Centre for Higher Education Transformation

and HEMASIU

Bergen, June 2012

• Reflecting on the role of academics/intellectuals in the struggle (Habermas) • Muller and Cloete. 1987. The white hands: academic social scientists,

engagement and struggle in South Africa'. Social Epistemology, 1,2, 141-154• Cloete and Muller. 1991. Social scientists and social change in South Africa.

International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, 28, 3-4, 171-192.• Muller and Cloete. 1993. Out of Eden: modernity, post-apartheid and

intellectuals. Theory, Culture and Society, 10, 3, 155-172

• From protest to policy• National Education Crisis Committee (Wikipedia – Internal resistance to

apartheid (1987)• Education policy units (Wits, Natal , UWC- 1989 – activists on campus ) • National Education Policy Investigation (NEPI) – restructuring SA higher

education started with NEPI (web) • Union of Democratic University Staff Associations -1991(back to the street• UDUSA Policy Forum (1993) – prepared for NCHE• National Commission For Higher Education – Mandela appointed participatory

policy framework 2

History/Development of Approach

• Capacity building without a theory – Strengthening HE Governance (1997) (building the boat on the sea)

• Reviewing first 5 years of post Apartheid HE (2001) – performance indicators

• Policy formation has been SA local/Global (Manuel Castells – The Rise of the Network Society , 2000)

• Finding the rest of Africa – Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (HERANA) (2009)

3

Chet - Capacity building vs research policy

• Loosely and tightly coupled networks • High profile Board, two person office, outsourced services (pay for

services) and commissioned experts (academics work for little – no consultants – must be employed elsewhere) and designated project managers

• Service providers• Publishing: Compress/African Minds• News: University World News• Events: Millennium Travel• IT: Tenet• Financial Support services: CHEC

• Construct research programmes with historical/new networks – local and global

• Connect capacity building – empirical research - training - advocacy • See Herana slide

4

Networked Higher Education Policy InvestigationS

5

1. Evidence-based: e.g. HERANA

HERANAHigher Education Research & Advocacy Network

in Africa

RESEARCH ADVOCACY

Higher Education and DevelopmentInvestigating the complex relationships between higher education and economic development, and student democratic attitudes in Africa

The Research-Policy NexusInvestigating the relationship between research evidence and policy-making in selected public policy sectors in South Africa

University World News (Africa)Current news and in-depth investigations into higher education in Africa

The HERANA GatewayAn internet portal to research on higher education in Africa

Nordic Masters in Africa (NOMA)Collaborative research training by the Universities of Oslo, Makerere, Western Cape, and CHET

FUNDERSCarnegie, Ford, Rockefeller, Kresge, DFID, Norad

• Seminars are strategically inclusive• 10 to 15 seminars per annum over 1 or 2 days• includes multiple system levels, i.e. supra-national, government, university

management, academics, funders• Includes experts, university representatives and policy-makers

• Informational Development and Human Development: Creative Synergy or Mutual Destruction (August 2010)• Participants – Castells, 2 NEC members of ANC (coordinator of policy), 3

academic economists who advise minsters or Presidency, Deputy Director General of Budget in Treasury, 2 serious capitalists (Africa’s richest woman), 2 VC’s, 2 environmentalists ( SANBI), 2 ICT (researcher and director general), 6 academics and a political commentator (Mbeki’s brother)

• Main outcomes: why ICT failed and R300million grant to Sanbi

•  Differentiation: Diversity and Stratification (January 2012) ◦ 7 senior officials from DHET, 1 National Development Plan (Presidency), 1

Higher Education SA, 3 university directors of planning, 8 Chet network◦ Outcome: DHET ask Chet to organize Differentiation Implementation meeting 6

Seminars and presentations

7

8

CHET website : www.chet.org.za

9

Publications

• “Covert and overt political and ideological agendas will always be there, but data is the starting point for a dialogue

• Leads to “empirical independence” of the organisation rather than it being an ideological hand-maiden (of government or others)

• CHET adds value to raw data collected by government and/or universities by cleaning, verifying and analysing source data

• Data is made public and focused presentations are made to government on key issues (e.g. differentiation; doctoral output, etc.) as well to the universities

• In doing so CHET • fills the capacity void in the ministry of HE and in many of the universities’

planning departments• provides government and institutions with an empirically-based picture of

post-secondary education in South Africa

10

Relentless reliance on data rather than ideology

11

Data on South African HE

12

Data: Public

13

Data beyond South African context

14

News: University World News

1. UWN Special Africa editions and fortnightly Africa newsletters launched in 2008 in collaboration with the HERANA project.

2. More than 27 000 people in 150 countries receiving the weekly global edition.

3. Of UWN’s total of 27 026 registered readers, 13 280 receive the Africa edition.

4. More than 6 000 of UWN’s readers are based in Africa, in 29 countries.(Figures as at December 2010)

15

Announcements: launches, conferences, mailings

Origins and Goals of HEMA

HEMA Higher Education Masters in Africa programme

Builds on previous masters programmes at UWC, UIO and MU

Main goal: “to build research capacity and expertise in higher education studies in Africa”

Research-focused degree Targeted at current and future researchers,

policy makers, managers with interest in higher education in Africa

16

Higher Education Master in Africa (HEMA) programme

Semester 1 2 3 4 5 6

Location UiO UWC Home country / field work UWC / Home country

Programme Component

Doing course work

Proposal & instrument development

Conducting field work

Data analysis

Writing up

Exam (by Thesis)

.

