1. DR HABIBU YAYA BAPPAH FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, ABU ZARIA
FINDING COMMON GROUND AND BUILDING SYNERGIES IN ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION AT ABU ZARIA
DR HABIBU YAYA BAPPAH
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, ABU ZARIA

2. MOTIVATION FOR THIS PRESENTATION
MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, WE TEND TO EMPHASIS WHAT DIVIDES US, RATHER THAN WHAT UNITES US, namely the Universe, out of which comes the word University

3. CONTEXT OF ACADEMIC ADMINSTRATION
Eighty-two (82) Academic Departments, twelve (12) Faculties, and twelve (12) Research Institutes and Specialized Centres AND NUMEROUS ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES
Many ACADEMIC STAFF AND NON ACADEMIC STAFF
COMMON PROBLEM: FRAGMENTATION AND ‘SILO’ MENTALITY AND OPERATIONS (TERRITORIALITY)

4. COMMON GROUND
The Faculties, Centres/Institutes, Departments and Units have the following in common
- Advancing Knowledge in their disciplines (research)
- Transfering this knowledge (teaching, supervision and trainings)
- Community service (putting the knowledge at the service of the people, solving problems)
- Academic leadership (leadership training in terms of being Dean, HOD, research team leader, planning and organisation of academic activities (seminars, conferences etc)
ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION INVOLVES ALL EFFORTS THAT GO INTO ACTUALISING THE ABOVE MANDATES

5. The Academic vs Non Academic
IT ALSO INVOLVES partneships, collaborations and mutual support between acacemic and non-academic staff
Often, the relationship is not cordial: mutual suspicion, lack of understanding of roles/functions, disrepect and insensitivity to each others problems

6. BUILDING SYNERGIES
IN TERMS OF RESEARCH: Acknowledgement of the importance of multi- disciplinary nature of knowledge generation. In this era of internet and globalisation of knowledge, making break throughs within the confines of a single discipline is difficult, without borrowing perspectives, methodologies and theories from other disciplines

7. Building synergies continued
IN TERM OF TEACHING, SUPERVISION AND TRAININGS: the need to strengthen and improve the running of inter-departmental courses, rather than eliminate them; supervision: promote multidisciplinary reseach through supervision of multidisciplinary research works by students; training: planning and mounting of multi-disciplinary training programmes

8. Building synergies continued
COMMUNITY SERVICE: deliberate develoment of integrated community service agenda and programmes that are multi-disciplinary. Providing intellectual answers to development problems, security challenges, scientific and technological demands of our society. Engaging governments, industry, civil society, and international organisations. This can help in addressing funding gaps.
Institutes and centres could be incubating spaces for multi-disciplinary response to community problems.

9. Building synergies continued
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP: mundane issues like use of facilities. The phenomenon of restricted infrastructure (lecture halls, libraries, toilets) for each department is unhealthy.
Mutual assistance and support between academic and non-academic staff: induction for registry staff sent to faculties, departments and units on the orientation of their new stations; capacity building workshop for such registry staff, and also having registry staff inform academic leaders on adminsitrative procedures, laws, rules and regulations of the University

10. Action Points
Faculties, Departments and Units should discuss and develop joint research agenda and periodic research plans. These should be the basis of assessing academic leadership delivery;
Training programmes, especially new ones, should be based on the outcomes of multidisciplinary research, rather than simple desire to develop income generating courses; institutionalise multidisciplinary supervision of thesis and dissertations that require multidisciplinary assessment;

11. Action Points
As much as possible University infrastructure should be used by all. Discourage monopoly, but institutionalise mechanisms for effective management of the infrastructure and facilities; (enough of buildings and time to invest in staff development- a cloth does not make a monk)
Institutes/Centres should be the hubs of multidisiciplinary research, rather than simply managing diploma courses; they should also be the lynchpins for effective community service-generating input for policy. (eg. Analysis of Budget). Make this a deliberate policy to facilitate attracting funding.

12. Action points
Academic leaders should work to improve the working relationship between the academic and non-academic staff, by improving their skills and learning from them. Every newly posted registry staff should have induction/orientaion in their new units

13. Rabbit & Turtle Story about Team Building and Work

14. https://youtu.be/xevQ2yTyK9Y
Conclusion
United we stand, divided we fall (Short clip on the Rabbit versus the Turtle)