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By
Introduction Higher Education is not new to Rwanda. Le Grand Seminaire, for example,
a diploma-awarding higher institution for males training for priesthood,
has been in existence since 1936. It represents one type of higher education,
focusing as it does, exclusively on one discipline: Theology. Coming nearly
thirty years later, the National University of Rwanda (NUR), now comprising
12 Faculties / Schools, represents yet another type of higher education,
"university", which is more comprehensive in its course offerings as well
as in its clientele. In the sub-region itself, there are much older universities.
The oldest in East Africa, Makerere University, Kampala is now 76 years
old. The University of Dar-Es-Salaam, l'Université de Lavenium,
now l'Université de Kinshasa, l'Université du Burundi, and
the University of Nairobi are others, all of which are also comprehensive
in the programmes they offer. The older generation among Rwandans who have
university degrees would have been trained in institutions of higher learning
outside Rwanda, including those in the sub-region, or at the NUR itself.
Sixty-three years since the country was first introduced to higher education, a survey of developments reports 12 institutions on the ground including 5 that are government-sponsored, another 5 that are sponsored by religious formations and 2 by secular entities. The survey reports also a total enrolment of barely 6000 representing only about 0.001% of the age-group of 18-24; females are outnumbered by 1:7; there are no Distance learning programmes; fees range from US$ 0.00 - 200.00 in Government institutions and up to US$400 in private institutions; the curriculum is humanities dominated though medicine and paramedical studies, science and engineering are available; only one government institution and one other in private sector report the Bachelor's degree for immediate availability; not of university status, the others, institutes, offer certificates and diplomas though aspiring to degree-granting status and already resentful of perceptions of being poor relations to the other institutions; outnumbered in each case by part-time staff, (a ratio of 1:9 in the worst case), full-time staff is thin on the ground, inclusive of part-time staff there are barely 100 PhDs; low research-profile is inferable from the paucity of teachers and the fact of there being only one postgraduate programme and in medicine and only up to an MSc; there is no national apparatus or mechanism for Accreditation, Quality Control, Coordination or Monitoring. Clearly, the idea of an institution of higher education or what one
looks like can hardly be foreign to Rwandans. In fashioning a national
policy for higher education, therefore, it is worth noting that there are
recognisable models, and that too radical a departure from the known models
would not be particularly helpful. After all, it is to institutions within
the sub-region that higher education in Rwanda will turn in recruiting
External Examiners to evaluate academic work or External Assessors to moderate
staff appointments and promotions. Representation on the Governing Council
of each higher institution will inevitably include eminent persons from
the sub-region. It is, therefore, important, if not prudent, that higher
education for Rwanda proceeds along familiar lines the better to be recognised
and understood by the country's immediate neighbours.
In the global scheme of things, the wider Africa, of which Rwanda is also a part, is another, if perhaps bigger sub-region with which the country must, of necessity, identify. At the UNESCO Conference on Higher Education for Africa and Malagasy
held in Tananarive, 1961, higher education was defined as the learning
available to the high school diplomate who is at least 18 years old and
has successfully completed 12 years of formal schooling, which definition
still informs the thinking on the continent. It turns out that for having
been affiliated to European models initially, some African universities
retain a Euro-centric outlook on what should obtain with respect to the
curriculum or even internal structural arrangements, which is not always
healthy. Happily, coming into being in the 70s, the Association
of African Universities (AAU) has the mission to promote discourse
among African Universities, to initiate consultation on uniquely African
issues, and to share the subsequent responses that have developed. It goes
without saying that Rwanda is entitled to a share of the ideas generated
to date from within the continent.
Higher education belongs also to an international community with attributes
or characteristics with which institutions must identify for global recognition.
The Universities of Makerere, Dar-Es-Salaam and Nairobi, for example, belong
to the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) from which there
must be ideas already shared with Rwanda. The advantages of identifying
with the local and external standards and traditions are innumerable, not
the least of which is the exchange of ideas in relation to research findings,
publications, materials, provision of community service through outreach
programmes, and the mobility afforded to teachers and students. On the
latter point, for example, many who train in one country might be teaching
in another country. Similarly, students from one institution might want
to continue their studies in another, and their acceptance will depend
on the degree to which their institutions are perceived to share in the
common attributes which influence judgements made, for instance, about
competence levels. Such institutional linkages could also act as checks
and balances since the exercise entails adherence to and maintenance of
internationally acceptable standards of academic competence and excellence.
