South African e-Skills Research Networks
(ResNes)
Prof. SP Songca
Walter Sisulu University
eSkills – a foundation for Human
Capital Development in South Africa
Building an Information Society and
Creative Knowledge Economies in South
Africa through network partnerships
Presentation Outline
 Model description
 Progress update
 Eidos South Africa
 Location of ResNes
 How did we get here?
 Human Resource Planning
 The Four Founding Partners
 The founding agenda
 Legal arrangements
 Governance arrangements
 Statement of Purpose
 Title and Description
 A sample of projects
 The Concept and Setting
 Current Status
 Fundamental Concepts
 End – thank you.
© TISI 2009
Brief Background and Description of ResNes
A model is being described for multi-stakeholder cooperation between
government, higher education, business and civil society to form alliance
that stands a much better chance of delivering on the mandates of each
than it would on individual mandates of each without the others.
Special focus is on national, even regional eSkilling – one of the most
important key success factors for knowledge economies the world over.
The model is based on tried and tested approaches that integrate and
harness the combined strengths of the research based knowledge
generation, innovation and intelligence of the nation and its economic
networks in the space of information and communications technologies.
It seeks to provide research based intelligence support to, and thought
leadership for the national strategic response to the priority areas of the
medium term strategic framework (MTSF) and related government policies.
© TISI 2009
Eidos South Africa Projects Website
It is estimated that South Africa currently experiences a shortage of over
70,000 IT professionals. There is a serious shortage of skills within the ICT
sector and within civil society in general in South Africa.
This situation is likely to deteriorate, given that the supply side for ICT
graduates from the universities is now showing decline. Addressing the
eSkils shortage through this traditional route of supply is clearly insufficient.
This shortage of e-skills, should be addressed in other ways - through
involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the society.
The key stakeholders include education, particularly higher education, local,
provincial and national government, civil society and business.
Through their networks of international linkages business, government and
particularly higher education can harness existing capacities for research,
intelligence, innovation, latest technologies and resource mobilization.
© TISI 2009
Eidos South Africa – How did we get here?
Following a series of engagements within the country and abroad, with the
background as outlined, high level thinking has concluded that the best way
forward in order to establish a dedicated funding mechanism is to implement
a pilot project in South Africa based on the Eidos Institute Ltd.
Similar thinking has led to the pilot establishment of the South African eSkills
Research Networks (ResNes) to drive multi stakeholder eSkills programmes
and provide them with multi-stakeholder research intelligence support.
Establishment of this formal South African e-Skills research body will start
with the founding four university partners that have signed the MoU with eSI
to collate current activity, develop a national agenda, develop a strategic
plan and conduct today’s colloquium alongside the e-Skills Summit.
Participation will draw from excellence across the higher education sector,
government agencies and from business. It is undesirable for membership
to be limited to the founding universities that have signed the MoU with eSI.
© TISI 2009
The Four Founding Partners
MoU with the Meraka e-Skills Institute
(e-SI)/Department of Communications through the
establishment of an e-Skills Higher Education
Research Alliance (ResNes) involving
UP
DUT
© TISI 2009
UWC
WSU
The founding agenda – an overview!
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ResNeS is one of several projects!
Multi Stakeholder Collaboration Program - International Exchanges
Open and Distance Learning
Shared Knowledge Centres
e-Skills Research Funding options
Developing the basis for a National eSkills Action Plan
e-Skills thought leadership seminars
e-Skills Summit
© TISI 2009
Title and Description
Developing an academic research base for e-Skills to support the National
e-Skills Dialogue Initiative (NeSDI) emerging from government.
The holistic scoping focus areas span the continuum of eLiteracy,
participatory democracy, government, business, information and
communications technology end users and professionals.
ResNeS is initially championed by the four universities, and will become
an attractant for thought leaders, intellectual discourse and development
of national research agendas and funding mechanisms for e-skills and
community informatics.
© TISI 2009
The Concept and Setting
 Due particularly to rapid developments and globalization, the skills
needed for the future are very different to those needed in the past.
 The impact of the convergence of ICTs is changing the basis and
reality of service delivery across the socio-economic spectrum of
emerging societies everywhere.
 There are fundamental concepts relating to these changes for national
education systems, particularly for higher education in South Africa.
