The privately-held institution has appointed UK-based Oxford HR to spearhead the international process of recruiting a replacement for Professor Paul Zeleza who exited early August after a five-year stint.
Oxford HR has a maximum of nine months to identify the ideal candidate.
The tenure of the previous substantive VC, Prof Zeleza, was characterised by a clash with lecturers over salary cuts and a union over plans to lay off non-teaching staff.
The United States International University-Africa (USIU-A) has hired a top UK firm to lead the global search for its vice-chancellor, a pointer that the institution is looking beyond Kenya for the new head.
The privately-held institution has appointed UK-based Oxford HR to spearhead the international process of recruiting a replacement for Professor Paul Zeleza who exited early August after a five-year stint.
The exit of the Malawian historian Zeleza prompted USIU-A’s Council to recall former long-serving Vice-Chancellor Freida Brown from retirement to serve on a nine-month interim contract ending June next year.
Oxford HR has a maximum of nine months to identify the ideal candidate, raising the possibility of Prof Brown’s contract being extended by up to three months.
"The new Vice-Chancellor will be expected to bring a track record of successful leadership and academic achievement, as demonstrated in a doctoral degree and ideally at full Professorial level," Prof Brown, who headed the institution for 21 years before retiring early 2016, said in a statement.
The successful candidate will achieve the goals in the university’s 2021-2026 Strategic Plan with “energy, sound judgment and integrity”, she added.
The prospective VC will also need to “think creatively about opportunities for growth and income diversification" working with the institution’s management board.
USIU-A, which has had a presence in Kenya since 1969 initially as a Nairobi before becoming a full-fledged university in 1999, is keen on enhancing its national, regional and international positioning in higher education.
The tenure of the previous substantive VC, Prof Zeleza, was characterised by a clash with lecturers over salary cuts and a union over plans to lay off non-teaching staff.
In October last year, the Employment and Labour Relations court suspended plans by USIU-A to slash lecturers' pay, pending the determination of petition the tutors had filed.
In May, the university denied violating a court order stopping it from laying off non-teaching staff pending the determination of a case filed by the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions and Hospital Workers (Kudheiha).