On a sub-regional level as well, co-operation between and among institutions
of higher learning brings with it a rich experience leading to remarkable
achievements in the quality of education. In this respect, policy for higher
education would have to take into account inter-institutional co-operation
for the sake of national and international development, and subsequently
be able to redefine Rwanda's higher education strategies based on a clear
re-assessment and understanding of its mission.
At this point, a brief history of how higher education has come by today's
attributes is not out of place. Initially, there was only one type of higher
education, "university"; and the university was where matters which lent
themselves to theorising or intellectual discourse, such as the purpose
on earth of human beings and their relationship with their Creator, engaged
people of leisure. If it was learning a trade or vocation for a living,
then it belonged outside the university. Typically in England, for a long
time, medicine could be studied on the hospital floor and nowhere else,
while training and certification to practice law could be obtained only
in the inns adjoining the law courts.
As in England, so it was in America to begin with, but the dynamics
changed with the influx of emigrants from England to the Americas. These
included many who were in a hurry, for whom survival in a foreign and not
always friendly environment was critical. Leaving esoteric and speculative
studies to the older, more conventional schools on the eastern sea-board,
they set out to discover what the land could turn up. The Land Grant Colleges
of the 18th Century encouraged them to study agriculture. In time, the
science of agriculture and of other vocations developed. In the United
States, it remains the philosophy that all subjects can be studied to great
advantage in a university; and furthermore, that the university is not
for only the intellectually gifted but also for others who are determined
to follow a worthwhile discipline. There are now over 3000 institutions
of higher education in the United States and participation is of the order
of 50% of the 18-24 age-group.
America's success in the gradual breaking away from the traditional
mentality of viewing the university as an "ivory tower" institution that
offered mostly theory-oriented programmes with the exclusive right of awarding
degrees, her demonstration of what else could be done at a university,
and the impact of the new approach on the society at large, have not gone
unnoticed. Consequently, others elsewhere have had to change their perceptions
about many things related to higher education. Now in the United Kingdom
as in the United States, it is accepted that every course, including the
practical-oriented, can be advanced beyond the certificate or diploma levels.
Thus, while still focused on the more practical kind of studies, the polytechnics
in the United Kingdom have become degree-granting institutions. In South
Africa, the Technikon, which used to be restricted to diplomas only, now
also awards degrees up to post-graduate level. Typically, in South Africa,
one comes across a university graduate in engineering who wants to enrol
at the Technikon if he or she wants to enhance his or her practical skills.
Although the practical orientation of the Technikon's programmes gives
the diplomate an advantage in seeking initial employment, the theory-oriented
university training will also come in useful when the recently employed
competes for advancement. The trend is global.
In sum, then, higher education programmes leading to degree awards can also be offered by other institutions alongside universities. At the 11th International Meeting of University Administrators in Auckland, New Zealand, in January 1998, Professor Matthew Gibbons, the Secretary-General of the Association
of Commonwealth Universities, discussed trends in the study of science,
confirming that a lot of it now takes place in Industry which some day
may be awarding degrees (particularly for computer studies), which could
be more valuable than any that a university can offer. Furthermore, movement
across institutions of higher education says from polytechnic to university,
is no longer unidirectional and indeed as in South Africa, the reverse
is also quite possible. This trend would seem to argue against any hierarchical
ordering of institutions of higher education a priori. Needless
to say, some institutions will excel in research, but others, no doubt,
should in time discover their peculiar strengths as well. But restructuring
higher education requires that specific policy choices be made with respect,
for instance, to the following:
Notably, provision of education by religious and private foundations
still obtains, but almost in every country, the state is now the main provider,
for it is now clearly established that the returns on educational investment
accrue as much to the state as to the consumer. For this reason, some developing
countries are known to commit as much as a third or more of the national
budget to education. The reality is, however, that in most cases, the state
is hardly able to provide enough places in higher education institutions
for all who qualify for admission. At this rate, it might be necessary
to turn to the Private Sector to solicit support in terms of the opening
of private universities, although with this type of contribution, it might
indeed be necessary for the Private Sector to be given some form of incentive.
