Despite women's increased participation in academic employment patterns, a global gender gap on senior leadership in universities remains. This mixed methods study explores toxic leadership as a potential contributing factor to the gender gap on senior management levels in universities in South Africa. The Schmidt Toxic Leadership Scale (2008) is…

Women-only leadership development programmes are vital for reducing the global gender gap in senior management; however, research on their impact is limited. This study explores the effect of a transformational women's leadership development programme on self-confidence among female academics in a South African higher education institution. A…

The paper aimed at exploring intercultural communication as a means to promote inclusivity in diverse organisations. The study adopted a case study design with qualitative data. A semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions was utilised as the main data collection tool from a sample of ten purposively selected professionals from the…

Purpose: Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a key role in facilitating increases in socio-economic growth and economic development. Sustainable development goal 4 (SDG 4): quality education is dedicated to ensuring inclusive and equitable access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities. This study aims to gain leadership…

More than two decades have passed since South Africa's liberation from apartheid, however, questions still abound regarding the lack of change in the country's higher education system. Policies, programs, and procedures aimed at addressing issues of inequality and organizational change have been less than effective at producing tangible results.…

This article examines the power dynamics underpinning performance management at a selected South African university. It specifically employs Michel Foucault's (1977) ideas on Governmentality to interpret the envisioning of performance management in this context at the level of Policy. The study employed a qualitative research methodology to…

The present article is dedicated to the hyper-hierarchization of small-scale organizational spaces (and the most immediate ones for most academics)--university departments. By using the anarchist critique of hierarchies to deconstruct the architecture of an undisclosed department located at one of the South African universities, the author…

Background: This article explored the leadership responses that were used by two comprehensive universities in South Africa (Nelson Mandela University and University of Johannesburg) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in continuing with the rolling out of their teaching and learning programmes safely and digitally under…

Universities have become toxic sites characterised by anxiety, depression and humiliation. Following new managerialism, leadership and management in universities have been driven by the mandate of achieving efficiency, which has led to the implementation of stringent performance management systems, increasing accountability and authoritarianism.…

The post-1994 higher education dispensation has witnessed an increase in the number of institutional stakeholder groups striving to become members of university councils within their particular contexts. As such, they are constantly becoming coalitions of powerful constituencies who seek to influence the running of the council to satisfy…

This paper explored women departmental heads' leadership experiences in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper highlighted aspects of their care and coping mechanisms in terms of them working in virtual spaces. Most scholars have examined employees' effects and challenges while working from home during a lockdown. However, most…

Amongst the first of the challenges facing prospective first-year university students is the need to procure funding for their studies. Indeed, demand for funding for students to access higher education far exceeds supply in South Africa. One solution has been the creation of a government loan scheme, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme…

The paper reflects whether it is too much to ask for a 'compassionate' university. It is an opinion piece as a response about how to make a shift against narratives that oppress, and how to respond positively to the 'compelling need for compassionate academic leadership in our universities' (Waddington, 2018, p.87). The authors draw on writers…

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has increased anxiety and stress among teacher education managers and has given rise to the question of whether they have the competencies to execute their operational responsibilities productively. The theories of resilience and transformational leadership underpin this study in which teacher education…

Gender equity and women's access to senior leadership and management positions in universities are a major challenge not only in South Africa but on the African continent, too. For women to take up senior leadership roles more potently, it is essential that they not only cope with and compete in patriarchal systems but more so, are equipped to…