The paper ends with a proposition of a methodological framework on how to collect data on research involving stakeholders in university governance across governing bodies' contexts.

University governing bodies in comprehensive universities in post 1994 South African have been grappling with various forms of institutional instability that have been manifesting through periodic institutional protests and some of these institutions coming under administration. A significant amount of the institutional instability is projected as emanating from the dysfunctionality at the institutional structures, systems and cultures of the different university governing councils. Consequently, this paper was developed from a research project that looked at the role of the different institutional structures, systems and cultures of the university council in a comprehensive university context at bringing about effective governance. In particular, this paper set is to focus on the structural aspects of the university council in such institutional contexts. To achieve this the paper was guided by the following research question from the research project: To what extent are institutional structures within university councils perceived as contributing to effective institutional governance practices in comprehensive universities? The paper utilizes the concept of structures developed from a multi-theoretical approach and a variety of competing theories are being brought to the framing of effective university governance by governing bodies. Data was collected from within a Sequential-exploratory mixed methods research paradigm chosen, and justifying the location of the study within the interpretive paradigm and the positivist research paradigm. The results of this study found that the institutional structures of the university council are business oriented in organisation although strongly characterised by stakeholder relationships. This has led to effective governance practices being tied around forms of stakeholder propositions to champion particular stakeholder interest at the university council. Thus, institutional structures of university councils are as useful as the people that comprise them as such they need stability and benchmarking to provide useful university governance prescriptions to South African higher education comprehensive contexts. It emphasizes the need for university councils in exiting these contexts to adopt and embrace indigenous proactive institutional governance structures at the university council that are able to address the ever new institutional challenges that confront them. The paper ends with a proposition of structural classification of empirical indicators of university governance governing bodies in comprehensive university contexts.

African Journal of Business Ethics, 2018

The aim of this article is to explore the effects of the Institutional Forum, a governance innovation legislated in South Africa in 1997, as a mechanism that would contribute toward the democratisation of university governance. Forums were established to confront the legacy of structured disadvantage and to reorient the educational experience towards greater horizontal accountability. The article provides commentary on the Forum's impact vis-àvis participative ethos and deliberative democracy against the backdrop of the South African government's post-apartheid commitments. Findings reveal challenges in the Forum's make-up and implementation that are linked to its degree of influence. Ultimately, the conclusions convey perspectives on role ambiguity and conflictual power dynamics. "The Student Representative Council (SRC) is being suffocated by the inaction of university management. … We can't breathe. "

2009

The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) has a long and proud record as South Africa's premier research institute on international issues. It is an independent, non-government think-tank whose key strategic objectives are to make effective input into public policy, and to encourage wider and more informed debate on international affairs with particular emphasis on African issues and concerns. It is both a centre for research excellence and a home for stimulating public engagement. SAIIA's occasional papers present topical, incisive analyses, offering a variety of perspectives on key policy issues in Africa and beyond. Core public policy research themes covered by SAIIA include good governance and democracy; economic policymaking; international security and peace; and new global challenges such as food security, global governance reform and the environment. Please consult our website <www.saiia.org.za> for further information about SAIIA's work. This paper is the outcome of research commissioned by SAIIA's Governance and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Programme.