“You can’t go to the army and expect to be a Vice-Chancellor”: They must become good scholars

This article is a study of a university vice chancellor (VC) and specifically the leadership qualities that articulate success. There is broad agreement across the higher education sector that good leadership is central to the performance of university vice chancellors (Cloete, Maassen, and Bailey 2015; Macfarlane 2012; Jansen 2017; Scott et al. 2010). University vice-chancellor’s performance are measured against at range of issues and include determining the institution’s strategic goals, academic standing and transformation agenda (Leibowitz 2012). To run a university there is need for university vice-chancellors to articulate particular skills, values and qualities that will enable them to achieve success in these wide-ranging and competing goals and agendas. In South Africa however with few exceptions (Swartz et al. 2019; Jansen 2017), fundamental questions remain about what these values and qualities are and they arise in university vice-chancellors own account of leadership. Although vice-chancellors occupy an eminent position in the country especially in the context of transforming higher education in the country (Cloete 2014), specific attention to the values and qualities that vice-chancellors articulate as vital for leadership has been understudied. This article is interested in the question: how do vice-chancellors shape leadership qualities are how do these arise? This question is explored empirically, through narrative enquiry by focusing on one vice-chancellor’s account of leadership qualities. Through a close-focus examination of the nuances associated with a university vice chancellor’s conceptualisation of leadership, this article provides insights into what qualities are relevant for effective leadership. As noted by Dewan and Myatt (2008) the successful performance of a leader is based on the question of which qualities are relevant for effective leadership. There remains a marginal consideration of university vice-chancellor’s perspectives on the issues of effective leadership and how they arise especially in the context of South Africa’s turbulent higher education environment

“In the trenches”: South African vice-chancellors leading transformation in times of change

Abstract Background South Africa is committed to developing and transforming universities in order to meet its development goals and university leadership is a key factor in the achievement of these goals. In the context of multiple challenges and historical inequalities, the role of the university vice chancellor is of critical importance. However, a focus on university vice chancellors is not a common focus on leadership studies in South Africa. Aim This paper examined the transformational goals and strategies of nine black university vice chancellors in South Africa in order to understand how they direct transformation of higher education in the country. Methods The paper draws from narrative inquiry underlined by transformational leadership theory (TFL) and focuses on in-depth interviews with university vice chancellors. Results The study focused on the key themes that direct vice chancellors’ transformational leadership strategies. These are devolution of power, the need to transform the institutional culture and attain social equity through putting students first and addressing the next generation of academic scholars. Conclusion The paper draws attention to the enduring imperative to transform universities through a social equity lens and the significance of vice chancellors’ transformational agendas and strategies in this regard. The local context of the university plays an important role in transformational leadership goals and strategie

Narratives of Black Vice Chancellors on becoming and being leaders of public universities in South Africa: contributory factors and challenges experienced.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.South African universities have undergone significant transformation since the demise of apartheid and an important part of this transformation process is university leadership, both in who leads universities as well as the kinds of leaders who can drive the broader transformational changes needed within higher education. This study undertakes an examination of the narratives of black university Vice Chancellors with a view to exploring how they account for and make sense of their position, which they hold or have recently held. This study, more specifically, explores how they construct and make sense of their achievements in the South African higher education system, in relation to their professional, political, personal and historical influences on their journey to becoming VCs at universities in South Africa. There is an abundance of literature on leadership in education, but little is known about university leaders, especially that of VCs. This study focuses on this dearth of knowledge on VCs, especially within a transforming context that requires large scale systemic, institutional and social redress changes. Current research on leadership does not only focus on the individual leader, but rather on the individual leader in relation to colleagues, followers and the leadership context (Avolio et al., 2009). The literature which informs this study looks at university VCs, bearing in mind that there is a dearth of rigorous academic research on this subject. This study employs a qualitative research approach because it is steeped in personal and collective stories and histories of participants. Qualitative research is based on meanings, subjectivities and interpretations. As such, a narrative inquiry methodology was chosen as an appropriate research methodology for this study. Casey (1995) suggests that narrative inquiry provides an important space through which the experiences of those who are marginalised can be valued. In this study, participants create stories as they recount their experiences of being and becoming a university VC. The narrative inquiry methodology allowed me to understand the participants’ perspective on becoming and being a black VC as they make sense of their trajectory across their biographical contexts, their academic and other achievements and their experience of being black VCs within a transforming context. Interviews were conducted with 9 of the 17 black VCs. As a narrative inquiry, less interest was focused on breadth; and more on depth of experience and the rich thick constructions of meanings was deemed more appropriate for this study. This study provides an analysis of critical influences that shaped the career paths of the black VCs and on being VCs of universities within a transforming context. The key findings relates to how their biographical beginnings influenced their trajectories into leaders of, initially, their disciplinary interests as academics, and later as possible candidates to lead public universities. The key findings also suggests that transformational opportunities contributed to their rise to university leaders. Being a leader of a university requires one to be agile, transformative and strategic. These key findings are relevant to aspirant VCs as well as institutions of higher education in their search for appropriate candidates to take on university leadership

The Citizen Voice Project: An Intervention in Water Services in Rural South Africa

Despite a legal framework for participation in South Africa, poor citizens have not to date been able to access the public services they need, leading some to talk of a ‘second democracy’, the political system as experienced by the poor. This action?research study involved local government, non?governmental organisations (NGOs), community leaders and community mobilisation to develop Water Services Scorecards, in rural Mbizana in the Eastern Cape. Water services had been grossly inadequate and were worsening. Communities were facilitated to analyse their own water?related problems; to establish standards and to measure services against indicators adapted from national policy frameworks. The case study documents the process, and reflects on its outcomes. It notes disappointment that service improvements had not been immediate. A crucial constraint, it concludes, was weak inter?level local government coordination; these are higher?order problems that local civil society action of the Citizen Voice Project type is not well positioned to tackle

The citizen voice project: an intervention in water services in rural South Africa

Despite a legal framework for participation in South Africa, poor citizens have not to date been able to access the public services they need, leading some to talk of a 'second democracy', the political system as experienced by the poor. This action-research study involved local government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community leaders and community mobilisation to develop Water Services Scorecards, in rural Mbizana in the Eastern Cape. Water services had been grossly inadequate and were worsening. Communities were facilitated to analyse their own water-related problems; to establish standards and to measure services against indicators adapted from national policy frameworks. The case study documents the process, and reflects on its outcomes. It notes disappointment that service improvements had not been immediate. A crucial constraint, it concludes, was weak inter-level local government coordination; these are higher-order problems that local civil society action of the Citizen Voice Project type is not well positioned to tackle.

Public participation and local governance

Research report prepared by the Centre for Public Participation in association with the HSRC and University of KwaZulu-Natal, Ma

Community development and engagement with local governance in South Africa

The issue of public participation is receiving increasing attention in South Africa, from both government and civil society sectors. We are witnessing acknowledgement from a wide range of public institutions that insufficient consideration has been paid to public participation, and that existing policy frameworks, institutional mechanisms and programme interventions are failing to comply with government's constitutional and statutory obligations in this regard. This article examines actual practice in one key 'invited space': the policy and legislative framework for public participation in municipal processes. The article also highlights community experiences of attempting to engage with municipalities in development planning and policy processes, and their aspirations and expectations in this regard. We conclude with a set of recommendations on how participatory development at the local level can be transformed to ensure that municipal planning and programme implementation processes are truly accessible, participatory and empowering for local communities.