Study Program on Higher Education Management in Africa |
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Study Program on Higher Education Management in Africa |
By the end of the 1980s, the Association of African Universities had become deeply troubled by the absence of African scholarly input into the search for solutions to the crisis that had plagued African higher education for over a decade. To help close the gap, the Association, with financial support from the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SIDA/SAREC) and the Government of the Netherlands, established a Study Programme on Higher Education Management in Africa in 1993 to develop local capacity for undertaking systematic research on issues of higher education policy and management, and to increase the indigenous knowledge base for African higher education policy-making.
The results of the studies conducted under Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Programme have added to our knowledge and understanding of the conditions, problems and approaches to the resolution of some key issues in African higher education. These include the underutilisation of resources in public universities and the need for greater cost-consciousness; the relative insignificance of tuition fee income in university finances and the case for a measure of cost-sharing; and the over-subsidisation of municipal services, at the expense of directly academic inputs. Insights opened up by the research reports include the extent of untapped resources potentially available in government departments for the support of applied research into areas related to the work of those departments - if only universities will market their capacities better to government departments, help the latter identify and develop their research needs, and then contract to provide them - a potential source of additional resources for the support of research and post-graduate study. Another study developed a global funding model for budget preparation and fund allocation for the university system, together with a consistent micro-model for the allocation of funds to departments and faculties. Also quite innovative was a survey of the social background of university students in one university, on the basis of which some very useful suggestions were made. These related to the rationalisation of higher education funding policy to ensure that more costs were recovered from students from higher socio-economic backgrounds, access for poorer students increased, while providing the level of resources needed for improvements in the quality of instruction. Other areas are indicated in the List of Research Reports.
The results of the work done under the Study Programme have been disseminated through publication in professional journals (Higher Education Policy, Vol.8, No.1, March 1995; Higher Education, Vol.36, Nos. 1 & 2, 1998). In addition, a summary report on the completed projects as well as the individual research reports are listed in periodic issues of the AAU Newsletter (see e.g., Vol.5, No.3, 1999) while some are published under the AAU Research Paper Series. A second form of dissemination has been seminar and workshop presentations to groups of African Ministers of Education and heads of National Education Commissions, university Vice-Chancellors, senior university faculty, and representatives of donors to African higher education.
To disseminate the results of these studies further, and to ensure that African institutions and policymakers, as well as a wider readership enjoyed the benefits of the Programme, the completed reports are set out in the List of Research Reports below
Finally, as a means of facilitating networking, a Study Programme Research Database listing the researchers, abstracts, topics, institutions and contact addresses, has been developed to facilitate contact and networking among higher education researchers and stakeholders.
We hope you will make full use of these facilities and contact the AAU (research@aau.org) with comments and suggestions. |
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Study Program on Higher Education Management in Africa
