1 Introduction: collaboration and partnerships between higher education institutions and various stakeholders

In this current epoch for institutions of higher education (HE), collaboration and partnership with different stakeholders is a strategy that many such institutions need to follow simply for sustenance. Stakeholder collaborations and partnership differ from one institution to the other. Empirical studies have shown that partnership and collaborations are a winning approach for institutions operating from a state of relative strength [12, 36]. Moreover, Mamdani [34] argues that collaboration and partnerships can provide a much-needed boost in academic and co-curricular offerings for institutions but can weaken certain areas especially when the state becomes the main stakeholder. He makes an important assumption in which he alludes to the fact that when a university depends on tuition and the state for sustenance, issues such as curriculum and institutional management become problematic. By underscoring collaborations and partnership, we define this current epoch of higher education as one undertaken through cooperation with different stakeholders such as the state, students, teaching and administrative staff, the community and corporate entities.

Avcı et al. [4] argues that higher education institutions find themselves in a wide range of financial conditions and one reaction to this is to partner and collaborate with institutions that would be a strategic fit for the future. Preferably these should be beyond academia since the market cannot support the number of institutions in South Africa at the moment. To counter the current trends, tuition-dependent universities are faced with cutting costs or increasing their value plan to depend on students to raise income [34]. While costs are rising, it is not clear how these partnerships can aid weaker players to survive as opposed to depending on revenue from students [34].

According to Chipleo and Simms [12] partnerships can take several forms but do not always result in acquisition. Stakeholders can sometimes provide effective management, decision making and planning strategy for the institution. Work to date, however, fails to explain how decision making and planning could aid an institution that depends on students and state for sustenance. The focus of research [2, 21, 34, 36, 50] has been on the fundamental contribution stakeholders make to institutions in terms of education, research, operations on campus, awareness in the community and institutional sustenance.

Badat [5] allude that many universities globally, South Africa, and the University of the Western Cape in particular, have cultivated the habit of working with stakeholders for their sustenance and survival. Sustenance requires comprehensive planning and good internal governance structures that have the vision of sourcing funds for an institution [25]. Besides, lack of funding is arguably one of the barriers to an institution’s sustainability [1]. They add that sustainability practices are associated with spending financial resources (ibid). Du, Bhattacharya and Sen [17] point out that, for example, that sustainability and survival are about establishing funding opportunities and social responsibility to support an institution. For Eddy [18], funding institutions seems to create a sense of shared meaning and joint activities that bring about development on the one hand but on the other, provides dialogue to unavoidable tensions, particularly in decision making. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how collaboration and partnerships between different stakeholders contribute to HEIs sustenance and developmental trajectory with specific reference to UWC, Cape Town, South Africa. The question this study attempts to answer is: How is collaboration and partnerships between South African Higher Education Institutions and Stakeholders understood in the context of UWC? Note, we chose UWC as a case study because of its struggle against apartheid and its continued fight against oppression, discrimination and disadvantage in modern day South Africa.

2 Higher education in post-apartheid South Africa

The challenges experienced by some HEIs during apartheid are well documented [11, 47]; and as such, in 1994 South Africa embarked on the task of redressing the ills of the past by transforming HEIs in line with the ideals of the government of national unity. Some of the reforms saw the state building stronger partnerships with HEIs. In a more democratic atmosphere, staff, students and their representatives could voice their concerns without repression from the state or school administrators. As Marrow ([40], p.388) explained, this came against the background where ‘Apartheid over-rode major and significant interest groups in society,many voices were excluded from collective decision making by being marginalized, ignored, silenced or 'eliminated'. However, the SA government policies of reconciliation and transformation were geared towards achieving equality (though problematic) while engaging with developmental needs necessary for South Africa to engage with rapid globalization [8, 11, 28, 59]. The formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU)(formed on 11 May 1994 was centred on correcting social and economic injustices left by the legacy of Apartheid, including to oversee a new South African Constitution, and to radically improve the quality of life of all people of South) to an extent brought institutional stability of democratic, policies of reconciliation, and representative government but the institutional and social structures inherited from the apartheid regime remained largely intact [60]. To this end, the government implemented several policies on higher education directed towards ‘the belief that economic development was only possible in the context of a highly skilled workforce and a coordinated policy structure [11]. According to Bozalek and Boughey [11], early higher education policies by the African National Congress led government, attempted to address the development needs of South Africa through massification alongside the developing of a knowledge economy that responds to globalization and labour market needs [11]. Yet much remained to be done in both defining what is meant by the ‘knowledge economy’ in relation to HEIs and how globalisation benefits a local university like UWC.

