Nico Cloete Heads of Institutions Forum

Mombasa/Cape Town, December 2015

The Functions of Higher Education

1. The importance of knowledge and higher education for sustainable development is global, even though there are contextual and regional differences

2. It is the knowledge re-generative capacity of universities that underlies sustainable development

3. Four functions of universities:

• Ideological apparatus: producers of values social legitimation

• Selection of the dominant elites –iron cage for the elite

• Professional training – self programmable labour

• Production of scientific knowledge - engine of development

Functions also needs to be addressed within a system

(Manuel Castells: The University System: Engine of Development in the New World Economy, 1993)

Africa Needs Research Universities

1. Traditionally, Universities in Africa focussed on Ideology, Elite Selection and Training, and performed poorly on Knowledge Production

2. Africa needs to shift to increased participation (from low base of under 10% ) and increased knowledge production

3. Research universities in low- and middle-income countries have crucial roles to play in developing differentiated and effective academic systems

4. Understanding the characteristics of the research university and building the infrastructures and the intellectual environment needed for successful research universities is a top priority (Altbach, 2013)

Africa’s Research Performance

1. Publications in Africa increased from 11 776 in 2002 to 19 650 in 2008 – 66.9% growth (world average = 34.5%).

2. Africa’s share globally increased from 1.6% to 2.0%, Latin America from 3.8% to 4.9% and Asia from 24.2% to 30.7%.

3. From 2000-2008 Asia’s share of researchers rose from 35.2% to 38.2%, Latin America from 3.0% to 3.8% and Africa’s share fell from 2.2% to 2.1%.

4. African Union publication output grew by 43% compared to the world average of 18% (Source: Scopus).

5. If the African Union were a country, it would be just behind India, China and Brazil, but ahead of Russia in publication output.

Sources: African Observatory for Science, Technology and Innovation; Zaleza P. 2014. The Development of STEM in Africa.

• Network of 50 participating academics and senior administrators

(mainly planners) in 12 countries

• Project is currently in its 7th year

• Participating African countries and “Flagship” universities

◦ Botswana – University of Botswana

◦ Ghana – University of Ghana

◦ Kenya – University of Nairobi

◦ Mauritius – University of Mauritius

◦ Mozambique – Eduardo Mondlane

◦ South Africa – University of Cape Town

◦ Tanzania – University of Dar es Salaam

◦ Uganda – Makerere University

5

Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa

5,152

6,354

9,104

9,994

13,964

685 834 1,104 1,182

1,878

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

1996 2000 2004 2008 2012

Enrolments Graduates

0

2

3

4

5

6

17

24

28

43

44

67

75

86

94

109

150

152

154

177

199

200

240

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Mangosuthu

Vaal

Walter Sisulu

Venda

Central

Durban

Limpopo

Cape Peninsula

Zululand

Fort Hare

Tshwane

Rhodes

Western Cape

Nelson Mandela

Free State

Johannesburg

Witwatersrand

South Africa

North West

KwaZulu-Natal

Cape Town

Pretoria

Stellenbosch

0%

25%

25%

26%

33%

34%

34%

35%

45%

46%

50%

51%

51%

52%

52%

52%

52%

54%

55%

56%

60%

65%

100%

0%

75%

75%

74%

67%

66%

66%

65%

55%

54%

50%

49%

49%

48%

48%

48%

48%

46%

45%

44%

40%

35%

Vaal

South Africa

Venda

Limpopo

Cape…

Durban

KwaZulu-…

Tshwane

Pretoria

Zululand

Cape Town

Stellenbosch

Graduates as % of new doctoral intake of 2006 after 7 years

% drop outs or incomplete after 7 years

African doctoral graduates by nationality and gender

Source: Cloete et al. (2015) Doctoral Education in South Africa

18

Average annual growth rates by nationality and gender (2000–2012)

Source: Cloete et al. (2015) Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education

Countries of origin of the 2012 graduates

1. Zimbabwe 142 26.8%

2. Nigeria 76 14.4%

3. Kenya 43 8.1%

4. Uganda 29 5.5%

5. Ethiopia 23 4.3%

6. USA 23 4.3%

7. Cameroon 19 3.6%

8. Ghana 19 3.6%

9. Tanzania 18 3.4%

10. Zambia 17 3.2%

South Africa a PhD Bargain

1. SA has 5 Universities in Shanghai top 500

2. Full time research PhD Costs • UK (Bath)– $21 450 fees (foreigners) + $18 000 living = $46 050 • US (Berkeley) - $31 900 fees + $23 000 living = $54 900 • US (NYU ) - $41 300 fees + $26 000 living = $67 300 • SA (US) - $2000 +$1000 (foreigners) + $10 000 living = $13 000 SA three times cheaper than Bath, four times cheaper than Berkeley and five

times cheaper than NYU

3. Golden triangle – Efficiency, Transformation Quality (perceived)

4. But the Africans from the rest of Africa are not SA Africans, not black, not disadvantaged or not “ours” (nationalism or middle class xenophobia?)

5. Too few doctorates at African flagship universities

Policy Choices – SA a PhD hub for Africa?

1. SA wants to triple its PhD output and has made considerable investment in doctoral studies! (2000 to 5000)

2. SA does not have the student interest/availability or the staff capacity to reach the targets (capacity exhaustion)

3. “As we are all acutely aware, we do not have the supervisory capacity in South Africa to produce the number of PhDs the government has set as a target. I suspect that we also don’t actually have the local candidature either. It thus seems logical that given our skills shortages and capacity challenges that where skilled workers wish to remain, they ought to be welcomed. (Cloete et al 2015 Knowledge Production)

4. SA Emigration policy – loose control over lows kills (township conflict- xenophobia) but restrict high skills (academic xenophobia)

5. Knowledge economy hubs – Silicon Valley, EdHubs (San Francisco)

6. Brain drain or brain circulation

Nico Cloete Ian Bunting Charles Sheppard & François van Schalkwyk

Data from CHET, CREST

& African HE Open Data

www.chet.org.za/data/african-he-opendata