University leadership under fire

Leanne Jansen

DURBAN: Former University of KwaZulu-Natal vice-chancellor Professor Malegapuru Makgoba has questioned whether South African universities are led by the right people, and has called for a review of the criteria in terms of which vice-chancellors are appointed.

Makgoba says there is currently only one vice-chancellor out of the country’s 26 who is fit to lead a university anywhere in the world, but he declined to name that person.

Makgoba, who is deputy chairman of the National Planning Commission, made the remarks at the weekend on the final day of the national Higher Education Transformation Summit, which was held in Durban.

Makgoba is also chairman of the ministerial oversight committee on transformation.

Following the release of the recommendations of the four summit commissions, Makgoba remarked that the commission on governance had made no reference to whether South African universities had the “right” leadership.

“Universities are run every day by a vice-chancellor. We are appointing our vice-chancellors using old methods, in a system that has changed… I suggest that we review the way we appoint vice-chancellors, so that they fit within the general mission of a university in South Africa.

“If Brian Molefe came here and told you ‘there are problems at Eskom which I can’t deal with’, we would fire him immediately as a country. We must learn to do that and hold our vice-chancellors accountable.

“We are running the pinnacle of our higher education system with a leadership that is not fit for the purpose.

“The evidence for that is that the system is very unproductive in terms of knowledge (production). There are numerous studies that have shown that.”

Makgoba said the targets set for research output per academic per year had not improved significantly since 2002.

“The system is unproductive in terms of knowledge. And who leads this system? The vice-chancellors.

“Now, you can only lead a knowledge system properly if you yourself lead by producing knowledge. Most of them are no longer productive. Did you know that the vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, one of the most successful universities, still runs a laboratory?

“Most vice-chancellors in the US are still engaged in knowledge production and still compete with their peers – we don’t have that culture in South Africa.

“When you become a vice-chancellor (in SA), you become an administrator and not a leader. So you lose leadership, and convert it into management and administration. That is not the way to run a competitive knowledge system.”

Makgoba said the consequence of this was mediocrity in higher education.

Asked what the consequences should be for vice-chancellors who did not meet transformation targets, Makgoba lamented that no such targets currently existed.

“One of the main recommendations of the Soudien Report was that transformation must be a key performance area for a vice-chancellor and (university) councils must ensure that. How many universities have actually ensured that? Only one: UKZN.

“My successor has put that as an area of importance, because it is embedded in the council resolutions: that the vice-chancellor is responsible for the day-to-day management of transformation at UKZN.”