Nonetheless, the higher education landscape in post-apartheid South Africa is found to be competing either to protect existing privileges or profit from transformation policies of the government [11]. Yet it is not clear what constitutes these ‘privileges’ in the post-apartheid context. Though in response the government established the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) tasking it to come up with recommendations for a radical reconstruction of higher education [11, 38] which would provide subsidies even though universities are said to be autonomous.

The concept of stakeholders has always been present in the life history of higher education in South Africa and the state has been a major stakeholder. Thus, the apartheid and post-apartheid periods have each experienced different combinations of partnerships and collaborations as well as tensions. For the universities today to meet the objective of producing and disseminating knowledge there is an undeniable need for effective collaborations and partnership with several stakeholders.

3 The concept of stakeholder in relation to HEIs

Pioneered by Ian Mitroff [14, 20, 20, 33, 39, 41, 42, 52], the concept of stakeholder is nature.

Freeman (in Berman et al. [9], p. 491), define a stakeholder as “any group or individual that can affect or be affected by the realisation of a company’s objectives”. But The Stanford Research Institute had in 1963 defined the term “stakeholder” as “those groups without whose support the organisation would cease to exist” Zsolnai ([62], p. 38). Marrow ([40], p. 387) explains that, “the idea of homogeneous interest groups is central to this theory, which attempts to distance itself from the presupposition of classical liberal theory that atomised individuals are sources of interests. Stakeholder theory is based on an organic conception not of society as a whole, but of the social groups which are conceived as composing it.” The above conception is based on a structuralist or communitarian social theory which anchors this study while also giving agency to individual stakeholders who may contribute to the sustenance of higher education institutions.

UWC embraced the stakeholder concept in the 1960s as an approach to institutional development [31, 41, 43]. Literature shows that universities have collaborated with stakeholders beyond the state which has ultimately benefited students and the university in terms of physical infrastructure and other institutional needs [33].

Of prime importance and a major objective of stakeholders is to ensure the successful completion of programs or projects in an institutions they partner with. Stieb [52] and Monye-Emina [39] explain that stakeholders play an active role in the life of institutions and their actions have positive impacts such as funding, infrastructure, knowledge transfer and technology among others. While the concept may be useful, some scholars argue that institutions of higher education have not been able to manage their stakeholders or able to establish the needs of each other effectively, which seemingly provides ground for tensions [4]. Therefore, the concept of stakeholder in this study is defined as:

typically anyone who is invested in the welfare and success of a university and its students, including administrators, alumni, donors, other institutions, accrediting agencies, vendors and suppliers, employees, non-governmental organisations, academic faculty, both individually and collectively in disciplinary group lecturers, staff members, parents, families, community members, local business, and elected officials such the council” [49], p.8). In this study we define stakeholder from UWC students, alumni, faculties and departments, the state, corporate entities and institutional leadership perspective [29], p. 191).

Miles [37] argues that while stakeholders may be relevant, there is confused accountability about the wide array of definitions of stakeholder in the existing literature that can apply to a broad number of institutions. However, [21, 27, 32] elucidate that the concept should be understood from an individual institutional perspective due to differences in vision and missions of different institutions.