 There are also urgent responses required from the sector in relation to
these changes in order to meet changes and realities of service
delivery across the socio-economic spectrum.
© TISI 2009
Fundamental Concepts
 Collaborative approaches across disciplines, sectors and societal
structures to problem solving and addressing local, provincial and national
strategic objectives are required and are of prime importance.
 Education, particularly higher education, has an important role in providing
easily accessible integrated content, strategic and pedagogical leadership
in e-skills development for creative workforces for the Information Society
and Knowledge Economies.
 It also has an opportunity to provide the space, the collaborative
leadership, the analysis frameworks and the strategic direction for multistakeholder collaborations to develop, deliver and grow e-skills based
projects across government, business, civil society and education that
distribute service delivery benefits and that provide post-graduate
qualifications.
© TISI 2009
Progress update
 In formalizing the commitment to e-Skills as outlined in the MoU with the
Meraka e-Skills Institute (e-SI)/Department of Communications through the
establishment of an e-Skills Higher Education Research Alliance (ResNes)
initially involving the University of Pretoria, the Durban University of
Technology, The University of the Western Cape and the Walter Sisulu
University, the WSU has engaged several units within itself, including
FSET, SoC, planning, legal, and community and international partnerships
to establish ResNes at the Walter Sisulu University within the Faculty of
Science, Engineering and Technology, as an independent entity.
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Prepare a draft MoA for ResNes
Establish an appropriate legal vehicle for ResNes
Propose the constitutional structure and arrangements
Propose an operational and human resource structure
© TISI 2009
Walter Sisulu University
A comprehensive Developmental University
Eastern Cape Technikon
University of Transkei
Border Technikon
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Faculty of Science Engineering and Technology
WSU has 4 faculties FSET, FHS, FED, FBMSL and a proposed 5th FAGRIC in the drawing board. FSET has five schools
School of Computing – SoC.
School of Engineering – SoE.
School of Technology – SoT.
School of Mathematics and Computational Sciences - SoMACS.
School of Applied and Environmental Sciences - SoAES.
© TISI 2009
The Structure of the FSET
Executive Dean
Executive
Secretary
Deputy Deans
x2
Academic
Directors of
Schools x 5
Schools Officers
& Academic
Secretaries
(Sharing)
Schools Officers
& Academic
Secretaries
(Sharing)
Faculty Manager
Faculty Officer
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Faculty
Administrator
QA Officer
Faculty
Accountant
Location and structural arrangements
Executive Dean
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
Faculty Manager
School of
Applied and
Environmental
Sciences
School of
Engineering
School of
Technology
School of
Computing
School Manager
Manager
ResNes
Information
Technology
Office Manager
Research coordinator
Networks coordinator
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School of
Mathematical and
Computational
Sciences
Applied
Informatics
Computer
Science
Academic Schools and Departmental Composition
Academic School and Departmental Compositions
School Of Mathematical & Computational Sciences
Prof. Swami Mishra (PhD)
Applied Mathematics
Mathematics
Statistics
School Of Computing
Dr. Cecille Marsh (PhD)
Applied Informatics
Information Technology
Computer Science
School Of Engineering
Mr. Gerber (M.Eng)
Building Construction
Civil Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
School Of Applied & Environmental Sciences
Prof. Denis Jumbam (PhD)
Chemistry and Chemical Technology
Botany
Zoology
Environmental Sciences
Physics
School Of Technology
Mr. Aaron Sepeng (M.Tech)
Fine Art
Fashion
Food and Consumer Science
© TISI 2009
Human Resource Planning
 ResNes Manager.
Overall manager of the unit and its activities. Responsible for
operations, finance, marketing and strategic visioning.
 Secretariat.
Secretarial support to the unit and especially the manager
 Networks coordinator
Manages/coordinates the research networks membership and
participation.
 Research coordinator
Manages/coordinates the research programmes and projects.
© TISI 2009
Legal arrangements
 An independent entity
The ResNeS is an entity within the faculty of Science, Engineering and
Technology, located in the School of Computing, reporting to the director
of the School who reports to the executive dean of the faculty. ResNes
manager accounts to the ResNes governing board.
 A section 21 company or similar instrument
The legal status of the entity is envisaged as a section 21 company an
independent not for profit business organization within the SoC.
