8 - 2017 - CODESRIA

CODESRIA Higher Education Policy Initiative (HEPI) / Call for Proposals to undertake Profiles of Higher Education leaders in Africa

Deadline: 15th September 2017

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York is implementing a new Higher Education Policy Initiative (HEPI). The initiative aims at engaging academics and stakeholders in higher education in Africa on issues and policy directions that can secure greater autonomy for the institutions, deepen cultures of accountability and oversight and support the institutions to better focus on their academic missions. Part of the activities under this programme will generate literature that can inform policy on critical governance and leadership related challenges that face higher education in Africa. The overall outcome envisaged from the HEPI initiative relates to contributing to the emergence of a critical mass of internal and external stakeholders within the higher education sector who can continuously secure the management capacities, autonomy and resources the institutions need to deliver on their academic missions.

As a component of this initiative, CODESRIA invites proposals from academics in African universities and media personnel working in the area of higher education to undertake profiles of higher education leaders within the continent. The profiles are meant to document cases of leadership innovations and highlight the work of individuals who successfully overcame the uncertainties wrought by resource scarcities and/or governance challenges and built resilience that has seen the institution continue to play a central role in the development of their societies. The rationale for this component of the initiative is that past higher education leaders (Vice-Chancellors, Members of council and senate, government ministers responsible for higher education) etc. have valuable lessons and experiences regarding the process of institutional building and governance reform. Feedback from them is intended to stimulate debates on how higher education governance and leadership processes in Africa would be supported to mitigate challenges to management and oversight; including the development and building of capacity to utilize new accountability tools to improve systems of governance, establishing effective stakeholder-driven governing boards and contributing to a culture of accountability and academic excellence in the institutions. The aim will be to document the contributions and visions of these leaders and their personal imprint and influence on broad higher education policy issues, how the sector should be governed and managed and contribute to deepening understanding of what would constitute a ‘philosophy’ of higher education governance and leadership in Africa.

The profiles will be recorded in form of interviews and later transcribed into publishable narrative form by the researchers. To this end, those submitting proposals should:

- Clearly justify the choice and institutional linkage of the leader/s to be profiled in the context of the objectives of this project;
- Include an indication of the budget and timelines needed to accomplish the task;
- Provide a sample of the interview protocol as an annexure to the proposal;
- Provide a CV outlining key strengths and suitability to undertake this task

This call targets academics and institutions in six sub-Saharan African countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa. Individual former higher education leaders from these countries who wish to submit proposals to do book length biographies as part of these reflections are encouraged to do so, adhering to the spirit of the guidelines above.

Complete proposals; no more than 5 pages long typed on 1.5 New Times Roman margins should be sent to the address below as electronic mail only.

The deadline for receiving the proposals is 15th September 2017.

Complete proposals (Electronic copies only) should be sent to the address below:

CODESRIA
Higher Education Policy Initiative (HEPI)
BP 3304, Dakar,
18524, Sénégal
Tél. (221) 33 825 98 21/22/23
Courriel: profile.hepi@codesria.sn
Site web: https://codesria.org

CODESRIA Higher Education Policy Initiative (HEPI) / Institute on the Role of Middle-level academics in University leadership

Call for Proposals
Deadline: 15th September 2017

Middle level academics refer to a cadre of academics who are not directly involved in senior university management and leadership roles but play an important role in the design and coordination of academic programmes and teaching at the departmental and faculty levels. The categories of academics here will include those with doctoral level qualifications and therefore expected to provide academic guidance and mentorship, faculty deans and heads of departments, officials of academic unions and course coordinators. Some of these academics perform administrative functions as a result of being appointed and/or elected and therefore serve in both academic and administrative roles. The cadre therefore remains vital in determining the academic orientation and administrative culture of their institutions. Institutions however, often lack formal structures and processes of inducting this cadre to their academic and administrative roles. Traditionally, structures and routines that existed in the institutions provided for informal integration of young academics into higher academic and administrative roles. The structures operated on the premise that, in the context of shared governance, it was the responsibility of academics to lead in matters academic and the administrative aspects to support the broader academic mission. This ensured some form of smooth transition regarding who would be considered for academic and administrative leadership based mainly on academic seniority, provided for the exercise of the academics’ role in academic decisions, ensured the protection of legitimate faculty aspirations, facilitated the implementation and preservation of academic standards, and promoted the academic welfare of students.

Higher Education in the continent seems to have overcome much of the crisis it faced in the 1980s and 1990s, and growth in the number of institutions and enrolments is evident. But the crisis eroded most of the structures such as strong doctoral and post-doctoral programmes, faculty academic and administrative cultures and a strong professorial cadre to provide mentorship and regenerate a new generation of university leaders. This has on the other hand resulted to scarcity in leadership and governance skills in most institutions. Junior academics on staff development often head departments and schools with limited understanding on the nature of academic leadership required of them.

