Abstract
Risk management can either protect or endanger higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. A crucial determining factor is how the core risks for these institutions are identified and mitigated. This article contributes to the continuing discourse on both risk management and managerialism in higher education. The thesis for this article is that the presence of a caring human spirit within HEIs is a necessary condition for them to fulfil their reason for existence. The purpose of this article is thus to reflect on the risk of HEIs not being able to fulfil their fundamental reason for existence due to the smothering or absence of a caring human spirit in these institutions. A reading of official and scholarly texts has shown that HEIs’ primary reason for existence is embedded risk, namely a concern with the new or the unknown and by implication a critical curiosity about an uncertain future. The presence of a caring human spirit is not only a necessary condition for fulfilling the reason for the existence of an HEI, but also a crucial risk category currently absent from the standard list of institutional risk categories. Risk assessment reveals that the absence or smothering of a caring human spirit in HEIs poses a high to very high risk for their survival.
Highlights
Risk management can either protect or endanger higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa
I made an attempt to contribute to the continuing discourse on both risk management and managerialism in higher education
The thesis for this article was that a caring human spirit is a necessary condition for HEIs to fulfil their reason for existence
Summary
Risk management can either protect or endanger higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. With regard to risk management within HEIs, Tufano (2011:58) in his article “Managing risk in higher education” argues that these institutions’ risk management frameworks should be aligned to their reason for existence. He refers to the caring human spirit as one that seeks to understand, to demystify, to transform, to educate, to pay attention, and to enhance movement (Stiegler 2010:107–112; 177–180) This movement relates directly with the concept “social mobility” as used in the White Paper for post school education and training (South Africa 2013:27). Considering that institutional risk management should focus on what is important for the accomplishment of an institution’s mission (Tufano 2011:58), this conclusion will be validated by assessing the risk (the likelihood and consequence) to HEIs of a smothered caring human spirit. As this article is primarily contextualised within the discourse of enterprise risk management within HEIs, its point of departure is a reflection on risk and risk management
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