Globalization, democratization and knowledge production

6.3 CHANGE

6.3.1 New management and research

According to several participants, the new management, responsible for Fort Hare’s recovery from near collapse some five years ago has recognized the importance of research and accordingly, has established a new Faculty of Research at Fort Hare (I: Bertrand; Dirk; Fatuh; Gumbi; Henry; Nyazi; Thandi). An extensive review and audit was conducted of all facets of the university’s operations and programmes. A comprehensive strategic plan, including a new vision and mission, was developed as the blueprint for restructuring the institution to enable it to excel in research and teaching, which Thandi believed was the main function of a university. Loodts contended that there has been a significant difference in management in terms of a more corporate style of running the institution since 2000. In addition, there has been no student unrest since 1999 and the institution has made an almost miraculous about turn. Participants contended that although a monetary deficit remains, the university has become a stable, well- functioning institution (I: Henry; Otto; Thandi). Despite the inherent difficulties arising from historical factors mentioned above, together with Fort Hare’s lack of resources, the new management has persisted in appointing academics with good research track records.

The Director of Fincance claimed that financial austerity between 2001 and 2004 assisted in reducing Fort Hare’s debt by half: “A little bit of cut here and there. I mean, we just had to tighten up everything” (I: DoF). When I enquired about expenses with regard to the maintenance of grounds and gardens, which have improved remarkably since my previous visits to the campus in the mid 1990s, the director explained that such “efficiencies” were necessary and in turn led to an increase in student numbers. The recovery of student debt also increased, as noted above (I: DoF). The director noted that obtaining extra funds for student bursaries from the National Student Financial Aid and other sources such as the provincial Premier’s Office and some external donors, also contributed to their success.

In the late 1990s, there was no administrative and management orientation towards research support. Fatuh found that there was no one he could collaborate with to establish a research culture:

When I came here, there was no research culture, so I started more or less from scratch. There was nobody to collaborate with so it took a long time, about two or three years before I could get recognized by the NRF and they started giving me money (based) on my recognition for research.

This lack of orientation towards research changed as the new administration of Professor Swartz made a clean sweep of the institution, paying greater attention to the importance of research (I: Fatuh; Gumbi; Henry; Loodts; Nyazi). According to Fatuh, the new management recognized the need for quality staff and provided incentives such as promotions and cash benefits for publishing (I: Fatuh; see also Nyazi). However, severe financial constraints have prevented management from giving research the kind of attention and funding it requires.

The Fort Hare management has found that government funding promised for institutional redress of HBUs, such as recapitalization, and for institutions engaged in the mergers, has not been forthcoming (I: Henry; Otto; Vice Chancellor; public speech, 2004). As noted in chapter two, the budgetary system based on the apartheid SAPSE formula continued to be used until 1 January 2004 and has been detrimental to the well-being of HBUs. Otto noted the contradiction of the SAPSE formula:

The new process is going to look quite different to that process. The new process would probably look at a costing exercise throughout every section and division first… we will probably establish budget committees…. The complaint at the moment on the budget issue is that we are using historical data to create a budget and you are not necessarily aligning it to your core… You are using historical data. So if somebody got a million rands last year, he is going to get a million and a bit this year, whereas you should be investing in different fields.
Up until the beginning of 2004, Fort Hare still had no information on what amount of funding might be allocated by the DNE (I: Otto). Besides, as Otto explained, “the recapitalization was meant for the old Fort Hare, not for the East London campus as well,” which by itself, required an investment in infrastructure. Very little of the original merger budget, developed by the joint task team of Fort Hare and Rhodes, was actually approved by the Department (I: Otto). Whereas there was money for the direct merger costs, it was limited and did not cover, for example, travel to joint meetings, the two campuses being 140 km apart. Although the East London FTE subsidies had now become part of the Fort Hare budget, there was no additional funding allocated to staff salaries, and services such as electricity and water. Moreover, the funding procedure is that universities must first pay for expenses and then claim against these expenses. As noted in chapter two, HWUs have generated significant income through long-term investments over decades as well as generating income from contracts with commercial and industrial partners (I: Bunting). It has been almost impossible for an institution like Fort Hare that does not have reserve funds and still has a debt of 43 million rands, to follow these procedures.

Furthermore, it appears that the national department does not have the capacity to process funding allocations in a timely and efficient manner. Consquently, it becomes incumbent upon the institution’s senior managers to constantly expend their time and energies in communicating with the department for the roll out of these funds (I: Henry; Otto). In a recent public speech, the Vice Chancellor expressed his concern about the way this lack of provision of promised funding from government is compromising the institution and preventing it from training the next generation of South Africans, conducting research and attending to the repair of buildings and facilities that are in a poor state (see further chapter eight).