AAU Management Development Workshop

The  University of Malawi  hosted this year's Association of African Universities Management Development Workshop (AAU  MADEV) in the LittleTheatre from 24 to 27 August 2015. The workshop is a component of the leadership and management development series designed and run by AAU forinstitutions of higher learning with the financial support from African Capacity Building Foundation  (ACBF). The broad objective of these seriesis to enhance the capacity of the leadership of institutions of higher learning to effectively and sustainably manage academic institutions.

Both the Vice Chancellor of the University of Malawi (Professor John Saka) and the AAU Secretary General (Professor Etienne Ehile) stated that weare all a witness o the shrinking resource base for institutions of higher learning. The fast shrinking public pulse against the backdropofincreasing and often competing  demands for the same has meant that institutions of higher learning are being boxed to the  margins of the funding  locus.  These institutionsrun the risk of being reduced to mere bureaucratic tructures seeking attention and sympathy from wellwishers on the basis of past glory as justification for  their  continued existence. 

The  AAU  General Secretary  specifically called upon all university staff to frequently visit the AAU website, where calls for study scholarships and research grants  are usually featured. 

The workshop was broadly aimed at facilitating the sharing of knowledge and experience regarding strategic management of institutions of higherlearning. It created an enabling environment for identification and diagnosis of operational and strategic dilemmas facing our institutions and searching  for financially  and politically sustainable alternative solutions. 

Participants attended sessions on strategic thinking, new higher education delivery modes, funding higher education trends and innovations,university community engagement for development, and social media for university community engagement.