The type of incentives, however, would have to be clearly well-thought
out and regulated accordingly, otherwise where such incentives are particularly
attractive, for example, tax relief, the mushrooming of private institutions
possibly of indifferent quality is all too likely. To avoid such a scenario,
perhaps the intervention of an intermediary body such as a National Commission
for Higher Education to evaluate what is on the ground would be one way
of determining who would or would not deserve encouragement and support.
Indeed, no institution would commence business unless it received approval
from the Commission.
It may be noted also that the high school diploma which allows entry to higher education has a wider purpose than preparation for college, as school authorities are quick to point out. For guidance of the prospective college student, the admission requirements might be stated to refer to ability to communicate in the language of instruction; of other requirements, competence in computation is obviously necessary; and to be able to relate to technology, a science subject might be another; perhaps also one subject in the arts, if only for balance. Some such formulation guarantees a measure of commonality to students' background, which makes for easy discourse between them. Beyond the requirements to be had in common, the student must also show aptitude for the subject to be studied in college. In effect, the high school diploma must attest to breath and depth of preparation to make it admissible; without guidance it could go in different directions to suit its other purposes. It is clear that everywhere, the majority of students need support to
be able to take full advantage of educational opportunities. In Ghana,
for example, support for university education used to be of the order of
full scholarships for everybody, with enough to spare for maintenance.
This was possible when there was only one university. At present, there
are 5 universities and 10 polytechnics. What this means is that even with
42% of the national budget allocated to Education, there is not enough
to go round. Until recently, the Government of Uganda also provided full
scholarships to all university students. This system, however, has had
to undergo major changes. The Uganda formula now provides Government sponsorship
for only as many students as can fit into the country's projections of
qualified personnel in the critical areas of the economy. The remaining
space on campus is available to other qualified but self-sponsored or fee-paying
students. To those parents who would otherwise have to pay for their children
to go to school abroad to pursue courses of their choice, this is a cheaper
and, therefore, welcome alternative. It is an opportunity also for Industry,
the Private Sector, and Parastatals to buy into the system by sponsoring
staff or prospective employees for further studies as part of their own
staff development. This particular Ugandan experience has attracted wide
attention on the continent. The flip-side of the coin, however, is that
it inevitably creates a marginalised, disgruntled group of otherwise able
students who are unable to find sponsors for continuing with their studies.
It is noted that the IMF and the World Bank which lately have lent momies
for educationed reform distinguish between instruction-related expenditure
and student maintenance, insisting that the latter is family responsibility.
On the other hand, students who are sent abroad on government sponsorship
are provided for fully, as it should be, for being on scholarship. For
consistency, it is fair argument that others who study at home should also
be eligible for full scholarship if they have outstanding results, or are
in academic areas where trained personnel are urgently needed; others may
be given bursaries or partial scholarships. But for the benefit to the
state, it is further argued that Tuition is a proper charge to government.
This is what is referred to in the literature as cost-sharing, namely,
the state bearing the lion's share of costs in the form of Tuition while
the student provides for his own maintenance. In other formulas, the student
must contribute also to Tuition by paying for "user-fees" for academic
facilities.
Developments reported from East and West Africa, however, indicate that
asking for even a modest contribution from students is the occasion for
campus disturbances. Resistance is spearheaded by students who have been
brought up on cost-free education or have fond memories of such a past.
Trouble may be expected also from a student body which is politicised to
the ideology that it is the responsibility of the state to educate its
young to the highest level of their ability. To suggestion that if not
Tuition, feeding must be recognised as family responsibility, a quip attributed
to one student leader would seem unassailable: "What about prisoners? The
state feeds them, because prisoners don't have families?" When all is said
and done, the arguments are on students' side where income levels are generally
low. Indeed, where the minimum wage for a whole day's work can be as low
as US$ 1.00, the question arises as to how much any institution can hope
to raise from students or their parents if it needs to equip, for example,
a computer centre!
