Transcript Towards a Common Future’ - Southern African Regional

Higher Education and SADC Regional
Development
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Neil Butcher
Merridy Wilson-Strydom
Sarah Hoosen
Cathy Macdonald
Andrew Moore
Lindsay McDonough
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Research Design and Methodology
Gathering SADC HE Data
Overview of HE in the SADC Region
Discussion
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Diverse Region with wide variation in
populations, poverty levels, education contexts
◦ Population (2006) ranged from 1.146 million people in
Swaziland to 61.532 million people in DRC
◦ GDP per capita (2006) ranged from $175 in Malawi to
$5,720 in Botswana
◦ Human Development Index (HDI) rankings (2007) range
from Mauritius (65) to Mozambique (172)
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Some variation in key economic sectors, but
agriculture remains major economic sector for
most countries.
In most cases (not all) principal exports are
primary products
4
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‘The SADC vision is one of a common future,
a future in a Regional community that will
ensure economic well-being, improvement of
the standards of living and quality of life,
freedom and social justice and peace and
security for the peoples of Southern Africa’
(SADC website, emphasis added)
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Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP)
Priority Intervention Areas
◦ Cross-Sectoral Intervention Areas:
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Poverty eradication;
Combating HIV and AIDs
Gender equality and development
Science and Technology
ICTs
Environment and sustainable development
Private sector
Statistics
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Trade/economic liberalisation and development
Infrastructure support for Regional integration and poverty eradication
Sustainable food security
Human and social development (RISDP, 2001)
◦ Sectoral cooperation and integration Intervention areas:
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Elements relevant to HE:
◦ Mechanisms to support access with the region, including
student and staff mobility
◦ Mechanisms to allow representation of different member
countries (esp. post-graduate level)
◦ Cooperation in design of learning programmes and
materials
◦ Bilateral and multilateral links in support of collaborative
research and joint/split-site teaching
◦ Cooperation in examination of academic programmes and
quality assurance
◦ National support of HE to ensure provision of qualified
staff, infrastructure, library holdings, scientific and other
equipment
◦ Promotion of participation for socially excluded groups
◦ Establishment of Centers of Specialization to build capacity
in the Region
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8
1.
2.
3.
4.
Describe HE in the SADC Region, with a focus
on collection and analysis of institutional data
and an analysis of national HE contexts;
Understand the current status and potential of
Regional collaboration in the HE arena;
Collect baseline data that can be used as a
starting point for the collection of Regional HE
data in the longer term; and
Reflect on the processes of gathering
comparative Regional HE data where national
contexts differ widely.
9
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Ministries of Education in the 14 participating
countries
64 Public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
currently members of SARUA
No private HEIs included in the study
10
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Two questionnaires (translated into French and
Portuguese), one targeting HEIs and one
targeting MoEs, with sections focused on:
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Institutional data
Funding data
Quality assurance
Regional collaboration
Multiple data gathering methods:
◦ Emailing (faxing and couriering in some instances) of
questionnaires to MoEs and HEIs
◦ Intensive email and telephone follow-up by English,
French and Portuguese speakers
◦ Visits to a sample of countries (Angola, Botswana, DRC,
Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia)
◦ Review of MoE websites, HEI websites and literature.
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Questionnaire development based on review of
existing HE data sources and research to define data
categories best applicable across the range of
country contexts
Quality mechanisms:
◦ Data verification spreadsheet prepared to check tallying of
responses received
◦ Where data was not accurate or was unclear a verification
request was prepared
◦ Data subjected to second round of checking during
preparation of country reports
◦ Final versions of reports sent back to participants for
verification
◦ Data captured in consolidated regional spreadsheets crosschecked against final versions of country reports to ensure
consistency
12
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Challenging to get responses
In some cases internet access was noted as a
challenge, in others, the breadth of data
being collected was noted as too time
consuming to complete
Where responses not received, additional data
sources were consulted in an effort to extract
data.
