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DHET Emerging Policy Priorities & Initiatives Aimed at Improving the Sector’s Research & Innovation Performance

DHET Emerging Policy Priorities & Initiatives Aimed at Improving the Sector’s Research & Innovation Performance. 3 April 2012 Mr M Mabizela. Outline. National Development Plan (NDP) Green Paper for Post-School Education & Training Improvements on current Policies .

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DHET Emerging Policy Priorities & Initiatives Aimed at Improving the Sector’s Research & Innovation Performance

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  1. DHET Emerging Policy Priorities & Initiatives Aimed at Improving the Sector’s Research & Innovation Performance 3 April 2012 Mr M Mabizela

  2. Outline • National Development Plan (NDP) • Green Paper for Post-School Education & Training • Improvements on current Policies

  3. National Development Plan (NDP) • Each university should have a clear mission that sets out its unique contribution towards knowledge production and national development. • HE system should be diverse so that each institution can build on its strengths and expand areas of specialisation. • No one institution can serve all of society’s needs. • There is a need for a new framework in which the knowledge production system operates and its relationship to innovation and industry needs to be reconfigured.

  4. NDP: Targets for 2030 • PhD graduates, either as staff or post-doctoral fellows, will be the dominant drivers of new knowledge production within HE and science innovation system. • 75% of university academic staff should hold PhDs. • Produce more than 100 Phd graduates/million of the population. • Increase the number of African and women postgraduates, especially PhDs, to improve research and innovation capacity and normalise staff demographics.

  5. NDP: Policy Proposals • Build a properly qualified, professional, competent and committed teaching, academic, research and public service cadre. • Enhance innovative capacity of the nation. • Address the decline of humanities. • Build an enabling and high quality differentiated system. • Support institutions in chronic distress

  6. Green Paper for Post-School Education & Training • Identifies the problem of ‘insufficient levels of research and innovation’ in the system. • Economic development is dependant on innovation. • Research & development are needed for solving social problems. • DHET & DST need to work together to improve research capacity at institutions and improve number of PhDs.

  7. Green Paper: R&I • The objective is to ensure that the country commits and sustains ‘long-term research that is transformational, generates new knowledge and can work towards strengthening society and the economy’. • DST and DHET will work to ensure increased support for post-grad study and for senior researchers and that there is coherence in overall policy. • Current policies and regulations assume that all universities should aim to have comparable research outcomes and performance should be comparable to that of top performing institutions. This is unrealistic.

  8. Green Paper: R&I (cont.) • Emphasis is also put on the need for PhD graduates needed for academic positions, research, innovation and industry. • Universities with a relatively weak research culture and record should be assisted and funded to develop their research capacity in particular areas of specialisation so that their research culture can be built gradually over time.

  9. PhD Enrolments & Graduates, ’02 - ’10

  10. Masters Enrolments & Graduates, ’02 – ’10

  11. Current Policy Improvements • Research Development Grants • Policy and Procedures for the Measurement of Research Output of Public Higher Education Institutions • Enrolment Planning as a steering mechanism • Review of the Funding Framework

  12. Research Development Grants • These have always been calculated based on a shortfall by institutions to meet their research output norms. • RDGs have not always been used to develop research as required/expected. • All institutions should qualify for RDGs. • The DHET will cluster institutions according to their research development needs.

  13. No of Staff with PhDs vs Weighted Research Output Units , 2010

  14. Research Development Grants • Research intensive universities should collaborate with less research focused universities and develop postgraduates for the whole sector • Middle research strength universities should improve staff qualifications, collaborate, develop postgraduates and develop niche areas. • Low research strength universities should improve staff qualifications and develop niche areas.

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