South African Universities have in recent years become more and more aware of the need for effective and efficient resource allocation systems. This can be attributed to such factors as (1) rising costs (2) expected growth rate in student numbers (3) resultant growth in university size and (4) the threat to diminishing state subsidies.
This need has been commented upon by various authorities such as the committee for university principals and the Van Wyk de Vries commission.
A research project was therefore undertaken with two basic purposes in mind. (a) To determine whether the planning/budgeting systems of the nine European universities in South Africa overemphasize control to the detriment of the planning function and; (b) To evaluate whether the planning, programming, budgeting system (PPBS) can be applied in a university environment.
This study found that in general university planning/budgeting systems: (a) overemphasize efficiency; (b) operate within a short time horizon; (c) make excessive use of incrementation; (d) have a pragmatic as opposed to a creative orientation; (e) is lacking in measures of effectiveness.
The nett result of the above being that universities tend to be control oriented.
The second part of this thesis directed at the evaluation of PPBS indicated that the system can be adapted to a university environment without undue difficulty and that it (the PPB System) will address the problem areas highlighted during the empirical research (see a to e above).
During the theoretical evaluation it was established that the PPB System has certain inherrent weaknesses of its own, which if not catered for would give a suboptimal solution. These weakenesses which can be classified as both procedural and structural are as follows: (a) the lack of a control system; (b) integrating the management control process outputs into the budget; (c) the strategic planning process; (d) resource priority allocation; (e) structural link between planning and control.
Having identified these weaknesses the study suggests possible ways how to overcome them.
The final conclusion of this thesis is that if the PPB System is modified and adapted both proceduraly and structurally as suggested, then it could be a possible solution to managements quest for an effective and efficient planning and control system.
