GOOD GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE QUALITY UNIVERSITY

EDUCATION IN TANZANIABy

Daniel MkudeSeptember 2012

Outline of Presentation

• Introduction• Understanding governance• University governance in historical perspective• Rise of corporate governance• Role of good governance• Challenges to good governance• Concluding remarks

Introduction

• University education in Tanzania is less than 52 years old.

• Number of university status institutions has risen to 45, programs being offered to 500 and enrolment is currently at 140,000.

• The huge increase occurred during the last 17 years.

Introduction

• In the light of the theme of the Forum, three questions may be posed:

• Whether the growth is a product of good governance magic applied in 1995;

• Whether the growth is reliably quality-assured;

• Whether the growth is sustainable.

Introduction

• Aim of presentation: • To provoke thinking about what drives this

tremendous growth and what governance powers can be invoked to ensure sound and sustainable higher education development.

Understanding governance

• Governance is a metaphorical concept derived from the transportation industry. The running of an organization is conceptualized in terms of the process of steering a vehicle towards a set destination. The comparison focuses on the flexibility skills required to navigate successfully towards one’s destiny.

Understanding governance

• In practice, the word governance does not provoke thoughts of steering but thoughts of power or authority to make thinks happen, even without making any physical move.

• The sum-total of tools used to make things happen in an organization is what constitutes governance. They include structures, legislations, rules, procedures, processes etc

Understanding governance

• The most central and critical feature of governance is decision making. Decisions generate structures, policies, rules, procedures, etc which are the navigational tools of power in organizations.

• Governance power is therefore a resource which the person possessing it can exploit either positively or negatively.

University governance

• The university is one of the oldest institutions in the world. It has a wealth of experience in decision making in an academic environment.

• Governance arrangements for universities tend to be alike: three key entities, three principles and two values.

University governance

• Three entities[ key locations of decision making]

• Council: Ultimate authority for governance is vested by the STATE in the Council.

• The Academic Senate: Within agreed principles, responsible for academic matters of the institution.

University Governance

• The Vice-chancellor and Management Team. The Council delegates its authority to the Executive Head of the institution. The executive head exercises that authority through the deputies, deans, directors and other officials.

• There are three governance principles which are held in high esteem in most traditional universities.

University Governance

• Delegation: Cascading power down the hierarchy is a wise strategy for promoting efficiency and enhancing quality in decision making.

• Consultation: communication and participation in decision making enhances collegial relationships and mutual respect.

University Governance

• Representation: recognition of the value of diverse opinions in decision making.

• There are two complementary values that are highly cherished:

• Academic freedom: unhindered search for ultimate truth.

• Institutional independence or autonomy

University governance

• Characteristic tendencies:• Highly decentralized and fragmented in

structure;• Wide diffusion of decision making power;• Inward-looking, relatively small and elitist.Nevertheless, generously funded and highly

respected!

Rise of corporate governance

• Soaring demands for expansion of enrolments and decreasing financial ability by Government to meet demands around the 1980s resulted in exerting pressure to change the governance structures along the following lines:

• Institutions should be more responsive to socio-economic demands;

Governance ctd

• Autonomy should be coupled with accountability;

• Independent bodies to evaluate institutional performance periodically;

• Institutions must diversify sources of funding and become more reliant.

The traditional collegial mode of governance could not accommodate this.

Governance ctd

• The governments used financial muscle to change from collegial to corporate governance using business models of management. Some of the characteristic features:

• Centralization of power• Fewer levels of decision making• Strategic plan as a key management tool• Value for money as guiding principle for

measuring usefulness of programs.

Role of good governance

• The notion of good governance was coined to help tackle abuses of governance power. One of the fertile sources of abuse of power is the application of market or business-like principles to public institutions. The World Bank is at the forefront of this effort because the abuse is rampant in developing countries.

Role of good governance

• Tanzania has developed a national framework on good governance. The objective of the framework is to help facilitate improved coordination of the various governance reforms and to identify specific areas for a targeted approach in supporting Government initiative.

• There is a tendency to think that political, economic and social liberalization tends to fuel abuse of governance power.

Governance in HE

• Good governance is important also for higher education institutions since they too have enormous governance power. With the liberalization of higher education establishment and management , there is a need to uphold principles and practices that will continue to maintain the quality of education that will be beneficial to the country..

Governance in HE

• The governance magic that is responsible for the enormous expansion of HE in Tanzania is liberalization and privatization coupled with loan facilitation.

• The tremendous growth poses significant challenges to safeguarding quality. The deployment of quality assurance tools requires financial resources.

Challenges

• Tanzania Vision 2025 states that “Education should be treated as a strategic agent for mindset transformation”.

• Can we rely on market forces alone to determine the quality of education we need?

• Although with privatization the role of government is bound to change, this should lead to disengagement but strategic stable funding and policy steering arrangements.

Challenges

• Role of HE in national development not clearly articulated. A study by HERANA has argued that universities are not having a significant impact on development because of a lack of pact between the Government, the universities and society. Governance is facilitated when one knows clearly where he/she is steering the institution to.

Challenges

• Delegation with accountability: Good governance also entails having the capacity to implement one’s decisions. The power to decide should go hand in hand with the power to implement. There are cases where universities make decisions but have no power to implement them. This is not good governance.

Concluding remarks

• Two proposals:• Can we attempt to develop a university

framework for good governance? It could comprise of such elements as A strategic plan, A financial plan, a set of core performance indicators etc

Concluding remarks

• Can we think of establish a HE research and development center for the country? It would serve three functions: Database of HE information, Platform for HE research and a Coordinator of HE training and development programs.

• Thank you for you attention.