Higher Education Differentiation: PowerPoint Presentation, PPT - DocSlides

Higher Education Differentiation: Nelson Mandela Metro University

Nico Cloete

January2012

Complimentary but disconnected discourses

2

DHET

Should have combined with DST

Shocked by Charles finding of 3 million NEET’s and have become besotted with FET and training

In Ministers budget speech referred to research on page 12 and never used knowledge economy and Africa, not to mention the globe (a local communist)

DST

Opening line knowledge economy and global competitive

Presses all the knowledge production buttons

Never spoke to DHET advisor

Differentiation (NPC) (1) Functions of HE

3

Higher education is the major driver of the information-knowledge system, linking it with economic development...Universities are key to developing a nation. They play three main functions in society. Firstly, they educate and train people with high-level skills for the employment needs of the public and private sectors

.

Secondly, universities are the dominant producers of new knowledge, and they critique information and find new local and global applications for existing knowledge. Universities also set norms and standards, determine the curriculum, languages and knowledge, ethics and philosophy underpinning a nation's knowledge-capital. South Africa needs knowledge that equips people for a society in constant social change

Differentiation (NPC) (2) Functions

4

"

Thirdly, given the country's apartheid history, higher education provides opportunities for social mobility and simultaneously strengthens equity, social justice and democracy. In today's knowledge society, higher education underpinned by a strong science and technology innovation system is increasingly important in opening up people's opportunities."

(p262)

For the first time knowledge production and equity are linked by stating that "high quality knowledge production cannot be fully realized with a low student participation rate" (p274

).

Also universities are not mainly fro individual mobility or for equity redress - equity is mentioned last and transformation not once

Differentiation (NPC) Knowledge

5

The NPC is so enthusiastic about knowledge that it declares that "knowledge production is the rationale of higher education" (p271) - indeed a radical departure from the traditional 'rationale' of higher education in Africa, that is, disseminating (teaching) knowledge from somewhere else.

Description of SA system:

Medium knowledge producing

Insufficient skills producing

Low participation and high attrition

Differentiated.

NPC Knowledge Policies

6

the notion of knowledge production consists of a combination of PhD education and research output.

a target of tripling the number of doctoral gradates from 1,420 to 5,000 per annum, and increasing the proportion of academic staff with PhDs from 34% to 75%

a number of world-class centres and programmes should be developed within the national system of innovation and the higher education sector.

a new future scholars programme needs to be developed, both to increase the proportion of staff with PhDs and to meet the increasing demand for professional PhDs in the non-university research, financial and services sectors

role of science councils should be reviewed in light of the world-wide tendency to align, or merge, research councils with universities

NPC Differentiation (1)

7

"

South Africa needs to strengthen research excellence through performance-based grants. More weight should be given to building departments, and centers or networks of excellence. Given that performance-based grants can entrench historical privilege and disadvantage, capacity-building grants should be provided with clear targets for improvement in five-year intervals.

"...

progressive differentiation requires that all higher education institutions provide high quality education and skills training, underpinned by common standards for student facilities, libraries, laboratories, computer access and staff qualifications. Adequate resourcing will be needed to enable historically disadvantaged institutions to achieve these standards and overcome historical backlogs."

(p291)

NPC Differentiation (2)

8

deals with the worldwide policy debate about the concentration of resources by proposing world-class centers and programmes across institutions

advises the Ministerial Committee for the Review of the Funding of Universities that such revisions should be based on the needs of a differentiated system with adequate provision for both teaching and research

requires flexible pathways for student mobility between institutions

the Higher Education Quality Committee should finally start developing a core set of quality indicators for the whole system;

NPC Differentiation (3)

9

5. Should be guided by evidence-based planning and performance monitoring which will require maintaining and strengthening the current Higher Education Management Information System and the additional capacity to analyze national trends and changes between and among institutions and institutional groups.

DHET Green Paper (1)

10

History/diagnosis

Diverse system steeped in inequality

Leading universities internationally respected, HBU’s mired in constraints

Univ

of Technology, and Comprehensives mission drift losing focus of their mission to produce technologists mid level undergraduate skills

low success, low throughput at under-graduate

too few post graduate, particularly

Phd

Aging academic staff and shortages in scarce skills areas

Lack of coherence and articulation

DHET Green Paper (2)

11

Research and innovation

Economic depends on innovation and technology absorption

While investment in research has tripled, there has not been a commensurate increase in personnel

Total knowledge output has increased 64% (2000-2009) but the system must become more productive

Poverty is a significant constraint on masters and

Phd

studies – students under pressure to obtain jobs??