4 The University of the Western Cape (UWC)

Established in 1959, UWC has from its inception collaborated with various stakeholders for its advancement, development and sustainability [29]. The apartheid state structured historically black universities like the UWC in a manner that deliberately limited their collaboration and partnerships with other stakeholders in pursuit of its development [5, 60]. UWC was a product of what Beale [8] refers to as ‘University Apartheid’. At its inception, the university became known as a university of the left in its opposition to the apartheid regime and its policies of segregation towards education [7, 53]. In opposition to the state, which is its main financial stakeholder, the university struggled logistically as it “was created as an institution that would be rendered aesthetically sterile by the apartheid planners” Lalu and Murray ([29], p. 12). This trajectory was to see the university forging, cultivating and developing collaborations and partnerships with other stakeholders such as industry, besides the state to be viable and sustainable. Nonetheless, the democratic transition of 1994 embarked on transformation underpinned by reconciliation, compromise and reconstruction but racial segregation remains a reality and challenge in higher education institutions with UWC being no exception. From this understanding, UWC has created new partnerships with stakeholders they did not engage with before and this has seemingly set a good practice for other higher education institutions to emulate. For example, infrastructure development (the Chemical and New Science buildings, PetroSA laboratory, computational science building, and the public health buildings on both the main campus and in Bellville among other issues) are typical scenarios that have emerged as a result of UWC collaboration with stakeholders. Figure 1 below is the School of Public Health at the UWC main campus on Robert Sobukwe Road. The building was majorly built with funds from the Atlantic Philanthropies, United States of America. Other funders include: the South African Department of Science and Technology, Cape Higher Education Consortium World Health Organisation, Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Johns Hopkins University among others. With its vision of optimal health of populations in developing countries, particularly Africa, it is one of the largest on the continent and most productive of its kind in Africa.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Source: School of Public Health Activity Report, 2007–2008

UWC’s School of Public Health built through stakeholder collaboration and partnerships. [51]

Full size image

It is important to note that UWC as a historically disadvantaged institution, has now emerged as one of the best HEIs in South Africa and beyond and also the only South African university to have been ranked among the world's top 200 higher education institutions in the very first Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings 2019, competing with the likes of University of Cape Town [10].

5 Collaborations and partnership with stakeholders: a theoretical perspective

Collaborations and partnership with other stakeholders provide prospects to solve challenging issues facing higher education particularly in terms of resources, knowledge transfer, and skills of individuals [2, 18]. To Zeelen and van der Linden [61], it is about achieving joint goals and objectives. It is also based on the assumption that institutions develop with the support of other institutions and people [19, 21]. While 42 asserts that it is about the relationship between a particular institution and others in the internal and external environment. Internal environment in the context refers to student representatives, university staff, management, alumina office, and students etc. While external stakeholders refer to financial institutions/cooperate, research institutions, and other universities, among others. It is also argued that stakeholders can come from inside or outsides of the institution (for example including students, staff, government, and the local community, among many others) but they are without tensions and challenges [3, 6, 12, 31, 35, 58). Freeman [21] posit that HEIs, like any other organisation, are indebted to stakeholders due to the shared needs such as transformation. Freeman et al. [24] avers that stakeholders keep HEIs healthy and successful in terms of development and transformation in the long run.

Nonetheless, Chipleo and Simms [12] argue that under stakeholder theory HEIs can address the intuitional challenges collectively while establishing means and ways of adding value and meaning to institutions. While stakeholder theory may be criticised, it provides relevant cues for this study.

6 Research methods

Qualitative research methods were used in the study to facilitate the collection and analysis of data that were needed to analyse issues of collaboration and partnerships between higher education institutions and stakeholders using the case study of UWC in South Africa. Primary qualitative data were collected using structured interviews undertaken with key informants who included institutional advancement manager, the director of international relations office, the alumni office, the students’ representative council (SRC), local political councillor, students, research institution, financial institution, lecturers and heads of departments. Secondary qualitative data were collected using document reviews and observations.

Permission for data collection was obtained from the UWC’s institutional advancement unit and international relations office that are involved and knowledgeable about the university’s stakeholders. Participants were therefore selected based on the referral from the institutional advancement unit and international relations office. We emailed and at some point phoned participant for their permission prior to contacting face to face interviews using the interview guide. In total 10 interviews were conducted between April and August 2018. The study concepts were developed and analysed according to the context of the variables of the study. In terms of gender, four females (institutional advancement manager, the alumni office, and financial institutions) participants were interviewed as many failed to respond. This study was approved by the UWC’s Humanities and Social Sciences Ethics Committee and we followed ethical protocols and procedures before the commencement of data collection, since this is the standard procedure for every researcher who undertakes research. Before collecting data, participants were provided with an informed consent form with the aims and purpose of the study to sign. Participants were reassured of anonymity specifically that any information collected, would be treated with confidentiality and would only be used for the study in question.

