Vice-chancellors and fundraising in universities

Vice-chancellors in Nigerian universities as chief executive officers of the institutions have direct oversight function in managing both the academic and administrative aspects of their universities and in overseeing that adequate resources are organised for mission fulfilment in universities. Among the desirable qualities and skills that Nigerian universities require of their vice-chancellors, a key one is competence in fundraising.

Nigerian universities when advertising for vice-chancellors usually require proficiency in fundraising to be a key skill for candidates seeking the office. For example, Moses Orshio Adasu University (MOAU) – which was formerly Benue State University, Makurdi, in advertising for a new vice-chancellor specifically required that candidates must have competence in multi-sector fundraising and the ability to grow and sustain the university’s endowment fund.

Such competence is crucial to enable the university to meets its strategic goals. These goals include among others to become an entrepreneurial institution with a brand that is recognised internationally and to be a university which promotes increasing access to students, and is at the forefront of research with first class infrastructure and facilities.

Although this focus towards having vice-chancellors who are competent in fundraising and financial management is clearly understood by University Councils in Nigeria, in reality, many vice-chancellors appointed in Nigeria lean towards managing the available resources that are statutory allocated and available through university services, rather than working towards raising additional funding through private and philanthropic sources.

In view of the funding challenges and gaps that Nigerian universities, especially public ones face where available government subventions and student tuitions are inadequate, it is crucial that vice-chancellors take up the task of fundraising as a strategic responsibility that requires utmost priority. This fact is one that Nigerian vice-chancellors are yet to accord the priority required hence the present limited recourse to local and national philanthropic sources for fundraising.

Nigerian universities are without doubt yet to fully explore and tap the benefits of generating endowment funds locally in the country. While foreign universities, especially in the United States routinely and regularly undertake endowment fundraising campaigns or capital campaigns that can run for up to five years, this is yet to become a feature of the Nigerian university system despite the urgent need for it in the country.

Vice-chancellors of public and private institutions in Nigeria, consequently, need to be adept and skilful in the task of fundraising. It is their responsibility to be the chief fundraising officer of the institutions they lead. In performing this task, they ought to work closely with the Advancement and Development Offices and the Alumni office to drive forward robust fundraising systems that function on a day-to-day basis with designated programmes which continuously target prospects and solicitations are made constantly, and all year round.

From the leadership viewpoint, the ability of universities to attract external funding beyond statutory allocations such as those from federal and state governments budget and the Tertiary Educational Trust Fund (TETFund) depends on the effective leadership of the vice-chancellor as a fundraiser. It is dependent on the ability of the vice-chancellor to organise the Endowment and Campaign Directorate, and the Advancement Directorate towards the goal of being target and result-oriented.

It is the duty of vice-chancellors to establish clear benchmarks that target generating a certain percentage of the operating budget of a university from philanthropic sources. Considering the importance of fundraising, it is without doubt among other functions a preeminent core aspect of the vice-chancellor’s job description.

While the role of a vice-chancellors includes ensuring that the university maintains high levels of academic standards in teaching and research and making sure that that the university achieves world class status, the ability of vice-chancellors to be the fundraising leader is a responsibility that cannot be abdicated. It is a responsibility that is rightly tasking and highly demanding. It calls for a fair amount of time and resources from the university leadership for it to be successful.

In order to succeed in fundraising vice-chancellors must be able to develop clear fundraising blueprints and also have clear visions about the future of their institutions and how potential donor support can help them to achieve that vision. Consequently, it is important for Nigerian vice-chancellors to develop clear cut institutional fundraising strategies and also have institutional structures on ground that enable the implementation of fundraising strategies and their actualisation.

Nigerian universities vice-chancellor must therefore strive to show ambition in setting fundraising target and building and developing institutional systems and strategies to achieve such targets. These will include having fundraising budgets and the skilled personnel within the university management structure and directorates to work towards the realisation of the set targets.

The role of the vice-chancellor in university advancement and as the university leader in fundraising is a serious one that vice-chancellors in Nigeria are as of now yet to give premium attention to.

The leadership of the vice-chancellor in fundraising is thus considered as central to the institutional success of a university in raising additional funds from philanthropic sources. His leadership and guidance of the Advancement Office and the alumni is necessary for these organs to be sustainable in developing, designing and implementing innovative fundraising programmes that can raise substantial additional resources to complement statutory allocations.

Presently, the role of vice-chancellors as chief fundraisers is yet to be felt in Nigerian universities. The current state of affairs ought to change towards a more progressive and ambitious role by the leadership of the country’s universities, where they take a turn towards leading clearly in fundraising. This, they can do through developing clear strategies and putting in place metrics that measure success for the university’s fundraising efforts. In addition, University Governing Councils, should also begin to evaluate the conduct of vice-chancellors in fundraising with clear guidelines on what is required for those to be appointed to head institutions or those who are already in office.

Wuam, is professor of economic history at Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria.

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