Caswell Tlali
MASERU — National University of Lesotho (NUL) Vice-Chancellor Professor Sharon Siverts on Thursday said the university is in drastic need of reform if it is to remain relevant. Siverts was addressing a media briefing in Maseru in response to recent problems that have rocked the university. She said NUL has poor governance structures and was not functioning well adding the university “is one of the most problematic institutions I have observed or worked in”.
“Without restructuring, without refocusing on what is relevant and marketable in terms of programmes and services, this university will be a dinosaur in a decade,” she said. “Can you imagine an institution in the 21st century that does all of its processes by hand and has programmes that have not been reviewed or revised in a decade or more? This is unheard of in higher education worldwide.”
She said in December 2010, three months before she was hired, the NUL council had decided that the university should embark on a restructuring programme to address problems of governance and improved financial management. She said when she was hired in March 2011 her vision was to develop a student-centered environment at the university, “one that had a high commitment to students and their development”.
She said she also sought to instill a strong research culture and the adoption of academic programmes that meet national, regional and international needs.
She also wanted to foster an environment that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship for institutional growth and development. But she said the restructuring agenda had been fiercely opposed by both academic and non-academic staff as it had shaken some staff members from their comfort zones. She said previous efforts to restructure NUL since 2000 had all failed.
Siverts complained that the staff had “worked to push out all previous vice-chancellors, and basically have succeeded”. She said priority “must be placed on restructuring this university for the benefit of the nation and particularly for the students who deserve education so they can be productive and contributory citizens to Lesotho”. “We all know change is difficult but NUL must change,” Siverts said.
“NUL is not competitive in the region, let alone worldwide. Amongst world rankings and even amongst Africa rankings, NUL has not appeared in any ranking, while sister institutions, Botswana and Swaziland, are ranked in Africa.” Siverts also lashed out at the internal members of the NUL council whom she said were bent on fanning chaos at the university.
She was referring to council members who filed a case at the High Court blocking the 11th council from meeting last month to approve the university’s budget arguing the term of the council had expired.
The High Court subsequently issued an interim order barring the council from meeting until the 12th council is inaugurated. Siverts said the court challenge had caused serious problems to the university as it “does not have an approved budget and can therefore not expend funds”.
This had paralysed operations at the university, Siverts said. “Having internal members of council who are employees of the university file a case with the High Court to prevent council . . . from meeting to specifically deal with approval of a budget so that the university can operate, negates their fiduciary responsibilities,” she said. She said “creating chaos appears to be the business of the day at NUL”.
“It appears that these internal members of council want chaos; for whatever reasons they want to render the university dysfunctional,” she said.
“They seem to want to attempt to demonstrate that management and I are unable to govern the university by carrying out these acts.” She said the 11th council had been “dysfunctional, even to the point of being destructive to the university, mainly because of the internal members”. Siverts said NUL had failed to comply with a requirement that all governing boards in institutions of higher learning should have 60 percent external members.
When the university placed an advert in newspapers inviting applications for additional persons outside the statutory members of its council the Lesotho University Teachers and Researchers Union (Lutaru) demanded that the advert be withdrawn. Siverts said she is not happy that the university governance is “primarily carried out by committees, causing ongoing conflict of interest problems as committee members make decisions on matters they benefit from”.
She complained that deans are elected by popular vote and “any effort to recruit and appoint these positions has been met with huge resistance”. “It is alleged that individuals are elected because they will ignore problems and issues in the respective faculties, so staff can do as they please,” she said.
“No university can function when its management team is elected by the staff they are to supervise, and that includes deans and head of departments, who are by council action defined as management.”
Siverts said it is important that all posts of dean and head of department be advertised and those posts be appointed with job compacts if this university is to function properly. She said without a fundamental change in culture, NUL faces a bleak future. She added that the current crisis at the university may require drastic measures to shut down the institution and start all over again.
“This is a costly option, but the current situation may require such drastic action,” Siverts said.