Reflections of South African university leaders 1981 to 2014 Published in 2016 by African Minds 4 Eccleston Place, Somerset West, 7130, Cape Town, South Africa [email protected] www.africanminds.org.za and Council on Higher Education (South Africa) 1 Quintin Brand Street, Persequor Technopark, 0020 Tel: +27 12 349 3840 [email protected] www.che.ac.za 2016 African Minds All contents of this document, unless specified otherwise, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. When quoting from any of the chapters, readers are requested to acknowledge the relevant author. Cite as: Council on Higher Education (2016) Reflections of South African university leaders, 1981 to 2014 (African Minds & Council on Higher Education: Cape Town) ISBN: 978-1-928331-09-4 eBook edition: 978-1-928331-10-0 ePub edition: 978-1-928331-11-7 Copies of this book are available for free download at: www.africanminds.org.za www.che.ac.za ORDERS: African Minds Email: [email protected] Or the Council on Higher Education Email: [email protected] To order printed books from outside Africa, please contact: African Books Collective PO Box 721, Oxford OX1 9EN, UK Email: [email protected] contents Abbreviations and acronyms .................................................................................. V Foreword Nasima Badsha .......................................................................................................... IX Introduction Johan Muller .............................................................................................................XIII Chapter 1 The challenges of politics and collegial relations Stuart Saunders ............................................................................................................1 Chapter 2 Helping to lead a university: A job not what it seems Wieland Gevers ..........................................................................................................17 Chapter 3 Lessons for leadership in higher education Brenda M. Gourley ......................................................................................................43 Chapter 4 Values and people: Backbone of the academic institution Brian Figaji ................................................................................................................69 Chapter 5 Two tales of quality and equality Chris Brink ................................................................................................................93 Chapter 6 Academic leadership during institutional restructuring Rolf Stumpf ..............................................................................................................119 Chapter 7 Leadership challenges for research-intensive universities Loyiso Nongxa ..........................................................................................................143 Chapter 8 Gender and transformation in higher education Lineo Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga ......................................................................................159 Contents / III abbreviations and acronyms AACSB Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business AARP Alternative Admissions Research Project ADP Academic Development Programme AMBA Association of MBAs ANC African National Congress APF Academic Planning Framework ASP Academic Support Programme ASSAf Academy of Science of South Africa ATN Australian Technology Network BEE black economic empowerment CALICO Cape Library Consortium CEO chief executive officer CHE Council on Higher Education CHEC Cape Higher Education Consortium CHED Centre for Higher Education Development CPUT Cape Peninsula University of Technology CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research CUES Committee on Undergraduate Education in Science CV curriculum vitae DG director-general DHET Department of Higher Education and Training DUT Durban University of Technology DVC deputy vice-chancellor EQUIS European Quality Insurance System Exco Executive Committee FET further education and training FRD Foundation for Research Development FTE full-time equivalent Abbreviations and acronyms / V HDI historically disadvantaged institution HEQC Higher Education Quality Committee HESA Higher Education South Africa (now Universities South Africa) HIV/Aids human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome HR human resources HSRC Human Sciences Research Council HWI historically white institution ICT information and communications technology IIDMM Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (now the IDM) IT information technology ITV Independent Television JET Joint Education Trust (now JET Education Services) MEDUNSA Medical University of South Africa MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology MK Umkhonto we Sizwe MOOCs Massive Open Online Courses MP member of parliament MRC Medical Research Council NACI National Advisory Council on Innovation NCHE National Commission on Higher Education NDP National Development Plan NGO non-governmental organisation NMMU Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University NQF National Qualifications Framework NRF National Research Foundation NSFAS National Student Financial Aid Scheme NUSAS National Union of South African Students PASMA Pan Africanist Students’ Movement of Azania PE Port Elizabeth Pentech Peninsula Technikon PET Port Elizabeth Technikon PPE Philosophy, Politics and Economics PQM Programme and Qualifications Mix RSSAf Royal Society of South Africa SAAWEK Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation SALDRU Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit SANLAM Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Lewens-Assuransie Maatskappy SAPSE South African Post-Secondary Education SAQA South African Qualifications Authority VI / Reflections of South African university leaders SASCO South African Students’ Congress SAUVCA South African Universities Vice-Chancellors’ Association SEASA Science and Engineering Academy of South Africa SET science, engineering and technology SETA Sector Education and Training Authority SGB standards-generating body SHAWCO Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organisation SLE senior lecturer equivalent SRC Students’ Representative Council STIAS Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study SU Stellenbosch University TB tuberculosis TELP Tertiary Education Linkages Project TENET Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa UCT University of Cape Town UDUSA Union of Democratic University Staff Associations UDW University of Durban-Westville UFH University of Fort Hare UK United Kingdom UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNIBO University of Bophuthatswana UNISA University of South Africa UNITRA University of Transkei UNIVEN University of Venda UNIZUL University of Zululand UPE University of Port Elizabeth USA United States of America UTF University Transformation Forum UWC University of the Western Cape VC vice-chancellor VCP vice-chancellor and principal VRG Vice-Rectors’ Group WEXDEV Women Executives Development Wits University of the Witwatersrand WSU Walter Sisulu University Abbreviations and acronyms / VII Foreword / IX foreword Nasima Badsha Much has been written about the ever-growing demands on university leadership worldwide in the face of increasingly complex changes and challenges from within the academy and beyond. However, as we are reminded by Johan Muller in the Introduction to this book, “there are particular features of time and place that also throw up unique prob- lems”. It is precisely ‘time and place’ that make this set of reflections by university leaders quite remarkable and distinguish it from the many biographies to be found in the literature on higher education leadership. I have had the privilege of working alongside most of these individuals in a range of different capacities, as colleagues in various policy processes in the 1990s and later during my tenure as Deputy Director-General for Higher Education in the former Department of Education from 1997 to 2006. In the main, this collection spans two decades, the 1990s and 2000s, of unprecedented levels of change in South African higher education. Leaders in universities, as well as those responsible for higher educa- tion policy in the government and associated statutory bodies, had no neat script to work off, nor ‘manuals’ or prescripts of ‘good’ leadership or practice. Instead, there was palpable excitement about collectively imagining and nurturing a new post-apartheid higher education system, which would contribute to the social and economic development needs of the country and the deepening of democracy, and which would also be globally relevant. The establishment of the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) in 1994 marked the beginning of a period of intense engagement and consultation around the principles and policy frameworks which should shape the new system that was to be carved from a fractured Foreword / IX set of individual institutions with disparate histories, capacities, traditions, aims and values. The 1997 White Paper: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education, and the subsequent Higher Education Act, charted the far-reaching and unprecedented change agenda. A simple listing of the main changes that were introduced will serve as a reminder of the scope, scale and complexity of the system changes: new management information, funding, planning, govern- ance (institutional and system-wide,