Self-sustenance of HE in SADC depends on third income streams

The network of higher education institutions in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region aims to sustain regional coordination of inter-university activities and to promote the higher education sector as a catalyst for socio-economic development, according to Professor Quinton Kanhukamwe, the new chairperson at the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) for 2024-28.

Kanhukamwe, a seasoned science, engineering and technology educational specialist and current vice-chancellor of the Harare Institute of Technology, spoke to University World News at SARUA’s annual general meeting (AGM) that was held on 23 May 2024 at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

He emphasised the importance of establishing third income streams at African universities, and the need for increased financial support for the educational sectors from the government, and advocated for more collaboration and mobility of staff and students across the SADC.

UWN: Can you share your background and expertise that makes you a valuable addition to SARUA as its new chairperson?

QK: I was one of the founding members of SARUA and have been with the network since its inception in 2005. I have an institutional memory of what SARUA went through in its metamorphosis and the transformation that it is going through.

I have 30 years of experience in higher education and have been in the field rising from lecturer to professor. I served as dean and as a director of our National University of Science and Technology Techno Park in Zimbabwe. I have risen through the ranks to become vice-chancellor of the Harare Institute of Technology, which is a prime innovation and technology university.

UWN: How do your values align with the mission and goals of the network?

QK: I am bringing to SARUA not only institutional memory, but also experience across the whole spectrum of academia: administration, research, development and innovation management, collaboration and partnerships within the SARUA platform of all regional universities across the SADC.

UWN: What were some of the significant outcomes of the SARUA AGM, and how do these outcomes contribute to shaping the future direction and objectives of the network?

QK: There is a lot of hope and belief in the strategic objectives and mission of SARUA. Constituents concur that, if we create a shared understanding of regional issues and grand challenges to foster a more enabling environment for the regional higher-education sector, we will position ourselves to contribute meaningfully to the economic development of our countries.

Our association believes we can promote knowledge co-production through participatory approaches that address regional priorities. There is also an understanding that we need to reinforce and escalate capacity-building initiatives in crafting tailored leadership and professional development programmes, and institutional excellence in our network.

Establishing platforms for skills sharing and dialogue among higher-education professionals within our network will also empower our institutions to contribute to the higher-education sector within the region.

We adopted a much more refined, inclusive constitution which we believe will allow our organisation to foster collaboration with like-minded entities as well as reinforce our subsidiarity membership in the SADC to ensure that we contribute more meaningfully.

I think an outcome of the AGM is unity of purpose in terms of forging and making sure that we take our rightful place inside the SADC as a subsidiary organisation as approved in 2013. We want to push that and ensure that this is accomplished during our tenure, thus making higher education the engine of regional integration.

UWN: What are the key focus areas you intend to prioritise during your tenure as chair?

QK: We are eager and ready to deliver on our strategic pillars and we want to bring about a collective sense-making policy at this platform (the AGM) where there is a shared understanding of regional issues and global perspectives and the grand challenges so that we foster an enabling environment for our higher education institutions. We need capacity-building, well-tailored leadership, professional development programmes as well as educational and research excellence in our network.

We want to increase dialogue among higher-education professionals within the SADC which ensures that every individual in SARUA plays their role, and all members collaborate to bring ideas which we will implement to improve our regional higher-education sector.

In the next three years, we want SARUA to be the regional universities’ organisation of choice as a hub for multiple stakeholder interests, including focusing on relevant capacity development programmes, thus responding to the needs of regional universities. We also want to make sure that we mount governance and leadership management through a series of vice-chancellors’ and management leadership exchange events.

We want to sustain regional coordination of inter-university activities and promote the regional education sector as the catalyst for socio-economic development.

For example, we want to increase the mobility of staff and students across the region, increase doctoral graduate numbers, develop academic quality and foster innovation through networks for reflective learning, staff exchange and sharing of good practices across our educational institutions.

UWN: Additionally, could you elaborate on the opportunities that the network aims to harness within these areas?

QK: We believe we can create opportunities for cross-boundary resource sharing and collaboration. Digital transformation means we must create capacity and run programmes on various frameworks of digital transformation in our universities.

UWN: What are the primary challenges facing universities in the SADC region, and how do you envisage tackling these challenges and bridging existing gaps in your role as the new leader of SARUA?

QK: We have different sets of challenges across our higher-learning institutions in the SADC region, and each university has its unique challenges but, by and large, there is an understanding in the realisation that, as a region, we need to share resources.

Human capital is one of the critical resources that can be shared, including partnering in various initiatives and capacity-development programmes to produce expertise by sharing supervisors in our doctoral programmes and articulating the strength of the institutions in the SADC region clearly. We then allow capacity development of our staff at those universities and, by doing so, we can actively respond to some of those challenges.

Common facilities such as laboratories can be shared to enable our researchers to conduct their research in specialised laboratories as well as staff and student exchange. We want to consolidate working relations with multiple regional and continental as well as international partners to make this possible.

Regionally, we need to increase our knowledge hub creation by supporting experts to create or increase publications.

Regarding the issue of funding, our actions must be such that we deliver to societal needs. What we want is to go beyond mere academic knowledge generation; we need to translate our knowledge into products and services.

I want to note that the region is talking about Education 5.0, a philosophy that Zimbabwe has adopted. I believe that third income streams need to be generated for self-sustenance.

There is a need to sustain regional, continental and international partners for funding purposes, but it is important that, even as we do that, we create third income streams to handle deficient gaps.

We also want to encourage governments to continuously raise the budget allocations for higher education. We do understand that governments have multiple economic sectors to cater for, but education plays a pivotal role in any economic development. If education is not sufficiently funded, and we do not find progress in science and technology, then the economic development agenda will be greatly and negatively impacted.

UWN: As the incoming chairperson, what is your perspective on science leadership in the SADC region?

QK: To increase collaboration and mobility within the region, it is important that we share educational experiences. It is also crucial that, as SADC, we mount programmes and interventions that speak to the science and technology thrust, and clearly articulate the importance and role these play in situating any economic and development agenda programme in our region.

In the SADC, universities find themselves at different levels. Some excel in science, technology and engineering. Some institutions are much more advanced in the industrialisation and commercialisation of their research, development and innovation and thereby create the much-needed industrialisation thrust needed in certain enterprises. They can contribute to economic development by generating revenue and making the education that they are offering their students very practical because it results in tangible outputs that impact society.

We must sustain and promote collaboration among our universities and share experiences as well as mount relevant capacity development programmes to respond to those areas.