KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION IN
SOUTH AFRICAN HIGHER
EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA
FEB 2012
Juma - International and South African Policy Contexts
1. World wide a emphasis on knowledge policies as higher
education is regarded as more important in the knowledge
economy/society
2. Nico, with input from Peter Maassen from the University
of Oslo, will review these developments
3. Nico will make some comments on how well SA is doing in
terms of knowledge production
4. Andre du Toit will do a brief reflection on the Doctorate
(summary in bag)
International Knowledge Policies – Maassen
Starting point = New conditions in the global economy
Growing focus of national (regional – supranational) policy makers
and other central socio-economic actors on the university as a
driver for economic growth through its role as source for innovation
and job creation.
Consequence = Two new university governance aspects
First targeted policies for and investments in universities’ research
capacity are assumed to be needed in order to improve the global
competitiveness of a specific economy.
Second, targeted policies for and investments in connecting the
enhanced research capacity of universities to the knowledge needs
of society (incl. private and public sector companies and
organisations) in order to ensure the link of new knowledge to
economic growth (innovation & new jobs ).
«Balancing academic excellence with economic relevance»
Knowledge Economy
Central role of knowledge in government policies
Focus in Knowledge Policies on:
1. Global economic competitiveness
2. Innovative capacity of societies
3. High Level Skills and Competencies of Labour
force (Knowledge workers)
Core issue: Most effective investment of public
funds
The relationship between scientific
excellence and economic development
GDP per capita (current US$)
Predicted GDP per capita (current US$)
United States
Economic development
Australia
Japan
UK
High
Germany
Italy
Korea
Mexico
Brazil
Low
Argentina
South Africa
Tunisia
China
Egypt
India
Low
High
Influence of Scientific Research
(R = 0.714, P = 0.218)
(R = 0.961, P = 0.002)*
Data source: Thomson Reuters InCitesTM (21 September 2010); The World Bank Group (2010)
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Vuyani Lingela, 24 November 2011
Knowledge Policies
Growing need to integrate sector policies in overall
knowledge policies
Need to coordinate university/HE policies with
professional/vocational education, R&D/science,
technology, innovation, labour, and business policies
Modes of coordination – (Braun 2008; Herana 2011)
1. Coordination of knowledge policies needs to take place at the
level of both policy formulation and policy implementation
(Braun)
2. Negative coordination is a non-cooperative game that leads … to
the mutual adjustment of actors, but not to concerted action nor
to cohesiveness of policies
3. Positive coordination goes beyond mutual adjustment… policy
integration’ (the coordination of goals) and ‘strategic
coordination’
4. Positive coordination require a Pact, does not absolutely need a
whole-government perspective, but a perspective that is agreed
upon by a number of relevant political actors.
5. Methods: Departmental Mergers, Coordination Structures,
Networks and Visions
7
Dis-coordinated Knowledge Policies
1. Department of Higher Education and Training
a) Shocked by Chet’s finding of 3 million NEET’s and have
become ‘overwhelmed’ with FET and training
b) In Ministers budget speech referred to research on page 12
of 13 and never used knowledge economy and Africa, not to
mention the globe (a local communist)
2. Department of Science and Technology
b) Opening line knowledge economy and global competitive
c) Presses all the knowledge production buttons
d) Never spoke beyond pleasantries to DHET advisor
3. Two Departments focus on different and over-lapping aspects
of the system, without any co-ordination
8
National Planning Commission (Nov 2011): Functions of HE (1)
Higher education is the major driver of the information-knowledge
system, linking it with economic development...Universities are
key to developing a nation. They play three main functions in
society.
Firstly, they educate and train people with high-level skills for the
employment needs of the public and private sectors.
Secondly, universities are the dominant producers of new
knowledge, and they critique information and find new local and
global applications for existing knowledge. Universities also set
norms and standards, determine the curriculum, languages and
knowledge, ethics and philosophy underpinning a nation's
knowledge-capital. South Africa needs knowledge that equips
people for a society in constant social change
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NPC: Functions (2)
"Thirdly, given the country's apartheid history, higher education
provides opportunities for social mobility and simultaneously
strengthens equity, social justice and democracy. In today's
knowledge society, higher education underpinned by a strong
science and technology innovation system is increasingly
important in opening up people's opportunities." (p262)
For the first time post 1994 knowledge production and equity are
linked by stating that "high quality knowledge production cannot
be fully realized with a low student participation rate" (p274).
Also universities are not mainly fro individual mobility or for equity
redress - equity is mentioned last and transformation
in the Castells sense
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NPC: Knowledge Enthusiasm
The NPC is so enthusiastic about knowledge that it declares that
"knowledge production is the rationale of higher education"
(p271) - indeed a radical departure from the traditional
'rationale' of higher education in Africa, that is, disseminating
(teaching) knowledge from somewhere else.
Posters outside Parliament for Thursday’s State of the Nation:
Knowledge Economy and Development Opportunities.
At ANC 100th Zuma said: “Education and skills are the key priority
for our people”
These are huge steps away from HE as individual mobility and an
equity instrument – but in State of Nation announced the
biggest infrastructure project in history – not a word of KE
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NPC Knowledge Policies
1. the notion of knowledge production consists of a combination of
PhD education and research output.
