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UNIVERSITY RENEWAL EFFORTS IN AFRICA AND SOME POINTERS FOR NIGERIA

3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE. 2. ABSTRACT. This paper highlights three key action areas in the on-going university renewal efforts in some African countries with particular attention to the things that are working and those that still constitute challenges for a varying number of the selected universities. The three key action areas are: use of strategic plans to guide renewal efforts; financial resource mobilization and management; and human resource development and management, including att31306

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UNIVERSITY RENEWAL EFFORTS IN AFRICA AND SOME POINTERS FOR NIGERIA

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    1. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 1 UNIVERSITY RENEWAL EFFORTS IN AFRICA AND SOME POINTERS FOR NIGERIA

    2. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 2 ABSTRACT This paper highlights three key action areas in the on-going university renewal efforts in some African countries with particular attention to the things that are working and those that still constitute challenges for a varying number of the selected universities. The three key action areas are: use of strategic plans to guide renewal efforts; financial resource mobilization and management; and human resource development and management, including attention to gender issues. References are made in appropriate parts to current trends and developments in the Nigerian university system. In a concluding section, some observations are provided on two pointers for the future of Nigerian universities: the need to re-orientate the policy and regulatory frameworks and the critical importance of taking necessary steps to reconcile elitism with mass orientation in the university system.

    3. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 3 Why SPs? Quasi-unanimous assumption that the success of universities’ renewal efforts would be significantly enhanced by the preparation and implementation of strategic plans: Role of VCs; influence of governments and/or donors. Strategic plans: a participatory process? Does SP process cascade down to the levels of faculties and departments and the administrative and technical departments, divisions and units, resulting in sectoral strategic plans? (Examples: UZ and Ibadan) Contents of Strategic Plans: The main contents of the strategic plans of the universities reveal strong similarities in their understanding of, and expectations from, a strategic plan as an instrument of institutional renewal (see Table 1)

    4. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 4 TABLE 1: Some of the Topics Covered in Strategic Plans

    5. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 5 II. Financial Resource Mobilization and Management Resource Mobilization Sources of Revenues: government subsidy, tuition fees, and self generated revenues called “third stream” revenues or internally generated revenues (see Table 2). Differences: among public universities; among private universities; and between public universities and private universities. Public universities and government subsidies: Example - Nairobi’s 3 admission “Modules”: “Module I” students who pay no fees and are financed through the subsidy provided by the state. “Module II” (since early 1990s) - fee paying students; and “Module III” (from 2005/06) - distance education students who pay fees. Internally Generated Revenues: Fundraising and alumni offices, consultancy services, endowment funds or foundations, private companies (e.g. Ibadan and Nairobi). Colleges, faculties, departments and units also seek to generate revenue to support core activities (Medicine, Agriculture, Law, and Social/Management Sciences); Nairobi’s assessment of its assets base - land, residential properties, farms, livestock, and intellectual property; and AU solicits funds from individuals and families (in the USA) to finance the cost of buildings (staff houses, student dormitories, faculty building) that are named after them (tax deductibility?)

    6. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 6 TABLE 2: Sources of Income

    7. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 7 (b) Budgeting and Financial Management Systems Recurrent budget and personnel costs: Allocation of high proportion of recurrent budgets to personnel costs (90% in a few cases), balance for operations and maintenance – Nigerian university system at same level. 1:2 ratio of teaching to non-teaching staff is considered very high; worse in Nigerian – 1:2.6 Capital expenditure: Inadequacy and unpredictability of annual allocations for capital expenditure in public universities. Participatory budgetary process: Most of the public universities claim that their budgetary process is participatory but none of the private universities makes same claim. Ibadan example of decentralized bursary ICT, staffing and budgeting techniques: Accounting software is widely used for budgeting and financial management but only a few have fully computerized financial management systems. Linking budgets to SPs is hindered by lack of control over budgets; “mixed” staffing situation - some universities are better endowed than others; attention to efficiency and accountability; functioning internal audit units

    8. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 8 III. Human Resources Development and Management Lack of comprehensive HRDM policies. UZ is closest: intends to develop and implement: “a comprehensive Human Resource Development Policy covering Capacity Building for all staff, Code of Conduct, Performance Appraisal, and retention incentives, such as guaranteed funding for contact and sabbatical leaves”. Approximation in South Africa: focus on one aspect of the country’s HRDM policy that seeks to redress the serious racial and gender imbalance in the composition of both teaching and non-teaching staff. Six HRDM issues addressed by universities in the survey: demographic succession, relative sizes of teaching and non-teaching staff, motivation, performance management, staff development and training, and gender issues.

