Decolonization, accountability and stakeholders confidence in the university system in Africa

Abstract

Africa’s higher education landscape can best be described as  unpredictability. This places university governing councils in critical places to begin to think deeply in terms of forms positionality to provide effective governance. For instance, in the South African higher education scenario currently, there are urgent calls for university decolonisation as such  university governing bodies have to show that they are on top of the game through demonstrating to their stakeholders that have in place a  responsive habitus that supports stakeholder accountability and confidence in these times. This paper examines the relationship between stakeholder accountability and confidence in institutional values that underpin effective governance. Consequently, this paper was developed from a research  project that looked at the role of the university councils in bringing about good governance in the former historically black South African universities grappling with such institutional realities. Utilizing the notion of micro-politics developed from the concept of cultures derived from a multi-theoretical approach, the paper examines the framing of good university governance by governing bodies. Data for this study was collected from institutional documentary sources in the public domain, interviews and surveys. The paper concludes with suggestions of governance practices that would assist the university councils grappling with such institutional contexts to provide good governance as well as identify possibilities for further research.

Keywords: Comprehensive universities, university councils, governance practice, institutional stakeholders