"In the trenches": South African vice-chancellors leading transformation in times of change

Abstract

This paper examined the transformational goals and strategies of nine black university vice-chancellors in South Africa in order to understand how they direct transformation of higher education in the country. The paper draws from narrative inquiry underlined by transformational leadership theory, and focuses on in-depth interviews with university vice-chancellors. The study focused on the key themes that direct vice-chancellors' transformational leadership strategies. These are devolution of power, the needs to transform the institutional culture and attain social equity through putting students first, and addressing the next generation of academic scholars. Finally, the paper draws attention to the enduring imperative to transform universities through a social equity lens and the significance of vice-chancellors' transformational agendas and strategies in this regard. The local context of the university plays an important role in transformational leadership goals and strategies