Southern Africa Nazarene University Vice Chancellor Winnie Nhlengethwa recently returned from Gaborone, Botswana, where she attended the Association of African Universities’ 8th Leadership Skills Development Workshop, hosted by Botho University in Botswana. The workshop took place August 10 to 14.

AAU is the apex organization and forum for consultation, exchange of information, and cooperation among institutions of higher education in Africa. It represents the voice of higher education in Africa on regional and international bodies and supports networking by institutions of higher education in teaching, research, and information exchange and dissemination.

Etienne E. Ehile, AAU secretary general, explained during the opening address that the primary purpose of the AAU Leadership Development workshop series is to enhance the leadership skills of university leaders, particularly in the promotion of innovation and the management of change. AAU's current membership comprises more 340 institutions and is spread across the five sub-regions of Africa and over all the major linguistic distributions on the continent.

Botho University Vice Chancellor Sheela Raja Ram also welcomed the leaders and noted that higher education is now at the epicenter of discussion in many African nations as they strive to become self-sufficient and achieve the ambitious goal of delivering relevant and employable graduates with shoestring budgets.

Assistant Minister of Education & Skills Development Kgotla Kenneth Autlwetse urged the audience not to be bystanders while the rest of the world is grappling with complexities besieging the education domain. The minister also encouraged the institutions' leaders to review and reflect on current leadership practices and ensure that quality of education in their institutions is “globally attractive."

This edition of the training series boasted the highest participation and most varied in terms of institutional representation of any AAU training series to date. More than 50 registered participants, including vice chancellors, deans, deputy vice chancellors, and senior executives of universities, from 23 institutions in nine African countries attended. The represented countries included Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland, and Tanzania, amongst others.

Nhlengethwa appreciated the opportunity to participate in the training as the topics covered were relevant for the implementation of the university’s strategic plan and Vision 2020. 

--Southern Africa Nazarene University