HEMA degree programme structure

17

18

HEMA Programme Description of ComponentMaster’s Dissertation Compulsory; counts 100% of your overall assessment.

You have to write a dissertation of 40,000 words under the supervision of academics attached to HEMA

HEMA Introduction to Higher Education Studies @ University of Oslo

Compulsory course; counts towards academic progress (credits certified by UiO); Introduction to the field of higher education studies

HEMA Higher Education & Development @ UWC

Compulsory course; counts towards academic progress; in-depth introduction into the history of higher education in Africa and the nexus of higher education and (economic, political, social) development in Africa.

HEMA Research Design & Methods @ UWC

Compulsory course; counts towards academic progress; introduces students to the basic steps and the practical methods of conducting empirical research, along with the development of a research proposal.

CHET Dialogue Series & HERANA Workshops

Highly recommended; opportunities to engage with African and inter-national HE researchers; workshops on specific HERANA projects

Higher Education Seminar Series at CSHE @ UWC

Highly recommended; seminar presentations and discussions on current research topics in HE.

Education Postgraduate Students’ Methodology & PET Workshops

Highly recommended; weekly sessions on research methods and proposal development jointly with Master’s and Doctoral candidates of the Faculty of Education & Workshops organised by PET on Social Research Methods.

HEMA Degree Programme at UWC

Cohort 1: Jan. 2008 (10 students) Cohort 2: Aug. 2009 (6 students) Cohort 3: Aug. 2011 (5 students)

5 graduates (2 cum laude)

19

Picture: Cohort 3 at University of Oslo (Helga Engs Huis), August, 2011.Randall, Ntimi, Lineo, Thierry (coord.), Theo, Agnes.

20

Cohort 1 (started January 2008)Graduated: Samuel N. FONGWA, Cameroon - Contribution of Higher Education to Regional Socio-

economic Development: A case study of the University of Buea in the Fako Region, Cameroon (2010, cum laude)

Angolwisye M. MWOLLO-NTALLIMA, Tanzania - Higher Education and Democracy:A study of students’ and student leaders’ attitudes towards democracy in Tanzania (2011, cum laude)

Hanitra RASOANAMPOIZINA, Madagascar – HE Policy changes in Madagascar and the Government’s Approach to Steering these Changes During the Last Two Decades (1990-2008) (2011)

Pam WATSON, South Africa - Contextual and Policy Positioning of Higher Education for Development: a Comparative Study of two Southern African Countries (2011)

Francois VAN SCHALKWYK, South Africa - Responsiveness and its Institutionalisation in Higher Education (graduated 2011)

Finishing: Biko GWENDO, Kenya - Human Capital Formation in Kenya; the Interconnectedness Between the

State, Higher Education Institutions and the Labour Market

Jennifer Sarah HUGOW, South Africa - The Dynamics of Policy Implementation: How Internal Visions Shape Faculty Responses To Steering In South African higher education

Nita CHIVWARA, Malawi - Governance of Higher Education Demand And Supply In Malawi

Wanangwe D. WANJIKU, Kenya - The Provision of Access and Skills Development by Private Universities in Kenya

HEMA Students: Dissertations & Progress (1)

21

Cohort 2 (started August 2009) Daniel CHIHOMBORI, Zimbabwe –Cost-Sharing in Higher Education Financing in Zimbabwe,

1957-2009: A Historiography (Proposal) Lucky KGOSITHEBE, Botswana – Higher Education and Democracy: Attitudes and behaviours

of students and student leaders towards democracy in Botswana (Data Analysis) Domingos Jaime LANGA, Mozambique – Understanding the process of defining the roles of

public universities in Mozambique: The cases of Eduardo Mondlane University and Pedagogical University (Editing final)

Doreen Nakasaga LWANGA, Uganda – Investigating the extent to which Institutionalization of Donor Funding Strengthens the Academic Core at Makerere University Kampala (Proposal)

Keitumetse Gofaone LEBOTSE, Botswana - Organisational assessment of the Tertiary Education Council in Botswana (Data Analysis)

Refiloe Moratuoa MOHLAKOANA, South Africa - Students’ Experiences of the Work-Study Programme at the University of the Western Cape (Data Collection and Analysis)

HEMA Students: Dissertations & Progress (1I)

22

Cohort 3 (started August 2011) Lineo KOLOSOA, Lesotho – (Proposal) Responding to challenges of knowledge production in

Southern Africa: the comparison of Botswana and Lesotho

Randall Stephen LANGE, South Africa – (Proposal) Student engagement with Citizenship at UCT: The contribution of curricular, co-curricular and community involvement

Agnes LUTOMIAH, Kenya - (Proposal) An examination of incentive and reward structures for knowledge production : the case of the University of Nairobi

