Nelson Mandela University Chancellor and former Cabinet Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, has emphasised the responsibility of universities to nurture ethical leaders, uphold academic integrity and shape graduates who can contribute meaningfully to society.
“Ethical leadership is not an abstract ideal in higher education; it is the foundation upon which public trust, institutional credibility, and academic excellence rest,” Pandor said.
Pandor was speaking during a roundtable discussion at the recent Chancellors Thought Leadership Seminar hosted by Universities South Africa (USAf).
The roundtable discussion centred around various themes on the role Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors play in strengthening public trust in higher education.
Drawing on her decades of experience in public service and academia, Pandor underscored the critical role played by the universities in shaping the character, capabilities and values of the nation.
“To fulfil this role, higher education institutions must be governed with integrity, stewarded with responsibility, and led with moral clarity.”
She said higher education must be a transformative experience that equips students with critical thinking skills, academic freedom, and exposes them to ideas that challenge and expand their minds.
Reflecting on her own experience as a young student at the University of Botswana, Pandor said she entered the institution as one person and left as another, highlighting the profound impact of higher education on personal development.
“Every young person who enters must exit as a very different person,” Pandor said.
To achieve this, she said, universities must actively teach the principles that underpin democratic academic life, namely academic freedom, transparency, institutional autonomy and ethical reasoning.
“These cannot be assumed; they must be intentionally cultivated.”
She stressed that ethical governance is a moral obligation requiring open decision-making, fair resource allocation, and clear policies that can be explained and defended.
University councils, senates and executive management structures must also have a clear understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities to promote effective institutional governance.
“Leaders who say, ‘I don’t explain anything’ often do so because they don’t understand the policy. Effective governance requires clarity, humility and accountability; not authority without responsibility,” Pandor said.
Academic ethics
Pandor also warned that breaches of academic ethics, including plagiarism, falsified research, rigged competition, selling grades, sexual harassment and procurement irregularities, undermine institutional credibility and damage the university’s reputation.
Pandor called for research ethics to be properly taught, supervised and enforced, while urging universities to promote responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other digital tools without compromising originality, creativity and critical thinking.
“You haven’t experienced higher education if you’ve not felt the roughness of a paper or smelt the ink,” she said, emphasising that authentic scholarship cannot be outsourced to technology.
Pandor argued that ethical leadership is demonstrated through behaviour, not position.
She said leaders must model integrity in all interactions; uphold constitutional values of dignity, justice, equity and accountability; reject nepotism, favouritism and any form of exploitation; and ensure that students understand institutional rules and consequences.
Pandor also raised concern about incidents in universities, including students mistreating university workers, saying such behaviour pointed to the need for institutions to do more to embed respect and ethical conduct in their campus cultures.
“Ethical leadership requires shaping institutional culture, not merely managing it,” she said.
On governance, Pandor warned against governance dysfunction arising from the overreach of university council chairs, emphasising that their responsibilities must remain distinct from those of vice-chancellors and other executive leaders.
She called for the revival of council orientation and training programmes to improve governance, clarify responsibilities and prevent unnecessary institutional conflict.
Pandor also urged universities to challenge the belief that university degrees are the only route to professional success, describing this as the “diploma disease.”
“South Africa needs artisans, technicians and vocational specialists, and universities must partner with colleges to strengthen articulation pathways and elevate technical education,” Pandor said.
She further called for pragmatic conversation about public-private partnerships, noting that the public sector alone cannot sustain the scale of higher education required for national development.
Pandor said universities must remain stewards of constitutional values, protect academic freedom, and ensure that every student encounters an environment grounded in dignity, fairness and intellectual honesty.
She emphasised that ethical leadership is not optional but a “cornerstone of institutional integrity and the key to restoring public confidence in higher education.” - SAnews.gov.za
