Report on Proceedings of the Second hesa biennial Research and Innovation Conference

Questions & Answers


Question (Prof Sakkie van der Merwe): As a representative of the Association of Private Providers of Education, Training and Development (APPETD), private providers also employ academics and spend time and money to develop capacity; yet private providers have no access to developmental funding. There are no incentives for private providers to produce research and to publish.
Answer (Dr Nzimande): This is a complex question. Government experiences funding constraints in its support of public institutions. Despite frequent requests for the funding of private postgraduate initiatives, the Department of Higher Education and Training is firstly responsible for funding public institutions because of the access imperative. It was also noted that there are no private universities in South Africa; anyone calling themselves a private university is doing so illegally. In the context of this discussion, it may help private providers to forge innovative partnerships/networks/collaborations with other institutions or industry, since good things are happening in private higher-education institutions. The demands for funding in the public sector are just too large to leave funds over for the private higher-education sector.
3 POLICY REVIEW
3.1 HESA’s 2010 Research and Innovation Conference

Prof Loyiso Nongxa, Co-Chairperson: HESA Research and Innovation Strategy Group

Prof Loyiso Nongxa, Co-Chairperson of the HESA Research and Innovation Strategy Group (RISG); Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand

Prof Nongxa summarised the 2010 HESA Research and Innovation Conference Recommendations, categorising them into short-term, medium-term and long-term recommendations. The list had been circulated to all South African higher-education institutions. The 2010 conference also identified the need to interact with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the private sector on the recommendations.

Short-term recommendations included:

• Engage DST to put HESA’s views across in terms of a blueprint for research, and doing a mid-term review of the National Research Strategy. The Minister of Science and Technology directed an integrated research and development strategy, drawing on the 2002 strategy and the 2007 10-year innovation plan;

• Urge DST to review and scale up the SA Research Chairs Initiative (SARCHI) project, including the number of chairs and grant values;

• Increase the number of centres of excellence to foster regional and national collaboration, and ensure alignment between Historically White Institutions’ (HWI’s)? research and national priorities;

• Review the national funding framework to ensure adequate funding is provided for research, and accessing funding from the National Skills Fund for post-graduate training. The DHET set up a Ministerial Funding Framework Review Committee, to which the HESA Research and Innovation Strategy Group (RISG) presented its views;

• Increase funding for post-graduate students: DST investment has grown since 2004, however, inflation influenced the value of the grants adversely. DST allocated a further R52,7-million in 2010. HESA convened a meeting with the three directors-general to discuss the issue;

• Support fewer students, but make more funding available to each. Foster academic entrepreneurship to increase co-operation opportunities. The public and private sectors (other state departments and big business) should also be engaged on the funding of research;

• Increase the number of matriculants qualifying for university entrance, especially in Science Engineering and Technology (SET). HESA collaborated with the DST and DHET regarding the National Information Service for higher education institutions to ensure students enter SET;

• Tap research resources in the science councils, and formalise engagement with these bodies and other national facilities. HESA developed a framework to foster collaboration between universities and the science councils with The Consortium of Health-Oriented Research in Transitioning Societies (COHORT). The DST’s investment in research is directed at ensuring that excellence in universities, science councils and industry is enhanced and expanded;

• Collaborate through research equipment and improving infrastructure: a report was commissioned and published by RISG looking at the sharing of equipment on a regional level and between universities and the private sector. The Minister of Science and Technology also called for a review committee to look at how the innovation system could be improved;

• Investigate the funding of equipment for collaborative units/teams across institutions. A position paper articulating HESA’s views on systems and infrastructure to support the national research agenda was developed. A ministerial committee was established to review the national innovation system and assess whether our systems and infrastructure are of sufficient quality to support the implementation of the national research agenda;

• Increase broadband connectivity: discussions with both the DHET and DST to secure outstanding funding for the South African National Research and Education Network’s (SANREN) rollout were instituted. R1,35-billion was secured for research and equipment infrastructure, while R538-million was secured for SANREN and other initiatives;

• Create and maintain a national database of research equipment. Information about equipment at higher education institutions and research councils and in the private sector indicates gaps that need to be filled. Lobby the DST and National Research Foundation (NRF) in this regard;

• Develop and maintain a database of post-doctoral students and fellows in the country;

• HESA should establish a monitoring mechanism to assess the impact of policy instruments on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs); and

