/ 14 October 2009

Why mergers matter

The transformation process in higher education institutions has highlighted valuable lessons.

The restructuring of the higher education system through mergers and incorporations is one of the measures used by the department of higher education and training to transform the higher education sector.

The goals of the exercise include bridging the apartheid-induced divide between historically white and historically black institutions, enhancing the efficient use of resources and improving institutional responses to national and regional needs. This has resulted in a reconfigured landscape with new types of institutions that offer multiple opportunities to students.

Retaining core functions
The department established a merger unit to support institutions and provide technical support in areas including information systems, human resources, governance, management and decision-making.

The restructuring of complex institutions such as universities is an ambitious and challenging task, but necessary given the history of our country. It is important to note that all the new institutions created from this process are now well established.

The true value and impact of the restructuring will be evident in years to come, especially with regard to matters such as developing new institutional cultures, traditions and values.

There is an acknowledgement that some mergers experienced significant organisational problems at inception. But the entire merger process was achieved without compromising the core academic functions of these institutions.

In some cases the academic performance of the new institution was better than the sum of the partner institutions. An amount of R3-billion was budgeted to support the restructuring process.

By March 31 2009, all these funds had been used as intended. Included in this amount was R800- million to recapitalise the balance sheets of qualifying institutions and R1.8-billion for direct costs of the merger, such as the integration of academic and administrative structures, improving the functionality of information and communication technologies as well as upgrading of facilities.

One of the commitments made by the department before the mergers was that no educational site of delivery would be closed. This commitment has been adhered to, with particular attention paid to the campuses of the former Vista University.

All these campuses are now an integral part of a number of institutions, including the universities of Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Institutional needs
There are other successful incorporations that deserve recognition. In April 2003, the councils of the University of the Western Cape and the University of Stellenbosch accepted the government’s decision to establish a single faculty of dentistry in the Western Cape.

This was achieved by the merger of the faculty of dentistry of the University of the Western Cape and the school of oral health sciences of the University of Stellenbosch. It led to the incorporation of the new faculty or school into the University of the Western Cape on January 1 2004.

The new faculty is well positioned to meet the needs and demands of oral health sciences research, education and training and the provision of oral healthcare in the Cape.

Other major initiatives include supporting the recovery plan of the University of Venda and transforming it into a comprehensive institution, the strengthening of the animal health facility at the Mafikeng campus of North West University and the establishment of the East London campus of the University of Fort Hare.

Some of the newly established institutions had difficult beginnings in part because of varying levels of commitment from the staff to the merger. This has necessitated different approaches to individual institutional requirements.

Adjustments have been made in light of the monitoring and evaluation of the process. For example , the former Medunsa will remain as a campus of the University of Limpopo in Ga-Rankuwa and not be relocated to Polokwane.

Similarly, the disquiet expressed by some staff and students at the North West University Mafikeng Campus was the subject of a ministerial committee investigation.

Strong governance
An independent evaluation conducted by the Higher Education Merger Study Group (HEMSG) led by Professor Stuart Saunders notes that in the case of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) strong governance, management and effective and stable administration contributed significantly towards the rapid establishment of the new institution.

The department has also observed that institutions that had strong leadership and participatory and inclusive management were able to navigate the mergers more successfully than others.

The process of establishing new institutions has provided unique opportunities for innovation in the governance, management and administration of universities.

All new institutions were forced to reconsider their management systems and policies. Examples of these include abolishing the payment of academic fees of dependents of employees at other institutions and the review of promotion requirements of academics to ensure that the professoriate comprises a body of individuals who have achieved academic and professional excellence.

Opportunity for innovation
Mergers offer the new institutions the opportunity to create innovative organisational academic structures responsive to their respective environments relatively unencumbered by past practices.

Institutions have approached this in different ways and with varying degrees of success. Some institutions, such as Unisa and UKZN, have adopted a college model of organising the academic project and are quite advanced in the integration of their academic programmes. Others, such as North West University, have shown limited if any progress in this regard.

The college model at UKZN is seen by the university as the appropriate vehicle to ‘facilitate the devolution of core academic administrative functions” in a complex multi-campus institution.

On the other hand, the adoption by council of the ‘campus-based faculties and administrative structures” model at Tshwane University of Technology was informed by the need to offer uniform and equitable services to students and staff of the university irrespective of location in the face of gross inequalities inherited from legacy institutions.

It is particularly pleasing to note that both UKZN and Unisa have achieved significant improvements in research productivity in the past three years, with UKZN recording an increase of almost 80% in the number of publications recognised for subsidy purposes.

This could in part be attributed to the merger, which brought a greater focus to research performance and also improved the critical mass of active researchers within the institution. It is also heartening to note the extent to which new institutions created from the restructuring of the higher education system have responded positively to the objectives of the process.

It is important to stress, however, that this is still ‘work in progress”. It will therefore require vigilant monitoring and support to ensure that the goals and objectives underpinning the mergers are realised.

Dr Molapo Qhobela is deputy director general of higher education