Mini case study
Membership of the JAGs is not formulaic; each university has spent time individually identifying their key stakeholders (local, national, and regional) to participate, informed by the programmes they intend to redesign. Each JAG includes a mix of people from the public and private sector (potential employers); entrepreneurs (inspirers); community leaders, and government (policy enactors). While membership numbers across the JAGs differ and can fluctuate over time, all universities maintain a group of over 25 members and found it beneficial to appoint a chairperson.
All universities have strived to achieve gender balance within their JAGs, especially within leadership positions, and some have invited gender-focused organisations to be members. For example, one of Mzumbe University’s JAG members is from Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). This JAG member’s contribution has led to an increased awareness of gender-responsive pedagogy practices among JAG members and a review of the institution’s gender policy.
Beyond success or relevance within their field, it is necessary for JAG members to also be interested in leading innovation within their communities. However, it is worth noting here that all universities generally found that people were pleased to join and support the group. Once the JAG members are selected from different sectors of interest to the university, terms of reference are shared and agreed upon.
In addition, lecturers and students from the universities are also invited to participate in meetings, either regularly or on a more ad-hoc basis. The sections below illustrate how the JAGs have been formed at each university.
UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA (UDOM):
“The JAG is currently formed by the TESCEA team, Director of Undergraduate Studies (UDOM), lecturer champions, student champions, external members from both public and private sectors (Ministry of Education Science and Technology, The Commission of Science and Technology (COSTECH), Small Industry Development Organisation – SIDO, Association of Tanzanian Employers – ATE, Confederation of Tanzania Industry – CTI, District Councils (Mpwapwa and Bahi), Dodoma Municipal Council.”
There are approximately 30 core members of the group but, depending on the objectives of a specific meeting, there can be up to 45 stakeholders in attendance. The decision on who to invite is based on stakeholder analysis. Initially, UDOM considered including representatives from banks and mobile phone companies. However, it was considered that these large employers had established recruitment processes and only hired from defined programmes (such as ICT, accounting, and commerce).
MZUMBE UNIVERSITY:
Mzumbe University’s JAG includes employers, student representatives from the participating programmes, Heads and Deans of participating programmes, TESCEA multipliers, TESCEA team members, teachers from secondary schools, and representatives from banks and the manufacturing industry. It also includes representatives from: the Prime Minister's Office Labour, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disability; the Ministry of Labour and Employment; Tanzania Private Sector Foundation; Ashoka East Africa; Small Industry Development Organisation; Association of Tanzanian Employers; Confederation of Tanzanian Industry; and several NGOs (including FAWE). In total, there are 35 members.
Regarding the selection of members:
“students are selected from representative courses, employers are selected based on the role of that office towards employability of graduates or policy reforms, or gender role in teaching and learning.”
GULU UNIVERSITY:
The Gulu University team began by asking the faculties participating in TESCEA (Agriculture, Medicine, and Business) which community organisations and businesses they worked with within the community. Community members with a passion for community development, including local politicians, and community representatives, and academicians were also approached. Ashoka East Africa supported Gulu University in identifying a further member, who later was nominated as the chair, from their Changemaker Community. The JAG membership in Gulu University is composed of prominent community members from agribusiness, business, community development, non-governmental organisations, medicine and peace and development. This diversity in composition was necessitated by the need to have diversity in representation since the JAG at Gulu is constituted at the institutional level.