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ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 2, No. 2, 2019 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 

67 
 

Original Paper 

The School Leadership Is a Key to Break the Higher Education 

Iron Triangle through Borderless Distance Education: The Case 

of UNISA in Addis Ababa Ethiopia 
Melese Mekasha Woldeyes1* 

1 Mekane Yesus Management and Leadership College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 
* Melese Mekasha Woldeyes, Mekane Yesus Management and Leadership College, Addis Ababa, 

Ethiopia 

 
Received: April 26, 2019          Accepted: May 8, 2019         Online Published: May 14, 2019 

doi:10.22158/csm.v2n2p67                       URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v2n2p67 

 
Abstract 

This paper examines the role of cross-border distance education institutions in providing access to 

quality postgraduate education in Ethiopia, using the South Africa University (UNISA) as a case study. 

It draws on the appropriate school leadership for the development of distance education, and it further 

explores the potential of a distance education program delivery system in an Ethiopian context. In 

addition, the study explores the policy gap between conventional and distance education in relation to 

international postgraduate distance education. Two instruments were used to gather relevant data, 

namely: interviews and document analysis. Theoretical framework developed through three key 

elements: access, cost and quality were used as tools of analysis. 

Keywords 

access, cost, quality, higher education, delivery mode, distance education, distance education 

generations, qualitative, school leadership, method, quality assurance, conventional education, student 

support services 

 

1. Introduction/Background 

Like other complex human activities, leadership might be difficult to pin down. It might even be 

unwise to narrow it unnecessarily. Nonetheless, a working definition can provide a useful frame of 

reference. In this regard, Hersey, Blanchard and Johnson (1998, p. 91) defined leadership as “the 

process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a 

given situation”. Leithwood and Riehl (2003) on their part also noted that, at the core of most 



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definitions of leadership are two functions: providing direction and exercising influence. Leaders 

mobilize and work with others to achieve shared goals. This definition has several important 

implications towards traditional and distance education leadership. Higher education, without 

appropriate leadership it is meaningless to rise the quality issues and low costs to be achievable within 

traditional systems of higher education which is based on classroom teaching and learning mode. 

Expansion is now the defining trend in the worldwide development of higher education. Some scholars 

have predicted that by 2020, 40% of the global workforce will be knowledge workers with a need for 

tertiary qualifications Mannan (2009). The World Bank, which made basic education its priority in the 

1980s and 1990s, has changed its focus towards the development of higher education. This is an 

indication that higher education is getting precedence in the contemporary knowledge based economy. 

This, in turn, requires countries that have not yet developed their higher education systems to do so. 

Indeed, there is evidence suggesting that developing countries want to join the knowledge society by 

following the example set by developed countries, where age participation rates in higher education of 

40% to 50% are now perceived as necessary for sustained and sustainable development Kanwar (2009, 

p. 30). According to Mannan (2013), national policies on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 

emphasise the need for expansion of the education system, which focuses on the conventional method 

of delivery of basic education and tertiary level services in building human and social capital. However, 

today, it is further seeking and explaining the role of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) as an 

intervening strategy to break the conventional business as usual and in doing so providing access to 

quality higher education services and dissemination of information and knowledge that affects personal 

and community life of individuals became vital especially in developing countries. 

It is widely acknowledged that the traditional face-to-face education method is no longer the only 

means of accessing higher education. An alternative means has been devised in response to a demand 

for access to higher education. An ever-growing world population; an increase in the complexity of all 

aspects of life; increasingly higher education requirements for almost all types of jobs; accelerating 

change in nearly all occupations and jobs; and the special educational needs of disadvantaged and 

minority groups have all put pressure on the pursuit of an alternative means of access to higher 

education. Distance education found to be an alternative means to reach the higher demand for higher 

education. However, without effective and quality school leadership this will not be realised. 

Globally, higher education has been expanding over the last few decades and, according to Altbach et al. 

(2009), it has struggled to meet demands. According to a UNESCO (2003) report, many countries have 

experienced higher rates of expansion and increase in student enrolment than anticipated. However, 

access to higher education in many developing countries including Ethiopia compromising the quality 

issues. 

 

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/


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2. Method 

A qualitative research design will be used in this study. In particular, a case study will be employed. 

