This document analyzes the benefits of research management and administration (RMA) in African universities using the Higher Education Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool (HEICAT) to assess the top 200 universities in Africa according to the 2019 Webometrics ranking. The authors assessed the universities based on 10 RMA parameters from their websites and found that while research dissemination was generally strong, areas like strategic research management, opportunity scanning, research/grant management, and professional development were often lacking. The authors conclude that properly developing the concept of RMA in African universities could help improve research and competitiveness with universities in other parts of the world.

1. By:
Abiodun Tunde AKINDELE
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
&
Simon KERRIDGE
University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
“BENEFITS OF RESEARCH
MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
FOR AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES – THE
WAY FORWARD

2. “Institutional/Organizational
Affiliations

3. Presentation Outline
1. Introduction
2. Objectives of the Research
1. General Objective
2. Specific Objectives
3. Methodology
1. Higher Education Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool (HEICAT)
2. Data Collection
3. Inclusion Criteria
4. Exclusion Criteria
4. Result and Discussion
5. Conclusion
6. References
7. Acknowledgment

4. INTRODUCTION (1 of 2)
Research Management and Administration
(RMA) is an evolving profession and
practitioners can be found in many universities
in Africa.
RMA is being recognized around the world and
it is providing support for research in
universities (Kerridge and Scott, 2018;
Shelley, 2010).

5. INTRODUCTION (2 of 2)
• Since, 1959, many national and regional RMA
associations have emerged, however, the following are
present in Africa:
 WARIMA in Western Africa,
 CARIMA in Central Africa,
 EARIMA in Eastern Africa and
 SARIMA in Southern Africa.

6. Objectives of the Research

7. General Objective
To identify the benefits of RMA by analysing the
top 200 universities in Africa according to
Webometrics 2019 using the HEICAT tool.

8. Specific Objectives
1. To analyse the selected webpages of 200
African Universities for the first 10 parameters of
HEICAT.
2. To report compliance/noncompliance to the
parameters and report the analyses using
percentages.
3. To report the benefits of the compliances as well
as the setbacks that could evolve for non-
compliance.
4. To recommend the solutions to the weak points
and points out the strength of the strong points.

9. Methodology

10. Higher Education Institutional
Capacity Assessment Tool
(HEICAT)
developed by the International Research and
Exchanges Board (IREX, 2019).
is a user-friendly institutional or consultant
assessment tool for the field of RMA in institutions of
higher learning.

11. HEICAT Cont.
• The instrument contains eighteen parameters but we
have made use of only ten (10) for this research work,
which include:
Strategic Research Management (SRM),
Opportunity Scanning (OS),
Research/Grant Management (RGM),
Research Dissemination (RD),
Research Ethics (RE),

12. HEICAT Cont.
Professional Contribution (PC),
Research Incentives (RI),
Professional Development (PD),
Student Research (SR), and
Sufficiency of Research Facilities (SRF)

13. Data Collection
• The data for this research were collected
from the websites of the 200 African
Universities adjudged as the topmost on
the continent by Webometrics and
published on its website in January, 2019.
• Our collection was done from 1st March,
2019 to 15th April, 2019. The data are
available in figshare (Akindele & Makinde,
2019).

14. Inclusion Criteria
•The websites of all top two hundred (200)
universities in the Webometrics ranking for
universities in Africa, as published in
January, 2019 without prejudice to
language used on their websites, were
selected, see Akindele & Makinde (2019).

15. Exclusion Criteria
The websites of all other African
universities that did not make the top 200
universities position in the Webometrics
ranking of universities published in
January, 2019.
 All other universities that made the top
200 universities in Africa from other
ranking websites, aside from the ranking
website of Webometrics .

16. Weaknesses
• Despite efforts to reduce subjectivity, some scores
given could be challenged.
• “Research Management” and “research administration”
may not have targeted all of the required information,
however other parts of the websites were critically
scanned to score each of the ten (10) parameters.
• Possibility that some information have been missed –
which means that some grades could be argued to
have been higher than we recorded.
• Some information could be restricted from outside
users.

17. Results and Discussion

18. Results
SRM
n(%)
OS
n(%)
RGM
n(%)
RD
n(%)
RE
n(%)
PC
n(%)
RI
n(%)
PD
n(%)
SR
n(%)
SRF
n(%)
Total
n(%)
4
(Exceeds
Criterion)
4(2.0) 2(1.0) 2(1.0) 5(2.5) 3(1.5) 0(0.0) 3(1.5) 0(0.0) 2(1.0) 3(1.5) 24(1.2)
3
(Meets
Criterion)
59(29.5) 37(18.5) 16(8.0) 133(66.5) 34(17.0) 129(64.5) 54(27.0) 11(5.5) 136(68) 71(35.5) 680(34.0)
2
(Somewha
t
Compliant
)
52(26.0) 53(26.5) 33(16.5) 39(19.5) 24(12.0) 48(24.0) 67(33.5) 63(31.5) 49(24.5) 104(52.0) 532(26.6)
1
(Does Not
Meet
Criterion)
85(42.5) 108(54.0) 149(74.5) 23(11.5) 139(69.5) 23(11.5) 76(38.0) 126(63.0) 13(6.5) 22(11.0) 764(38.2)
Total n(%) 200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
200(100.
0)
2000(100.0
)
Table 1: Comprehensive data of RMA in 2019 Webometrics top 200 universities in Africa
using ten HEICAT parameters.