Drastically increase number and quality of masters and PhD’s

Need for increased coordination between DHET and DST

Caliber and workload of academic staff must be addressed

Long term plan for renewing the academic profession - doctorates for academics and professions

DHET Green Paper (3) : Differentiation

12

Differentiation must take cognizance of historical inequalities, existing institutional types, and a few relatively research intensive universities responsible for most of the post graduates and cutting edge research. Their needs must not divert resources from all the universities, particularly poorer ones - all must have sufficient resources to be effective institutions

Because of the high unit value per research output , funding framework is biased towards rewarding research at the expense of teaching–

High increase in research output by advantaged universities who have the means to “chase” research. The rigidity of the funding system discourage implementation of flexible curricula like 4 year undergraduates (p46)

DHET Green Paper (4) : Differentiation

13

No further categorization of institutions

All institutions must have a clearly defined mandate

Undergraduate/post graduate and academic/professional/vocational equally important

Mix and level of programmes not fixed

All must offer high quality undergraduate programmes

University system must interface with PSE (

Fet

, colleges)

Funding regime must do justice to current institutional realities, and accept need for redress (development)

Funding for agreed upon outputs

Differentiation Principles

14

The most important principle is that the country needs the entire spectrum of institutions for socio-economic development

Mix and level of programmes of any institution should not be cast in stone - institutions must identify and enhance their strengths

All universities in South Africa must offer a quality undergraduate education

Reward equally the different roles of higher education in South African society, namely teaching and learning, community involvement, as well as research

A national plan should be developed in tandem with differentiation – coordination and a human development plan

Manuel

Castells

argued at Chet book launch that each country needs at least one or two institutions that sets the national benchmark, not only for research but also for student and academic aspirations, and in the popular imagination; otherwise the entire system ‘wallows in similar mediocrity’

Commonalities between NPC and DHET

15

No new types of institutions, no world class (Norwegian

janus

faced protestant hypocrisy) – DHET “all over the world there are universities with a predominant teaching mission”

Knowledge production (PhD and research output must increase – different counts of research outputs)

Big focus on doctorate – for academics (target more than 60%), professions research councils and other sectors (finance)

Good quality undergraduate education – including infrastructure funds for labs, libraries, housing

Improvement of through put – efficiency

Dramatic increase in participation rate – mainly in FET

Mission and profile differentiation

D: ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

17 The slides which follow summarise the academic programme framework within which the SA higher education system is expected to operate.

The summary is based on the current categories of (a) universities, (b) comprehensive universities, and (c) universities of technology.

18 Two preliminary points to note are:

key components of academic programmes are, for these purposes, students registered for qualifications within major fields of study

qualifications can be grouped either (a) by

type

: general formative or professional or career-focused, or (b) by

l

evel

: undergraduate or postgraduate.

19 The analyses which follow will use both the qualification type and qualification level categories

.

17

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES (continued)

20

General formative qualifications

:

all degrees, diplomas and certificates awarded at all levels in these major fields of study:

CESM 03: visual & performing arts

CESM 12: languages & literature

CESM 15: life & physical sciences

CESM 16: mathematical sciences

CESM 18: philosophy & religion

CESM 20: psychology

CESM 22: social sciences

18

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES (continued)21 Professional qualifications

:

all 4-year or more bachelors degrees, postgraduate diplomas in case of education only, all honours, masters and doctoral degrees in these CESM categories:

CESM 01: agriculture

CESM 02: architecture, building science and planning

CESM 04: business and management

CESM 05: communications

CESM 06 computer science

CESM 07 education

CESM 08 engineering

;,

19

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES (continued)

CESM 09: health sciences & services

CESM 10: home economics

CESM 11: industrial arts

CESM 13: law

CESM 14: librarianship;

CESM 19: physical education

CESM 21: public administration & social services

22

Career-focused qualifications

:

all undergraduate certificates and diplomas, 3-year bachelors degrees, and postgraduate diplomas( other than education) in the CESM categories listed in paragraph 5 above.

20

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES (continued)

23 The institutions in the three categories are:

Universities of technology:

CPUT, CUT, DUT, TUT, VUT, MUT

Comprehensive universities:

UJ, NMMU, Unisa, Unizul, Univen, WSU

Universities:

UCT, Fort Hare, Free State, UKZN, Limpopo, NWU, Pretoria, Rhodes, Stellenbosch, UWC, Wits

24 The 8 case study institutions are:

UCT, Fort Hare, UKZN, NWU, UWC, Wits, NMMU,

TUT

21

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES (continued)

25 Graph 15 summarises the HE system’s 2009 student enrolment within the three categories of institution and the qualification types defined earlier

22

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES (continued)

23

26 Graph 16 summarises the 2009 student enrolments of the 6

universities of technology

within the qualification types defined earlier.

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES (continued)

24

27 Graph 17 summarises the 2009 student enrolments of the 6

comprehensive universities

within the qualification types defined earlier.