5 SA HEIs did not submit responses, HEMIS
data was used
13
Research
Population
Questionnaire
responses
received
Documentation
provided
No Response
Outstanding
Verification
Request
Ministries
of
Education
14
11
1
2
3
Higher
Education
Institutions
64
53
2
9
17
Totals
78
64 (82%)
3 (4%)
11 (14%)
20 (25%)
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Individual HEI reports prepared for each of
the participating HEIs
Overview of HE at the national level was
prepared based on MoE responses and
literature
National level review and HEI reports
compiled into individual country reports
Regional report – based on review of country
reports, as well as analysis of data at a
regional level
15
Challenges and suggestions
for future efforts
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High quality, up to date and comparable data on
HE in SADC is needed if HE is to fulfill its
developmental potential
Putting in place processes for gathering Regional
level data within SADC is one of the priority areas
of the RISDP – aim is to have harmonized
statistics and an integrated database of key
statistics in place by 2015
The challenge of gathering Regional level data
(within SADC and many other regions) has been
documented
Inter-dependence of national and international
(regional data gathering and management
processes)
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Challenge One: Getting a First Response:
 Many contact details and people provided had
changed
 Reaching the final response rate of 83%
required time consuming follow-up
procedures
 MoE example
 HEI example
18
Challenge Two: Data Accuracy
 On receipt of questionnaire responses, data was
checked using verification spreadsheet – tallying
of numbers within tables and also across
questions
 In most instances, responses needed to be send
back at least once for verification
 Some responses to verifications requests
provided accurate data, sometimes new
inconsistencies were introduced
 20 initial verification requests remain
outstanding despite follow up email and
telephone calls
19
Example One:
The number of contact students (15, 710) and
distance students (384) add up to 16, 907. the
number of full time (12, 602) and part time (2,
724) students add up to 15, 326. The number of
national students (14, 942), SADC students (136)
and other international students (632) add up to
15, 710.
 Example Two:
The total number of academic and research staff
provided in question 8 (38, 736) are much higher
than the total numbers broken down by field of
study/faculty (905).
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20
Challenge Three: Defining comparable units of
analysis/data categories
 Examples of data categories, definitions not followed
accurately, data not presented according to data
categories in the questionnaires
 Headcount data was used as the basis for this study.
Some HEIs record data based on full time equivalents
(FTEs). FTE and Headcount data do not always tally
 Most common, were differing definitions of ‘major
fields of study’ and ‘levels of study’
 Data was cleaned as far as possible, but in some
instances inconsistencies remain
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Challenge Four: Reference Year and Actual versus Estimate
data
 Respondents were asked to provide data for the ‘most
recent academic year available’ and to note the reference
year.
 Also asked to specify whether data was ‘actual’ or
‘estimate’
 In most cases actual data was presented, but a few
examples of estimated data were found (noted as such in
country reports)
 Data provided by different respondents did not always
refer to the same reference year – specified in individual
reports, but treated in the same way in regional level
analyses
 Data provided was mostly from 2006/07 year, but in some
cases 2005 and in a few instances 2008 data was
provided.
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Challenge Five: Question Types
 Study brief included broad focus on HE sector in SADC countries, including:
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HE data,
Information about quality assurance,
Information about capacity building needs,
Funding data, and
Information on extent of regional collaboration, as well as the extent to which
collaboration is valued.
Used quantitative and qualitative questions in which more descriptive
responses could be provided.
Qualitative responses useful when preparing country reports and to better
understand a specific country, but were of less value at regional level as
comparability became more challenging.
Also difficult to assess accuracy of more subjective, qualitative responses –
country visits showed the different meanings very similar responses might
have.
Respondents asked to provided explanations for some quantitative data,
but in few cases were such responses sufficient to allow accurate
interpretation.
Suggestion – smaller, focused studies that examine specific topics in
greater depth
23
Summary of findings
24
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Need to interpret data within the complex
historical context of African HE.
Findings presented in this section are based on
the data provided by public HEIs that are
currently SARUA members. No data from private
providers was collected. In some countries,
newer public HEIs may not yet be SARUA
members.
Study was very broad, not possible to present all
findings in detail – summaries are captured here.