19. Strategic Research Management (SGM)
 Sense of direction with
which an institution
strategically and
collectively initiates a RMA
vision.
 Lays the foundation upon
which other parameters
exist.
 Results suggest:
~ Universities in Africa
are not paying due
attention to the
development of policies
in RMA.
Fig. 1: Strategic Research Management

20. Opportunity Scanning (OS)
Result shows:
OS seems deficient
in African
Universities.
Due to improper
footing of SRM
Policies and
procedures pave
way for locating
opportunities
Fig. 2: Opportunity Scanning

21. Research/Grant Management (RGM)
Results show that:
 Most universities in Africa do
not have dedicated
administrative offices to
manage research and grants
systematically.
 If the operationalisation of
grants and research is this
unsupported, then the
research nerve itself might be
weak, slow and less
productive.
 A university without adequate
administrative support for
research would make limited
advancements.
Fig. 3: Research/Grant Management

22. Research Dissemination (RD)
Results show that:
RD is very strong in many
African universities.
Because Universities base
promotion on publications
and other criteria
If equal efforts are put on
improving the other
parameters, African
Universities would likely
experience enormous
growth in RMA and
research.
Fig. 4: Research Dissemination

23. Research Ethics (RE)
 RE is the quality assurance
framework of research.
 Results show that:
 Documentary procedures to
ensure and assure research
ethics are not obvious,
hence the reason for its non-
visibility on the websites of
most of the considered
African Universities.
 For RMA, monitoring of
compliance with ethical
practices is important both in
the pre-award and post-
award duties.
Fig. 5: Research Ethics

24. Professional Contribution (PC)
 PC is the parameter that is
hinged on professionalism in
publications and
participations at conferences
and other professional
gatherings.
 Also, since conferences are
means of professional
networking, most faculty
members endeavour to
attend such conferences to
garner networking
opportunities for improving
the knowledge base and
opportunity scanning.
Fig. 6: Professional Contribution

25. Research Incentives (RI)
 RI concentrates on activating
enabling environment for
promoting research activities.
 In many African universities,
lack of protected time is the
impediment for adequate
research activities because
teaching and administration
consume time.
 Results show that:
 incentives for the promotion
of research is faulty. Hence,
research activities in
African universities
continue to lag.
Fig. 7: Research Incentives

26. Professional Development (PD)
 Similar training
components as RI.
 Results show that:
 PD is noticeably weak as
most universities do not
meet the criteria
 Lack of PD will prevent most
faculty from attempting to
secure international grants
because of the lack of
expertise for writing research
grants and adequate
research methodology, and
compliance with research
ethics.
Fig. 8: Professional Development

27. Student Research (SR)
 Students can be viewed as
catalyst of research as their
thought-provoking questions can
lead to a lot of research
breakthroughs.
 From our research, we see that:
 the integration of research into
the curriculum of students at
the undergraduate and
postgraduate levels.
 it appears that most
universities are compliant with
students’ research which is a
good foundation for future
research endeavours,
activities and management.
Fig. 9: Student Research

28. Sufficiency of Research Facilities (SRF)
 Our Results indicate that:
 about half the
universities in Africa
have enough research
facilities to promote
research and support
their own research
agenda.
 we can improve on the
facilities, as times goes
on, to strengthen the
smooth administration of
research
Fig. 10: Sufficiency of Research Facilities

29. Conclusion

30. Conclusion
Giving attention to the parameters that do not meet
the set criteria will lead to many benefits. Adequate
RMA support faculties to execute ground-breaking
research in the Global North. In line with the
suggestions of Ayyar & Jameel (2019) for India we
propose that if the concept of RMA is properly
transferred to and developed in Africa, it would
help improve African research and researchers in
African universities such that they can compete on
a more equal footing with their peers in the Global
North.

31. References

32. References
Akindele, A.T. & Makinde, O. S. (2019), Universities in Africa - HEICAT analysis
[xlsx] https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8307569 [uploaded 25th June 2019]
Ayyar S and Jameel S. India Research Management Initiative (IRMI) – an initiative
for building research capacity in India [version 2; peer review: 4
approved]. Wellcome Open Research 2019, 4:18
(https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15073.2)
IREX. (2019). Higher Education Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool (HEICAT) |
IREX. Retrieved May 29, 2019, from
https://www.irex.org/resource/higher- education-institutional-capacity-
assessment-tool-heicat
Kerridge, S., & Scott, S. (2018). Research Administration around the world.
Research Management Review, 23(1), 1–34. Retrieved from
https://www.ncura.edu/Portals/0/Docs/RMR/2018/v23_n_1_Kerridge_Scott
. pdf

33. References
Shelley, L. (2010). Research managers uncovered: Changing roles and
“shifting arenas” in the academy. Higher Education Quarterly, 64(1),
41–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2009.00429.x
Spencer, T., & Scott, J. (2017). Research Administrative Burden: A
Qualitative Study of Local Variations and Relational Effects. Research
Management Review, 22(1), 29. Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/docview/2011265439?accountid=8113
Trindade, M., & Agostinho. (2014). Research Management in
Portugal: A Quest for Professional Identity. Research Management
Review, 20(1), 39–48.
Wedekind, G. K., & Philbin, S. P. (2018). Research and Grant Management:
The Role of the Project Management Office (PMO) in a European
Research Consortium Context. The Journal of Research
Administration, 49(1), 43–62. Retrieved from
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1181984.pdf

34. Acknowledgement
1.We specially acknowledge the immense and selfless
volunteer support of our Research Assistant, Mr.
Opeyemi Samuel Makinde, who worked relentlessly to
provide all the support to make this research a
success.
2.We acknowledge the advice and encouragement of
the Select Committee on Global Affairs of the National
Council of University Research Administrators, USA.

35. Thank you for your time