    9. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 9 (a) Demographic Succession Problem is more acute in older than in newer universities - limited attention to staff development efforts from the late 1980s to about 2000. The “solution” adopted in Nairobi and other public universities in Kenya is setting the retirement age at 70, senior academics to spend a few more years and help produce more junior ones for the system. Ibadan Senate rejected Nairobi “solution” in early 2007. Problem is exacerbated by a huge increase in the demand for experienced senior staff linked to the establishment of many private universities since the early 1990s. Examples: Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria (34 in 8 years) In-country expansion of postgraduate programmes is widely accepted as the sustainable route to the steady production of junior academics - constraints constituted by the inadequacy of senior academics and equipment. Example: in Nigeria, only 9% of 1,090,000 students in the university system were enrolled in postgraduate programmes in 2007.

    10. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 10 (b) Relative sizes of teaching and non-teaching staff TABLE 3: Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff in Some Universities

    11. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 11 (c) Motivation Mix of traditional and innovative approaches: housing (at affordable costs); staff participation in conferences and seminars; to encourage scholarly publications in reputable international journals, Igbinedion introduced in 2004/2005 a small financial reward for staff members whose papers are published in such journals; UNISA organizes annual receptions for nationally-rated researchers; FUTA’s “Excellence and Productivity Awards” (since 2005) - “Best Researcher of the Year”, “Best Inventor of the Year”, “Best Staff of the Year” (Junior, Secretarial, Administrative and Academic) “Dean of the Year”, and Head of Department of the Year”. Nairobi’s strategic plan includes a bold motivation initiative for professors, “the real vehicles of academic activity, as leaders of research and warrantors of the unity and interaction of research and teaching”: “Their remuneration should be determined by their output at internationally competitive levels and not on ‘State fixed Wages’.” Most universities are likely to be interested in how Nairobi translates this idea into practice.

    12. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 12 (d) Performance management Performance management is an area of focus in some universities: Performance contract between the VC and the Governing Council at Nairobi and UNISA - Form used in UNISA is detailed: the rewards for good performance and actions to be taken in case of unsatisfactory performance are clearly set out. Performance contracts linked to a bonus system cascades down to the level of the senior management group (pro VC, DVC, vice-principals and executive deans and directors). At Ibadan, all academic leaders holding elective and appointed posts are assessed/evaluated annually, using suitably designed forms: VC and deputy VCs, provosts and deans, and heads of departments/units and directors of institutes (see Box 1). The registrar, librarian and bursar have contract appointments and the evaluation of their performance is built into their contracts. At AU, consultants from Ernst Young helped to develop performance management forms for staff and they are helping with its implementation. Daystar plans to “introduce performance-based pay and rewards” and to “design, develop and implement performance evaluation tools”.

    13. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 13 Box 1: Annual Performance Evaluation of Academic Leaders at Ibadan Towards the end of each session, a panel constituted for assessing the performance of a leader shall send appropriate forms out to those who are eligible to assess him/her. The panel will deliberate on the submissions, and make recommendations to the appropriate body that is empowered to make a final pronouncement on the matter. The officer concerned shall be formally informed of the outcome of the exercise. The entire exercise shall normally not last more than FOUR WEEKS (sic). Notes: - The panel that conducts the evaluation of the VC and deputy VCs is constituted by the Senate and the “appropriate body” that makes a final pronouncement on the matter is the Council - Faculty boards (or academic board for the provost) set up the panels that conduct the evaluations of the provost and the deans and it is the Senate that takes “any necessary action”. - The panels that conduct the evaluation for heads of departments/units and directors of institutes are their academic members and their recommendations are sent to the VC “for necessary action”. Source: University of Ibadan. The Vision for the 21st Century, pp. 16-17.