 The structure and Funding
The structure of ResNes includes the manager, research coordinator,
networks coordinator and a secretariat. The funding support will be
independent of the WSU finance and accounting system so that it will be
managed and audited separately.
© TISI 2009
Governance structural arrangements
 The Governing Board
The Board of ResNeS is comprised of four Senior Institutional Research
Administrators/Leaders with institutional responsibilities for research
coordination (one from each of the founding universities).
 The membership
The membership of the ResNeS is made up of existing and emerging
researchers from academia, government, business & civil society from
across South Africa, Africa and internationally.
 The constitution
The constitution of ResNes is expected to increase with time as more
universities join. However membership and participation in research is not
limited to the constituting universities.
© TISI 2009
Statement of Purpose
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research classification
research working groups
evaluation of e-Skills impacts
e-Skills thought leadership
constitution
policy ….
© TISI 2009
Statement of Purpose
 Thought leadership
Commence a process of e-Skills thought leadership, seminars,
conferences, summits across education, business, government and civil
society.
 Develop a constitution
Develop a constitution that would allow a participative process across the
structure of the organization, provide for growth and sustainability as well
as define the basis for an academic recognition of the generic role of
eSkills as a valuable and legitimate contributor to academic enquiry,
pedagogy and policy development.
 Research classification
Develop a research classification for current and emerging e-skills
applicable for the Information Society and Knowledge Economies.
© TISI 2009
Statement of Purpose
 Research working groups
 Establish research working groups across disciplines. These working
groups are the research expertise and resource of the research network.
 Develop integrated approaches for policy development
 Engage with university, government and business structures and
processes to develop integrated approaches for policy development.
 Research and evaluation of e-Skills impacts
 Research and evaluation of e-Skills impacts, applications and the
underpinning pedagogy.
© TISI 2009
A sample of projects – work in progress!
ResNes has conceptualized a number of projects to be tested for further
development by the combined think tank of the founding member
universities and experts from across the sector and the other stakeholders.
(1) A consolidation of all baseline research on eSkills in South Africa.
Significant work has been done on a much broader scope in this regard:
ResearchICTAfrica fills a strategic gap in the development of a sustainable
information society and network knowledge economy by building the ICT
policy and regulatory research capacity needed to inform effective ICT
governance in Africa (Alison Gillwald & Christoph Stork; 2008). This should
really lay the foundation for more focused baseline and gap filling studies.
While there is a proliferation of statistical data on ICTs in South Africa, very
little is known about the ICT and eSkills status of grass-roots communities
particularly those in the rural and peri-urban communities.
© TISI 2009
A sample of projects – work in progress!
(2) An audit of ICT training and an evaluation of its impact on eSkills. In this
area too a substantial body of work exists on the broader African context
and to some degree the finer Southern African focus. An example is the
survey of ICT and education in Africa - a summary report based on surveys
from 53 countries, including South Africa. More important in this proposal is
the impact assessment and therefore the potential projection of provisioning
to meet the challenges and bridge the gaps.
The value of these studies is mainly in their potential to influence education
policy and strategy for ICT provisioning. For example it should be asked
whether the number of high schools, primary schools and lower primary
schools that actually teach basic ICT subjects and the learners enrolled for
these subjects can support the ICT provisioning at further and higher
education that is required for a national eskilling agenda that will address
the desired creative knowledge economy.
© TISI 2009
Work in progress
Given that the focus and scope of ResNes projects will depend largely on
the programme of action or action plans, I shall not elaborate on the rest of
the potential pipeline research projects.
However, it is necessary to emphasize that what is being pursued here is a
national programme of action as opposed to “strategic plans or frameworks”
of which there is a legendary proliferation and remarkable paucity of
implementation.
It is also necessary to emphasize that a critical requirement for the
feasibility of any programme of action is a solid support with relevant and
current research based intelligence to expose the status quo, for critical path
definition, forecasting and projection analysis, monitoring, evaluation and
impact assessment.
© TISI 2009
Current Status
 Agreements
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MoA – working progress
Proposed legal arrangements – working progress
Proposed structural arrangements - finalized
Human resource plan - finalized
Purpose statements - evolving
© TISI 2009
End thank you
End, thank you
© TISI 2009