Focus of this presentation is at Regional level,
not country specific
25
Country
No. Public
Universities
No. Publicly
funded
polytechnics/
colleges
Angola
1
Botswana
1
DRC
4
Lesotho
1
7
Madagascar
6
Malawi
No. private
Universities or
Colleges
Total
Enrolment
Population
Size (2006)
(millions)
47,373
16.403
15,710
1.702
31,478
61.532
0
8,508
2.447
2
21
41,691
2.447
6
7
4
7,869
12.758
Mauritius
2
7
30
9,720
1.253
Mozambique
4
3
12
46,865
19.886
Namibia
1
2
2
8,378
1.991
80
746,538
47.391
4
5,785
1.146
33,420
38.524
South Africa
Swaziland
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23
5
1
1
15
18
Zambia
3
43
6
14,395
11.700
Zimbabwe
9
8
4
52,453
12.233
77
119
168
1,070,183
246.833
Tanzania
SADC TOTAL
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0.434% of the total SADC population are enroled in HE – when SA
is excluded this drops to 0.162%
In all countries (except Malawi and Zimbabwe) private institutions
outnumber public institutions  need to better understand the
private HE sector in order to properly plan for HE in the Region
Predominantly contact provision with 72% of students in region
enroled as contact students and 28% as distance students
All MoEs reported funding challenges, yet only 8 noted that
support from business and industry was part of their funding
strategy
HE policy and regulatory environment shows some similarities
and some differences:
◦ In most countries increasing access and addressing gender disparities are
noted
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A range of statutory bodies playing a significant role in HE were
provided
8 of the 14 MoEs reported monitoring institutional level
governance and management, but only 4 set targets in this area
27
An
g
Bo ola
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an
a
DR
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ad oth
ag o
as
ca
M r
al
M a wi
a
M urit
oz
i
am us
bi
q
Na ue
So mib
ut
h ia
Af
Sw rica
az
ila
Ta nd
nz
an
i
Za a
m
Zim bia
ba
bw
e
Percentage focus
HEI Functions (Source: HEI questionnaire data)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
20%
10%
Teaching and
Learning
Research
30%
Community
Service
0%
28
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Majority focus heavily on teaching and
learning
Regional averages:
◦ Teaching and learning – 63%
◦ Research – 26%
◦ Community engagement/service/outreach – 10%
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In all but two countries, HEIs focus less than
30% of their attention on research –
implications for knowledge economy
Research output low
29
Madagascar: Research shows that, in 2006, only 64% of the
Faculty in universities had their PhDs or the equivalent,
and that very few of the faculty were engaged in research
or publishing. Limited research capacity among Faculty
undermines their ability to train and stimulate students.
Tanzania: The university receives insufficient money from
government to fund all research and other academic
activities. In response to this challenge HEI X seeks to
generate some revenue internally, and has a plan to
develop additional income sources.
 59% of HEIs reported that they have research
policies/strategies in place (although few examples were
provided)
 53% of HEIs report having plans in place for collaboration
with business and industry.
30
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In general, the gross tertiary enrolment ratios
of SADC countries are low, ranging from 117%, but with most countries falling into the
2-4% range
Gender representivity remains skewed:
◦ All SADC countries – 49.89% female students,
50.11% male
◦ SA exclude – 36.84% female students, 63.15% male
◦ Gender disparity greatest in the SET area
31
Headcount number of students (all levels of study) per major field of study
Number of Students (Headcount)
450,000
402,974
400,000
334,249
350,000
300,000
250,000
233,607
200,000
150,000
100,000
73,486
50,000
6,238
0
Science,
Engineering and
Technology
Business,
Management
and Law
Humanities and Health Sciences
Social Sciences
Other
32
Under graduate
degrees
Post graduate
diplomas
Masters
degrees
Doctoral
degrees
Other
Totals (all
countries)
Science,
Engineering &
Technology
200,045
7,139
12,840
3,799
9,784
233,607
Business,
Management &
Law
277,834
23,160
17,440
1,188
14,627
334,249
Humanities &
Social Sciences
339,353
22,039
19,438
4,695