Pseudonyms names were used: Institutional advancement, Director international relations, Alumni relations office, SRC, UWC students, Parents, Petrol SA, Standard Bank, Lecturers, Head of History Department. Some of the questions asked included: How is collaboration and partnerships between South African Higher Education Institutions and Stakeholders understood in the context of UWC? How has UWC benefitted from collaboration and partnerships with other stakeholders in terms of the university’s development and sustenance? Have you had any tensions with your stakeholders?

7 Findings and analysis

The data for this study were analysed and conceptualised based on the study title and research questions. We present the concepts in form of subtitles and what they mean, including examples from literature and data as evidence. Furthermore, the literature was analysed alongside the study’s title and concepts as indicated here below. According to Terry et al. [54], conceptual analysis is about finding out what relates to the participants’ views, opinions, knowledge, and everyday experiences, for example, interview transcripts. We used this to examine and identify common concepts, ideas, and patterns of meaning that repeatedly emerged during the interview and literature search [54]. Lastly, our conclusion shows how the analysis answered our research questions. In addition, data collected was saved in a secure computer with safe password after transcription. We have kept all the records and notes taken from the participants, including a signed informed consent form.

8 Stake holder collaboration and partnership from UWC’s perspective

UWC has proven to have had one of the most outstanding stake holder collaborations and partnerships with which the university has engaged without tensions [16]. Though tensions exist, UWC became an inspiration in sustaining the struggles for communities in the Cape Flats and rural areas in the Western Cape amidst boycotts in high schools in the 1970s against apartheid [16, 55, 56]. This laid a foundation for the reconceptualization of collaboration with the community, an example that exceeded apartheid’s racial plans [30]. In partnering with the community, the university provides cues for other universities to learn from, especially the services which have been provided with other stakeholders who made use of the community for their fieldwork and training. One such project, among others, was the legal aid clinic which was started in Hanover Park by law students under the initiative of the Social Science Society in the mid-1970s [16]. The clinic is currently involved in providing legal advice to people from the community who cannot afford legal services [16].

In the university’s early years, the Student Representative Council (SRC) in collaboration with Build a Better Society (BABS) provided health services to the community. Neil Myburgh states that ‘we feel responsible when providing health care in the face of vicious opposition from the authorities….in the arena of community struggle’ [46]. All these activities are geared towards uplifting communities that seem to be deprived of such services [15]. Institutional advancement, states that, stakeholders create a platform for HEIs to develop in terms of infrastructure or otherwise (Institutional advancement, personal communications, 13th April, 2018). This resonates with what [31, 41, 43] pointed out as indicated earlier in the text.

8.1 Collaboration with students

The study findings indicate that one of the most important stakeholders of the university is its students, without whom there would be no university. Freeman [21] acknowledges that fact that, internal stakeholders play a significant role in the development of institutions but not without tensions. The case of UWC students in their opposition and fight against apartheid did not have cordial collaborations. For this reason, students had to find partners with some academic staff who could relate to their plight and aspirations. This points to the mid-1970s when Richard van der Ross was appointed as Rector signalling a paradigm shift in the administrative modus operandi of UWC by breaking away from and formally rejecting the founding concepts of university apartheid. Under these circumstances, the university has since developed partnerships beyond staff, the state and students that have contributed significantly to the development of a trajectory of many universities in South Africa, including the growth of the student population [29].

In light of the above, it is assumed that the collaboration between the student, government and the university structures should be non-antagonistic. For example, SRC (Student Representative Council being part of the decision making at the university reflects a positive impact on UWC’s commitment to strengthening collaboration and partnerships with the student body. This is an indication of what Monye-Emina [39] referred to as interest in the projects and proceedings. While the SRC has often been criticised by both students and university administration of being partisan, they do foster meaningful collaborations and partnerships amongst the stakeholders of the university [29]. This is emphasised by SRC in response to the relationship between the SRC vis-a-vis the students and the administration. He states that:

I always say this, let students lead you. So I must first go and say, comrades what do you want, you want A B… The SRC has on many occasions stepped in if things seem bad between university, the state and management. For example, the fees must fall crises came to an end because of our intervention though which some of our members participated. So always allow the students to give you the mandate, then always management. So that’s why you should always be able to engage in whatever you’re doing. Always identify people you have a working relationship with (SRC, personal communication, 03rd May, 2018).

