What are the opinions of informed practitioners and theoreticians

What are the opinions of informed practitioners and theoreticians about challenges facing SA HE? Introduction to discussion by Trish Gibbon Chair: Rolf Stumpf 13 February 2010

Question 1 If you were the new Minister, what would you think is the single biggest challenge facing higher education in the next five years?

Question 2 If you were an institutional leader, what would you think is the biggest challenge facing higher education institutions in the next five years?

Questions 1 & 2 combined

Overview of responses received by issue Post-Secondary Education Establishing a diverse, expanded post-secondary system –sectoral/institutional Collapse of skills training Need for diversity of post-school options Expanded FET sector Return to full college sector? Lessen the burden on universities

Overview of responses received by issue continued Role of universities Lack of role clarity Competing notions of HE (instrumental versus developmental) • No common notion of role of university • Need to re-theorise the role of universities / need coherent systemic vision • Play a variety of roles, including • providing liberal education • contributing to development • Personal advancement; equity; democracy; skills delivery – instrumental but not development notions

Overview of responses received by issue continued Differentiating the HE system De facto differentiation By capacity By field of specialisation By the market • Need to accept system differentiation and live up to it • Student participation rates; access; knowledge production capacity; shape of knowledge fields; staff profiles; international profiles • Earmarked funding for strategically targeted areas; stabilise academic and research capacity • Differentiate by field of study and disciplinary specialisation • Student market more powerful than state or institutional planning

Overview of responses received by issue continued The National Department and other statutory bodies Politicisation Capacity constraints Planning Funding Evidence-based decision-making ‘Activist’ bureaucrats; more ideologised & contested terrain Key people have left or are leaving Differentiation needs high level planning capacity Differentiation needs sophisticated funding policies Decision-making needs to be evidence-based

Overview of responses received by issue continued Student performance Under-prepared students Quality teaching Resourcing Major racial disparities in student success rates Students less prepared than ever Requires system level interventions and resourcing (four-year degrees?) Quality academic provision – implications for academic staff

Overview of responses received by issue continued Academic staff Recruitment and retention Qualifications and productivity Next generation Increasingly unattractive working conditions for academic staff Difficult to recruit quality students into postgraduate study and academia Ageing white professoriate that’s highly productive Where is the next generation to be found?

Overview of responses received by issue continued Knowledge Production Information Research and post-graduate studies Importance of increasing knowledgebase not widely understood Universities not most sought after places for researchers Quality and quantity of graduate studies and students

Overview of responses received by issue continued Executives and Management Competency Value for money • The heavy, wet blanket syndrome • overpaid • inefficient • not innovative • too well paid to consider public service • Performance regimes and contracts?

Overview of responses received by issue continued Funding Availability of core funding Differentiated funding Financial assistance for students Funding for sector likely to come under pressure Institutions will need to put energy into seeking external funding Challenges identified above require significant resources

Comparison of issues: 2004 versus 2010 Poor schooling accepted as intractable – universities to take responsibility for ‘fixing’ student under-preparedness Differentiation discourse strong and unapologetic Development discourse much more overt Equity discourse more muted – shifted from access to equity of outcomes Almost silent on autonomy – this is a big shift from pre-merger apprehensions Overall analysis:Major challenges identified at the beginning, middle and end of the HE narrative.

What are the opinions of informed practitioners and theoreticians