The Workshop on Human Resource in African Universities: Recruitment, Development and Retention Issues is an activity under the AAU Management Development (MADEV) Training Series. The MADEV is a forum for discussion of topical African higher education issues and is designed to equip middle level university and HEI managers with appropriate skills and information to help them play their pivotal roles effectively to achieve organisational goals. Participants would have a better understanding of what it means to be a university manager within the changing context of higher education in Africa. The September 2018 workshop will look at how to strengthen human resources management for staff development and retention.

The Human resources landscape of African universities has been characterized by serious problems of demographic transition as well as diminishing capacity for staff motivation and retention. These challenges are the product of prolonged freezes on staff recruitment following structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s which was later aggravated by the financial crisis in the first decade of the new millennium. This has resulted in a concentration of highly skilled academics in the age bracket of 55 to 65 years while the majority of staff recruited when the freeze was eased, are young and less qualified (Fatunde, 2008a). There is therefore in the human resources structure of most universities, a glaring missing middle.

As the senior cadres approach retirement age, academic institutions have been forced to retain them on short terms contract basis while making efforts to increase the number of new staff to replace them. However, these efforts aimed at filling the gaps and preparing the younger generation for leadership succession, have to contend with the high influx of multinationals into the region and autonomous public sector institutions which offer better terms and conditions of employment than the universities. This situation has led to high rates of turnover within universities including even those which did not experience the financial squeeze of the seventies (MacGregor, 2008).

Participation

This edition of MADEV is designed for:

• Senior University leaders and managers
• Registrars
• Deans and Directors of institutes
• Heads of Departments
• Administrators and Human Resource Managers
• Finance Managers

Curriculum

• Staff Development in African HEIs
• Employee Resourcing Strategies
• Competence-based Recruitment
• Management Development
• Staff Motivation and Reward Systems

Facilitation

The workshop will be facilitated by Professor Pascal Mihyo (a Professor of Politics and Administrative Studies and Visiting Professor of Development Studies University of Namibia and the International University of Management in Namibia, and former Executive Director of the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern Africa (OSSREA).

Registration Fees (to cover tuition, workshop materials, certificates, snacks and lunch)

• US$500 – Early Bird (payment by August 31, 2018)
• US$550 – Late payment (after August 31, 2018)
• US$300 – Local participants (participants from within Kenya)

Register to participate via this link –https://www.research.net/r/MADEV18

 Venue

ParkPlace Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. Reservations can be made on behalf of participants once they confirm attendance and share their travel details. Alternatively participants may deal directly with the hotel.

For further enquiries, please contact research@aau.org (cc iaddai@aau.org) .