Presentation to Parliamentary Portfolio Committees, May 2006

1. South African Government Involvement in, and Regulation of, Higher Education, Institutional Autonomy and Academic Freedom:HEIAAF Task Team Terms of Reference Presentation to Parliamentary Portfolio Committees, May 2006

2. Objectives of this Introduction • To provide an overview of the CHE HEIAAF Task Team’s terms of reference • To outline key elements in the HEIAAF initiative

3. CHE Intention in Initiating HEIAAF Investigation • Give effect to the CHE’s mission of • Developing an HE system characterised by excellence, equity, responsiveness, effectiveness and efficiency • Providing informed, considered, independent and strategic advice on HE issues to the Minister of Education • As guided by an independent Task Team

4. HEIAAF Task Team Members • Dr Khotso Mokhele, NRF (Chair) • Justice Dennis Davis • Ms Judith February, IDASA • Mr Steven Friedman • Dr Frene Ginwala, former Speaker of Parliament • Prof Ebrima Sall, CODESRIA • Dr Mala Sigh, HEQC • Prof Saleem Badat, CHE (Convenor)

5. Purpose of HEIAAF Investigation • Stimulate through scholarly debate and discussion, research and writings, and other mechanisms • The building of shared understanding • Perhaps consensus • A report • On • Appropriate nature and modes of government involvement in HE transformation • Appropriate relationships between government, bodies with HE regulatory functions, and HEIs • Appropriate conceptions of institutional autonomy (IA), academic freedom (AF) and public accountability (PA): generally and in the specific context of SA and HE transformation

6. Rationale of HEIAAF Investigation • Government has a key role to play in transforming HE in a democratic SA • State steering is predicated on the principles of IA, AF, PA, democratisation and development • As transformation has shifted from policy frameworks to implementation, concerns and claims have arisen that government involvement has shifted from steering to interfering • These issues have potential to become major sources of conflict and contestation in SA HE • This situation requires exploration of conceptions of IA, AF, PA, and the relationships between them, as held by different HE actors

7. Focus of the Investigation • Describe and critically analyse nature and modes of involvement in HE transformation by government and regulatory bodies • Describe and critically analyse conceptions of IA, AF and PA held by key HE actors (government, CHE-HEQC, SAQA, academic community and other stakeholders) • Identify, describe and critically analyse claims made of government interference, and responses to these • Develop a conceptual framework that is both: • Normative (‘steady-state notions of IA, AF and PA) • Qualified in light of mediating factors (evolution over time, neo-liberalism, the ‘market’, regional and continental goals and accords) • Advance argument and conclusions

8. HEIAAF Process • Process unfolding during 2005-2007 • Five key mechanisms of investigation • Overview of recent and current debates • Stakeholder submissions, and analysis of these • Commissioned research • Regional fora convened by Task Team, and TT participation in other stakeholder fora • Interviews • Outcomes • Research report and (possibly) policy report • National seminar and dissemination of research report • Report to Minister (research and/or policy report)

9. Areas of Commissioned Research • Evaluation of co-operative governance matching empirical perspectives with constitutional and public policy perspectives • Interrogation of the practice of AF in SA (and Africa) and implications for the wider practice of intellectual freedom • Exploration of the potential of a ‘social pact(s)’ for institutional autonomy • Focus on theoretical and empirical dimensions of public accountability in SA HE • Cross-cutting theoretical analysis deriving a principled framework for the state-sector relationship