OSUN STATE UNIVERSITY AS A MULTI-CAMPUS INSTITUTION: A GUIDE FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Prepared by the Planning Committee

Introduction

It has been accepted in principle that Osun State University would run as a multi-campus conventional university. The University would offer courses in most disciplines available in a modern University in six colleges that would be located in the six geopolitical zones of the state. These decisions have implications not only for cost but also for teaching and administration. The purpose of this brief paper is to provide guidelines for tackling the possible challenges that operating a multi-campus system might pose for the new University. Of course, this is not a rigid guide; the leadership of the University would have to respond to challenges as they emerge. Thus, this paper seeks to draw the attention of the University leadership and the sponsoring government, the Osun State Government of Nigeria, to possible challenges while not excluding those that might not be anticipated at this stage.

One University, Multi-Campus Administration

The multi-campus system is not a new approach in the provision of tertiary level education. The approach has been adopted in various countries of the world including Nigeria for different reasons including the need to spread development to all zones of a geographical entity such as a state or even a country. Some multi-campus institutions start life with more than one campus while some establish new/additional campuses at different stages in the history of the institution. Some multi-campus institutions are the products of the merger of more than one institution in which one member assumes the leadership of the emergent institution. Whatever manner of their emergence, one critical feature of all multi-campus institutions is the acceptance of the concept of one university but multi-campus administration, in which a control centre or headquarters is recognised and accepted even though the other constituent campuses are regarded as equal in status. In the case of Osun State University, the Osogbo campus is the recognised headquarters that would house the Central University Administration and provide the base for all operations. The Osogbo Main Campus would be the base and residence of all the principal officers of the University and host all the ceremonial functions.

Which model of administration: centralised or a decentralised system?

In selecting a governance structure or model of administration for a multi-campus system, the choice is always one between a centralised or decentralised system. The rationale for selecting one model over the other varies from institution to institution but generally reflects the institution’s peculiar needs; available human, financial and materials resources; the number of and the distances between the various campuses; the ease and relative cost of communication, etc. The more decentralised a system, the greater the flexibility and ability to respond to the specific needs of the individual campus; however, the higher the cost of setting up parallel administrations in the various campuses. On the other hand, a centralised system offers the advantage of greater uniformity and efficiency but poses the risk of rigidity and detachment and potential bureaucratic delays when rapid response is required. The peculiar situation of Osun State University suggests the adoption of a centralised model that would minimise the costs of establishing parallel administrative structures particularly at the initial stages but also to achieve efficiency of cost and maximum savings, while optimising resources. Thus, the model being proposed for Osun State University is a centralised system that would seek to fully exploit the advantages while minimising the disadvantages.

Implications and possible challenges

The implications considered in this guide paper are in four areas: general administration, academic administration including teaching, student affairs and financial management.

General administration:

·         Meeting the administrative needs of branch campuses without necessarily setting up parallel administrative support services that would duplicate the main ones at Osogbo. The question here is: should campuses outside Osogbo be equipped to handle routine issues such as staff recruitment and promotion, staff welfare, discipline, etc. or should all such issues be handled directly at the Main Campus?

·         Providing necessary municipal and common services (including security, communication, etc.) in the branch campuses efficiently and at minimal costs. How do branch campuses relate to and benefit from similar services developed at the Main Campus?

·         Dealing with routine administrative procedures which are taken for granted in a single site university and which would require action from the Main Campus. In dealing with the Main Campus, how do campuses develop efficient administrative procedures that would avoid bureaucratic delays while maintaining integrity and discipline in the system?

