The role of higher education in developing and retaining the best managers for the public service: a South African perspective.

Abstract

The challenge facing a country from the so-called south, such as South Africa, is to secure the highest quality of leadership for the economy in general and for the public service in particular. The question that guides this article is: ‘Are institutions of higher education suitable learning providers for equipping the public service with the best?’The article investigates issues such as the fundamental purpose of institutions of higher education, the competencies that the management cadre of the public service in a developing country such as South Africa require, and the providers of learning that are involved in equipping public servants. It is argued in this article that if universities stick to their fundamental ‘idea’, namely to transport newideas into theminds of their students, and in this specific case into the minds of managers in the public service, they will undoubtedly be a suitable provider of learning. If public service managers are inspired by new ideas about their profession or vocation and the challenges they face, they will most probably be motivated to meet those challenges in new and innovative ways