THE IMPACT OF MERGERS ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM 7 – 8 October 2008 CSIR ICC

Content Purpose Transformation agenda Mergers and incorporations Process Lessons Perceptions Success What next?

Purpose The conference was intended to offer participants an opportunity to examine and share their peculiar experiences with regard to merger-related issues with an intention to draw lessons learned for the sector and the institutions.

Transformation Agenda South African Government’s transformation agenda for higher education White Paper 3: A programme for the transformation of Higher Education National Plan for Higher Education – need to restructure the institutional landscape of the higher education system in South Africa – key mechanisms employed for this purpose was to merge some of the higher education institutions.

Mergers and Incorporations National plan identified the following priorities as key for the achievement of the restructuring process: – To reduce duplication and overlap in programme and service provision; – To promote the joint development and delivery of programmes; – To enhance responsiveness to regional and national needs for academic programmes, research and community service; – To help build academic and administrative capacity; and – To refocus and reshape the institutional culture and missions of the institutions as South African institutions.

Business case Imposed by legislation Mergers are prescribed Lock stock and barrel Equal partners regardless of size Interim management structures Short term; Medium to long term Speed

Process Significant pre-planning Inclusive in nature / general buy-in Lack of trust Communication gaps Additional burden on staff and trauma Inconvenience to students Student and staff strikes Governance challenges: Senate, SRCs, EMCs Harmonization of finances Harmonization of student fees Harmonization of staff conditions of service Harmonization of finances Plans limited by financial resources (RR or Voksie)

Lessons Access, success, quality, equity and efficiency Leadership key; Need to acknowledge man and women Less or no integration Merged institutions have not received sufficient support; e.g. infrastructure, research funding “One-size fits all” no longer appropriate Type of merger does not guarantee success HE should not be the privilege of the rich Improving the academic profile of academics Too early to determine efficiencies and effectiveness Entrance requirements

Perceptions Mergers have failed Universities have taken over technikons: comprehensive universities Potential for academic drift: – Academic staff – Technikon programmes are phased-out or under threat Working conditions and salaries cause for attrition Student drop-out Lower success rate and graduation rate Merged institutions have not attracted established researchers

Success Given the size and timing: success New institutions: college, faculty based Incorporations New governance structures New human resources policies and systems New infrastructure Promotion policies: Professorship New admission policies UoTs for developing indicators appropriate for them Elimination of programme duplication Strengthening of teaching, research and community engagement

What next? Need to improve staff morale – Caring for staff and developing a new institutional culture Racial issues, social cohesion, equity Development of a plan to produce a new generation of academics Strengthen collaboration with government, industry and civil society Review of the PQM Introduce and improve post-doctoral culture Respond to global shifts to multi-disciplinary programmes

Next steps cont People: Them and us Review cycle, monitoring Look at non-merged institutions: What have they been up to? Communicate with communities public perceptions-through the media Relaxation of centralization Management of geographically dispersed/multiple campuses Extent of throughput and achieving DOE targets Intensive curricula transformation Institutional collaboration Definition and embedding of UoTs/comprehensives Guidelines for funding from NRF

Thank You Thank You