SRC highlights the fact that serving as a bridge between the students and the university administration, the SRC at UWC has been able to articulate the concerns and problems of students by negotiating with university administration thereby avoiding serious confrontations. This indicates that collaboration is about building mutual relationship, intrust with other stakeholders and above all knowing who wields influence over the institution [12, 23, 41].

8.2 Collaboration and partnership with faculties and departments

Anchoring on stakeholder theory, UWC has collaborations and partnerships by drawing together faculties, graduate students and research fellows from across the institution [22]. This has propelled the image of UWC as a research-oriented institution [30]. For example, in embracing changes from the post-apartheid era, the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) [13] provide several platforms for dealing with the challenges of globalisation, rapid technological change, and the legacies of colonialism and apartheid [Lalu & McvEA…]. The Centre has done so by developing partnerships across and between institutions, particularly universities, schools, public art projects, museums, archives and art galleries, and nurturing future generations of humanities graduates, educators and cultural practitioners. Besides, the International Relations Office has been outstanding in propelling the university’s vision through its engagement with stakeholders both locally and abroad. Director international relations explains that:

Partnership and collaboration cut across all these other sectors, any other collaborations and partnerships we have would always have a student development focus, would have teaching and learning focus, infrastructure development, cyber and research focus (Director international relations, personal communication, 17th April, 2018).

Further, the IR office has also anchored its endeavours on the leftist stance which UWC is renowned for by embarking on the concepts of equity and parity in the relationships and partnerships with stakeholders with whom it works as pointed out by the following respondent:

What is non-negotiable is that these partnerships must be partnerships with equity, so that there is no replication of a colonial project which we sometimes see from partners who are used to connecting in a way that maintains the power relationships in the North. I think in some aspects we are stronger, in some aspects we can learn,… but the relationship must be equal partners otherwise we are going to replicate the colonial relationship…. we need to consolidate our own identity as an African focused institution (Director international relations, personal communication, 17th April, 2018).

The findings above suggest that HEIs partnerships must exhibit equity aligned with institutional needs. Such understanding would encourage different funding agencies (see for example Fig. 2 below) to support the institutional development trajectory [4, 21, 38, 39].

Fig. 2
figure 2

Source: Daniels and Brown 2016

UWC’s funding summary across sectors for in 2016. [15]

Full size image

As Freedman (1984), [21] argues, maintaining reliable and lasting collaboration with stakeholders yields positive results According to Institutional advancement:

Every year we do a business plan and one of the strategic companions of that business plan is to focus about 60% of our time on integrated internal focus on the integration approach with our internal and external stakeholders because we find it quite difficult for universities to approach everyone (Institutional advancement, personal communication, 13th April,2018).

The findings above suggest that HEIs are obliged to apply business models in their operations in order to get the support needed, whether finance or any other [21]. Findings also seem to indicate that institutions have unique interactions in their relationships with their stakeholders. Hence, some do it for day-to-day activities, while others for different reasons or even strategic combinations to arrive at a corporate strategy that responds to the sustainability of the institution for example the alumni [22, 34, 36, 45]. Alumni relations office explains that:

For any institution, alumni are a very critical stakeholder. One because of the reputation and the brand of the university so any institution is only as good as what they produce and so where our alumni end up is also an indicator of the success of the institution right so the alumni have a critical role to play when it comes to the brand ambassador for the university (Alumni relations office, personal communication, 17th April, 2018).

The findings seem to suggest that alumni offices maintain and foster working relationships with those who registered at the university, even if they did not finish their course. Alumni relations office further indicate that:

We are a unique institution in this way because of our political background, our definition of alumni is not only graduates but our definition includes even those have spent at least for six months and they are considered as still being part of our alumni. This is because of the political upheaval that many never got to finish their degree because they got expelled and we still claim them as our alumni even if you didn’t finish (Alumni relations office, personal communication, 17th April,2018).

