Globalization, democratization and knowledge production

4.6 NETWORKING AND LINKAGES

Local and international linkages were forged mainly by individual academics and often followed patterns of prior affiliations. Many academics, for example, continue to network with colleagues at universities where they had undertaken previous studies or had worked previously (I: Annelise; Charmaine; Xolile). In most instances, these were other Afrikaans universities, such as Potchefstroom, Stellenbosch and Pretoria, which is understandable given UPE's history as an Afrikaner university. Interestingly, the black academics I interviewed no longer had linkages with HBUs in which they had studied. This may not be out of choice but rather based on the nature of their affiliation with those institutions, which they were forced to attend on racial grounds. Nevertheless, long-term networks had been established with fellow students professionally, and politically for those who were student activists.

According to Ramdass and Winters, the NRF facilitated linkages between researchers they funded, with local and overseas counterparts engaged in similar research:

The National Research Foundation… would have a liaison with Swedish counterparts, or the Hungarian people or the Japanese people. They will try to bring researchers together. So if the Hungarian people are working in my field, for example, and I have listed my name with our NRF, they would say look this is a collaboration that you could do with this individual and we take it from there… I am using the NRF more than I should, I know that, simply because… I am not an established researcher. (I: Ramdass)
Ramdass’s experience indicates that this supportive role played by the NRF is particularly valuable to emerging researchers and assists in building their research capacity.

4.6.1 Local networking

Collegiality

Academic, Charmaine, found her department alienating in that there was little collegiality among staff. An individualistic atmosphere prevailed in which academics focused primarily on their own areas of research. Ramdass also commented on the reluctance of academics to work collaboratively, while Bonang found that academics preferred to “work in cocoons” (I: Bonang; Ramdass). On the other hand, Piet, a senior researcher in Computer Science and Information Science, happily reported his involvement in numerous inter-departmental research projects (I: Piet). It may well be that greater opportunities for inter-disciplinary collaboration are possible in Piet’s particular discipline.

However, it is not unusual for academics to exhibit this type of individualism and insularity, which is well documented as being the nature of the academy and a consequence of academic autonomy (Austin, pp. 64-65; Berquist, p. 170; Tierney, 1999, pp. 10-11, 114, 156-157). Altbach and Finkelstein (1997, p. 256), for example, assert: “Research continues to be a lonely business on these campuses” while Tierney (1999, p 114) concludes: “The present conditions in academe are making individuals feel isolated from one another and bereft of social community.” Interestingly, whereas Western scholars lament Mode 2 type of research as the harbinger of the end of collegiality (Currie & Newson, 1998, pp. 204-205; Slaughter & Leslie, 1997, p. 243; see also Altbach, 1999, p. 31), South African academics appear to believe that the collaborative and team work styles of conducting Mode 2 type research might in fact contribute to greater collegiality and sharing among academics (see further discussions on Mode 2 type of research in chapter eleven; I: Charmaine; Murray; Ramdass).

According to the Director of Research, the university offered an additional 9 % funding if researchers worked together collaboratively. In other words, if a project received 100, 000 rands in funding, an additional 9,000 rands would be allocated if a team of researchers undertook the research. The director explained that UPE’s goal was that 80 % of research should to be conducted by teams in the future (I: DoR). Ramdass explained that the NRF had encouraged collaborative research in the hope of reducing costs, when it came to, for example, using expensive research equipment.

South African universities

There was little evidence from the participants, who represented a range of disciplines, of any major collaboration between UPE and other South African universities. Annelise and Celine, for instance, reported that there were no joint projects, but only communications with academics they had encountered during conferences, the co-authoring of articles or serving as external examiners for other universities (I: Annelise; Celine). Beryl claimed that it was difficult to forge linkages when academics were “strapped” for resources and time, having to perform administrative tasks and deal with increasing workloads (I: Beryl). According to her, all she managed to achieve was information sharing. Celine attributes her lack of significant linkages with other universities in South Africa to the location of Port Elizabeth which, although a metropolitan city, is remote from the busier urban centres such as Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria where the larger universities are located: “We feel a bit isolated from where everything happens either in the Western Cape, the universities there, or on the Rand (Gauteng).”

Notably, Piet, from Computer Sciences, had forged collaborations with Rhodes University on a “regular basis” and found that “their technology is a bit more advanced than ours at this university” (I: Piet). He observed that Rhodes, unlike UPE, had computer laboratories in all departments. Piet was also a member of the Eastern Cape Technology Forum (I: Piet).