17,449
402,974
57,309
3,857
7,550
909
3,863
73,486
4,071
368
392
51
1,356
6,238
Totals (all
countries)
878,611
(83.63%)
56,563
(5.38%)
57,660
(5.49%)
10,642
(1.01%)
47,079
(4.48%)
1,050,555
Totals (SA
Excluded)
258, 287
(86.19%)
19,862
(6.63%)
15,993
(5.35%)
740
(0.25%)
4,798
(1.60%)
299,680
Health Sciences
Other
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Total
Under graduate
degrees
Post graduate
diplomas
Masters
degrees
Doctoral
degrees
Other
Science, Engineering
& Technology
37,141
28,854
3,363
3,053
536
3,583
Business,
Management & Law
49,622
38,166
7,078
3,672
124
2,690
Humanities & Social
Sciences
68,194
53,556
9,642
3,561
529
2,441
Health Sciences
12,005
8,985
2,541
1,079
114
788
5,544
3,805
455
99
23
1,528
172,506
133,366
(73.98%)
23,078
(12.80%)
11,464
(6.63%)
1,326
(0.74%)
11,030
(6.12%)
48,280
38,334
(76.80%)
6.575
(13.17%)
3,742
(7.50%)
143
(0.29%)
1,120
(2.24%)
Other
Totals (all countries)
Totals (SA Excluded)
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Total
Science,
Engineering &
Technology
Female
Male
Undergraduate
degrees/
diplomas
Post
graduate
diplomas
Masters
Degrees
Doctoral
degrees
Other
10,091
25,8%
74.2%
1,623
823
2,908
3,445
834
Business,
Management &
Law
5,508
36.6%
63.4%
834
562
1,632
877
905
Humanities &
Social Sciences
9,508
39.4%
60.6%
905
655
2,348
2,540
1,130
Health Sciences
5,152
48.7%
51.3%
1,130
391
1,273
932
719
915
52.6%
47.4%
719
106
481
434
0
Totals (all
countries)
31,174
40.6%
59.4%
5,211
2,537
8,642
8,228
3,588
Totals (SA
Excluded)
12,321
27.7%
72.3%
2,480
605
3,785
3,534
1,617
Other
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Malawi: ‘Retention of qualified and experienced teaching staff, perpetual
problems of underfunding, lack of teaching and learning materials,
dilapidated physical infrastructure and facilities’
Mauritius: ‘Difficulties in attracting high quality faculty because of
limited research programme infrastructure’
Swaziland: Brain drain of lecturers caused by poor salaries and other
conditions of work. Lack of up to date equipment and faculties required
to provide training and skills development that is commensurate with
the changing socio-economic environment’
Zambia: ‘The HE curriculum is not sufficiently responsive to current local
and global needs. There are high levels of brain drain for lecturers and
instructors’
Zimbabwe: ‘Financial resources in HE are inadequate for teaching and
research faculties in both old and new institutions. Brain drain/flight of
skills is resulting from inadequate human resources, in terms of quality
and quantity. Addressing the negative effects of HIV and AIDs is also a
challenge. There are losses of qualified human resources and reduced
performance’
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Areas of critical staff shortages reported by participating HEIs
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Number of institutions
40
41
35
35
32
28
30
25
20
15
26
21
14 15
Yes
23
No
17
15
15
15
15
No data
8
10
5
0
Science,
Engineering &
Technology
Business,
Management
and Law
Humanities &
Social Sciences
Health Sciences
Institutional
Management
Major Field of Study
37
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All HEIs submitting responses reported that
regional cooperation in HE was valued and
most (73%) reported that they derive benefit
from such collaboration
Enrolment of students from SADC countries
was also valued by most HEIs
Student and staff mobility is a key element of
the SADC Protocol
Previous research has shown that most
movement of staff and students is from SADC
countries to South Africa
38
Country
Students who are
National Citizens
Students who are
SADC Citizens
Students from other
countries
Angola
47,353
0
20
Botswana
14,942
136
632
DRC
31,437
10
30
No data
No data
No data
14,428
537
175
Malawi
7,824
31
10
Mauritius
9,655
4
61
46,790
3
72
7,469
700
209
679,774
35,745
14,536
5,660
108
17
Tanzania
30,967
38
203
Zambia
14,315
21
59
Zimbabwe
52,289
120
44
SADC TOTAL
962,903 (94.73%)
37,453 (3.68%)
16,068 (1.58%)
TOTAL (EXCL SA)
283,129 (98.87%)
1,708 (0.60%)
1,532 (0.54%)
Lesotho
Madagascar
Mozambique
Namibia
South Africa
Swaziland
39
Country
Angola
Staff who are
National Citizens
Staff who are SADC
Citizens
Staff from other
countries
1,329
0
172
540
0
278
1,359
0
5
No data
No data
No data
Madagascar
880
0
20
Malawi
774
2
16
Mauritius
285
1
12
