The Governance Architecture of a Supranational University: The Case of the Pan-African University

Since the 1990s, university governance has attracted the attention of scholars, but most of the extant studies focus on the governance of national-level universities and use national regulatory frameworks. Therefore, there is a dearth of studies that hinge on the governance of supranational universities, such as the Pan-African University (PAU), with the aid of regional regulatory frameworks. Hence, little is known about the governance architecture of supranational universities, which are a post-2010 phenomenon. In view of the above, the chapter answers the following question: How is the Pan-African University governed within a multi-layer environment? Using an interpretive lens, data was collected from the Revised Statute of the Pan-African University, 2016. Content analysis was used to analyse the resultant data. The findings revealed that observance of the values of higher education, adoption of the steering from a distance university governance model by the African Union Commission and of the shared governance arrangement, and merit-based selection of staff are the hallmarks of the PAU governance architecture. The governance model of the PAU resonates with the governance architecture of country-level universities in form rather than in substance. The notable variations in the substance include the partial adoption of the philosophy of “letting the managers manage”, the existence of multi-governance layers, lay domination of the University Senate, the presence of “universities” in PAU governance arrangement, the existence of a “quasi-governance” organ with external representation at the level of the institute and the continental outlook of the PAU Council.