• Review Intellectual Property (IP) legislation and regulations.
Medium- and long-term recommendations (2012 – 2013, 2014 and beyond):
• The dual support system should be addressed, to tackle duplications and inefficiencies and optimise the support made available for research;

• Task team to develop a position on the Technology and Innovation Agency (TIA) with recommendations on how its funding could assist in improving the research and innovation outputs of the HEIs;

• Reaching out to organised business to ensure that the business and Higher Education (HE) sectors share research resources, including equipment and laboratories. HESA should activate discussions with Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and other leading business formations to identify and formalise areas of partnership in research and development matters. Attracting graduates to do post-graduate research while ensuring enough investment through scholarships and other support programmes is central. Sasol and Eskom employ the largest numbers of PhDs in the country. Against this background, strengthening collaboration between HEIs and the business community remains critical;

• Share knowledge and new technologies and co-operate with counterparts in other parts of the world and implement a SA Higher Education Internationalisation Framework for the sector, informed by the National Research Strategy and Ten-Year Innovation Plan and current institutional initiatives;

• Strengthen partnerships between SA and other country groupings;

• Conduct a study of the significance of the international mobility of talent from and to South Africa, including students, academics and skilled workers;

• Engage with the National Treasury and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) about funding;

• Self-differentiation within the sector: HESA set up a task team to engage the Ministry on an approach to differentiation informed by a set of agreed guiding principles;

• Establish a system for monitoring the impact of policy on higher education;

• Consolidated the proposed regional National Intellectual Property Office (NIPMO).

• Strengthen cross-departmental and cross-agency cooperation and coordination. HESA should support the Minister in proposing and setting up such critical review committees; and

• An analysis of bilateral and multilateral agreements to secure international funding support for SA researchers.

2. 
   DST’s emerging policy initiatives
   

Mr Imraan Patel, Deputy Director-General: Socio-Economic Partnerships, Department of Science and Technology

Mr Imraan Patel, Deputy Director-General: Socio-Economic Partnerships, Department of Science and Technology

IN THE evolution of the Research, Development and Innovation Policy Package, Mr Imraan Patel identified a number of critical issues, including the following policy priorities:
• Human capital development and knowledge production;

• Knowledge exploitation and innovation; and

• Strengthening the national system of innovation.
The Policy Package includes the following documents/strategies (some of which are still in the process of finalisation):
• Science and Technology White Paper;

• National Research and Development Strategy;

• Ten-year Innovation Plan;

• New Growth Path;

• National Development Plan; and

• Sectoral Policies.

The National System of Innovation is aligned to the current imperatives and outcomes of government, where knowledge and innovation play important roles. Since 1996, when the Science and Technology White Paper was developed, a lot of time was spent to put in place a directed policy framework. The DST was created in 2004, and since then has developed the 10-year Innovation Plan to identify grand challenges in terms of human capital development aimed at growing a knowledge-based economy, and 2009 saw the commencement of comprehensive policy implementation.

The Science and Technology White Paper introduced the concept of a national system of innovation (NSI) as its underlying and main idea. The term was coined to ensure that the system’s activities focus beyond science and include technology development and innovation. A few decades ago, innovation meant something closer to invention, while today the focus is on how to exploit inventions for socio-economic benefits.

The White Paper identified leadership, co-ordination and co-operation as critical factors for the development and effectiveness of NSI. The role of government was identified as having to see to it that different components are in place, interacted, and that there are agreed sets of goals and objectives.

In terms of the R&D Strategy, a number of pillars were identified as crucial, namely:

• Innovation;

• Human capital development, including transformation of frozen demographics; and

• Creation of an effective government Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) system and infrastructure;
Technology missions and science platforms, where public funding would play a big role in expanding and strengthening impact, were identified.
These included:
• Science Platforms (Astronomy, African Origins platform (palaeosciences), biodiversity, indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and Antarctic research;

• Technology Missions (advanced manufacturing, information and communication technology, biotechnology, resource-based industries). All of the Technology Missions have well-developed plans in place, developed with universities and focusing on areas of strength and development areas. Industry was consulted in identifying key market drivers to help guide this process; and

• A proposed target of increasing research and development strategy expenditure to 1% of gross domestic product was also mooted.
Human Capital Development and Knowledge Production:
• In the area of human capital development and knowledge production, there are general and targeted initiatives under way to improve the effectiveness of the country. Centres of excellence would be enhanced, since these processes and systems were well established. Over the next few years, the number of centres of excellence will be increased. These centres have demonstrated that they enable universities to co-operate with the science councils, and it would therefore make sense to increase these centres;

