Senior research fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Advanced Studies, Dr Seán Muller says the failed attempt by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande to place UNISA under administration, does not only damage the reputation of the institution but also interferes with institutional autonomy.
The High Court in Pretoria interdicted Nzimande from putting the university under administration on Friday.
This follows reports by an independent assessor which revealed pressing financial and maladministration issues and efforts to undermine the effective functioning of UNISA.
Muller explains, “It is important to respect institutional autonomy but we do not want the situation where the government can easily interfere or intervene in the university activities and potentially violate their freedom and so on just because the universities do not behave like how the politicians would like them to. So, there are protections in place to prevent that from happening. Nevertheless, a university is a public institution using extensive amount of public money. I mean they need to hold accountable. So that gives higher education minister powers to intervene subject to certain requirements.”