The above findings indicates that collaboration with alumni is significant in a sense they act as ambassadors for resource mobilisation [12, 13]. Freeman et al. [24] avers that stakeholders keep HEIs healthy and successful in terms of development and transformation in the long run. UWC is a typical example of such outcomes as indicated earlier in the text.

8.3 Collaboration and partnership with the state

The state has always been a major stakeholder in institutions of higher education on the African continent and UWC is no exception. The agenda of the state in South Africa has often been to control the production and dissemination of knowledge and information by educational institutions to align state policies and projects. As mentioned above, UWC like other universities faced enormous challenges as a result of the discriminative policies of the apartheid regime under the National Party Beale ([8], p. 17). Although the state supported the university, funding was dismal in comparison to the supposedly white institutions. The post 1994 ANC government aligned with much of the values of UWC reflected the involvement and role of academics from the university in the crafting of the new constitution, the writing of education policies and the appointment of intellectuals from to executive and political positions in state institutions. According to personal communication with the Head of History Department:

By implication, UWC for the first time since its inception had a cordial partnership with the state; most of what the university fought for could now be a reality (Interview with B11, 26th June 2018). With the state on its side, the university has benefited from financial, material, infrastructural, student housing, logistical as well as academic resources which the previous regime denied them [16, 29].

8.4 Corporate entities as UWC stakeholder

Changes after 1994 affected how the university operated and created partnerships with its stakeholders in the corporate world (banks and industry). Using the stakeholder model it seems clear that the university made some major strides with external stakeholders. One such partnership from which UWC has benefited in the new dispensation is with PETROSA and Standard Bank. The PETROSA partnership resulted in the construction of a first-class hydrogen infrastructure with a state-of-the-art laboratory, technology development and office facility at the UWC campus in early 2011. Petrol SA explains that:

So this is knowledge transfer of the industrial application that we are doing here through UWC where we are producing some chemical engineering skills through internship program. We also have some Graduate in training program where we have some students that are groomed in various universities that are doing chemistry, physics, and chemical engineering (Petrol SA, personal communication, 11th July, 2018).

This project has projected the image and standings of UWC in the petrochemical field and research and innovation globally. As Freeman [23]; Freeman [21] points out, though collaboration and partnerships have limitations, they play an important role in the identification of critical stakeholders. Accordingly, there has also been an increase after 1994 in collaborations with institutions spanning the financial sector, retail, automobile industry and also small businesses. Nonetheless Standard Bank explains that:

Standard Bank CSI (Corporate Social Investment) is currently in partnership with the University of the Western Cape implementing a Mathematics and Science teacher’s programme in the Western Cape ’(Standard Bank, personal communication, 6th July, 2018). This is one of the many collaborations and partnerships between UWC and its corporate partners which has worked perfectly in enhancing the university’s community engagement programmes (Standard Bank, personal communication, 11th July, 2018).

The above findings resonates with what Eddy [18] referred to as best practice for success which it is without tensions and power dynamics.

9 Tensions with stakeholders

Though collaboration and partnerships between UWC and its stakeholders have made major contributions to the university’s developmental trajectory, is without challenges and tensions which often became barriers to the growth and academic advancement of the university. Several factors account for the tensions as indicated below. The next sections discusses stakeholder tensions.

