Managing student affairs in an institution of higher education

M.Comm.If we are to have institutions that provide experiences consonant with the high expectations of each year's students, administration must see itself, too, as an exciting and renewing experience. And if the frontiers of knowledge are to exist as more than university rhetoric, administrators must have a part in creating and sustaining a climate which has something of the openness, daring, and boisterousness even of the frontier (Eble, 1978: 2). The context of Eble's quotation is that of the senior academic entering the field of university administration and needing to have an adventurous approach, similar to that of the old pioneers of the American frontier. This quotation, in more ways than one, embodies the need and spirit of this study. In the broader context, higher education worldwide is becoming more entrepreneurial to adapt to the challenges of globalisation. This shift is especially visible in South Africa where higher education is purposely being re-engineered to move to a new frontier. RAU University, specifically, has to merge with the Technikon Witwatersrand to form the University of Johannesburg. Having to change is therefore not an option, but an inevitability. Equally inevitable are the difficulties that change will bring. This study, however, will be based on the belief that change brings opportunity. Especially in the area of student affairs administration, this study intends to show that current practises need to be re-examined and that the merger may provide the drive to find more effective ways to address current needs. In order to provide for "high expectations" student affairs administration, must therefore, see itself as "an exciting and renewing experience". Beside the lesson of having a positive approach toward change, the quotation also has another message, namely that "administration must have a part in creating and sustaining a [certain] climate...". The implication is that administration must actively develop its position and environment. This underlies another belief that this study will be based on: student affairs should be strategically managed. In order for student affairs to be a value-adding entity in the university, it has to know what its role in the university should be; it should have a clear plan on how to fulfil this role; and it should purposefully implement this plan. Therefore, based on the beliefs that change brings opportunity and that student affairs should be strategically managed, the study will analyse the current role and functioning of the Division of the Dean of Students at RAU University and propose an improved dispensation for student affairs at the University of Johannesburg. This will be done against the background of the changing higher education landscape and the role of student affairs in the university. The initial motivation for this dissertation emanated from the very practical need to manage student affairs at RAU University more effectively. This seemingly simple idea does, however, have so many facets that it may be overwhelmingly complex