• There is huge demand for SA Research Chairs Initiative (SARCHI) research chairs, which will also receive particular attention to ensure a balanced spread among disciplines and institutions;

• Infrastructure is essential for stimulating research activity, and a targeted approach to improve infrastructure standards will be necessary. The budget over the next Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) cycle has increased, and would be optimised. An important priority area is innovation infrastructure, which is a costly area; and

• International, regional and continental programmes are important in human capital development and knowledge production. South Africa is sought after in many areas, and form part of a number of international programmes. Regional and continental programmes should be expanded to increase South Africa’s exposure and optimise scarce resources.

Knowledge Exploitation and Innovation:
• This is an area that has been integrated into the Industrial Policy Action Plan through research and development-led industrial development;

• The important issue is to design projects that are closely linked to the private sector in order to spread the risk. A number of interesting prospects have been identified and will receive increased attention in terms of industrialisation and commercialisation going forward;

• Model development and experimentation occurs through centres of competencies, community university partnership programmes and risk and vulnerability science centres with rural universities;

• Well-defined national roadmaps are crucial for the success of all these projects. They are important to allow practical co-ordination to take place. It is important to identify outcomes and outputs, and the resources required to make them a reality;

• There are many areas where scientific knowledge can be effectively used to enhance planning and policy decisions. As part of the New Growth Path, existing sectors of the economy can be used as catalysts to build other parts of the economy. Agriculture and mining are areas where related inputs can be used to generate spin-offs. These initiatives need sustained support.
System development will depend on improved co-ordination, financing and resourcing, incentives for the private sector and international partners and partnership models where reflection on how the system can be improved will be crucial. There are investors keen on investing in South Africa, which would also have to be optimised.

2. 
   Discussion
   

Question (Prof Aldo Stroebel, University of the Free State): The co-ordination and interaction between the DST and other departments that are doing the same activities need to be addressed. How will DST and DHET interact to ensure that the DST vision is supported and fulfilled?
Response (Dr Gansen Pillay, National Research Foundation): It was clarified that 270 SARCHi applications were identified as deserving of implementation, while only 60 could be funded. It would be necessary to find resources to fund these chairs. Some chairs are co-funded with the Swiss government. Information on an additional two chairs that have not yet been approved will soon be available on the NRF website.

It was noted that a reserve list of chairs that qualified was also identified, should more resources become available. In terms of centres of excellence, additional funding had been made available by the DST to be rolled out in the coming years. The minister will make more information available on the call for centres of excellence in her budget speech.

It was asked whether the DHET and DST should not be investing money in centres of excellence in education, and HESA was asked to make the case on behalf of the sector. Treasury has been asked to provide funding to improve the number of PhDs, and it was noted that a document had been presented to the minister to take the process further. Another point that Minister Nzimande highlighted is community engagement, yet there is no national plan for it, nor dedicated funding from the DHET. R2-million had been invested in research on community engagement, but it would be necessary to grow the funding for this area. DHET has made available funding for laboratory equipment, where there is potential to improve the research output at institutions.

Question (student, Agricultural Research Council): We heard that funding for postgraduate students would be increased. Would this funding actually be used to fund postgraduate projects, or would students benefit from this funding in terms of their residential and living costs?
Response (Mr Imraan Patel): In terms of the interaction between DHET and DST, the relationship is improving, because we spend a lot of time on structured engagements. There is a particular focus on sorting out Human Resource Development (HRD) and co-investment in certain areas. We are working closely with them on both higher education as well as training. Changes in leadership do make it difficult to maintain the relationship. We are working closely on Outcome Five and also in terms of the recently published Green Paper.

