Is the University of Zambia’s autonomy under threat?

From alleged government interference, a traditional threat to institutional autonomy worldwide, to societal pressures aimed at changing university policy, the University of Zambia (UNZA) could be facing threats to its institutional autonomy.

UNESCO defines institutional autonomy as “a degree of self-governance, necessary for effective decision-making by institutes of higher education regarding their academic work standards, management and related activities”.

In the past couple of months, several outside elements have either attempted to influence or been accused of actually influencing UNZA’s internal decision-making processes, policies, and activities.

Pushing UNZA in a conservative direction

There have been at least two attempts to regulate how women dress at UNZA. In May 2023, the leader of an NGO called Youth Alliance Zambia, Mukuka Kampamba, wrote to the dean of students at UNZA requesting the introduction of school uniforms at the university, Lusakatimes reported on 20 May.

Kampamba claimed female students were coming to school “almost naked”, “disturbing” their male counterparts. This was not the first time the issue of how women dress was raised at UNZA. In 2018, UNZA made international headlines after notices barring women students from coming to the library “half-naked” were put up on campus, BBC News reported on 7 May 2018.

The notion of regulating how women dress, which keeps coming up at UNZA, is foreign to the university, which has no dress code, according to Kaoma Kaoma, the gender secretary of the Zambia National Students’ Union (ZANASU). Speaking to University World News, Kaoma said: “The University of Zambia has no dress code and, as such, females are allowed to dress in a way they are comfortable with.”

Possibly, regulating how women dress as a concept originates from the broader Zambian society which has many conservative elements. Zambia, according to its Constitution, is a Christian nation, according to the US Department of State’s office of international religious freedom ‘2022 Report on International Religious Freedom’. Christianity is often thought to be a very conservative religion.

Further, societal conservative norms such as those relating to how women dress also come from traditional Zambian culture. A Zambian chief, for instance, urged the government to regulate how women dress in the country, Zambian Eye reported 11 years ago.

Chiefs are known to be the custodians of a nation’s culture in African countries. An attempt to shape a university’s policy framework so it aligns with the wishes of outside forces poses a grave threat to institutional autonomy. This appears to be what is taking place at UNZA where conservative societal norms relating to how women dress are now finding representation on campus.

Such societal norms have the potential of turning from a threat to the actual curtailing of institutional autonomy if officials at UNZA with the power to change university rules and regulations ever become champions of conservative approaches to regulating dressing.

Alleged government interference

Three UNZA trade unions, namely the University of Zambia Lecturers and Researchers’ Union, the University of Zambia Professional Staff Union, and the University of Zambia Allied Workers’ Union, were up in arms earlier this year over the selection process of UNZA’s vice-chancellor, Lusakatimes reported on 5 April 2023.

The organisations accused the government of exerting undue influence in the selection process. They singled out the ministry of education which they said was working in cahoots with a caretaker committee to select the vice-chancellor using methods “characterised by political considerations, ethnic-regional bias, nepotism, patronage and other processes devoid of credibility and excellence that the University of Zambia should be known for”.

The trade unions further accused Zambia’s government of continuing political interference witnessed under Zambia’s previous government headed by Edgar Lungu. While it is difficult to ascertain whether the government, through the actions it is accused of, did, indeed, interfere in the vice-chancellor’s appointment process, it is not far-fetched to claim that government involvement in the appointment of top university management is, in itself, a threat to institutional autonomy.

The mere involvement of the ministry of education in the appointment of the vice-chancellor and other top university officials is an avenue through which the government can influence key decision-making at UNZA, much to the detriment of institutional autonomy.

In some institutions, top university positions are not filled through appointments involving government officials but by election, whereby peers at the university vote for the best person to lead them. A good example is the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where the university’s chancellor is elected. Such an internal way of selecting people to fill top posts at universities can prevent outside interference.

Opposition parties accused of interfering

On 20 September 2023, the investigative news website News Diggers! cited opposition interference as one of the major causes of student protests that occurred on 18 September at UNZA.

In 2016, the institution was closed for days after protests rocked it, with former president Edgar Lungu accusing the opposition of fermenting trouble for his government. The veracity of allegations that the opposition in Zambia sometimes influences students to protest is difficult to ascertain. If the allegations are true, however, such influence can pose a great threat to institutional autonomy.

Unlike other elements accused of interfering at UNZA such as the government, the opposition does not seem to have much sway at first glance because it cannot directly influence key decision-making players like vice-chancellors.

At UNZA, the opposition is mostly accused of influencing the student population which, without deep analysis, does not appear to have much power in designing and implementing university rules and regulations. In reality, however, students at a tertiary institution are one of the most powerful groups who can force certain decisions through demonstrations and other forms of collective action.

In the case of recently abandoned student elections at UNZA, the current student leadership postponed elections, and this decision was met with heavy rioting from a student community alleged to have been influenced by the opposition.

The attempt to reverse a decision made in relation to student governance at UNZA, if instigated from outside as alleged, can be seen as a move designed to curtail UNZA’s institutional autonomy.

While the matter of student elections is not too significant, a real problem will emerge if students are ever influenced to protest against decisions made by university management, which is more important. A university’s management should be able to make decisions without fear that its decisions will be met by riotous students influenced by outside elements.

Students have a right to protest, but doing so at the instigation of outside elements who have their own agendas is far from desirable – that is, provided that such instigation did, indeed, take place.

The mere existence of political dynamics in which opposition parties, or any other outside element, for that matter, can influence students to be riotous and render the institution ungovernable in reaction to decisions made by the university administration is a big threat to institutional autonomy.

Focus on all threats is important

It is imperative that the discussion on institutional autonomy moves beyond concentrating on governments because they are not the only threat. Institutional autonomy is mostly discussed in relation to government policy and public funding.

Rarely do research and other forms of discussion on the matter focus on possible threats to institutional autonomy such as those discussed in this article. This results in a blinkered approach towards protecting institutional autonomy that does not take into account all possible threats.

Zachariah Mushawatu is a freelance journalist and the former national spokesperson of the Zimbabwe National Students Union. He completed a masters thesis on academic freedom at the University of Bergen, Norway, in 2020.