Networking with HBUs

As noted, linkages were based on historical affiliations with other HWU-As but, more recently, the new policies have encouraged joint projects between HWUs and HBUs in an attempt to rationalise resources amongst the universities (I: Murray). THRIP funding received from the NRF enabled a partnership between UPE and an HBU, UNITRA (University of Transkei) to develop a centre of excellence in computer science (I: Murray). As noted in chapter two, the THRIP funding is conditional upon the HWU having an HBU partner. Unfortunately, problems were encountered in this collaboration when poor infrastructure and management at UNITRA led to the disappearance of the equipment (I: Piet). In addition, only 3 out of 40 computers in the computer laboratory at UNITRA were in working condition, while only one of these three computers had Internet connections. The Internet and telephone lines were often disconnected because accounts had not been paid. Moreover, although students were registered for computer science courses, there were no lecturers to teach the courses (I: Piet).

Piet claimed further that standards between UPE and UNITRA did not articulate, so that UNITRA graduates applying for the honours course at UPE were requested to repeat the third year at UPE, before being admitted to the honours course there:

That degree is not worth the paper it is written on. So they come to us. They say, ‘I’d love to do honours with you… I’ve done third year’. We say, ‘But it’s not our standard.’ Now, I don’t think that is correct. (But) they don’t even have computer science lecturers. Now how can you run a computer science department and have some person not qualified even to do these kinds of things? It’s just wrong.

Piet, had apparently also worked with Fort Hare and observed that, “They too had their share of problems” (I: Piet). I pointed out to him that Fort Hare was emerging from its troubled past, and enquired whether he had encountered better conditions there since. Piet responded:

I’ve heard about Fort Hare. Fort Hare has dropped all entrance requirements… just to get students in, because their student numbers were dropping so much. So they just take in anybody at the moment, just to get the fifty percent government subsidy. But that’s hearsay.

At the time of this discussion, Fort Hare had already begun to change this situation (see chapter six). Nevertheless, it seems that negative perceptions based on historical circumstances continue to abide, despite recent changes. Whereas the media had paid considerable attention to Fort Hare’s demise, it has not reported the turnaround with as much vigour. Consequently, academia and the public at large continue to hold negative perceptions about this institution.

Black academic, Charmaine, claimed that her department had “close links” with Rhodes but not Fort Hare because the latter was short-staffed and was not involved in research. Her view was contrary to the empirical evidence provided by this study, which showed that several academics at Fort Hare (see chapter six), including a professor in a corresponding department, were actively engaged in research and have published in rated journals (see Gumbi chapter six). It shows that negative perceptions of HBUs persist at HWUs and that these are common across the racial divide at these HWUs. As can be seen, very few participants at UPE collaborated with HBUs.

One of the problems encountered by these joint ventures is that the collaborations were usually based on individual rather than institutional efforts, so that when a member of these joint projects leaves the institution, the collaboration comes to a halt. Pat, for instance, had collaborated in a NRF funded joint project with a colleague from Fort Hare, who had since left the university and no one had been appointed to the project since. Murray and Xolile also made this observation of the negative effect of staff attrition on the research capacity at smaller universities, especially the HBUs. During the initial stages of the project, UPE had shared its equipment with Fort Hare. Later, Fort Hare purchased its own equipment with funding from the NRF. According to Pat, the equipment was not being used, but Gumbi from Fort Hare informed me that they were using this equipment. Pat correctly observed that Fort Hare colleagues used UPE’s library resources when they visited UPE for research purposes. This has made her realise that UPE’s access to resources is better than that of Fort Hare:

I think maybe our access to library (resources) and journals is actually better, in that when we did the joint work with Fort Hare, their students would come and spend some time here where we sort of share library resources… that was about two years ago [2000]. (I: Pat)

This section shows that networking with HBUs is relatively new and based on the new policy incentives. The collaboration between HWUs and HBUs is an essential part of the redress intentions of the policies, to ensure better utilization of the skewed distribution of resources that have resulted from inequitable funding during the apartheid era and which would continue to hinder the research capacity of HBUs if not addressed.

Perceptions of HBUs and HWUs

In this section, I examine the perceptions that UPE has of other universities in order to examine whether apartheid stereotypes are dissipating and what effect their continuation may have on the relations between universities, given the need for collaboration and sharing among universities as mentioned above. These stereotypes are of particular importance as they are reinforced within the academe and impact negatively on academics’ interests in developing research partnerships or collaborations with HBUs like Fort Hare. In addition, black students are affected by these perceptions, which results in postgraduates choosing to attend HWUs instead of HBUs. This, in turn, negatively affects the research subsidies to the HBUs (see further discussions of perceptions in the next chapter).