Response (Prof Loyiso Nongxa): The question relating to the level of postgraduate students is difficult to address, because there are different elements that are funded. The level of funding for postgraduate degrees remained the same over the past 10 years. The NRF investigated the level of funding and the needs of postgraduate students, as well as incentives for supervisors to take on postgraduate students.
Response (Dr Gansen Pillay): The funding mentioned was a specific capital injection made available by the Minister to make bursaries available and to make money available for needy students whose family income was lower than a certain threshold. The bursary value has increased, but still falls woefully short of an actual income.
Comment (Prof Michael Khan, CREST, US): Listening to the number of doctoral students that are supported, much has been made of comparing South Africa to a range of other countries, like Brazil. It must however be understood that good education in other countries is provided by the state, in South Africa we are still mired in a class-based model. Free tuition should be provided to all who qualify for PhD study if we are serious about making a change.
Comment (Prof Nelson Ijumba, UKZN): I support the notion that all students who qualify for PhD study should be fee exempt.
Comment (Prof Loyiso Nongxa, HESA): One can extend that provision to other government departments, but there are also private-sector role players to consider. We should involve all these parties in making investments in the research chairs. FirstRand has made an investment in a research chair in maths and science, for example.

4 ROLES
4.1 DHET priorities and initiatives

Mr Chief Mabizela, Chief Director: University Policy and Development, Department of Higher Education and Training

Mr Chief Mabizela, Chief Director: University Policy and Development, Department of Higher Education and Training

THE National Development Plan (NDP) states clearly that each university should have a clear mission setting out its unique contribution towards knowledge production and national development. The higher education system should be diverse so that each institution can build on its strengths and expand areas of specialisation. No institution can serve all of society’s needs. There is a need for a new higher education framework in which the knowledge-production system operates and its relationship to innovation and industry needs to be reconfigured.
The NDP set the following targets for 2030:
• PhD graduates, either as staff or post-doctoral fellows, will be the dominant drivers of new knowledge production within higher education and science innovation system;

• 75% of university academic staff should hold PhDs;

• The country should produce more than 100 PhD graduates per million of the population;

• Increase the number of African and women postgraduates, especially PhDs, to improve research and innovation capacity and normalise staff demographics. Looking at the transformation that had been achieved between 1994 and the present, the number of African, female and disabled postgraduates still lag behind.

The NDP proposes some policy changes, i.e.:
• Build a properly qualified, professional, competent and committed teaching, academic, research and public-service cadre;

• Enhance innovative capacity of the nation;

• Address the decline of the humanities;
• Build an enabling and high-quality differentiated system; and

• Support institutions in chronic distress.

The DHET issued the Green Paper for Post-School Education and Training, which addressed the following issues:
• The problem of insufficient levels of research and innovation in the system;

• The dependence of economic development on innovation; research and development should occur in order to solve social problems;

• DHET and DST need to work together to improve research capacity at institutions, and increase the number of PhDs;

• Ensure that the country commits and sustains long-term research that is transformational, generates new knowledge and can work towards strengthening society and the economy;

• DST and DHET will work to ensure increases in support for postgraduate study and for senior researchers and that there is coherence in overall policy;

• Current policies and regulations assume that all institutions operate from the same basis;

• Emphasis is also put on the need for PhD graduates needed for academic positions, research, innovation and industry; and

• Universities with relatively weak research cultures and records should be assisted and funded to gradually develop their capacity in particular areas of specialisation and build their research culture over time.

The graph illustrates PhD enrolments over the period 2002 increasing from 7 766 to 11 590 in 2010, while the number of graduates in 2002 was only 985, increasing to 1 421 in 2010. The ratio of enrolments to graduates in 2010 was 46 699 to 8 633. This 1:6 ratio consistently applied over the period from 2002 to 2010. Only 33% of academics in the system hold PhD degrees.
Current policy improvements include:
• Research development grants;

• Policy and procedures for the measurement of research output of PHEIs;

• Enrolment planning as a steering mechanism; and

• Review of the funding framework.

In terms of Research Development Grants (RDGs), it was noted that these have always been calculated based on a shortfall by institutions to meet their research output norms. RDGs have not always been used to develop research as required or expected. All institutions should qualify for RDGs, and the DHET will cluster institutions according to their research development needs which could be viewed as a form of differentiation.


The graph illustrates research output measured against the number of staff with a PhD as the highest qualification was provided, indicating that the highest volume output occurs at only six of the institutions in the country. All the universities of technology and the historically disadvantaged institutions lag behind in terms of research output.
The following proposal was presented for the clustering of universities:
• Research intensive universities should collaborate with less research focused universities to develop capacity;

• Middle research strength universities should improve staff qualifications, collaborate, develop postgraduates and develop niche areas; and

• Low research strength universities should improve staff qualifications and develop niche areas.
It should be noted that the research targets of comprehensive universities differ from those of traditional universities, given the large number of diploma programmes contained in these institutions’ Programme Qualifications Mix (PQMs).