9.1 Power dynamics in relation UWC stakeholders

In entering a partnership with UWC and vice versa, stakeholders seem to have particular interests and agendas they pursue. Achieving their different objectives depended on how much power and control the stakeholder exerts [4, 39]. UWC was established on the premise of the apartheid’s state control of higher education within the framework of racial segregation. The concept of ‘university apartheid’ was challenged by stakeholders like students and the communities which UWC was meant to serve. The power of the South African state as channelled through the administrative arm of the university appeared to limit the advancement of UWC as compared to ‘white’ universities in the Western Cape and South Africa at large [21, 34]. It may be argued that it is the state’s suppression and heavy-handedness that pushes higher education institutions to build other relations with stakeholders like the community and other institutions that share similar interests. The above argument does not erode the fact that the state uses its power to limit the progress of the university and its students. This resonates with Muriisa and Rwabyoma’s [44] work in which they argued that ‘corporate involvement is not only a reflection of administrative competences but also depend on different forces which may reduce and muffle a leader’s impact’. Although the democratic government was seen to be more tolerant and cordial, the concept of power seemed to come in play between the state and the university. Typical examples have been the handling of ‘Fees Must Fall’ (was a student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in some South African universities (UCT, UWC among others) demanding to stop an increase in student fees, address contract worker’s rights, curriculum change, free education for students from disadvantaged communities and many other issues that were laid out in full in a petition presented by students [48]. The socio-political dynamics of UWC resonate in the power relations that define the tensions which manifest in the relationships between and amongst the various stakeholders. SRC explains that:

Management uses their power and their numbers to silence you as student leadership. For instance, you would have an idea but because obviously as an SRC you do not have the administrative power to do anything, you tend to always be at the back foot of every struggle (SRC, personal communication, 03rd May, 2018).

This appears to be a display of power responsible for tensions as discussed earlier in the text. Lulat [31] assert that despite the tensions and power relation, HEIs like UWC has since apartheid era to date sourced funding from different entities as seen in Fig. 2 above.

9.2 Funding in relation to UWC stakeholders

Funding sustainability is vital to HEIs in their quest for the production, accumulation and dissemination of knowledge [3, 18, 31]. Lulat [31], points out that UWC was obliged to source funding from elsewhere during apartheid and much of it seem to have come from individuals and institutions that supported the fight against oppression. After the dawn of democracy in 1994, the university established new relationships but it has not been without tensions. According to one lecturer:

Before 1994 in the kind of anti-apartheid struggles, I think a lot of stakeholders often gave financial assistance to the university, through organisations, through universities, and there wouldn’t be many kinds of accountability for that. People would in a sense give it as assistance to further the fight against apartheid, and this is money that was given in the blanket form (Lecturer, personal communication, 27th June, 2018).

Meanwhile according to Head of History Department:

Fundamentally, its money. You really want to know that? The bottom-line in all this is money. You are scrabbling for resources and the resources are limited. And your financial situation makes it difficult. So at every level, these are the struggles. It is not necessary the money, it is resources in which to study (Head of History Department, personal communication, 26th June, 2018).

Muriisa and Rwabyoma’s [44] argue that power come into play between the state and the university especially on funding matters. In such cases there are unavoidable tensions especially based on intersecting interests. Findings above show that it is a combination of funding, limited resources and possibly the effective utilisation of resources that seem to create tensions [4]. Another participant, a parent, feels that tensions usually when students who need financial assistance for accommodation and tuition are not assisted (Parent, personal communication, 29th July 2018).

One of the parents, indicated that the university does not seem to consider them as important stakeholders and this in itself builds tension for example, fee increases are usually done without parents being part of such decisions (Parent, personal communication, 10th August 2018). For Parents:

You get a child going to matric and then it’s the poorest of the poorest that am serving here, and then there is no fund. I hear about this free education for all, but right at the moment, there are no funds at the moment. I think this creates tension because we are not on the same page (Parents, personal communication, 21st June, 2018). Absence or limited interaction among stakeholders breads tension and unhealthy environment in the institution [21].

9.3 Race relations with UWC stakeholders

The issue of race is a highly contested concept across South Africa’s HEIs. Race poses as a challenge at all levels and structures of UWC. For the sake of diversity management, racial contestations are often avoided but do manifest when people need to use them as signifiers of their socio-cultural, political or religious agenda [7, 26]. According to UWC students, the issue of race in UWC could be felt everywhere, including classrooms, seminars, residences, departments, administration and academic and non-academic staff, and even in relationships and engagement with communities (UWC students, personal communication, 29th July 2018I). This has an impact on students in all spaces on and off-campus and hence often see them grouped according to the race they belong to (UWC students). The findings points to what Bozale and Boughey [11] referred to as redressing the ills of the past and transforming HEIs in South Africa.