Murray believed that the brain drain affected HBUs more acutely than it did HWUs (I: Murray). He recounted how a former student of his, who had become the head of a science department at Fort Hare, had subsequently left the university during its period of turmoil in the 1990s. Citing a further example at the University of the North, he claimed that these HBUs often did not have any remaining capacity to continue projects after key staff had left, retired or died (I: Murray). Furthermore, black graduate students from HBUs preferred to study further at HWUs, thereby contributing to the brain drain at these historically black universities:

The brain drain of good people has been greatest from previously disadvantaged black universities because the other black students – postgraduate students – are allowed to the old white universities. They do not want to do a postgraduate, for example, at Venda or the University of the North… they would rather (go) to Pretoria or Stellenbosch or Wits… Secondly, the chances of them getting bursaries from those white universities are very good and they are big bursaries… I mean Tukkies [University of Pretoria] was advertising earlier this year of big bursaries of 45,000 rands for black students. So the student who stays at Venda, for example, to do postgraduate studies must be crazy. (I: Murray)

Murray goes on to point out that even UPE, an HWU, cannot compete with the bursaries offered by the larger HWUs: “We can’t compete with Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Tukkies – they are three to four times older than we are. They have millions deposited in trust funds.”

UPE’s most substantial bursary amounted to 30,000 rands per annum for a doctoral student (I: Murray). Murray points out further, that this lack of reserve funding and infrastructure are among the main problems facing universities like Fort Hare:

In fact this is Derrick’s [Swartz, Vice Chancellor of Fort Hare] argument about Fort Hare. He says no matter how much you put into Fort Hare, you will never make it a good university unless you reconstruct the Alice area completely… to be attracting top academic staff. Who is going to go and live in Alice where there are no shops, no schools and no infrastructure. So he believes for rural universities like Fort Hare and Venda, you need massive rural reconstruction programmes.

Murray asserted that a “the university is only as good as the staff it can attract… We have this problem even at UPE… (but) as far as the brain drain… I don’t think we (UPE) lose a lot of academic staff… UPE has got a fairly low staff turn over.” Hence, although UPE cannot attract top researchers like the larger universities, it has not lost many staff to the brain drain.

4.6.2 International Networking

International networking was found to be valuable in building the research capacity of budding researchers like Ramdass, whose linkages with an American counterpart resulted in funds and materials being channeled in his direction (I: Ramdass). On the other hand, Xolile’s linkages were not as successful. An endeavour to engage in a joint project with an Indian university did not materialise. In the meantime, he was attempting to forge linkages with a Nigerian university. Perhaps, Murray’s perceptions that it is easier to forge North–South than South–South linkages, hold true for some academics (see further discussion below).

As noted, Pat participated in online international discussion groups, collaborated with researchers at the University of Bristol and jointly supervised a PhD student with a counterpart at the University of Essex (I: Pat). Beryl was part of an International Test Commission, involving six South American countries that networked via the Internet (I: Beryl). Charmaine had ongoing links with colleagues at the university in Hungary where she had done her post doctorate and who have visited UPE since (I: Charmaine). Piet claimed that his department had exchange programmes and twinning arrangements with universities in Germany, Belgium and the U.S.

Africa

Virtually none of the participants had formed linkages with African universities. While Murray believed that linkages with Africa would have been more relevant, he claimed that the lack of access to IT in Africa made telecommunications with African colleagues difficult, if not impossible (I: Murray). He claimed that African delegates at a recent conference on Science in Africa highlighted the difficulties they were experiencing with telecommunications (I: Murray). Exchange visits were costly and difficult to fund. He noted that North-South linkages often carried benefits such as funding and literature access, whereas South-South linkages offered few incentives for local researchers (I: Murray).

Librarian, Rita, claimed that she had developed linkages with Zambian and Zimbabwean counterparts through attendance at the annual conferences of the African Library Association. Celine belonged to an association of law teachers whose membership had been opened to scholars in Africa. She was enthusiastic about a recent conference of this association held in South Africa:

It is very useful, you would have the input of the other African scholars. (It) is really an eye-opener to see that they are grappling with exactly the same things. The next conference is in Namibia… most (countries) are sending representatives… researchers and scholars… basically from all over Africa… It (provides) also links for research opportunities and at least networking.

Celine asserted that links with Africa were still limited: “I really think it is a neglected part, the African connection.”