The State Of Stakeholder Engagement In Major Private Higher Education Instituions In Botswana

This study sought to discover the extent of internal stakeholder collaboration in private higher education (PHE) institutions in Botswana by determining the existence or absence of engagement of academic staff associations and Student Representative Councils (SRCs). The study adopted a multimethod research approach leading to methodological triangulation whereby quantitative and qualitative data were obtained through a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews respectively. The research participants comprised 132 members of academic staff from five PHE institutions covered in this study. The probabilistic sampling procedure was used to select respondents to the questionnaire, while purposeful sampling was used to select respondents to the in-depth interviews. The results of the study revealed the absence of effective stakeholder engagement in the selected PHE institutions as virtually all the institutions did not have academic staff associations, while SRCs were not afforded freedom of operation. In order to enhance KM practices in PHE institutions, it is recommended that the institutions adopt a systematic approach to collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders such as students, parents, government, staff associations, and industry.