2,045
1
119
269
47
24
25,261
466
1,560
154
46
29
2,542
1
17
602
6
57
1,075
2
5
SADC TOTAL
37,115 (92.79%)
572 (1.43%)
2,314 (5.78%)
TOTAL (EXCL SA)
11,854 (93.24%)
106 (0.83%)
754 (5.93%)
Botswana
DRC
Lesotho
Mozambique
Namibia
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe
40
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Examples of collaborative academic and
research work provided by 63% of HEIs
Examples of collaborative community projects
provided by 56% of HEIs
Examples of collaboration with
business/industry provided by 39% of HEIs
Much of this collaboration is with HEIs
outside of the SADC Region
41
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Rhodes University in South Africa offers postgraduate
qualifications in Education to students from Namibia
Faculty of Engineering at the University of Botswana
administers a Project Management Programme in
partnership with the University of Dar es Salaam
Ardhi University in Tanzania has academic staff and
student exchange programmes with University of
Cape Town and University of Botswana
University of Malawi has an agriculture programme
administered by the Faculty of Agriculture in
partnership with Sokoine University in Tanzania
42
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‘Maintaining effective communication’
‘Lack of funding for regional collaboration’
‘Lack of awareness of benefits of Regional
collaboration’
‘South African universities often have a dominant
position in partnerships’
‘Poor infrastructure and facilities that support
learning and teaching’
‘Staff turnover’
‘Very little or no involvement by researchers in
practical research which involves their local
environment’
‘Internal apathy’
‘National ICT infrastructure and bandwidth prices’
43
Factors influencing HE
potential in the SADC
Region
Enabling Features
Constraining Features
Regional policy
framework
 Regional policy frameworks in
place to guide HE development at
regional level (e.g. Protocol,
SADCQF)
 Protocol on Education and
Training is dated now and lacks
practical implementation details
National level policy
frameworks
All SADC countries have national
HE policy frameworks in place
Sophistication of national
policies differs
Enrolment patterns
Enrolment reported to have
increased
Most SADC countries provided
some programmes in fields of
study NB for regional development
Increasing enrolment places
constraints of capacity and
impacts quality
Enrolments in SET remain low
Few students enroled at postgraduate level
Significant gender disparities
remain
Staff capacity
MoEs have recognized this
challenge
Most HEIs reported having staff
development mechanisms in place
Regional collaboration and
exchanged help to build capacity
Critical staff shortages identified
in various areas (esp SET)
Lack of resources prevent
attraction of highly qualified and
experienced staff
Brain drain and HIV and AIDS
reported to limit capacity
44
Factors influencing HE
potential in the SADC
Region
Enabling Features
Constraining Features
Research output
Low research output
identified as major challenge
by MoEs and HEIs
Various interventions planned
Low numbers of post graduate
students likely to exacerbate this
challenge
Funding
Government recognize need
to increase HE funding
Increases in donor funding
for HE
Most of the HEIs reported
plans for fund raising
Most HEIs remain heavily
dependent on government funding
Insufficient resources impacts on
quality and HE’s potential role in
support regional development
Quality assurance
More than half of SADC
countries have QA frameworks
in place or being set up
SADCQF and AAU QA projects
Most HEIs reported some
form of internal QA process
Imperatives to expand access and
improve quality are in tension
Unclear how well national and
institutional QA is being
implemented
Regional cooperation
Most MoEs and HEIs reported
high value placed on
collaboration
Regional policies in place to
support collaboration
Regional collaboration appears to
be ad hoc rather than coordinated
Funding challenges
Lack of, or poor quality ICT
infrastructure
45
1. Reflection on the data gathering challenges and
implications for longer term data gathering processes
2. Comments on the findings – do these present an
accurate reflection of SADC HE?
3. Areas requiring additional, more in-depth research
4. Recommendations to support regional collaboration
46