For students' portion of costs, the Student Loans Scheme is one possibility. The scheme, however, is predicated on the availability of jobs into which students have first to be absorbed before repayment can commence. If only there are jobs to be had! But even where jobs are available, without a credible national ID system to track down loan-beneficiaries as they move from job to job or from one part of the country to another, loan-recovery can be a futile exercise, often requiring a machinery more expensive than what recovery brings in. It is common knowledge that the better students leave the country promptly on graduation to take up scholarship offers elsewhere. In particular, medical students on who a lot is spent are notorious for leaving the country without meeting their loan obligations. In some countries, a national service scheme of 1-2 years is considered the better option for being controversy-free. Under the scheme, students are absorbed, to be assigned critical jobs on completion of their studies, but they are paid an allowance rather than a salary. Many get assigned to teach in the remote parts of the country where the more experienced regular teachers are often reluctant to go, a "sacrifice" which is regarded to be repayment enough of the money spent on their education. The world wide trend in higher education reveals also new concerns and
challenges such as human rights violations, protection of the environment,
gender equity, minority rights, accommodation of the disabled, the right
to information, life-long education, opportunities for the non-typical
student etc, all of which find expression in the curriculum and the structural
arrangements on campuses. Partly as a response to some of these challenges,
higher education institutions must, of necessity, also offer Extension
or Community Services, which are a significant part of higher education's
delivery because of the mutual benefits entailed. Experiences reported
from Ghana, which has a long history of student confrontation with the
security forces, are instructive. In one university in that country, the
students often wondered how they were able to hold their own against truncheon-wielding
trained adversaries. It turned out, however, that help came always from
the local community, especially that part of it which ran small shops for
automobile repair. It was their contribution to the university from which
the semi-skilled mechanics received instruction at regular workshops organised
for them by the University's Faculty of Engineering. Clearly, it is to
the benefit of the institution for such identity of interests to develop.
Involvement of higher education institutions with local communities through
specially-tailored programmes, therefore, should be taken seriously and
greatly encouraged.
In the peculiar case of Rwanda, which is fortunate to have only one
local language, Kinyarwanda, but otherwise split between French and English
for doing business, there is an imperative need to introduce bilingualism
at all levels of education for many practical reasons, among which is to
cater for the future needs and challenges of all Rwandan citizens. For
local needs and for purposes of creating and enhancing linkages regionally
and internationally, it is imperative that policy articulates mandatory
inclusion of Kinyarwanda, French, and English studies in the curriculum
right from pre-school to higher education institutions.
Of other dimensions to the challenges that face higher education, preservation
of the national culture is easily overlooked by institutions that are anxious
to catch up with the fad of the day. In the demographic and infrastructural
dislocation engendered by war or intense civil strife, much damage can
be done to the collective psyche or mores of the nation. It is the business
of higher education to take the lead in the restoration of both to their
pristine health by ensuring that nothing of national importance is ever
lost. Besides departments of the fine and cultural arts, some institutions
maintain performance groups which entertain members of the public in order
to share with them the nation's very own music, dance, and drama. The boost
to national unity from such shared moments of fun can be tremendous. Students'
Travelling Theatres as at Makerere that takes drama to the remotest parts
of the country enjoy a warm welcome. Some university-based performance
groups travel abroad and become, in a way, cultural ambassadors not only
for the university, but also for the country at large. Museums and galleries
holding the nation's best works of art are not uncommon on many campuses
of higher education institutions. Indeed, identification with a common
heritage has everything to be said for it in the rebuilding of a nation.
To effect a shift from the Humanities to Science, Ghanaian policy of
the late 50's and early 60s offered a slightly more scholarship money as
an incentive; and on completion of their studies, the science graduate
had a higher salary than the arts graduate. Current policy aims at a balance
of 60:40 in favour of science; and although no special incentives are offered,
a new secondary school programme (since 1990) featuring Junior Secondary
School (3 years) followed by Senior Secondary School (3 years) provides
for a science laboratory in many administrative districts of the country,
to which students from schools without laboratories of their own can be
taken by bus. Already from the schools, science applicants to the universities
are beginning to outnumber those on the arts . The Ghanaian experience
suggests that school programmes can be engineered to achieve a particular
result or that special incentives must on offer.
Programme engineering to best effect is in evidence also at Rwanda,
where the Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management (KIST),
established only since 1997, offers engineering, architecture & building
technology, business administration, and food science & technology.
