inhoud - University of the Free State

accountability
in higher education
We do a poor job
at communicating
our achievements,
Prof. Magda Fourie,
Vice-rector:
Academic Planning
at the University of
the Free State, said
in her inaugural
lecture.
Prof. Fourie outlined the higher
education landscape in South Africa and
compared it also with market-driven independent
institutions, like those in the
United States of America, and state-controlled
institutions, like those in Europe.
In Africa universities have traditionally
had relatively low levels of autonomy, and
governmental involvement in university
affairs was the norm.
The higher education system in apartheid
South Africa was a highly fragmented
and unequal one – to such an extent that
it hardly merited being called a “system”,
she said. Before 1994 the almost unfettered
autonomy of the historically white uni-
versities was counterbalanced by the tight
regulation and control of government
over universities for Blacks, Coloureds
and Indians.
“From this history of a racially and
ethnically divided, inequitable, administratively
fragmented and intellectually isolated
higher education system with highly
uneven measures of autonomy and accountability,
the new democratic government
had to forge the ideal of a single
coordinated higher education system,
serving the twin ideals of equity and
excellence in a developing country within
a global knowledge economy.
“The relationship between higher
education and the state is always a contested
one. No country in the world can
escape from the tension that exists between
a desirable (and necessary) degree
of institutional autonomy and academic
freedom versus the legitimate rights of
governments to generate a certain level of
control (accountability) over universities
that are predominantly publicly financed,”
she said.
Prof. Fourie believes that, in order to
be both responsible and responsive, universities
require government to guide
change through:
• A coherent policy framework: Proactive,
meaningful reforms should be
rooted in a clear long-term vision for
higher education. This vision should
include at least three dimensions:
firstly, outlining how higher education
can most effectively contribute
towards national growth in the
context of a developing country in a
globally articulated knowledge-based
economy; secondly, agreeing on the
roles of different types of higher
education institutions in the system,
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and thirdly, determining the
conditions under which higher
education can become more effective
and efficient. It also implies policies
and mechanisms that do not exist in
disjuncture, but that articulate and
support one another.
• An enabling regulatory environment:
The second responsibility of
government is to create a regulatory
environment that encourages rather
than stifles innovation in higher
education and initiatives by higher
education institutions to engage in
high quality, relevant teaching and
research. Enabling regulation focuses
on outcomes, leaving institutions to
control inputs and processes. It
should also be acknowledged that any
regulatory framework has its
limitations. Accountability efforts
should be guided by the premise that
some important elements of higher
education practice cannot be
measured reliably.
• Appropriate financial incentives:
Financial mechanisms and incentives
to steer institutions towards quality,
efficiency and equity goals include
allocating formulae that link resources
to institutional performance,
encouragement of resource
mobilisation by institutions,
competitive funds for investments in
quality improvement, and student
financial aid. In addition, budgeting
should not be so performance driven
as to cause fiscal instability from one
year to the next – as we are
experiencing at the moment. And
importantly, higher priority should be
ascribed to academic quality than to
cost containment and efficiency.
Bult
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