All over the world, there is pressure on higher education institutions (HEIs) to admit increasing numbers of students. In most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, however, the increasing demand for student places at HEIs is in the context of enormous reductions in the availability of institutional resources. Efforts at the expansion of enrolments have focused on expanding the availability of resources; however, utilisation of these resources is not evaluated for optimal usage. Taking the case of teaching space at Makerere University, this article argues that this could affect educational quality, access to higher education or both. Grounded on Juran’s generalization of Pareto’s Optimality Theory, the article proposes systematic, and multidimensional, evaluation of the utilisation of resources. It concludes that this might expose unexploited capacity to expand enrolments while adhering to relevant standards of quality assurance and ensure that resources are expanded in line with real need.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify gaps in the structure of organizations that hinder collaboration of organizations involved in the creation of graduate employment opportunities in Uganda.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from staff and leaders of 14 organizations that were purposely selected to represent government, private, and civil society organizations. These organizations were selected based on their mandates, which touch on the employability of university graduates in the country in very direct ways. This was a cross-sectional survey design—based on a self-administered questionnaire, key informant interviews, and documentary analysis.FindingsOrganizations were found to have “Tell”/directive decision-making, high power distance between employees, and jobs were not coded in a way that gives employees freedoms to interact and build collaborative relationships. Finally, rules and regulations were very restrictive, disorienting employee's abilities to collaborate.Research limitations/implicationThis research concentrated on the gaps that exist in the structure of organizations from which the results point to inadequate relational, interactional, inclusive, and democratic space among different stakeholders. It would be useful for future research to examine the extent to which the structure of organizations not only impacts collaboration but also measures the level to which it affects organizational performance.Practical implicationsThe knowledge economy of the twenty-first century demands for collaborative engagements with different stakeholders if they are to survive the competitive business environment. Collaborative engagement helps in the sharing of knowledge, expertise, and resources, development of more coherent services, facilitation of innovation and evaluation, avoiding duplication of work, and minimizing conflicts and competition while creating synergy among partners.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies, which have examined employability of graduates from a supply side perspective, this study investigates organizations from both the supply and demand perspectives and identifies synergy that is as a result of bringing organizations to work together.

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This paper reports on African Higher Education Research Online (AHERO), an innovative web based open access project that facilitates the communication of research on African higher education that is otherwise invisible. In addition, the paper demonstrates the functionality of the AHERO website, to show how and why authors may deposit their papers; and provides a report of the methods used to populate the archive, how AHERO deals with copyright and the progress that has been made thus far. Some experiences are shared. It ends with the conclusions and recommendations drawn from an assessment survey.