Professor Olusola Ojo

THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY
by Professor Olusola Ojo, June 8th, 2007
Dean School of Post Graduate Studies

Preliminary Observations
Previous Discussions & the Inevitability of Repetition
The Dynamic Nature of Society & the Issue of Relevance
Universities remain meaningful because they respond to the deepest of human needs, to the desire to understand and to explain that understanding to others.
Need, therefore, for universities to "redesign, repackage, and sell their products" in response to shifting consumer priorities.

Debate Over Choice between Basic & Applied Research
Essence of a University
A university is a place where Knowledge is created and disseminated.
How?
Through
Teaching;
Research; and
Service.

How is Excellence Determined
Pre-requisite For excellence
Autonomy
Academic Freedom
Academic Self-governance.


Autonomy
This is the ability of a university to undertake activities without seeking permission from an external controlling body.

It implies that universities can establish their own programmes of study, have control over their own finances (once received) subject to normal auditing procedures, grant their own degrees.

It implies that the fundamental powers of what shall be taught, who shall teach it, and how it shall be taught reside in the Senate elected entirely by the university itself. No outside appointees or outside positions have authority over academic policy.

Academic freedom
Academic freedom is the freedom of teachers, students, and academic institutions to pursue knowledge wherever it may lead, without undue or unreasonable interference.

The US Supreme Court in 1978 said that academic freedom means a university can "determine for itself on academic grounds:
who may teach
what may be taught
how it should be taught, and
who may be admitted to study.“

Academic Freedom (Contd)
According to the American Association of University Professors, "A fundamental premise of academic freedom is that decisions concerning the quality of scholarship and teaching are to be made by reference to the standards of the academic profession, as interpreted and applied by the community of scholars who are qualified by expertise and training to establish such standards."

Why Autonomy & Academic Freedom?
Two observations
In history, each time the sovereign restricted the autonomy of universities were period of intellectual and social stagnation or decadence.
The best universities according to recent rankings are very autonomous
Why Autonomy & Academic Freedom? (Contd)
To generate and disseminate knowledge effectively.
It enables academics to think freely, to speculate and to experiment with new ideas.

Why Autonomy & Academic Freedom? (Contd)
Universities will not become innovative and responsive to change unless they are given real autonomy; Important developments have been spearheaded by those people who think freely and creatively; and Society is developed through knowledge generated by this creative and critical thinking.

Why Autonomy & Academic Freedom? (Contd)
Academic freedom is also important because it allows for critical scrutiny of all aspects of society, social, economic and political, and facilitates re-evaluation and renewal.
Knowledge is advanced through critical inquiry and not through encouraging orthodoxy or adherence to accepted dogma.

Why Autonomy & Academic Freedom? (Contd)
The freedom of inquiry by faculty and students is essential to the mission of the academy. Academic communities are sometimes the target for public villification, job loss, imprisonment, or even death when they attempt to teach or communicate ideas or facts that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities.

Accountability
In return for autonomy and academic freedom, universities should accept full institutional accountability to society at large for their results
Accountability within the university should be based first and foremost on very strong performance management systems for faculty and staff alike. Autonomy should not foster “dead wood” and tenure should not be an excuse for job security without performance.

Accountability (Contd.)
Accountability on the academic side requires good universities to embed in policy and in practice very strong systems of peer review for teaching and research
In addition to performance management for staff and strong external programme reviews, good accountability internal to the university requires strong systems of monitoring satisfaction and performance by students.

Academic Self-government
Implicit in the idea of autonomy and academic freedom is the democratisation of internal decision making processes.

Faculty and students must “own” policies and decisions of the University.
This is mainly achieved through decentralisation and the Committee System.
Responsibility must be accompanied with authority.

Governance (Contd.)
A study on Governance and Leadership in African Universities by Mohamed A. Nur-Awaleh and Dorothy M. Mtegha (2005) clearly shows that centralised governance has stifled and impinged on academic aspects like research and teaching.

Other studies (Banya and Elu 1997; Neizer 1998; World Bank 1988; Court 1991; Goma 1989) have argued that greater decentralization in higher education systems in Africa would bring more efficiency.

Governance (Contd.)
African university leaders need to create environments that encourage constructive criticism and adaptation to rapidly changing scientific and societal circumstances.

This will need transformation of prevailing patterns of paternalistic governance into structures of participation and accountability to involve faculty, staff and students as responsible partners. The road to this goal is transparency, information flow, representative participation, incentives and rewards for positive initiative and sufficient delegation.

Some Other Issues for CU
Alignment of Academic Calendar with others in the international system
This is needed for Staff and student exchange Opportunities for staff to use research facilities in other universities Staff to have full complement of their research and annual leave Some Other Issues for CU Class Population of Students

Staff/Students Ratio
All world-class universities have low Faculty/Student ratio:
Princeton 8:1
MIT 10:1
Harvard 6.17:1
Duke: 3.48:1
Cambridge 5.48:1 (21290:3886)
Georgetown 13:1
Edinburgh 7.5:1
Heidelberg 7.5:1
ETH Zurich 6.6:1

Pursuit of Endowments, Fund-generating programmes; and Investments
Harvard in 2002 had endowments worth over $25billion

References
Mohamed A. Nur-Awaleh and Dorothy M. Mtegha (2005) Shared Governance and Leadership in African Universities: Experiences from Mzuzu University, Malawi, and Amoud University, Somaliland (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa)
Lee C. Bollinger, The Idea of a University, Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, October 15, 2003
Dlamini, C.R.M.. 1997, Academic Freedom and the Autonomy of Tertiary Institutions, Based on the author’s unpublished LL.D. thesis, University Autonomy and Academic Freedom in South Africa, UNISA, 1996
Snyder, M. D., 2002, A Question of Autonomy: The View from Salzburg
Michael Stevenson, “University Governance and Autonomy: Problems in Managing Access, Quality and Accountability” Keynote Address to ADB Conference on University Governance, Denpasar, Indonesia, April 26, 2004
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Donald N. Levine, “The idea of the university, take one:on the genius of this place” http://iotu.uchicago.edu/levine.html
André du Toit, autonomy as an effective defence of academic freedom http://www.che.ac.za/documents/d000143/index.php February 2007