Mapping the crooked path: a journey of discovery

1. Mapping the crooked path: a journey of discovery 11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM) Glynnis Lawrence & Cyrill Walters

2. Higher Education Landscape South Africa’s policy emphasis had focused explicitly on undergraduate levels and first entrants into higher education. Since 2006/7 that national policies have begun to view the PhD distinctively from other postgraduate degrees (Backhouse 2009).

3. Government Mandates Green Paper of January 2012 Align the post-school education and training with South Africa’s educational development program 2011 university enrolment 899 120 2030 mandated university enrolment 1 500 000 PhD Goals PhD numbers are far too low should increase from 1 200 in 2005 to 6 000 by 2025

4. PhD frequency

5. BRICS Population per million persons: Brazil 192, Russia 143, India 1210, China 1344, South Africa 50 Estimate GDP in 2011: Brazil at $2.3 trillion; Russia at $1.5 trillion; India at $1.8 trillion; China at $6.5 trillion; South Africa at $379 billion % GDP spent on R&D in 2006: Brazil (1.04), Russia (1.28), India (0.84), China (1.31%), South Africa (0.74) South Africa vs. Egypt vs. Nigeria – SA still has the largest economy out of the 3, well developed markets, infrastructure and communication systems, more politically stable, international leadership by being the only African member of G20

6. University of Cape Town Strategic goals Internationalising UCT via an Afropolitan Niche Transformation of UCT Towards Non-Racialism - Redress, Diversity, Inclusiveness and the Recognition of African Voices Working Towards a Desired Size and Shape for UCT A Vision for the Development of Research at UCT: Greater Impact, Greater Engagement Enhancing the Quality and Profile of UCT's Graduates Expanding and Enhancing UCT's Contribution to South Africa's Development Challenges

7. University of Cape Town Size & shape From 2006 – 2011 PG overall increase of 14% vs 2% in UG Development of research – some highlights related to other strategic indicators No of PhDs down by 18 (2010) Increase of 13 PhDs from rest of Africa (2010) Decrease of 7 PhDs from rest of the world (2010) Increases in postdocs and research fellows 492 academics received some form of support from ERP – 60 joined in 2011 but proportion of black researchers dropped from 42% to 25% - new areas and streams

8. Development of research – some highlights related to other strategic indicators Interim eResearch site set up – aim for research portal by end 2012 Establishment of the Research Commons Much progress in digitisation of resources Appointment of senior scholars augmented capacity and research

9. Our Response – UCT Libraries and UG Support Services Library Social Teaching and Learning Space First Year Experience Extended Orientation programmes Extended 4 year degrees

10. Our Response - PG SciVal Spotlight Tracking publication activity and impact – determining your university’s particular strengths.

11. UCT research competencies assessed

12. Largest

13. Assessing leadership

17. UCT Stellenbosch Co-operation

18. PG Response Adobe Connect Online Q & A Physical Spaces Flexible, collaborative work spaces. Flexibility in spaces is critical – research & academic needs changing rapidly. Comfort/Flexibility Re-structuring of staff

19. The Traditional Hierarchy

21. Conclusion • It’s a whole new world out there for us • Our assertive engagement WILL assist in not only the production of substantive academic research but also assist in its quality • Our commitment to our institutions goes beyond the ‘job’, research adds value to this country and therefore your commitment is beyond vocation

22. Reference List • Backhouse, J. 2009. Doctoral education in South Africa: Models, pedagogies and student experiences. Johannesburg: Unpublished PhD thesis, School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand. • Blom, R. 2011. The size and shape of private, post-school education and training provision in South Africa: a study for the Department of Higher Education and Training. Centre for Education Policy Development. • BRIC invite: sign of China's Africa ambition. 2011. Africa Monitor: Southern Africa. 16 (3): 3. Available from EBSCOHost Business Source Premier [2012, April 18]. • BRICS Joint Statistical Publication 2012. http://www.bricsindia.in/publication.html • Department of Higher Education and Training. 2012. Green Paper for post-school education and training. Department of Higher Education and Training. Republic of South Africa. • Hall, P. 2011. BRIC to BRICS. Trade Finance. 14 (1): 170. Available from EBSCOHost Business Source Premier [2012, April 18]. •  Kaplan, D. 2004. South Africa’s national research and development strategy: a review. Science, Technology & Society. 9(2): 273- 294. DOI: 10.1177/097172180400900204. • Maesaroh, I. and Genoni, P. 2009. Education and continuing professional development for Indonesian academic librarians: a survey. Library Management. 30 (8/9): 524-538. DOI: 10.1108/01435120911006494.

23. Reference List • Nevin T. 2011. South Africa vaults into elite BRIC club. African Business. (372): 56-57. Available from EBSCOHost Business Source Premier [2012, April 18]. • Noury, V. 2011. What BRICS membership means to Africa. African Business. (376): 37-39. Available from EBSCOHost Business Source Premier [2012, April 18]. • Schiller, Ben. 2011. Beyond the BRICS. Financial Management. 27-30. Available from EBSCOHost Business Source Premier [2012, April 18].