A diploma or a bachelor's degree may be earned from each programme. But
KIST reasons that parallel classes for diploma and bachelor's degree courses
are an avoidable cost; therefore, in future it proposes to admit all students
to the diploma, to be earned and awarded from 2 - 3 years of study inclusive
of field attachments; to be followed by a further study of 1 - 2 years,
also inclusive of field attachments, for the degree. For students whose
funding does not go far, or others who want only a middle-level professional
career, the diploma offers a respectable exit, but they can always come
back; others may proceed further to the degree if the pre-requisites have
been met from electives during the diploma phase and have made acceptable
grades. But if for any reason, any should be unable to pursue the degree
programme to a successful completion, they have the diploma, already awarded,
for a fall-back. Compared to programmes which after a long period of study
offer nothing to the student for failure at the final examination, the
KIST formula must be a welcome innovation.
Students and their sponsors naturally want to see the prospect of employment in the subject of study. In that respect, the kinds of programmes on offer at KIST are more reassuring than some others. Infusion of computer and entrepreneurial skills should make a difference all around. But the raison d'être of the university is not invalidated because graduates cannot find employment. Besides present-day concerns, to be a university is to foresee the future, in particular the catastrophe or the missed opportunities that could result from neglect of the seemingly unimportant subjects. Knowledge, holistically conceived and including subjects that do not readily fetch jobs, is what universities are pledged to pursue. The nearest approximation to delivering fully on that pledge is the creation of centres where, as research fellows, scholars in small numbers are engaged to keep alive their respective specialisations which may not even be part of the curriculum. If the earth should turn up something of value from "pointless" digging, the salary paid over the years to the research fellow in archaeology or geology is but a small price. In all this, the custodial role of school is easily overlooked. If they do not always live up to expectation, running for the better part of the day, schools keep children and young adults off the streets and out of mischief. It is to have their attention that schools have recreation and other extra-curricular activities that the young enjoy. The curriculum itself could be more engaging, the more diversified the less the monotony. Even for schools that adhere strictly to the terms of their mission, a judicious foray into the wild is all to the good. As to where in the curriculum studying for a profession fits, it is noted that in North America law and medicine belong at graduate school following a 4-year bachelor's degree. In the UK, on the other hand, everything happens in the first degree; even for teaching in the university, a good bachelor's degree used to be enough and might still do. But, of course, counting the post-high school preparation for university (2 years of Sixth Form or longer for those looking for scholarships) the bachelor's degree takes 5 years minimum. In both North America and the UK, then, studying for a profession may not commence until the student is adjudged to have the academic background to sustain such studies. For medicine, pre-medical courses are a way of ensuring that the student coming straight from high school is ready. Already in west Africa institutions which used to have law and medicine for first degree are contemplating deferring both to graduate school, consistent with adoption of the school system as, in North America in the wake of educational reform. Gender-sensitivity is beginning to show in curriculum development, but
there is still a long way to equal representation on campus. Affirmative
action and quotas are both possible policy choices though controversial,
reeking as they do of discrimination. Unscrambling the structures of discrimination
on campus is the success story of one institution where previously all
male-hostels have been converted to mixed-hostels, to result in 1:4 representation,
an improvement on 1:5. It turns out that the roots of female under-representation
is cultural over which universities have little control. The notion persists
that investment in the boy-child has the better returns. It is an old wives
tale, but still popular with traditional folk of both sexes.
It goes without saying that higher education must be staffed by talented
individuals who have also received training at the highest level. For the
purely academic disciplines, the PhD attests to training in research for
advancing the subject beyond its previously known frontiers. In some institutions,
subsequent independent work from which publications have resulted provide
a basis for discriminating between PhD applicants. The post-doctoral fellowship
for the fledgling PhD to prove himself is now part of the departmental
establishment in North America, for example. Indeed, nearly all PhDs in
North America would hope for no more than a post-doctoral fellowship of
1-2 years to begin with; and as these positions are themselves also highly
competitive, the majority of PhDs have little chance of an academic career.
