Quality middle-level academic leadership in universities is a sine qua non for building strong institutions with quality, competitive academic programmes and elevated levels of research productivity. This article is based on a critical documentary analysis of academic staff rank and qualifications at the oldest and largest private university in Tanzania. The article argues that emerging private universities and colleges in Tanzania lack the quality middle-level academic leadership required to make them strong, with an associated high quality of academic and research productivity. This is one of the major constraints to their institutional growth. The article recommends internal promotion of academic staff to middle-level academic positions if they meet institutional criteria or employing external ready-made senior academic staff and appointing them to middle-level academic leadership positions.
This article examines the capacities and structures within Kenya’s public universities to operationalise guidelines from the Commission for University Education (CUE) regarding quality academic practices. The concerns of the study arose from evident increasing number of students in public universities in the absence of matching resources. This article presents an analysis of the CUE guidelines issued to universities concerning teaching and learning resources, as well as an evaluation of the extent to which these guidelines have been implemented in four selected public universities. The argument made is that effective management cultures and capacities determine successful implementation of CUE’s standards and guidelines, which translates to quality teaching and learning practices. Conversely, a weak management culture restricts the effective application of the guidelines. The article points out several obstacles that the institution and regulator must address to implement the guidelines effectively. The obstacles include resistance to change, inadequate facilities, underfunding, understaffing and lack of capacity building.
There has been an increasing interest in large-scale agricultural land investments (LALIs) in many African countries. Although higher education institutions play a significant role, there remains a lack of comprehensive research on the effects that large university farms have on households in the surrounding communities across Nigeria. Given this knowledge gap, this study investigates the effects of large scale university farms on employment in the host communities. The study provides qualitative insights into the implications of LALIs on employment. It was conducted at three university farms in Nigeria, chosen for their substantial agricultural landholdings. Data were collected through field observations, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. Relevant findings, including access to and acquisitions of land, diverse employment, remuneration patterns, and implications are documented for the selected farms. The study concludes that although LALIs can create employment opportunities for their host communities, focusing on other areas such as improved remuneration, processing and packaging of farm produce, and social projects will boost their employment creation abilities.
This article examines the influence of the availability and use of information and communications technology (ICT) on the research outputs of middle-level lecturers in Nigerian universities. The influence of specific variables such as the availability of a functional research laboratory, swift internet connectivity, functional laptop computers, functional e-library and data analysis/simulation software was investigated. Performance in research output was operationalised to mean the number and quality of publications. The study utilised a non-experimental research design involving the triangulation of a cross-sectional survey and in-depth interview research methods. The cross-sectional survey method was used to elicit quantitative data from 1,325 respondents drawn from 12 universities in South-west Nigeria, while in-depth interviews with administrators, unit managers, heads of departments, lecturers and students were conducted to generate qualitative data for the study. The results show that while ICT facilities were largely available, ownership was mostly personal; and that although access to ICT impacts research output, productivity of middle-level lecturers in this regard is impaired by inadequate underlying infrastructure and poor funding support for publication and higher education more generally. The article recognises the role of middle-level academics in the domestication of ICT-based higher education in Nigeria and calls for improved funding and more aggressive integration of ICT in higher education in the country.
Using the lens of situational leadership theory, this article interrogates if early career academics serving in leadership positions, particularly those who have worked in a university for less than seven years, possess the task-relevant competencies that are required for university leadership The study assessed academics’ competency levels by examining their pedagogical capabilities, their research and publication output, and their proficiency in integrating ICT tools into teaching and learning. The research adopted a qualitative design, using narrative nterviews and focus group discussion (FGD) to sample ten early-career aders in a private university in Nigeria. The findings indicated that participants had weak research and publication records and relied predominantly on traditional lecture-based pedagogy, which limited opportunities for innovative and participatory teaching and learning. However, the participants’ engagement of ICT was apt and promising. Based on their narratives it is recommended that some restrictions be applied to the appointment of early-career scholars as middle-level academic leaders, on the grounds that they need adequate time to develop their academic and professional competencies before taking up leadership demands.