2. a target of tripling the number of doctoral gradates from 1,420 to
5,000 per annum, and increasing the proportion of academic staff
with PhDs from 34% to 75%
3. a number of world-class centres and programmes should be
developed within the national system of innovation and the higher
education sector.
4. a new future scholars programme needs to be developed, both to
increase the proportion of staff with PhDs and to meet the
increasing demand for professional PhDs in the non-university
research, financial and services sectors
5. role of science councils should be reviewed in light of the worldwide tendency to align, or merge, research councils with universitie
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NPC: Differentiation
1. deals with the worldwide policy debate about the
concentration of resources by proposing world-class centers
and programmes across institutions (High science - Ska)
2. advises the Ministerial Committee for the Review of the
Funding of Universities that such revisions should be based on
the needs of a differentiated system with adequate provision
for both teaching and research
3. requires flexible pathways for student mobility between
institutions
4. the Higher Education Quality Committee should finally start
developing a core set of quality indicators for the whole
system;
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DHET Green Paper
Research and innovation
1. Economy depends on innovation and technology absorption
2. While investment in research has tripled, there has not been a
commensurate increase in personnel
3. Total knowledge output has increased 64% (2000-2009) but the
system must become more productive
4. Poverty is a significant constraint on masters and PhD studies –
students under pressure to obtain jobs??
5. Drastically increase number and quality of masters and PhD’s
6. Need for increased coordination between DHET and DST
7. Caliber and workload of academic staff must be addressed
8. Long term plan for renewing the academic profession doctorates for academics and professions
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NPC and DHET: The Good, the Bad and the Incomprehensible
15
1. Differentiation (whatever form) is official
2. Knowledge production (PhD and research output must increase – different
counts of research outputs) – at last recognising the knowledge producing
role of the university
3. Big focus on doctorate – for academics (target more than 60%), professions
research councils and other sectors (finance)
4. Good quality undergraduate education – including infrastructure funds for
labs, libraries, housing
5. Improvement of through put – efficiency
6. Dramatic increase in participation rate – mainly in FET
7. Mission and profile differentiation
8. Creation of a connected system
9. Improved Coordination between DSHT and DHET (HESA meeting)
10. More funding for higher education
Ten Year Innovation Plan
 The Government of South Africa is implementing the Ten Year
Innovation Plan which includes five “Grand Challenges” that
build on and expand the country’s research capabilities
(Minister Naledi Pandor, 2009).
• The first grand challenge is to tap the potential of the bio-economy
for the pharmaceutical industry.
• The second grand challenge is to build on investments in space
science and technology.
• The third grand challenge is to move towards the use of renewable
energy.
• The fourth grand challenge is to play a leading, regional role in
climate change.
• The fifth and final grand challenge is termed “human and social
dynamics”.
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Vuyani Lingela, 24 November 2011
Knowledge Production: SA International Performance
According to the NPC:
1. SA produces 28 PhD graduates per million of the population
while UK =288; US = 201; Australia=264; Korea=187; Brazil = 48
2. World Bank: SA has tripled R&D investment since 1994, but the
total number of FTE researchers increased by only 33%. SA has
approximately 1.5 FTE researchers per 1000 employed;
countries with similar ratio of R&D to GDP expenditure like
Portugal = 4.8 and Italy = 3.6
3. NPC goals: Increase PhD graduates from 1420 to 5000 p.a and
increase percentage of staff with PhD’s from 34% to 75%
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The rise of doctorates
45.0%
40.0%
40.0%
Major expansion of higher education has
boosted PhD output in many countries,
shown here as average annual growth of
doctoral degrees across all disciplines.
1998 - 2006
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
17.1%
15.0%
10.0%
10.0%
8.5%
7.1%
6.4%
6.2%
6.2%
6.1%
5.2%
5.0%
2.5%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
-2.2%
-5.0%
China
Mexico Denmark
India
Korea
South
Africa
Japan
Australia Poland
Source: Nature. International weekly journal in Science
United
Kingdom
United
States
Canada Germany Hungary
HERANA - Total PhD enrolled and total PhD graduates, 2001 - 2007
7,000
6,080
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,759
1,103
1,000
931
187
299
34
126
0
Botswana
Makerere
6
0
Eduardo
Mondlane
854
674
648
83
Ghana
47
*Mauritius
163
90
Nairobi
Dar es
Salaam
203
NMMU
University of
Cape Town
* Mauritius enroll large numbers of students as MPhil students, and depending on their performance only some graduate as PhD
students
KP outputs: Universities of Sao Paolo, Pretoria and Cape Town
10000
9109
9000
8206
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2244
2000
1187
1000
196
1184
1390
178
0
USP 2010
UP 2009
Doctoral graduates
UCT 2009
SA totals 2009
Research publications
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Summary
1. Unprecedented shift from HE as instrument to advance equity and individual
mobility to HE as crucial part of development
2. Policy recognition of importance of coordination of policy and
implementation, but little sign of positive cooperation yet
3. SA a Medium knowledge producing system, rated around 30th in the world
4. SA has a few global high visibility big science projects
5. SA seems to be doing better in research output than in producing doctorates
6. Over –enthusiasm about dramatic increase in doctoral production
7. Next session on the Doctoral Project will explore this ‘doctoral exuberance’
through different empirical prisms
(Alan Greenspan initially attributed the 2008 crash to ‘irrational market exuberance’).
8. Andre will do a brief historical reflection on the doctorate
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