By Edwin Naidu
The financial sustainability of South Africa’s tertiary sector and they way it is governed are crucial.
“If the higher education sector is to continue catalysing social mobility in future generations, we need to invest in our universities now rather than later,” said Dr Phethiwe Matutu, the CEO Universities South Africa (USAf).
She was speaking at a recent conference on the future of higher education.
Matutu, who heads the country’s representative body of all university vice-chancellors, expressed concern about the sustainability of the country’s tertiary system, which has been hit by severe budget cuts.
She warned that declining state subsidies, mismanagement of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, and neglect of funding for postgraduate studies could collectively harm the population.
In 2024, Matutu noted that the state subsidy had declined in absolute terms. If it grew slower than the rising student enrolment, the higher education system would experience sustainability problems.
The sector’s financial sustainability was a major concern at the recent Third Higher Education Conference in South Africa by USAf, which was themed: “The Future of the University.”
Former University of Johannesburg vice-chancellor Prof. Ihron Rensburg expressed concern about governance at the country’s universities, saying he worries about their long-term sustainability.
“It is difficult not to conclude that university governance – and key departments in the DHET (Department of Higher Education and Training) are broken – and that current governance arrangements are outdated and have served their time.
“We have people who often give unqualified friends or colleagues, who are not ideal for the role, opportunities because of prestige or to capture a particular part of the institution,” he said.
Rensburg said he had had to administer a serial defaulting institution with a close-up view of institutional capture concerning the human resources and management processes.
“We need to go back to basics when we think of the university’s future if it is to be sustainable. Suppose we continue to allow governance to be broken as it currently is. In that case, we are going to have perpetual crises and serial defaulting institutions going into administration, and we are rushing in to try and fix them. But if nothing changes five years later, it will return to the same dire situation.”
He said if the sector was to survive and thrive, the solution was a special kind of better leader who could navigate this new reality and the unfolding future.
“The last thing universities need are high ego personalities who are often toxic. Rather, we want to promote and nurture medium to low-ego leaders who, in turn, foster harmony and fellowship and are compassionate and empathetic as opposed to a top-down, strong-arm type approach, which has been clearly shown not to work. We should nudge our teams rather than kick them.
“This does not mean we cannot make decisions or have to walk on eggshells, but we do have to be self-aware and realise that we are part of a collective working for the common good.”
He urged some university leadership to go back to the drawing board.
He believes the root of the governance problem lies in the sector’s leadership ignoring the prescripts in the Guidelines for Good Governance Practice and Governance Indicators for University Councils (DHET, 2017).
His advice to the sector contained intersecting and mutually reinforcing leadership philosophies, including ubuntu and transformational leadership.
He said the four key attributes of transformational leaders were that they were charismatic, inspirational, intellectually stimulating and encouraged critical thinking and problem-solving, and were considerate of individual team members.
He said these styles challenged leaders to consider, explore and reflect on their reasons for being in their role.
“But also consider my dictum: Don’t be obsessed with yourself regularly and consciously. Do not take yourself too seriously, however, take your office and role exceedingly seriously.”
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