Elsewhere, the Master's degree with a substantial research component is
the next best where PhDs lack. Some institutions would still appoint the
non-PhD to only a temporary position and as Assistant Lecturer until a
PhD shows up. For the prospective PhD, appointment on probation, to be
confirmed when the PhD is obtained, is also known, for which study leave
with pay is possible.
In medicine, however, and typically in the clinical disciplines, study leave may lead not to a PhD but to a qualification such as a Fellowship of the professional body which is not any less regarded. Some business schools do not even run PhD programmes; therefore an MBA with experience from a senior position in a major industry would normally be on the short list, and might indeed be preferred. To teach the fine arts such as painting or sculpture, the history and the theory may require a PhD, but it is as useful to have on the staff the live practitioner whose genius shows in his work. In brief, for the more professional, vocational or practical kinds of study, a distinguished record of practitionership may not be overlooked. Indeed, even in the purely academic disciplines, while maintaining the minimum qualifications as high as possible, some institutions are also careful to look for that formulation which leaves room for the rare genius who may not have had the benefit of university education, who has no formal qualifications to show, who nonetheless has publications including books and other attestations to scholarship. The South African Nobel Laureate, Godiva Nadine, has held professorial chairs in Literature, but her credits from college do not quite add up to the bachelor's degree she abandoned mid-stream. Observing due caution, then, the criteria for academic staff appointment
might be stated to refer to the highest qualifications in the field. These
differ from discipline to discipline and rightly so. But they ought not
to differ from institution to institution. For instance, it ought not to
matter that an appointment is being made to a polytechnic rather than university.
In higher education, even for the temporary staff or probationer, a qualification
that is higher than what is awarded for the programme being taught might
still be insisted, a post-graduate qualification. Staff without the minimum
of post-graduate qualification or its equivalent may be engaged only as
Tutorial Assistants or Demonstrators or Instructors, none probation material
yet.
For advancing through the hierarchy of academic ranks, some systems
recognise establishment constraints, providing for only so many in any
grade. In other systems, multiple professorship is recognised. In the latter,
there is no bar to advancement so long as the criteria are met, which makes
an all-professor staff possible, and even within the same country, each
institution determines its own criteria. In contrast, in the Francophone
system, appointment to a professorship is a state-wide exercise; and under
the supervision of a national body outside the university, state-wide criteria
must be met. Although a university without professors or academic leadership
because state-wide criteria have not been met is far from being appealing,
professorships that are easy or difficult to obtain depending on the institution
must be difficult to justify, the more so if the funding is from the same
source in the same country. By the use of common External Assessors for
moderation of appointments, some systems are able to ensure that if criteria
are not exactly uniform, they are also not too widely different. Institutional
cross-representation on the Governing Councils, which have the final approval
for professorial appointment, can also be relied upon for some measure
of comparability.
For staff remuneration, it is noted that endowed chairs and funds accruing
from research contracts and consultancies make it possible for individualised
contracts to be negotiated in some institutions in North America. In the
developing countries, higher education, for the most part, belongs with
other sectors to the public service. It is not part of the culture yet
for individuals within the same public service department who have the
same background to negotiate different packages. Already bickering is endemic
in systems where for working in a polytechnic rather than a university,
one PhD receives less pay than his counterpart in the university, and is
indeed still worse off, even against the university-based non-PhD. For
a more defensible regime of remuneration, the possibilities reported from
one of AAU's Senior Management Workshops (SUMA) refer to a common base
to a common ladder, with upward movement for every additional qualification
beyond the minimum; movement also for every year since the minimum qualification
was obtained; movement for promotion; and also for headship of department,
if it is not rotatory. Remuneration for supervision of postgraduate work
and for consultancies comes separate while for overall institutional headship,
size, measured by student and staff population, number of schools, faculties,
institutes, departments or quantum of budget, begins to make a difference.
