1 - Re-imagining Leadership Development for Middle-level Academic Leaders in Africa

Abstract

The university today is a postmodern, neo-liberal, competitive, boundary-less knowledge conglomerate, a far cry from its historical, traditional, classical and collegial roots. Although remaining true to its primary mission of research, teaching and community engagement, its organisational form has changed significantly, with its concomitant implications for governance, leadership and management, especially in a developing world context. The regional and institutional disruptions and protests by students and other stakeholders in African countries like Algeria, Kenya, Sudan and, more recently, South Africa in the guise of the ‘#RhodesMustFall,’ ‘#FeesMustFall’ and ‘#OpenStellenbosch’ campaigns, starkly illustrates this challenging, nebulous environment of higher education on the continent. The article provides a reflection and engagement on these critical issues and aims to illustrate that:(i) the global and local contexts of higher education have changed dramatically, with its concomitant added levels of complexity for academic leaders;(ii) this environment has implications for the conception and practice of leadership and management in universities, for middle level academic leaders in particular; and(iii) this setting provides the backdrop for a holistic and integrated academic leadership intervention in universities in Africa.