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Courtesy of University World News
“ ‘The university we want’ is one that co-creates knowledge with society, addresses pressing challenges in collaboration with communities, and plays a proactive role in shaping equitable and sustainable futures,” Professor Birgit Schreiber told about 30 institutional leaders, including vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors, academic managers and higher education policy-makers from the Southern African Development Community, in Lusaka, Zambia.
“Universities are now collaborative spaces, and they are now responsive to and engage more with communities. They want to make their research societally impactful and, therefore, the university renews itself, and becomes a partner in knowledge creation,” said Schreiber, who is the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) strategic lead on leadership and professional development.
She was speaking at a SARUA pre-conference workshop themed, ‘Leading Higher Education in Africa: Navigating with Impact’, in Lusaka.
Schreiber highlighted that, in an era marked with “wicked problems”, higher education institutions across Africa needed to reimagine their roles, reconfigure their systems, and embrace transformative leadership as a critical driver of change, impact and continued relevance.
She noted that university leaders must take up the responsibility to address existing challenges such as ethical decision-making, resource constraints, globalisation, social justice, and shifting societal needs by cultivating a forward-thinking approach and leveraging collective strategies to meet institutional and continental goals.
Transformative leadership
Leadership development, which has been identified as a key factor in achieving transformative change globally, has also been instrumental in enabling African universities to achieve their institutional purpose that contributes towards their national and regional socio-economic and developmental goals.
“To lead effectively in uncertain times, universities must build their capacity for collective democratic and equitable action and strategic foresight. This involves dismantling hierarchical approaches to addressing problems, exploring future scenarios, assessing risks and opportunities, and designing flexible strategies that can adapt to shifting conditions. Foresight empowers leaders to transition from reactive problem-solving to proactive visioning,” Schreiber noted.
“At the heart of transformation lie outdated institutional cultures. Leaders must nurture cultures that support equity, trust, learning and collaboration. Change is not simply imposed; it is cultivated through relationships, shared experiences, and collective reflection.
“In culturally diverse settings, intercultural communication and adaptability become essential leadership competencies. Understanding the nuances of high-context and low-context communication is critical to building cohesive teams and inclusive environments,” she explained.
Transformation within and beyond universities
She emphasised that traditional leadership models centred on control, hierarchy and stability were ill-equipped to address today’s challenges. However, leadership models rooted in equality, integrity, collaboration, and the courage to drive deep, systemic change towards social justice were now crucial.
Effective change management included risk-taking, community engagement, and anticipation of setbacks, underpinned by effective communication and value alignment.
Transformative change within universities would not be achieved through isolated interventions, but through systemic change which requires a re-evaluation of power structures, a dismantling of hierarchical governance models, and promoting relevant and engaged pedagogical approaches.
Mobilising internal and external stakeholders, cascading values into the system, identifying and elevating champions, upskilling staff, mitigating resistance, anticipating setbacks and managing risks were essential aspects of navigating with impact to achieve transformation within and beyond universities.
Schreiber pointed out that many African universities were applying good leadership practices to strengthen their institutions. There were examples in Zambia and Zimbabwe where leadership practices helped to achieve institutional goals, despite challenging conditions such as power cuts, minimal salaries and limited government funding.
Professor Paul Gundani, vice-chancellor of the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), who was part of the workshop, told University World News that it was essential “that we move away from power hierarchies towards a democratisation of knowledge, where universities become the driver of creating a better life for all”.
In response to Schreiber’s call that universities should be drivers of societal change, Gundani said: “Africa needs to redesign the concept of a university with a new approach that is not borrowed from the North and universities must allow students to develop a whole new view of life – and create community wealth instead of just wanting to be employed.”
Aligning the institution with social needs and adopting an engaged pedagogical approach, students and faculty members at ZOU have created short courses using the most pressing issues within surrounding communities, such as drug and substance abuse, financial literacy and learning in the digital age.
“These courses cut across different disciplines and are being created to help communities understand their own lives and this is done in partnership with our universities,” he said.
In addition to highlighting the inclusion of students in the designing of coursework, Gundani stressed that this initiative also confirmed the importance of lifelong learning and of democratisation of technologies.
To achieve this through teaching and learning, ease of access was being created through online applications such as YouTube and WhatsApp.
