South African universities failing? Not their business schools

South African universities are struggling after a tumultuous period. The protests of the fees-must-fall era had already destabilised the sector before, as in all higher education sectors, the pandemic exacerbated inequalities among individuals and institutions.

The country has a handful of universities that are able to compete globally and produce world-class research: the formerly white-only universities. There is also a larger, less well-resourced group of universities that previously served the disadvantaged communities of the country. The challenges of higher education funding damage the experience of students across all universities, but particularly black and “coloured” populations and the universities where they predominate.

To compound these external factors, the leadership of universities is regularly in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons. A number of high-profile controversies have not only distracted top management of certain institutions but rocked the entire sector. In one recent incident, an assassination attempt against a vice-chancellor led to the deaths of two bodyguards.

Yet, against this grim backdrop – set out in more detail in Times Higher Education’s recent feature “Are South African universities failing?” – South African business schools are faring relatively well.

Within their institutions, the business schools have been quite effective at protecting their voices and resources. As elsewhere in the world, they benefit from higher fee incomes than other university departments. Further, many of the schools are standalone faculties, or equivalent, even though they are relatively small.

Unlike many of their European and US counterparts, South African business schools focus mostly on postgraduate education, meaning that they have been somewhat isolated from the #FeesMustFall crises affecting undergraduate education. On the other hand, the postgraduate student market tends to be more geographically mobile and, therefore, more sensitive to international and online competition. This obliges business schools to work harder to attract them, especially in the absence of the regular income that large bachelor’s programmes guarantee – even when fees are under constant pressure.

Importantly, while the schools compete for students, they also display a strong ethos of collaboration, generated by a sense of shared purpose to upskill a “new” country. The cooperation is facilitated by the common representation of all schools, public and private, by the South African Business School Association and it is manifested in areas such as common benchmarking, fact-finding visits and shared capacity-building. It is all aimed at supporting the advancement of standards, enhancing international recognition and boosting agility vis-à-vis national regulations. 

Another plus is that South Africa can be considered a hub of homegrown management education on the African continent. Individually and collectively, the schools are proud of this and have invested in international accreditation to maintain a place in the global market and ensure standards commensurate with the top schools worldwide. Of the four internationally triple-accredited African business schools, three are in South Africa: at the University of Cape Town, Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business and Science and Stellenbosch Business School. Furthermore, eight of the 12 African schools accredited by AMBA, the English MBA accreditation body, are found in the country.

Business schools’ institutional positions are reinforced by the fact that, in South Africa, the MBA remains the flagship programme, with the qualification held up as the gold standard. Its strong practical dimension also enhances its value for sponsoring employers, keeping enrolments steady.

So South African business schools are a rare example of a higher education success story in a land of extremes that is still struggling with a host of problems in the post-apartheid era. While they are part of a fragile university and economic system, they are also champions in terms of higher education on the African continent. And while some of the advantages they enjoy are not shared by other parts of the university system, they do demonstrate how collaboration, common purpose and an international outlook can provide resilience in the face of domestic difficulties.

Mark Smith is director of Stellenbosch Business School.