The Vice Chancellor of Uganda Technology and Management University, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba has been selected to deliver a public lecture at the Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership (TGSL) at the University of Limpopo in South Africa.

The Annual Public Lecture 2014 is slated to take place on 17th September 2014.

Prof. Baryamureeba’s talk will focus on HIGHER EDUCATION GOVERNANCE AND QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEMS, experiences from Uganda.

“I will talk about higher education governance and quality systems; share my experiences mainly drawn from Uganda but with relevance to African-wide application on governance and quality assurance issues affecting higher education. I will endeavor to highlight some of the corporate governance practices relevant to higher education” Prof. Baryamureeba explained.

According to Baryamureeba, the lecture is timely given that most universities are currently facing massive governance challenges and are tasked by stakeholders to be more effective. The lecture is intended to deliberate on the challenges African Universities are facing even as they attempt to open up areas for improvement and competition.

Some of the challenges the speakers are expected to tackle include: restrictions by state-driven higher education policies, constantly increasing intervention of external quality assurance players and decreasing support from development partners/donors.

Although governments or councils/agencies responsible for higher education in most African countries have put in place guidelines for establishing and monitoring higher education, University leadership in most countries find the current environment more challenging. They argue that new developments should be accomplished within the traditional roles of universities. With the global financial crisis, the debate on whether Universities should adopt corporate governance principles has been re-ignited.

University leadership further argues that what is inherent is the notion that there are potential conflicts of interest in the management of the institutions and leaders might take decisions which benefit themselves at the expense of other stakeholders or the general public.

Established in 1996, TGSL is the hybrid of business and leadership under the Faculty of Management and Law at the University of Limpopo.

UTAMU and the University of Limpopo signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in research, teaching and advisory services to governments particularly on areas within the mandate of the two institutions. This research study is one of the many activities that two universities have a partnership.

  Must, Prof. Baryamureba, UTAMU