A Gude To
Strategic Planning for
African Higher Education Institutions
Fred M. Hayward and Daniel J. Ncayiyana
with
Jacqueline E. Johnson
Preface
We have written this guide on the fundamentals of effective strategic planning for
colleges, universities and technikons to provide information, suggestions,
strategies and guidance to help higher education institutions in the complex,
often frustrating, yet crucial, area of strategic planning. Much of the material
presented here grows out of our work on strategic planning with universities and
technikons in South Africa and Namibia over the last 15 years plus experience in
the United States and elsewhere in Africa. We have tried to provide insights from
what we have learned, strategies that have been effective, approaches that might
enhance your efforts, and ideas that might help institutional leaders navigate the
difficult terrain on campus as they seek to mould consensus, build commitment,
and foster enthusiasm for both the strategic planning process and the plan itself.
This guide is designed to:
provide basic information about strategic planning;
suggest why thoughtful, focused strategic planning is vital to the successful
operation of a college, university or technikon;
help prepare you for some of the major challenges of strategic planning;
present an overview of the framework and stages of the planning process;
recommend who should be involved in the process and clarify their roles;
provide tools that will help make the strategic planning process work; and
highlight approaches, key conditions and elements for strategic planning
success.
Strategic planning is guided by fundamental assumptions about the functions
and roles of higher education in society and, most importantly, about the vision,
mission, goals and place of that specific institution in society. In this sense, no two
strategic plans will be the same. Each will be defined by the mission it sets for
itself, its current capacity, its goals for the future, the accuracy of its assessment of
the environment, and the effectiveness of its implementation.
Higher education institutions continue to be among the oldest surviving
institutions in the world because they provide for a broad range of the needs of
successful societies. Among their vital functions are: the advancement and
transmission of knowledge, learning and wisdom; opportunities for intellectual,
ethical and skill development of individual students; the provision of an engine
for the nation’s development and growth; service as a repository of a society’s
knowledge and culture; the provision of key links to economic, social and political
development to members of the society; and contribution to the well-being of the
community, the nation and societies internationally.
This broad range of functions suggests, however, that no one institution can fill
them all. Indeed, in this complex age, we know of no single institution that
succeeds in doing so, nor is there reason to believe such an institution would be
desirable. The implication, therefore, is that institutions of higher education and
their strategic plans must reflect the breadth of needs and goals through:
differentiation of functions and specialisation between institutions;
a focus on functions seen as primary to the mission of each institution;
recognition of a wide range of societal needs for training and development;
awareness of the continually changing needs of students and citizens for
lifelong learning
specialisation of research and experimentation, in at least some institutions,
to deal with the rapid pace of change and new opportunities created by them;
an openness to outside scrutiny; and
recognition that the success of higher education is dependent on individual
creativity, an openly competitive environment, and an educational culture
that fosters new knowledge and technological excellence.
The critical role of tertiary education in the development of any society has been
highlighted in a recent World Bank report.
1 The authors note that, ‘… knowledge
accumulation and application has become one of the major factors in economic
development and is increasingly at the core of a country’s competitive advantage
in the global economy’.
2 They continue by pointing out that:
… the role of tertiary education in the construction of knowledge economies and
democratic societies is now more influential than ever. Tertiary education is indeed
central to the creation of the intellectual capacity on which knowledge production
and utilization depend and to the promotion of lifelong learning practices
necessary to update one’s knowledge and skills.
The authors stress that:
Developing and transitional countries are at risk of being further marginalized in a
highly competitive world economy because their tertiary education systems are not
adequately prepared to capitalise on the creation and use of knowledge.
3
These comments emphasise the importance of higher education and highlight
the need to focus and plan carefully for the future. It is in this context that we have
written this guide.
This booklet reflects our personal experiences and viewpoints as educators
and administrators, drawing heavily on our South African and American
experiences. We hope that, as with our previous booklet,
Effective Governance: A
Guide for Council Members of Universities and Technikons
, readers will draw from
this what is useful, ignore what is not, and make suggestions about useful
additions and improvements.
We hope you will find this guide useful as you lead or participate in the critical
work of strategic planning, helping to build on your institution’s strengths, and
focusing on the goals and strategies that will help your institution make a major
contribution to higher education and national development. Our efforts are
designed to stimulate debate about and inform the mission, vision, goals and
planning process, and to help create the conditions needed to provide the
ongoing change needed to make tertiary education institutions like yours the
driving force in the knowledge production and dissemination so central to
national development.
Dr Fred M. Hayward
Dr Daniel J. Ncayiyana