Academic administration including Teaching

• Need to develop a system that would permit the efficient functioning of such crucial organs of academic administration as the Senate and College and Faculty Boards that require the presence of members drawn across faculties and Colleges;
• Maintaining uniform standards in examination administration particularly for courses that are taken across colleges and campuses while preserving the integrity of the system;
• Efficient administration of the course unit system: certain courses are offered across Faculties particularly during the first year. For example, students in the faculties of Science, Agriculture, Environmental Studies, Engineering, Pharmacy and Health Sciences all offer courses in the Faculty of Science and across disciplines. The Colleges housing these courses are located in different campuses. Similarly, students in Law, Arts and the Social Sciences offer courses across faculties. These three Faculties are located in different Colleges and Campuses. The question arises: should Colleges recruit experts who can teach those courses and add them to their staff complement or do you require that all students in Science-based Faculties be located in one campus for the first year and then move in subsequent years? Do you create a mega Science-based College that would include Engineering and Environmental Studies and another mega Humanities-based College?
• General Studies and elective courses: all students are required to offer General Studies courses and offer restricted and free electives from outside their Faculties. With the Colleges housing the disciplines in separate campuses, what happens? Do you duplicate such Departments in all campuses?
• Problem of Education students: Education students take general faculty-based courses but also take their disciplinary specialisation subjects in the Humanities, Science and Social Sciences all of which are located in separate colleges/campuses. Should the College of Education develop as a separate all-sufficient unit of academic administration with the possibility of developing into a separate institution in the long term?
• Implications for the degrees being awarded: if because of costs, students are forced to undergo narrow-based training without exposure to courses in other disciplines, what would be the implication for the degree being awarded?

Student Affairs

·         Matters relating to welfare and discipline of students (hypothetical question: suppose there is a riot on one campus which does not extend to others, what happens? Do you close that campus alone and what happens to the University calendar in such instance?

·         Student Unionism: how does the administration maintain control over six different sets of Student Union leaders? Do you maintain a single Student Union Government or does each Campus maintain its own SUG?

Finance

• What level of financial autonomy would be exercised by branch campuses? Would campuses be self-sustaining or resources pooled and distributed according to need? What is the level of autonomy a campus has in relation to the funds it is able to generate from student fees and other sources?
• Need to cut down the cost of establishing six campuses of the same University. Would the anticipated benefit of spreading development to all zones of the state compensate for the heavy financial outlay required for creating six campuses?
• Challenge of mobilising resources from non-state sources to mitigate the cost of operating a multi-campus system. Need to encourage beneficiary geographical zones to contribute to meeting the costs of developing and maintaining the campuses located in their respective zones.
• Challenge of resources and facilities sharing: single campus allows for sharing of facilities and services; multi-campus would require development of multiple facilities. Need to devise means of cutting down costs when resources and facilities have to be developed independently for separate campuses.
• Who bears the cost of participation in statutory meetings such as Senate when members have to be invited from all campuses and how often could such meetings realistically hold?

Developing as Multi-campus institution: Guides for implementation

General recommendations

·         The new University must develop and make optimal utilisation of an effective ICT system that would incorporate sophisticated internet and intranet system. Much of the challenges would have to be addressed by technology: ICT must form the backbone of both administration and teaching. This would require heavy investment in equipment purchase and equipping all staff with networked computer systems. The University will also require an efficient power back up system.

·         Encourage the involvement of ALL stakeholders in developing the infrastructure facilities of the various campuses: the provision of facilities should not be left to the Government of Osun State alone. Despite the political sensitivity of the issue, communities that desire immediate and effective presence of the University should be challenged and encouraged to mobilise the required resources for take off of the necessary college/campus.

Take-off of campuses

·         There should be a phased development of the campuses and of the accompanying courses, faculties and programmes.

·         Approval for actual take off of any new campus additional to the six approved by Osun State Government at inception, even though provided for in the Laws of the University, shall be given by the University Senate and Council after consultation with the State Government through the relevant officials, taking into consideration the following:

o        The availability of sufficient physical infrastructure and continuing development of same at the designated location of the College/campus;

o        The ability of the College and its Faculties and Departments to meet a pre-determined minimum student enrolment for the courses being offered in the College to ensure long-term sustainability and financial viability of the campus;

o        An acceptable level of stakeholder commitment to the continuing development of the facilities and infrastructure of the campus;

o        Emplacement of quality assurance and control measures through adherence to carrying capacity indices and matrices, to ensure that courses and programmes of instruction, as well as research would be conducted to acceptable standards of the University.

o        Evidence of capacity to obtain or retain accreditation for courses being offered in the College/campus upon the take off of the new campus.