    14. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 14 (e) Staff Development and Training Most universities commit to continuous education and training for both teaching and non-teaching staff and improved pedagogy for academic staff. For senior managers (both academic and non-academic), emphasis on change management and financial management. Universities combine in-country with external post-graduate training. Bonding trainees has record of limited effectiveness. EMU’s open fund for training junior academics in research methodology (since 1999) with funding support from the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation (SAREC), the Government of Mozambique, and the World Bank (since 2002). Awards target subject areas where research capacity is weak. Achieving “excellence in teaching and learning” is emphasized by a few universities (Daystar and UZ). UZ’s good practice is in Box 2. Kenyatta University’s Centre for Capacity Development in Higher Education established in June 2007 focuses on: “Modern Pedagogy”, “Management and Administration”, “Information Communication Technology (ICT) Applications”, and “Project Development and Management”.

    15. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 15 Box 2: University Teaching and Learning Centre, UZ. Established in 1983, the University Teaching and Learning Centre (UTLC) focuses exclusively on academic staff. The Centre’s mission is “to provide professional programmes of the highest quality that will assist the University’s academic and ancillary staff to maximize their teaching and learning skills and facilitate effective student learning, and to cooperate with other higher education institutions to the same end.” The main activities of UTLC include the following: research on teaching and learning; disseminate information on teaching and learning; conduct induction and teaching development workshops; organize dialogues, lectures and seminars. The workshop series it organizes covers the following areas, among others: induction courses, designing and reviewing courses, student and staff relations, lecturing techniques, teaching large classes, teaching and learning in small groups, practical classes, and instructional technology. UTLC liaises with the university’s Information Department to organize the University professorial Inaugural Lectures. In recent years, UTLC organized workshops for academic leaders (deputy VCs, deans and heads of departments) on strategic plan preparation and implementation. Finally, a testimony to the influence of the Centre is that its staff are represented on each Faculty team established to assess individuals being considered for promotion on the basis of outstanding teaching. Sources: Write-up on the UTLC by its Director and information obtained from a general handout on UZ provided to the author.

    16. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 16 (f). Gender Issues Majority of the institutions address gender issues: AU, EMU, Nairobi, NUR, TUT, UCAD, UNISA and Women’s University in Africa (WUA). UCAD has articulated a “Women’s Leadership Programme” (see Box 3). EMU pro-women actions include: achieve balance in the quantity and quality of accommodation for students of both sexes; create conditions for supporting student mothers;combat all forms of sexual discrimination in the teaching process; and improve women’s access to science, technology and management posts. TUT and UNISA seek to achieve female targets that are consistent with the government’s employment equity policy; Nairobi to achieve full equity in appointments of qualified women in managerial positions within five years; WUA has developed a comprehensive gender policy and it considers “gender equality as an integral part of all WUA’s policies, programmes and projects”. In Nigeria, women have occupied and continue to occupy positions of authority and power in the Nigerian university system but more needs to be done. Suggestion: affirmative action with an expiration date – a 15-year timeframe? Universities with Centres or Units for Gender Studies (for example, OAU, FUTA, and AAUA) are likely to make more rapid progress than others that do not yet have such Centres.

    17. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 17 Box 3: Women’s Leadership Programme in UCAD The essential objectives of the programme are: - Promotion of university women. In order for this to happen, a favourable work environment must be created so that women can excel in their careers - Reinforce the presence of women professors - Improve the mobility of university women by understanding [and facilitating] the flexibility they may need. - Increase the number of women in the directors group [senior management] at UCAD so that they will have power to influence decisions made at the university Provide access to a university diploma [degree] for as many young women as possible… To achieve these objectives, it is important to put in place, within two years, a certain number of strategies: a specific fund for research carried out by university women; reinforce the capacity of women in leadership techniques and in information and telecommunications technology; facilitate access to computer equipment by giving each senior female academic and administrator a lap top that will allow her to work from home where her presence is often necessary; accommodation and mentoring of young women students by [working] university women Source: Rector’s Office, Strategic Plan for the Development of UCAD (with minor editing by the author).

    18. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 18 IV. Conclusion: Two pointers for the future of the Nigerian university system The need to re-orientate the policy and regulatory frameworks for Nigerian universities The critical importance of taking necessary steps to reconcile elitism with mass orientation in the university system.

    19. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 19 (i) Re-orientate policy and regulatory frameworks Policy and legal frameworks The functions and operational methods of Nigerian public universities are set out in Acts that are broadly similar. Policy innovation: private universities introduced in 1999 - 34 by December 2007; account for only 4 percent of enrolled students Issues: respect for university autonomy – relevant Act in limbo; university finance - gross under-funding undermines university autonomy - existing policy stance against levying fees in federal universities might change (Okojie, February 2008); need for an appropriate mix of scholarships and loans that would ensure that no Nigerian who is qualified for university education is denied the opportunity because of his/her inability to pay prescribed fees.

