Abstract
Recently, the essence of institutions in any development agenda is a topical issue in development discourse across the world. Surprisingly, poor performance of higher education institutions has been witnessed in many developing countries. Furthermore, turnaround management in the context of the higher education sector as an area of research has been neglected. Accordingly, this chapter aims to establish the critical success factors for higher education turnaround from a sustainable development ecosystem. A critical literature review established 10 critical success factors for higher education turnaround from a sustainable ecosystem perspective, that is, stakeholder collaboration, leadership commitment, innovative culture, skilled staff, financial restructuring, effective communication, compelling restructuring plan, clear implementation matrix, monitoring and evaluation, and international affiliations, as well leadership replacement. The findings from this study help higher education leaders, education practitioners, and policymakers.
TopIntroduction
It is common knowledge that higher education institutions are committed and dedicated to the development of human resources in any given country. In other words, higher education institutions are expected to provide quality higher education which can stimulate the development of skilled human resources. According to Mandibaya and Khan (2020), the institutions of higher education must produce enough labor force required by the country to promote its development and growth initiatives. This is in line with SDG16 (“Goal 16 aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”) (United Nations, 2016). According to Mbithi et al. (2021), higher education can accelerate the attainment of the 2030 Agenda, especially SDG4 on quality education, SDG9 on industry innovation and infrastructure, SDG5 on gender equality, and SDG10 on reduced inequalities. In this regard, higher education institutions are accountable to all the internal and external stakeholders who have an interest in the provision of quality higher education.
From a global perspective, higher education ecosystem has changed drastically over the past three decades. This has been brought about by global competition, the commodification of education, political volatility, geo-political conflicts, diminishing public funding, demand for accountability, digital technologies, and private involvement (Word Bank, 2020). Furthermore, competitive pressure in the higher education sector is linked to the internationalization of higher education, demand for prolific faculty members, increasing student expectations, and an upsurge in student university choices (Majoni et al., 2023). In both developed and developing countries, the challenge of lack of academic integrity substantiated by cheating and fraud is cancerous. It is necessary to mention that elite and mass universities and private and public institutions of higher education are affected by corruption (Denisova-Schmidt, 2021). Corruption is a problematic situation currently witnessed in higher education.
In the context of African higher education, it is apparent that institutions of higher education are facing a plethora of challenges that require interventions from various stakeholders like development partners and the national governments. Challenges such as poor research, lack of innovation, poor governance, and lack of funding as well as corruption are hindering the provision of quality higher education in Africa. Given these challenges, the status of African higher education’s competitiveness is compromised as measured by higher education ranking bodies like uniRank, Webometrics, Times Higher Education, and QS World University Ranking. Unfortunately, 1 225 African higher education institutions that are officially recognized out of 13 723 higher education institutions worldwide constitute 8.9% (Mbithi et al., 2021). Although there was a sharp increase in the number of private universities in Africa from 30 to 1000 between 1990 and 2014 and then an upsurge of public universities from 100 to 500, Africa is associated with the lowest research capacity as it contributes less than 1% to global research (World Bank, 2021b). This negative development calls for turnaround management in higher education especially in Africa.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Higher Education Turnaround: It refers to the process of revitalizing the performance of institutions of higher education from poor performance. It emerges that most of the African universities are not in the top 100 world universities ranking 2023. This is an indicator of the poor performance of African universities as compared to other world universities.
Higher Education Ecosystem: It is defined as a system of multiple players and sectors with the purpose of augmenting student outcomes.
Blended Learning: This a process whereby a hybrid approach is adopted by combining both face-to-face and online learning. This was mainly driven by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic especially in developing countries like Zimbabwe.
Sustainable Development: It refers to a prudent approach towards resource utilization whereby the current generation must meet their needs without negatively affecting the capacity of the future generation to meet their needs. The key issues related to sustainable development are captured in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Higher Education: It can be defined as post-secondary formal education offered by accredited education institutions. The period for higher education qualification varies from one country to another and from one level of qualification to another. In some countries, higher education and tertiary education can be used interchangeably.
Green Economy: Refers to a socially inclusive economy associated with the efficient allocation of resources and reduction of carbon. This concept is mainly driven by the agenda to arrest climate change that has been witnessed in the past three decades.
Society 5.0: It can be defined as a contemporary society in which technology is affecting every facet of life in a quest to find the best solutions for human lives across the globe. It is a fact that technology is advancing at an alarming rate.