General administration

o        While the main campus at Osogbo shall function as the headquarters of the University, all campuses shall relate to each other on the basis of equality; none shall be inferior to the other. All branch campuses shall have the same status and shall operate as campus of the main campus at Osogbo.

o        Each College/Campus shall be headed by a Provost to be assisted by a College Secretary and College Finance Officer who shall be responsible for administrative and financial matters respectively. As much as possible, the designation of responsible officers at the branch campuses shall not be such as so to give the impression of equality with the main holders of those positions at the Osogbo campus. The College Secretary and Finance Officer shall coordinate all matters relating to administration and finance on behalf of the Registry and Bursary at the main campus and shall not have independent status.

o        General administration and normal registry/administrative support services for campuses shall be conducted from the office of the Provost.

o        Registry services and accompanying personnel shall not be duplicated in any of the campuses outside Osogbo. The administrative complement for any campus/College shall be at such level as obtains in the Dean’s/College office in any single campus University. Administrative matters that require action beyond the Faculty/College level shall be handled by the Registry at the Main Campus.

o        Much authority and responsibility particularly in relation to routine administrative procedures should be delegated to officers on site to minimise cost and eliminate bureaucratic delay.

o        Recommendations for appointments, promotions, leave, staff travel, etc., shall be made at the respective campuses but shall be processed for approval by the relevant committees and organs of the University in Osogbo. The College Provost shall have the powers to take executive actions in certain matters such as staff travel and local leave but he/she shall report all such actions to the next meeting of the appropriate committee or organ of the University.

o        Effective communication should be maintained between the branch campuses and the main campus at Osogbo. In this wise, there should be great reliance on ICT for communication; upon the development of its internet and intranet network, the University and its campuses should make maximum use of internet based VOIP for communication between the campuses.

o        Reliance on intranet e-mail system for document sharing and general communication: routine intra- and inter-campus memo and mails should be forwarded using internal e-mail system.

o        For communication that must be delivered in hard copy, the University should develop a reliable shuttle service for inter-campus mail delivery.

o        Development of a central pool for necessary support services that must be established at the branch campuses including secretarial, pottering and physical mail delivery.

o        To save costs, physical structures of all the branches should be designed such as to have one common entrance and exit points and a central potters’ lodge. This is to facilitate effective coordination and integration of security and messenger services.

Academic Administration including Teaching

o        Academic programmes, departments and staff appointments shall not be duplicated in faculties and colleges. Where the expertise for teaching a particular course or mounting a particular programme exists in one College/Faculty, such appointment shall not be duplicated in other colleges. For example, the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science shall serve the needs of the faculties and departments in the Colleges of Science, Engineering, Technology, and Education in basic Chemistry courses.

o        All academic appointments shall be made to a primary department/faculty/college; however, all academic staff shall be required to teach in other campuses as necessary as part of their normal schedule of duties. No extra remuneration except the cost of commuting between campuses, shall be paid to academic staff for teaching in other colleges such courses as are within his/her area of expertise for which he/she has been engaged.

o        A strategy/system should be devised for the assignment of faculty members such that, as far as possible, no one is teaching on more than one campus during the same semester.

o        Particularly at the initial stages, the campuses and colleges of the University should take advantage of their proximity to and the expertise available at adjoining Universities such as the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and the University of Ibadan, to appoint adjunct faculties to teach in the various disciplines for which required expertise may be lacking.

o        As far as possible, ICT resources should be deployed to teaching of courses particularly those that are taught across colleges including General Studies courses. Full use should be made of online, audiovisual and on campus television broadcast for teaching of such courses.