    20. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 20 Regulatory Framework – Role of the NUC: NUC needs to be re-orientated from being an over-powerful government parastatal to its original role as a buffer between the universities and the government and as a protector of the autonomy of the universities. Regulatory functions such as quality assurance and accreditation of courses are mixed with many activities for which it has no comparative advantage – examples: project implementation - ICT projects, Nigerian Universities Teaching Improvement Project, organization of training for university council members and senior university staff, organization of annual Research and Development Fairs, and annual rating of University Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors. Quality Assurance: A proper NUC function. Two other options could be examined in the near future: (i) an accreditation system introduced and implemented by a credible NGO (ii) UK approach through a Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) - an independent body governed by a Board and funded by subscriptions from universities and through contracts with the main higher education funding bodies.

    21. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 21 Regulation of Private Universities: Need to fill gaps in the regulation of private universities. Examples: disestablishing private universities that provide poor quality education; role of the regulator vis-ŕ-vis faith-based universities in the matter of ensuring respect for the secularity of the Nigerian state enshrined in the Constitution and respect for students’ social freedoms and human rights under the Constitution? Conflict of Interest: to avoid recurrence of the serious conflict of interest problem posed by a phenomenon in which serving top public policy makers who took final and binding decisions on public universities were owners/proprietors of private universities, NUC to be made autonomous: its board should be removed from federal executive discretion and its law amended to provide for membership comprising representatives of the core stakeholders including the universities, the federal government, state governments, private owners of universities, and the private sector; NUC to send its annual report (and any special reports) through its board to an appropriate committee of the National Assembly, possibly a joint Senate/House Committee.

    22. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 22 (ii) Reconciling elitism with mass orientation Personal professional positions (1982, 1990 and 2007): 1982, conclusion that the country was moving “inexorably in the direction of university education for the masses”; 8 years later, a case for Nigeria to produce a world-class university in the first decade of 21st century; update in 2007 in Convocation Lecture delivered at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba (AAUA): “The desirable direction for Nigeria is the designation and nurturing of a few elite universities (focused on scholarship and research) that would co-exist with all the other universities that would have a mass orientation (liberal education plus technical and vocational orientation), with some of them developing varying numbers of elite programmes (or centres of excellence). Regarding public universities, the choices would have to be made by the federal or state government, as the case may be. And for private universities, the proprietor(s) would decide. To date, it is only in respect of the foreign-inspired African Institutes of Technology that Nigeria has bought into the idea of an elite higher education institution … My haunch is that over the next decade, a few universities would emerge as elite institutions – possibly about six by 2020. In brief, I am asserting the inevitability of a dose of elitism in the university sector, that is, an era of a differentiated academic system.”

    23. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 23 Path to World-Class Universities: For any of the elite universities that would emerge to join the ranks of the top 500-1000 universities in the world by 2020, the three key issues highlighted in Box 4 below must have been satisfactorily addressed: excellence in research, internal self-governance and adequate funding. Unfortunately, no serious efforts are being made to date: University Autonomy Act is in limbo and the level of research funding is grossly inadequate to result in high quality research work. For example, while each of six “targeted” federal universities were (are) allocated between N80 million and N106 million for research in 2007 and 2008 (a slight increase in 2008 over 2007), the Federal Ministry of Education alone spent N110 million each in 2006 and 2007 on HIV/AIDS sensitization! (On the expenditure on HIV/AIDS sensitization, see The Punch, February 8, 2008).

    24. 3RD REGISTRY LECTURE, OAU, IFE 24 Box 4: Path to World-Class University Status: Internal Self-governance, Adequate Funding, and Excellence in Research “Mexico’s National Autonomous University is the only Latin American university to be ranked by Britain’s Times Higher Education Supplement in the top 200 in the world. It owes its distinction largely to the fact that it has control over its own budget, although this comes from the federal budget … [its] new vice-chancellor was chosen by the university’s board of governors… [it is] the only educational institution in the country that does high-quality basic research in the sciences.” Source: The Economist (London), December 7, 2007, p.62.

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