Studies on the governance of higher education institutions in the continent have tended to focus on works of governing councils, Management (vice-chancellor and deputies), and the intermediary role played by ministries of education. Even then, these studies have examined leadership in the context of expanding enrolments and capacity to generate extra financial revenues and innovations in institutional leadership are often captured in terms of designing academic programs that attract fee-paying students as an end. Literature has, for example, documented the ‘capture’ of middle level academics away from their academic missions and their emergence as an extension of the university administrative bureaucracy, and a concentration on revenue generating activities at the expense of academic engagements.

Missing from the studies is inadequate acknowledgement of the role that academics that do not hold management roles play in the day-to-day leadership of the institutions and especially in shaping the orientation of academic programs. Faculty members serve in governance organs such as faculty boards and senate, which besides being advisory organs for management also act as recruiting grounds for future institutional leadership. Understanding how faculty members participate in leadership processes, how they engage and are engaged in several aspects of university leadership will contribute to an overall understanding of the processes through which academic and institutional leadership evolves in African universities. The concern is that with expanding institutions and academic programmes, universities need strong academic and administrative leadership at the middle levels to shape their academic missions. Engagement with middle level academics will certainly contribute to a deeper understanding of how academic programmes are designed and managed, and how leadership is organized and exercised. It will also expand the channels that the university leadership create for faculties and departments to participate in institutional governance processes.

The purpose of the proposed institute is to provide middle level academics with the platform to engage and deepen academic understanding of emerging cultures in the institutions through which academic and administrative leadership are nurtured. Proposals submitted under this call are expected to be theoretically grounded in the area of higher education leadership and governance, engage with literature on higher education governance transformations in Africa, especially in the post-1990s and show an awareness of current debates in higher education leadership in Africa and the place of leadership in building strong academic institutions. This call targets academics and institutions in six Sub-Saharan African countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa.

Proposals should be no more than 10 pages, typed on 1.5 New Times Roman margins and should be electronically submitted with the candidate’s CV enclosed and a covering letter indicating the applicants’ institutional affiliation and academic/administrative responsibilities.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 15th September 2017

Please send complete proposals as electronic files to the following address:

CODESRIA
Higher Education Policy Initiative (HEPI)
BP 3304, Dakar,
18524, Sénégal
Tél. (221) 33 825 98 21/22/23
Courriel: institute.hepi@codesria.sn
Site web: https://codesria.org

Special call on Higher Education Governance, Research and Policy in Africa / Meaning-making Research Initiatives (MRI)

Application deadline: September 30, 2017

Established in 1973, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) promotes research by African and Diaspora scholars in the Social Sciences and Humanities that can contribute to a better understanding of Africa and its place in the world. This is done in the belief that sound knowledge of the continent is invaluable to efforts to make Africa a better place for its peoples and societies.

Within the framework of the 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, CODESRIA introduces the Meaning-Making Research Initiative (MRI) as its principal tool for supporting research. Like previous tools, MRI will focus on supporting research that contributes to agendas for imagining, planning and creating African futures. MRI replaces five tools that CODESRIA had deployed in previous years to support research. These were National Working Groups (NWG), Multinational Working Groups (MWG), Comparative Research Networks (CRN), Transnational Working Groups (TWG) and postdoctoral grants. One goal of this move is to increase the legibility and visibility of the research supported by the Council by collapsing previous tools into a single initiative and therefore reducing the number of tools deployed to support research.

The adoption of MRI marks a recommitment to the tasks of interpretation and explanation that saw CODESRIA produce ground-breaking work on thematic issues such as democratization and economic reform in Africa. MRI will more aggressively push scholars to build on the close observation of African social realities to grapple with the tasks of explanation, interpretation and efforts to come to terms with and surpass challenges in Africa. The initiative will be marked by reinforced support to researchers and their better integration into the Council’s work. It will also systematically give scholars more varied ways to present their work, including through books, journal articles and policy interventions.