Programme Distribution: General Formative- Professional- Career 24

2008 - Traditional Universities

2008 - Comprehensive Universities

2008 - Comprehensive Universities

Trendline

1

Trendline

1

Source: Martin Oosthuizen, NWU

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES (continued)

28 Graph 18 summarises the 2009 student enrolments of the 11

universities

within the qualification types defined earlier.

25

EXAMPLES OF CASE STUDY UNIVERSITIES: NMMU

34 Graph 25 shows that that NMMU’s academic offerings in terms of qualification types has remained stable over this period 2003-2009.

32

NMMU EXAMPLE (continued)

35 The graph below also presents a picture of stable programme offerings, with NMMU remaining a predominantly undergraduate university.

33

Staff Differentiation – General formative programmes

The purpose of general formative programmes is to give students a

firm foundation in basic disciplinary knowledge. Relevance should

therefore be assessed in the following ways:

The programme is responsive to the demands of the knowledge field

The curriculum provides students with a sound induction into the conceptual foundations of the disciplines studied

Teaching staff are aware of advances in knowledge, as reflected in the latest research and trends in the development of their disciplines, and incorporate these into the curriculum where appropriate

Students engage with core notions of citizenship, democracy and ethics, especially in relation to their disciplinary studies

Students are given an introduction to research methodology

A significant proportion of the staff is research active with national and international links to peers in their disciplines

28

STAFF – Professional programmes

The purpose of professional programmes is to give students a sound knowledge base and set of skills and competencies to enter into a field of professional practice. Relevance should therefore be assessed in the following ways:

The programme is responsive to the demands of the field of professional practice

The curriculum has an appropriate balance of the disciplinary knowledge on which the field is grounded, and field (profession) specific knowledge

Students acquire the skills and competencies to enable them to perform optimally in their field of practice

Where appropriate, students are given the opportunity to acquire workplace experience (e.g. clinical practice, teaching practice, practice in law clinics, etc.)

Students engage with core notions of citizenship, democracy and ethics, especially as they relate to professional practice

Teaching staff are aware of the latest developments (including research, new legislation, and professional regulations) relating to their field of practice and incorporate these into the curriculum where appropriate

Teaching staff maintain strong links with regulatory bodies such as professional boards and councils

A significant proportion of the teaching staff has professional accreditation

29

STAFF: Career and occupation-specific programmes

The purpose of career and occupation-specific programmes is to prepare students for specified occupational and career niches in the labour market. For this, students need to be sufficiently practically and procedurally competent to be considered work ready. Relevance should therefore be assessed in the following ways:

The programme is highly responsive to the demands of the workplace

The curriculum is context-driven

There is an appropriate balance of principled and procedural knowledge, and of generic and specific skills

There is sufficient conceptual knowledge to allow students to continue learning after graduation in the context of changes in the workplace

Students engage with core notions of citizenship, democracy and ethics, especially as they relate to the workplace

Teaching staff are aware of changes and developments in the industrial / business environment and keep the curriculum up to date in relation to these developments

Teaching staff maintain strong links with industry

A significant proportion of the teaching staff has industry experience

30

Challenges

31

Scale up Knowledge production - PhD’s and research outputs – Chet study

Efficiency improvements – the submerged discourse – shift to output funding

Participation rate - pressure for admission due ‘easier

matric

’, but mainly what is your role in FET sector

World class networks/institutes – Korea (Brain 21) – individual

vs

groups

evidence-based planning and performance monitoring which will require maintaining and strengthening HEMIS and the additional capacity to analyze national trends and changes between and within institutions and institutional groups.

Doctoral degree cohorts (2001,2002, 2003): Average dropout & graduation

32

Knowledge Production - High

New entrants

in

Year 1

Academic year

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

*Year

7

Total dropouts & graduates

1087

Dropped out at end of year

122

71

28

44

15

3

111

394

36%

Graduated at end of year

12

52

98

203

185

91

52

693

64%

Knowledge Production - Medium

New entrants

in

Year 1

Academic year

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

*Year

7

Total

dropouts & graduates

4558

Dropped out at end of year

1052

383

277

192

118

99

467

2588

57%

Graduated at end of year

77

300

405

412

341

247

188

1970

43%

Knowledge Production - Low

New entrants

in

Year 1

Academic year

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

*Year

7

Total

dropouts & graduates

341

Dropped out at end of year

131

30

18

9

9

4

36

237

70%

Graduated at end of year

3

14

20

22

17

15

13

104

30%

* The End of year 7 dropping out numbers also include students that may have registered in future years to complete their studies

All pre-merger institutions were mapped to their post-merger destination universities

Source:: DHET. 2011. CHET PhD analysis