This article examines the erosion of collegiality in Nigeria’s nascent federal universities against the backdrop of the rising bureaucratic tendencies in such institutions. From the standpoint of a vintage case of one of such universities, the article observes that there has been a sustained systematic subversion of the collegial ethos through gradual bureaucratic centralism and excess. Using a qualitative analysis that relied on a synthesis of primary and secondary data, the article highlights aspects of these bureaucratic tendencies and underscores their implications for internal institutional autonomy and academic freedom. It posits that the trend is tantamount to the emasculation and usurpation of the faculty and, in effect, negates the culture of collegiality and academic sovereignty. To reverse this trend, the article makes a case for institutional reform aimed at devolving university governance strategically in a manner that restores the functional autonomy of the faculty alongside the academic sovereignty of its academia.
This article examines the roles played by heads of academic departments (HoDs) and the challenges they face in reforming their units’ curricula to promote graduate employability in a university college in Uganda. The study arose because of persistent complaints by employers and other stakeholders about the lack of employable skills among university graduates in the country, in spite of several curricular reviews having taken place in the institution. Using the qualitative approach, data was collected from four purposively selected HoDs through in-depth interviews. The study’s results showed, among others, that the participants had different understandings of what graduate employability meant: while some conceptualised it as the possession of employable skills by graduates, others viewed it as the ability of a university student to complete his/ her study programme and obtain gainful employment. Second, the participants revealed that they often enabled the revision of the curricula to promote graduate employability, by involving and motivating stakeholders in curricular reviews, offering effective leadership, and by providing requisite information and support to their staff during curriculum review and development. Finally, the study participants reported facing several challenges in revising the curricula of their units, including limited co-operation by stakeholders, rapidly changing societal needs and a shortage of funds to aid the process of curriculum review and development.
1 ne neea ror 1mprovea quauty ot schotarship for the development of a nation is the desire of individuals and societies. Either due to a dwindling economy or misplaced priorities, the education sectors of African nations have been under-funded and i11 equipped, music departments included. Consequently, the endeavours of academ ics and students in music scholarship have been adversely affected. However, the music industry sector for which skilled personnel is produced boasts of updated facilities for music composition, production, education, broadcasting, advertising, publishing, performance, and technology. These resource materials are remarkably advantageous to music scholarship, particularly if the Students Industrial Work Ex perience Scheme (SIWES) is introduced in the programme of studies at all African universities. Since 1996 the Deha State University, Abraka, Nigeria bas attached students to the music industry during long vacations. The experiment, coupled with effective supervision and reports on their experience, has achieved, amongst other intentions, a feed-back loop for research and curriculum development, and fostered an improved town and gown cooperation in musical practice. Exposure to possible job opportunities during this period has redefined students' and their benefactors' impression of music as an academic pursuit leading to improved academic per formance. lt ha:s also provided updated knowledge and skills, which hitherto were missing due to inadequate facilities in the Department.
The need for more interactive, learner-centred pedagogies at Aga Khan University in East Africa led to the development of a partnership with Academics without Borders (AWB). AWB recruited three nursing faculty volunteers to provide mentorship to the nursing faculty at the three Aga Khan University Advanced Nursing Studies campuses in East Africa. As part of the evaluation and as a strategy to improve the quality of the mentoring and the project, the authors developed an action research study to identify facilitators and inhibitors to the success of this inter-cultural initiative. In this article, the authors share their observations and reflections as recorded in journal entries and postings to an online site as well as the results of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis completed by mentees, mentors and project coordinators. Finally, the authors share their thoughts on the implications for future cross-cultural mentoring relationships at Aga Khan University and the potential for assisting others in similar relationships.
The university today is a postmodern, neo-liberal, competitive, boundary-less knowledge conglomerate, a far cry from its historical, traditional, classical and collegial roots. Although remaining true to its primary mission of research, teaching and community engagement, its organisational form has changed significantly, with its concomitant implications for governance, leadership and management, especially in a developing world context. The regional and institutional disruptions and protests by students and other stakeholders in African countries like Algeria, Kenya, Sudan and, more recently, South Africa in the guise of the ‘#RhodesMustFall,’ ‘#FeesMustFall’ and ‘#OpenStellenbosch’ campaigns, starkly illustrates this challenging, nebulous environment of higher education on the continent. The article provides a reflection and engagement on these critical issues and aims to illustrate that: (i) the global and local contexts of higher education have changed dramatically, with its concomitant added levels of complexity for academic leaders; (ii) this environment has implications for the conception and practice of leadership and management in universities, for middle level academic leaders in particular; and (iii) this setting provides the backdrop for a holistic and integrated academic leadership intervention in universities in Africa.