Key selection criteria: Projects funded under the broad MRI initiative, for which those submitting proposals under this call will meet many of the following criteria:

• Propose research on important aspects of African social realities that fall under CODESRIA’s priority themes as outlined in the CODESRIA Strategic Plan;

• Be guided by clear questions that explore puzzling aspects of the social realities of Africa and its position in the world;

• Be grounded in the thorough exploration of the continent’s social realities and history;

• Engage constructively and rigorously with African futures;

• Be theoretically ambitious with a clear goal of providing new and innovative ways of
understanding and making sense of African social realities;

• Explore multiple spatial, temporal and sectoral settings where this contributes to the process of meaning-making

• Demonstrate familiarity with knowledge already produced by CODESRIA

Special call on higher education governance, research and policy in Africa

Proposals accepted in response to this call will be funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to CODESRIA under CODESRIA’s Higher Education Policy Engagement Initiative (HEPI). HEPI seeks to contribute to the better governance of African universities with a focus on enabling them better achieve their core functions of teaching, research and policy engagement. The main tools of HEPI include research, research capacity enhancement, multi-stakeholder convenings, publications and dissemination of research findings. HEPI forms part of CODESRIA’s attempt to complement its support to individual scholars with an effort at strengthening the institutional basis of higher education institutions that produce and provide a space for the work of these scholars. Interventions under HEPI target universities in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, T anzania, Mozambique and South Africa. All projects must engage cases in these countries. The scholars undertaking these projects, however, do not have to be from or be based in these countries.

Group initiatives: MRIs under this special call should be groups of researchers from one country or multiple countries. Each group should have between 3 and 5 members and should take into account CODESRIA’s core principles of gender, linguistic, intergenerational, interdisciplinary diversity. All members of a group should have a demonstrated ability to contribute meaningfully to the work of the group. The Council offers up to USD 35,000 for each winning project.

Thematic priorities: CODESRIA seeks projects addressing the third of its three thematic priorities which focuses on higher education and research in Africa. Under this broad theme, proposals should focus on the following sub-themes:

1. Broadening stakeholder engagement in Higher Education governance: Collaboration and partnerships between higher education institutions and various stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector and donors. The impact of these collaborations and partnerships on the ability of these institutions to improve their governance, teaching, research, and the transfer and uptake of knowledge; and to increase their legitimacy, and capacity to raise funds.

2. Data and higher education governance and performance: The collection, analysis, use, storage and governance of data by universities and the quality of training, research, institutional planning, management, monitoring and evaluation and communication in institutions of higher education.

3. Leadership and innovative pedagogies: The links between reforms in university governance on one hand and innovative pedagogical interventions, improvements in the quality and quantity of research, student performance and satisfaction, and the assessment of university performance by other sectors on the other.

4. The role of middle level academics: The role of middle level academic officials, including deans, heads of departments, officials of academic staff unions and course coordinators in the coordination of academic programs, university governance, teaching and research .

Cross-cutting themes: Applications should indicate the ways in which some of these cross-cutting themes are integrated in the proposals: these are gender, generations, inequality, rurality and urbanity, memory and history, as well as futures and alternatives

How to apply

Interested applicants should submit application packages containing the following required materials as Word documents. Please note that applications that lack any of these elements will be discarded.

• A proposal with the following clearly titled sections: an introduction; statement and contextualization of research question; brief review of literature and/or competing hypotheses; study design and research methodology; theoretical and practical significance of the study; research plan and a brief summary of budget. All proposals should engage cases from one or more of the following countries- Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique. Proposals must be submitted as Word documents and should not exceed 10 pages long (font type: Times New Roman; font size: 12; line spacing: double). Brief budgets should be incorporated into proposals and should take into consideration the fact that these grants have strict 18-month lifespans. CODESRIA will directly fund launch and completion workshops. The budget should cover expenses for the following:

Field and/or archival research to be undertaken
Books and other scholarly materials purchased for the project
Honorariums paid to researchers during field and/or archival research

• Annotated plan of deliverables: One-page annotated table of contents for book or annotated plan for three scholarly articles to be produced as deliverables of the project.

• A cover letter listing full details- names, email and physical addresses and telephone number- of the members and coordinator of the project

• CVs of the members of the project, including full contact details

• Institutional affiliation: A letter indicating institutional affiliation of each member

• Identification sheet: A completed version of the identification sheet attached to this call.

Please leave the document as an Excel file.

The deadline for submission of applications for both individual and group grants is September 30, 2017. Notification of the result of the selection process will be done by October 30, 2017 and applicants who will not hear from us by then should consider their applications unsuccessful. All applications should be sent by email to 2017 Research Initiatives Program, CODESRIA at mri@codesria.sn. When sending your email kindly use the subject line ‘MRI HE 2017’ to facilitate the processing of your application.

Research Program CODESRIA
BP 3304, CP 18524 Dakar, Senegal
Tel: +221 – 33 825 9822/23
Fax: +221- 33 824 1289
E-mail: mri@codesria.sn
Website: https://codesria.org

Identification Form

Formulaire d’identification