This is also the situation with staff at all levels. She insists that there is the perception that many still feel that UWC favours students and staff of coloured and background (UWC students). For Lecturers, racial issue plays out in the pedagogy and curriculum as there are calls for the decolonisation of these aspects (Lecturers, personal communication, 27th June 2018). The fact that many of the interviewees did not want to talk about the issue of race makes it a subject worth interrogating as it is quite clear that it is there physically and in essence.

9.4 The autonomy of the university in relation to UWC stakeholders

The university most definitely would like to be autonomous regarding how it generates and disseminates knowledge. This is a common phenomenon across HEIs that depend largely on the state and donors and partners mostly from Europe and North America for most of their funding. A slight difference between UWC and most of these institutions is that UWC has from its inception been critical of the state and in many areas has strived for parity and equity with their partners from Europe and North America. Head of History Department points out that:

This university is always somehow being linked to political movements in some ways. Even under apartheid I mean, when it was fighting against apartheid, it was always responding to the political movement and I think that is the way to think about it. It is interesting to think about it because the university mustn’t just be what the stakeholders want it to be. The university is independent as well (Head of History Department, personal communication, 26th June, 2018).

UWC has always been known as the University of the Left, a stance it still carries to this day and such student leaders presents views which are in some way not in line with the institution’s mission and vision. Accordingly, Director international relations seems convinced that:

What is non – negotiable is that partnerships must be with equity, so that there is no replication of a colonial project which we sometimes see from partners who are used to connecting in a way that maintains the power relationships in the North (Director international relations, personal communication, 17th April, 2018).

It seems certain that UWC is making efforts towards parity and equity as well as defending its autonomy from its stakeholders.

10 Collaboration and partnership with institutional leadership stakeholders

Institutional leadership encompasses the organisational and professional functioning of an institution Marvin [57]. The stakeholders of HEIs are increasingly placing more emphasis on measuring and demonstrating performance. To achieve these objectives, HEIs need to adhere to effective internal cooperation and resource management which often can seem problematic [12]. Bearing in mind that institutional leadership is not a one-sided affair, universities in adopting policies and strategic plans would mostly find that institutional change would likely be slower than hoped because it appears clear that the major focus of decision-making lies at the faculty or departmental level. Alumni relations office proposed the revisiting of the bureaucratic processes at UWC (Alumni relations office, personal communication, 17th April 2018). To them, some certain functions and problems could be delegated to or solved by staff at departmental levels but, for the sake of protocol, there is a chain of procedures to follow (Ibid). As a senior manager, Institutional advancement explained that:

The way that we have done it is threefold, firstly, I started with meeting with every executive who has some line function. The DVC of research, DVC of students, DVC Academic, Registrar, Institutional Planner, meet with each person about what their particular needs are and how this office can support them, then from there to every dean, explain what we do, who are the top five researchers and their collaborations (Institutional advancement, personal communication, 13th April, 2018).

If those in leadership positions could adopt this top to bottom approach, it will go a long way to identify and diffuse some of the tensions and also address the challenges the institution faces.

11 Conclusion

The results of this study revealed that collaboration and partnerships between institutions of higher education and their stakeholders seem to make enormous contributions to the university’s achievements in terms of infrastructural development, research, quality of teaching and many more. However, findings also reveal that these collaborations and partnerships have along the way encountered several tensions and challenges which often constitute barriers to the growth and academic advancement of the university. From the above narrative, several factors account for the tensions that emanate between and amongst the various stakeholders. Collaboration and partnerships with different stakeholders are critical to the developmental trajectory of institutions of higher education, including financial mobilisation/support, capacity building, infrastructure development (physical and cyber), and recruitment of competent staff, uplifting the communities around the university’s vicinity and providing financial support to needy students.

The study indicates that for the sake of diversity management, racial contestations are often avoided but they do manifest when people need to use them as signifiers of their socio-cultural, political or religious agenda. This seem to be a common phenomenon across institutions of higher education that depend largely on the state and donors and partners mostly from Europe and North America for most of their funding. Other challenges identified by the study included: poor communication, institutional leadership, the importance of community engagement, role of the state, independence of the university and finance. For today’s university to attain its full potentials, there is need to strike a balance and maintain equity in its engagement with all stakeholders.