Literature regarding knowledge production reveals that Africa can do better than its present state through the exploration and installation of homegrown ideas detached from the Western hold on its academy. This article contributes to this debate by exploring the place of indigenous knowledge within the academy and the challenges facing its popularity within the continent. The article further provides suggestions on how indigenous and conventional orthodox knowledge can cohere towards a more pragmatic knowledge production that can propel Africa’s development.
High quality research supervision is crucial for PhD training, yet it continues to pose challenges globally with important contextual factors impacting the quality of supervision. This article reports on responses to these challenges by a multi-institutional sub-Saharan Africa initiative (CARTA) at institutional, faculty and PhD fellow levels. The article describes the pedagogical approaches and structural mechanisms used to enhance supervision among supervisors of CARTA fellows. These include residential training for supervisors, and supervision contracts between primary supervisors and PhD fellows. The authors reflect on the processes and experiences of improving PhD supervision, and suggest research questions that CARTA and other training programmes could pursue in relation to PhD supervision in Africa and other lower- and middle-income countries.
Transformative autonomy is ‘the form of autonomy in which school role players, such as teachers, have the urge to be involved with fellow role players in education development initiatives towards social transformation which contributes to democracy’ (Nel 2014: 790). This theoretical construct was formulated to narrow the gap between teaching practice and societal concerns since it recognizes that teachers do have a certain degree of au- tonomy over their professional practice but also a responsibility towards the evolving South African democracy. In an effort to test the veracity of transformative autonomy as a theoretical construct data was gathered from three sets of participants: twenty-six postgraduate students, thirteen rural primary school teachers and thirty-one conference delegates. Some key findings are that participants generally acknowledged their control over curriculum aspects and some degree of control over matters of discipline. A curious finding is the appearance of discipline as an aspect over which some participants felt they have control and other participants felt they had no control. These findings, and others, are discussed in the context of transformative autonomy. One of the main conclusions is that these par- ticipants display an intuitive understanding of their autonomy as teachers but that they still do not have a clear idea of how to link their expertise to societal transformation. It is lastly concluded that the issue of autonomy has epistemological implications insofar as the condition of knowledge production, reproduction and dissemination is concerned, all of which impact on teachers’ intellectual integrity. Higher education, therefore, is alerted to its responsibility in teacher training.
The massification of higher education, fuelled in part by demand from young people and their families, has coincided with more competition in the graduate labour market. This article seeks insight into the interpretative framework through which graduates view the relationship between higher education and the labour market. Specifically, given evidence of diminishing employment opportunities for graduates, the study examines the relative strengths of human capital theory and credentialism in explaining the value that young people continue to place on higher education. Using survey data from a sample of 2,036 Ghanaian higher education graduates, the article investigates the relative value students accord to skills and credentials through analysis of two self-report measures: satisfaction with their higher education experience, and, second, labour market expectations in respect of employment and income. Overall, non-degree holders self-assessed as having more skills training. Nonetheless, degree-holders generally were more satisfied with their educational achievements and had higher labour market expectations than those without degrees. These findings imply that young people value higher education less in terms of the skills they acquire and more in regards to the face-value of the qualifications they obtain, indicating a credentialist perspective that is in marked contrast to the human capital approach which undergirds policymaking on higher education in Ghana and much of the African continent.
This work sets out to engage the ideology of globalisation by interrogating the notion of humanities that has been applied to study the concept. To do this, it addresses the following question: if the idea of globalisation was interrogated from the idea of man (being human)1 and studies of human nature informed by the values, principles and norms that define the idea of humankind from the African worldview, what would it amount to? What ideals would drive such a project and what difference would it make for the human community? To address these questions, the article will locate African humanities through what it calls the dominant humanities orientation in Africa, defined as the study of man (being human) available through the intellectual industry of modern Africa and inscribed through various subjects studied in the humanities in African institutions. Thereafter, it will proceed to locate what man (being human) would mean, assuming that effort is made to locate the meaning through the African endogenous worldview. The article will next proceed to articulate the gains of applying the African endogenous idea of man (being human) in articulating and directing globalisation. The method applied is an inductive analysis of views and positions in the humanities, African thought and globalisation.
