Understand SA's legislative framework

Welcoming 32 Fellows to HESA's Leadership and Management training workshop at the Kopanong Hotel and Conference Centre in Benoni, Dr Mabelebele said that the collegial method of governing and managing universities in the past had been dismantled and, in its place, a new model of public accountability had been created.

He said that in South Africa, the legislative framework - post 1994 - had seen the rise of the White Paper on Higher Education and Training and a plethora of legislative instruments changing the complexion of governance within the higher education system. Where the senate was previously the highest decision-making body on academic matters of the university, the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997, as amended, made provision for the council of a university to govern the institution and, as such, assume supremacy over the senate.

Secondly, provisions in the Higher Education Act now gave the Minister more powers to intervene if a university contravened the provisions of this Act. Thirdly, the introduction of reporting regulations had rendered universities accountable to the state's accountability requirements. Dr Mabelebele said that anyone aspiring to climb the leadership ladder within a public institution of higher learning needed to be able to grapple with these developments.

"Our aspiring leaders need to understand the intricacies of that Act; its implications and the additional burden it brings into their institutions' governing system," he cautioned.

The imperatives of managing change

The HESA CEO went on to say that the Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) training was designed to equip leaders-in-the-making to deal with the imperatives of managing change at their institutions; to debate problems of managing university-stakeholder partnerships and sharpen their understanding of the Higher Education policy and regulatory framework.

Converged at the Kopanong Hotel and Conference Centre are 32 candidates drawn from senior academics, heads and deputy heads of departments as well as administrators at HESA's 23 member universities and beyond. HELM Lead is HESA's key sector support programme aimed at developing leadership and management capability of middle managers in member institutions. The programme is being financially supported by the Education, Training and Development Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP-SETA).