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five key areas: enhancement of curricula and learning, enhancement of faculty and staff, enhancement of students, and enhancement of external relations and recognition, as well as the need to seek and maintain national and international accreditations of programs. The chapter introduces a hypothetical institution—Victoria Falls University in Livingstone, Zambia—to illustrate both the relevance and extent of these goals and ensuing processes. Having a strategic management process on paper is, clearly, not enough. It must be implemented and actualized, or “brought to life,” through its central manifestation: the strategic plan, complete with mission and vision statements, statement of values, major goals, objectives, action steps/items, responsible parties, financial and other resource strategies, and key performance indicators. The forces driving the need for formal strategic planning are visible on many levels, including but not limited to changing student needs, shrinking sources of public funds, competition from other universities (including online or virtual universities) for both students and public funds, changing student demographics, as well as pressure from many African governments for more accountability in institutions of higher learning. While chapter 1 utilizes the example of a school of business (Victoria Falls University School of Business) to demonstrate the need for such strategic plans, the same arguments can be adapted to other areas of study in African universities, including but not limited to law, education, social sciences, journalism, mineral economics, psychology, tourism, architecture, library studies, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering. Ultimately, the currency and relevance of the education that students in African universities receive will depend, to a large degree, not only on the execution of well-thought-out strategic plans but also on the resources (human, financial, and technological) that can and should be invested toward reaching vital educational targets.
In chapter 2, the author observes that tourism is recognized as an industry of the future that will drive development especially in marginalized communities, most of which are in developing countries. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is no exception in this regard. It has unique tourism products to offer. At the core of