Stratified and purposive sampling techniques will be used to select the research site and potential 

respondents. The study will delimit to UNISA (Addis Ababa) in Ethiopia. UNISA was selected as a 

case study because it is one of the largest universities in the world which provides higher education 

opportunities by means of a distance mode to local, national and international students. It is also one of 

the leading educational institutions in Africa with a high number of postgraduate students compared to 

other private universities in Africa. 

2.1 The Diagram of Higher Education Iron Triangle 

Theoretical framework will be developed through these key elements (variables for provision of 

Quality distance Higher education especially, the postgraduate level. 

 

 
 ACCESS                              QUALITY 

 
 
 

COST 
Figure 1. Theoretical Framework Developed through the above Variables, Access, Quality and 

Cost 

 

As described above in the theoretical framework summary, our premise is access to higher education 

via distance education is good and cost-effective. But it is not enough to conclude on the premises of 

access, however, distance education needs to provide a flexible source of quality postgraduate 

education as well cost-effective. We show that although UNISA provides access to postgraduate 

distance education, further studies are needed to ascertain the coherence, efficiency and impact aspects 

of the quality. 

Suppose the necessary day-to-day organizational conditions in the operation of UNISA as a 

cross-border distance educational institution is provided; these conditions might be formal and informal: 

formal conditions refer to the official structure, arrangement of policy framework, and the quality 

enhancement procedures; for example, the formal condition includes curriculum designs, 

administrative and academic support and course materials preparation and assessment methods; 

informal conditions might include the relationship of staff among themselves and students to student’s 

interactions. The study shows that these conditions give rise to the quality postgraduate studies for the 

learners in Ethiopia. Furthermore, we theorize that the following quality issue in higher education 



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needs to be understood in general conditions as follows. 

 

3. Discussion 

Across the Globe, it is an accepted fact that competitiveness is the nature of a knowledge market 

economy, in responding to this reality, quality education and training programs have been at the center 

of the national education agenda of many countries. According to Campbell and Rozsnyai (2002) 

recommended that, in the field of higher education, quality should be considered to be a notoriously 

vague, slippery concept. This simply suggests that it is not possible to find a universally accepted and 

comprehensive definition of quality in higher education. Therefore, defining the term quality in the 

contemporary higher education is challenging. 

Vroeijentijn (2006) points out that the concept quality has been subjected to various ambiguous 

interpretations. Quality as fitness for purpose, meaning conformity with an institutor’s mission as well 

as capacity to fulfill customers’ requirements, is the principal perspective that is upheld by scholars 

with eyes of stakeholders. This way of thinking is obviously of paramount importance to external 

stakeholders (Harvey, 2006). Quality as transformation refers to the classic notion that sees quality in 

terms of change in the learners from one state to another. 

 

4. Results 

Quality is usually connected to the concepts of efficiency and effectiveness. Although, the concept of 

quality does not have a universally accepted definition, many scholars consider quality in education in 

terms of what the system is all about and what the system offers the learners. In education, quality is 

determined by three crucial elements, namely: inputs, process and outcomes. Input, includes the key 

players: the learners and the academic and administrative staff members, who have the necessary skills 

and facilities for teaching and learning; process consists of the various teaching and learning activities; 

and the outcomes are the graduates and their required skills and training. 

Given the constraints of resources that many governments face in meeting the demand for higher 

education, distance education is seen as an alternative mode of delivery in providing access to quality 

higher education. In particular, in developing countries, including Ethiopia, distance education 

providers, such as UNISA, offer educational opportunities for rural-based communities and 

marginalised groups, who would, otherwise, not have been able to access higher education. However, 

without effective leadership the above objectives will not be materialized. 

 

 

 

 



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Acknowledgement 

I am indebted to the following groups of people and individuals who also positively contributed 

towards this study: the academic and administrative staff of the Department of Educational 

Management and MLC my sincere gratitude also goes to the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Education 

senior officials who participated in my research and Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency 

leaders. I offer further thanks to the Addis Ababa University Institute of Educational Research Centre, 

IGNOU academic and administrative staff members at the Addis Ababa branch. And further for this 

journal publishers. 

 

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