UNIVERSITY RENEWAL EFFORTS IN AFRICA AND SOME POINTERS FOR NIGERIA

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UNIVERSITY RENEWAL EFFORTS IN AFRICAAND SOME
POINTERS FOR NIGERIA
by
Professor Ladipo ADAMOLEKUN, D. Phil. (Oxon),
NNOM. Independent Scholar Professor of
Management Federal University of Technology,
Akure.
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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.

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• Strategic plans to guide renewal efforts

• 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)

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TABLE 1 Some of the Topics Covered in Strategic
Plans
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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 -
  Nairobis 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) Nairobis 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?)

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TABLE 2 Sources of Income
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(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. 12 ratio of teaching to
  non-teaching staff is considered very high worse
  in Nigerian 12.6
• 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

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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
  countrys 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.

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(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.

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(b) Relative sizes of teaching and non-teaching
staffTABLE 3 Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff
in Some Universities
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• (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 FUTAs 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. Nairobis 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.

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• (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.

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• 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.

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(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.
• EMUs 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). UZs good practice is in Box 2. Kenyatta
  Universitys 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.

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• Box 2 University Teaching and Learning Centre,
  UZ.
• Established in 1983, the University Teaching and
  Learning Centre (UTLC) focuses exclusively on
  academic staff. The Centres mission is to
  provide professional programmes of the highest
  quality that will assist the Universitys
  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
  universitys 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.

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(f). Gender Issues

• Majority of the institutions address gender
  issues AU, EMU, Nairobi, NUR, TUT, UCAD, UNISA
  and Womens University in Africa (WUA). UCAD has
  articulated a Womens 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 motherscombat all forms of
  sexual discrimination in the teaching process
  and improve womens access to science, technology
  and management posts.
• TUT and UNISA seek to achieve female targets that
  are consistent with the governments 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 WUAs
  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.

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Box 3 Womens 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 Rectors Office, Strategic Plan for the
  Development of UCAD (with minor editing by the
  author).

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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.

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(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.

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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.

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• 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-à-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.

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(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.

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• 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).

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• Box 4 Path to World-Class University Status
  Internal Self-governance, Adequate Funding, and
  Excellence in Research
• Mexicos National Autonomous University is the
  only Latin American university to be ranked by
  Britains 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 universitys
  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.