Developing an integrated management model for Private Higher Educational Institutions in South Africa

D. Ed. (Educational Management)The cornerstone of this research is to understand the role of the Private Higher Education (PHE) sector in South Africa, including the challenges and problems encountered by the Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) in competing in the public HE sector that is legally accountable to and funded by government. The country’s HE sector is deeply fragmented owing to the past racial divisions and inequalities, and the research thus intends to contribute to the debate on implementing a unified and inclusive model for HE. The model will include Private HE as one of the major stakeholders, offering much-needed programmes and requisite skills. The research focuses on how PHEIs perceive the policies and regulations that govern them, in terms of governance, management and funding, based on their quest to operate on the same level and standards with public HE institutions. There are many existing problems, tensions and contestations in the HE sector. The research method is quantitative, designed to elicit the views of PHE institutions, private providers, authorities and regulatory bodies. A structured questionnaire consisting of 50 items was sent to 500 private HE management staff, lecturers, trainers and owners, with a return rate of 61, 2%. After two successive factor analytic procedures the responses to the 50 items were reduced to two factors or dimensions, namely responsive governance (27 Items with α = 0.75) and policy intervention (14 Items with α = 0.63). On reflection, the items were renamed as aspects facilitating management (FB2.1) and aspects impeding management (FB2.2), and were used as parameters for the quantitative research paradigm. The responses from participants were coded and analysed, and themes or factors emerged from the first-order analysis of the data. The results of the data analysis revealed that holistic management models are developed by engaging all the stakeholders through the process of merging collegiality and managerialism, by adapting to change and transformation in higher education. There was a striking similarity between the literature review and the structured questionnaire in that the integrated management model is composed of the various emerging themes, such as systemic tensions, aspects of restrictive governance, government funding, regulatory constraints, franchising concerns about outsourcing and equity issues. The recommendations in this research are based on the six identified themes on the findings from the literature review as well as the findings from the structured questionnaire