Resource allocation challenges in South African universities: a management accounting perspective

Abstract

This paper makes a critical appraisal of the resource allocation process in a South African university that attempts to improve its rating in international benchmarks. Using the University of the Witwatersrand as a case study, the paper documents its challenges, and develops a balanced scorecard for one of its professional academic units. The paper contributes to the literature on higher education management, and indicates that decentralisation reduces the problem of attraction and retention of academic staff, and examines the tensions between teaching and research on one hand, and professional schools and senior management on the other hand.