Staff of higher education may not be among the best paid workers anywhere,
but there are compensations from a menu of a collegial and congenial environment,
pressure-free working hours (up to 10 contact hours a week), two or more
recesses a year, opportunity for foreign travel attending conferences,
sabbatical leave or paid time away every seventh year, unrestricted advancement,
vehicles and vehicle maintenance, subsidised housing and utilities, health-care,
concessionnary fees for children in school etc, all of which might be assigned
actual or notional monetary values for proper comparison with incomes available
to others. Gross or net, there is no comparison with Industry, but without
accounting for the subsidies and other perquisites, the disparity can be
exaggerated. Indeed, given full monetary value to perquisites, alternative
employment is certain to be considered with greater circumspection while
prospective new employer would be committed to more than a mere top-up
to inconsequential salary. While staff recruitment and retention remain
a problem, as reported from many institutions, not to be overlooked is
the fact that staff of higher education are available also to the educational
market within the sub-region and beyond. An unduly inward-looking approach
to salary determination can be both imprudent and costly.
In so far as the management of higher education institutions is concerned,
the current literature reports two traditions. In one case, it is academic
staff, who are in charge of Schools, Faculties, Departments and everything
else that has a direct bearing on teaching and research. The management
of the institution at large, however, is by a cadre of full-time professionals
in diverse fields reporting to another professional designated as, in some
cases, Registrar who is Secretary to the Governing Council and Chief of
Staff to the Vice-Chancellor/Chief Executive. This is the United Kingdom
tradition, which engages professional management staff on the same terms
as academic staff, and sometimes even better. This contrasts with the other
tradition originating from North America in which academic staff double
for all management positions. There is a Registrar, an academic, who is
in charge of Student Records. There is also a Vice-President (Administration)
who is also an academic and who corresponds more to the UK Registrar. Where
teaching staff is thin on the ground, diverting any of them to duties that
can be left to professionals may well be questioned, but clearly, there
is a choice to be made, and is increasingly being made in favour of the
academic who also takes on managerial responsibilities. To ensure, however,
that the academic is not unduly over-stretched in the discharge of additional
duties, there are some mechanisms in place. There exists, for instance,
the Senior University Administrators' Course (SUAC) in Canada which provides
regular training at Bannf in Alberta for Deans and above. SUMA or the Senior
University Management workshops run by the Association of African Universities
does also provide similar opportunities for Vice-Chancellors in Africa.
Transparency and accountability make their own peculiar demands on higher
education such as wider representation on governance structures, extending
to all stake-holders within and outside campus. Besides academic staff,
associations representing other groups, including junior and middle-level
support staff, now have seats on some Governing Councils. Even students,
previously restricted to boards and committees that deal only with student
welfare, now also have representation on Council. The list of others from
outside includes the National Labour Movement, the National Association
of Teachers, and the National Association of Employers. Parents in some
countries are asking to be recognised; only there is not yet a National
Association of Parents. Government, which appoints the Chairman of Council,
also usually has the largest representation, just short of a quorum. It
would be odd if a Governing Council with such wide representation, with
Government's interests so securely assured, could not be trusted to do
the right thing in key appointments to satisfy all parties. Indeed, already
in some systems, all appointments stop at the level of Council. It is noted,
however, that in other systems, the head of the institution, some times,
has the rank of a minister of state, therefore necessitating appointment
by a higher authority. Many have been quick to point to the advantage to
that level of appointment which ensures representation in cabinet or the
next highest level of decision-making for the institution. In order not
to lose the advantage, appointments might still be left to government,
but on recommendation from the institution. It makes for easier relations
on campus if the head of the institution and other key officers are not
person imposed from the outside, but are colleagues in whom staff have
confidence.
To be recognisable, relevant and generally regarded, higher education must respond to mainstream issues of policy. The range of policies was limited when higher education first came to attention on the continent. Invariably, policy consisted of transplants and imports from the metropolis. Much water has since passed under the bridge, as a result of which there is much to choose from. Happily also, in the choices to be made, Rwanda has the advantage of experiences from elsewhere. Of course, not every policy tried successfully in one country will work in another. The socio-economic environment, the politics of the day and the temperament of the citizenry will ultimately determine what works and what does not. It is important, however, to proceed to policy on the basis of a sound knowledge of the choices available.
1. Adapted from an original contributed by Jolly Mazimpaka / G.F.Daniel to discussion of Rwanda's Higher Education Sector Policy proposed by the Ministry of Education. 2. Jolly Mazimpaka PhD is Faculty member at Kigali
Institute of Science, Technology and Mgt (KIST) G.F.Daniel is Management
Consultant at KIST; lately Registrar, University
of Ghana
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