By Gbenga Sodeinde
The University of Port Harcourt Registry under the aegis of Association of Nigerian University Professional Administrators (ANUPA) hosted a 2-day workshop at CBN Centre for Excellence in the University campus (Abuja Park) on Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th September 2024.
The well-attended management workshop and specialised training programme had various presenters including the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire (UK) – Dr. Matthew Andrews who presented a paper on Leading with Purpose, a former Registrar of Ekiti State University and former ARNU Chairman – Dr. Omojola Awosusi who presented a paper on Management of Disciplinary Matters in Nigerian Universities, a former Registrar of Rivers State University – Dr. Sydney Enyindah who presented a paper on Negotiating, Influencing and Resolving Conflicts and the substantive Registrar of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo – Dr. Jadesola Babatola who presented a paper on Digitalization of Administrative activities in the University and the role of Administrators.
In the presentation of Dr. Jadesola Babatola titled: DIGITALIZATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES IN THE UNIVERSITY: THE ROLE OF ADMINISTRATORS, he remarked that the job of University Administrators is to facilitate the institution’s mandate, support its teaching-research-community service goals, promote academic scholarship, knowledge acquisition and advancement for students and alumni and to work with stakeholders towards sustaining academic traditions and public service expectations.
He called on senior Administrators occupying leadership management positions in the University to teach, tutor and mentor their subordinates because the focus of their occupational relevance amidst the paradigm shift requires obtaining vocational skills for effective job performance due to changes. Administrative practices.
Speaking on digitalization of administrative activities, he stated that digitalization started in universities in the process of changing workflows by adopting online sourcing to improve their manual systems as they compete for students, expand their income ratio, and build stronger alumni relations and advancement with highly skilled and employable staff.
He affirmed that digitalization has helped to redesign virtual communication processes for work and learning in a hybrid fashion from home’s comfort where the office or classroom is difficult to reach and the data, infrastructure and cybersecurity are available to replace it.
He noted that the digital transformation of Universities since the COVID-19 era has created an ideal progressive environment for the digitalization of administrative services in the workplace by focusing on acquiring practical skills for administrative work in secretarial services, information management, and data science with an emphasis on digital skills to foster good governance and accessible university business and ensure accountability, transparency, efficiency, innovation and a sustainable environment.
He noted further that the benefit of digitalization is to properly organize work and simplify the work process, enable various layers and hierarchies of workers in the organization to interact objectively, ensure that work is done independently with a productive mind, stimulate a more efficient and resilient system for the survival of the organization and assist the development of the workforce.
He observed that the trend of HEl’s digitalization is transitioning from the manual system without regrets because it facilitates the creation of new ideas and values, supports extensive and faster dissemination of knowledge, gives credit to scholars and their research work via the web, places institutions on the web for easy access and communication, enables personal data to be stored and retrieved digitally, customizes services provided via automated platforms and helps in the management of administrative and bureaucratic activities previously performed by hand or manual skills.
He observed further that the urgent need to tackle poor occupational skills among University Administrators and build their competencies in administrative practices is justified by the digitalization to address issues of inefficiency in undertaking office tasks and administrative work of record-keeping, student registration, and result processing; lack of transparency in admission processes, staff welfare and proper work appraisal and financial management of the institutions; inaccuracy in manual data entry and calculation are often rife with errors of misinformation or miscalculations and inaccuracy of records and results; limited capacity of access to information and information reliability by students, staff, and management in the reporting system and security risks associated with record losses/damage and fraud.
He noted that despite the limitations of digital technologies in the administrative work process, strategies can be devised by universities to overcome the limitations by developing comprehensive digital policies; investing in staff training and digital literacy programs; ensuring robust cybersecurity measures; implementing flexible and customizable digital solutions; prioritizing accessibility and usability; developing data management and retention policies; fostering collaboration between IT and administrative departments and continuously monitoring and evaluating digital technology effectiveness.
He identified support activities in universities that requires digital transformation via infrastructure acquisition and workforce development towards supporting University Governance, staff support activities and student support activities such as Management Services and General Administration (Activities of stakeholders management, data and financial planning, facility management, and ICT management that support the administration of the university’s daily operations, balance sheet management and budget, management of teaching, technical and administrative staff, facility management, institutional assessment, management of partnership, management of ICT infrastructure, communications, equity, diversity and inclusion; Faculty Administration and Administration of Teaching Services in Departments including management of student mobility and international exchange; Research services; Student services and the Third mission services supporting the dissemination of knowledge outside the academic environment.
He noted that University Administrators can better perform their roles by migrating from manual and clerical methods of record keeping and retrieval to digitalized methods of acquiring and preserving information and data for the use of the University stakeholders in the following areas: Student records (Academic transcripts, Admission documents, Grades, and Attendance); Financial records (Tuition payments, Scholarships and financial aid, and Expenses and budgets); Human Resources records (Employee data, payroll and benefits, Performance evaluations etc); Library and research materials (Catalogs and databases, E-books and articles, and Research data and repositories); Administrative records (Minutes of meetings and agendas, policy documents, correspondence and communications); Campus operations records (Facility management and maintenance, Supply chain and procurement, campus safety and security) and Alumni records (Contact information, Donations, and fundraising, Alumni engagement, and events).
He called on University Management to take up the digitalization initiatives already promoted by NITDA and TETFUND and to embrace the implementation of the revised National Policy on Education (2017) with the introduction of digital skills to university entrants and ultimately staffers in Nigerian universities.
He suggested the acquisition of the following tools: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems; Student Information Systems (SIS); Learning Management Systems (LMS); Digital Payment Systems; Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software; Digital Document Management; Communication and Collaboration software; Data Analytics and Business Intelligence; IT Service Management and Digital Identity and Access Management tools. He suggested that the process can start with deploying essential components of integrated digital technology for online registration and clearance systems; digital library management systems and automated attendance and grading systems.
He asserted that the role of university administrators in the digitalization process consists of introducing and managing digital tools for student registration, fee payment, and record-keeping; use of data analytics to inform decision-making, tracking student progress, and identifying areas for improvement; using of digital platforms for communication, ensuring seamless interactions with students, staff and parents; ensuring the security and privacy of digital systems and data, safeguarding against cyber threats and providing training and assistance to faculty and staff to facilitate a smooth transition to digital processes.
He assured University Administrators that keying into the vision will help bridge digital gaps and enhance work productivity, student satisfaction, and overall institutional performance through digital technologies that have automated workflows and approvals, digital storage and easy access to documents, online forms and surveys for data collection, virtual meetings and collaboration tools, performance dashboards, and metrics, student data analytics for advising and support, digital communication and notification systems and online training and professional development resources.
He bemoans the situation where Universities have gradually improved their financial records and fiscal management through investment in digital tools in their Bursaries while the Registry is still lagging in the acquisition of relevant software for ease of work. He therefore called on universities to assist administrators in acquiring a robust digital storage and management system to ensure data security and privacy; provide training and support for staff, students and the general public; establish clear policies and procedures for data management; utilize data analytics and reporting tools; integrate digitized records with systems and processes; continuously monitor and evaluate the digitized records; use digital tools for communication and collaboration; ensure accessibility and flexibility for remote access and regularly update and backup digitized records to enhance a sustainable university experience. He also called on TETFUND and Development Partners to support the process.
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