o        Year 1 students in Science and Technology-based faculties taking general courses in science-based disciplines should be in the campus where the Faculty of Science is based. They can then move to their respective colleges in Year 2.

o        Given the location of the Colleges of Education, Science and Humanities in different campuses, the possibility of splitting the stay of Education students between two campuses should be considered particularly those taking teaching subjects in the Humanities and the Social Sciences: spend two years at the College of Education taking Education-based courses and two years in the relevant College of the teaching discipline. Or spend alternating years: 1^st year in the teaching discipline, Second year plus teaching practice in the College of Education, third year back to teaching discipline, final year back to Education College but preceded by teaching practice.

o        As far as possible, each College should exercise considerable autonomy over the development of its academic programmes within the defined mission of the constituent faculties and departments and the overall mission of the University. Thus, the College Academic Board should function like the Senate of the College but its decisions on policies and programmes development should be forwarded to the University Senate for final approval.

o        Meetings of the University Senate and other statutory bodies that require participation from all colleges and campuses should be streamlined as much as possible. Much powers in this regard should be devolved to the College Academic Board and to the Faculties in the various campuses.

Finance

o        The University should operate on the basis of full cost-recovery, i.e., student fees should be able to cover the recurrent costs and maintenance of facilities after the Government had put the initial structure in place. Dependence on government for routine financial needs should be discouraged to the maximum extent possible.

o        The University should avoid charging differential fees so as not to discourage potential students from outside the state, who are likely to be more in number, from seeking admission to the State University. Financial sustainability is crucial to the survival and smooth-running of the new University and fees are crucial in this respect. The fees policy of the University should be made clear from its inception.

o        The administration of the University and its campuses should work with the local governments in the state to encourage them to introduce scholarship schemes for their indigenes in order to ensure adequate representation of students from the state in the University;

o        As far as possible, financial administration should be conducted from the main campus at Osogbo. This is to reduce to the barest minimum the risks that operating from six campuses could create. A strong internal audit system should be instituted in order to ensure financial accountability at all levels of university and campus administration.

o        A predetermined imprest should be made available to Colleges to cover the administration of campuses. No new imprest shall be released until an earlier one had been satisfactorily retired.

o        Delegated financial powers should be clearly defined; College Finance Officers should have responsibility for financial administration of the College/campus. At this stage it may be difficult to determine what financial powers should be devolved to the College but whatever powers are defined should be applicable across colleges and campuses.

o        Financial system should be fully ICT-based to reduce personnel to the barest minimum; efforts should be made to avoid duplications in the human resources requirement and appointments;

o        The take-off of campuses should also take into consideration the potential for financial sustainability of such campuses given the target student enrolment.

o        Campuses should make themselves relevant to the needs of the local communities in which they are cited such that they provide services for which they receive financial compensation that would augment the finances of the campus.

o        Cost-saving measures should be introduced as far as possible; for example, meetings of statutory bodies that require participation by members from all Colleges should be reduced to the absolutely necessary, and their membership should be streamlined.

Student Affairs

o        The student body in each campus should be treated as a separate entity with its own officers at all levels of student governance.

o        A university-wide Student Union leadership should also be encouraged to evolve in order to develop in the general student body a sense of stake-holding in the affairs of other campuses. If students in other campuses realise that the academic programme of their campuses could be adversely affected by the activities of students in another campus, it might serve to moderate the behaviour of their colleagues.

o        While the Dean of Student Affairs would be based at the main campus in Osogbo, a Student Affairs Officer should be appointed for each campus.

Conclusion

It is not possible to anticipate all the problems that would emanate in the process of administering the new University as a multi-campus institution.  A critical challenge is for the leadership of the University at all level to be proactive in dealing with issues and be imaginative in their responses to problems that might crop up. The overall aim is to develop a world class institution despite limited resources and at a record time.