Ntimi MTAWA, Tanzania – (Proposal) Knowledge Connectivity, Academic Core and Pact in Community Engagement: The models of Sokoine University of Agriculture inTanzania and Stellenbosh University in South Africa

HEMA Students: Dissertations & Progress (1II)

Next Cohorts / Plans Planned Master’s Intake 2013 (Cohort 4)

Planned Extension of HEMA to a Doctoral Programme (HE – PhD)

Other plans: HEMA Summer School 2013; Post-doctoral Fellows

HEMA Evaluation Survey 2011 - Objectives

Conduct a critical and holistic self-evaluation of the current operation of the HEMA programme at UWC

Evaluating the programme against the goals of HEMA and NOMA

Review of programme documents Survey staff and student perceptions and

experiences (Conduct in-depth interviews with staff and

students; - still to be completed).23

Conceptualisation and Methodology Is the HEMA programme achieving its main

objective of increasing higher education research capacity and producing a new generation of HE researchers in Africa?

Formative evaluation improvement focus Critically reflexive practice subjectivity! Asking pertinent questions about:

Programme structure Student and staff experiences Research training, course work, supervision,

management, Quality and outcomes Resourcing and programme sustainability

NB. Qualitative dimension still to be completed (in-depth interviews with students and staff) 24

Student respondents by Cohort 1: 6 (of 10) Cohort 2: 5 (of 6) Cohort 3: 5 (of 5)

by international mix

by gender: Males: 10 (of 10) Females: 6 (of 11)

Student respondents to HEMA survey

0

1

2

3

10

6

malefemale

25

13 staff respondents◦ permanent and part-

time teaching staff.◦ 10 academic, 3 admin

All academic staff/tutors have PhD or are PhD candidates (4).

2 professors of HE Studies

Lect/Doc Admin Lect/Posdoc prof lect0

0.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4

3

2 2 2

Staff respondents to HEMA survey

26

Goal Achievement: Programme OverallIs the HEMA programme achieving its main goal of building research capacity and expertise in higher education in Africa?

• Almost all staff respondent are very positive about• the achievement; half of student respondents DK

yet.

Agree/ strongly agree It's too early to tell / Don't know

Disagree/ strongly disagree01234567

56

0

7

1 12

10

Cohort 1 and 2Academic staffAdmin staff

27

Quality: Programme OverallOn the whole, how would you rate the academic quality of the HEMA programme?

• Therefore: very positive overall evaluations.• All except one student and all academic staff say they would

recommend the programme to students.

02468

9

02

8

1 02 1 0

Cohort 1 and 2Academic staffAdmin staff

28

Research trainingLearning outcomes: Are students successfully acquiring key research skills through HEMA?

0

2

4

6

8

1010

98 8

54

65

45

studentsstaff

29

SupervisionIs the co-supervision model a strength or a weakness?

Responses from senior students and staff are mixed on the merits of the co-supervision model.

It's a strength Neither a strength nor weakness

It's a weakness0

1

2

3

4

5 4

5

2

3

4

0

Cohorts 1 and 2Academic staff

30

Student-Supervisors relationshipHow do students perceive their relationship with their supervisors?

Most students perceive their supervisors in a very positive light; while supervisors themselves are more critical of their ‘empathy’, expertise etc.

Supervisors are well-engaged in

research

Supervisors have empathy

Supervisors have expertise in my

topic

Supervisors give timely comments

02468

1012

1110 10

98

4 4 4

Students (cohorts 1 & 2)

Academic staff

31

Relevance of CourseworkIs the HEMA course work / seminars at UiO/UWC relevant to prepare students for research?

Most students (8 of 11) and academic staff (6 of 9) indicate that they consider the course work relevant.

Agree/ strongly agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree/ strongly disagree

02468

8

21

6

3

0Cohort 1 & 2Academic staff

32

Quality of Course materialIs the HEMA course material and additional academic resources of high quality? 

• All student respondents considered course material as “excellent” or “good with minor problems”;

• Some academic staff (5) answered they “don’t know” while the other three academic staff respondents also consider course material and additional academic resources to be of high quality.

Excellent/ good with minor problems Don't know02468

1012

11

0

35 Cohort 1 and 2

Academic staff

33

Presenting, publishing and networking

Presenting & publishingas learning opportunitiesand outcomes?

Are HEMA network links considered asstrengths of the programme?

HERANA CHET UWC Broader Network

UIO 0123456789

108 8 8

76

109

78

7StudentsStaff

Present to students

Present to academics/

policymakers

Write/ co-write conference/

journal paper

Publish online (e.g. ahero)

Publish in peer reviewed journal(s)

0123456

6

34

1 1

5

1 1 1 1

Students

Staff

34

Where to from here? Expected graduate destinations

Some possible improvements

0123456789

9 9

3 3

5 5

34

StudentsStaff

Add PhD Programme From Full Thesis to Coursework & Minithesis

02468

1012

11

46 6

StudentsStaff

35

Summary and Conclusions• HEMA programme seems to be doing well overall &

quality from staff and student perspective (self-evaluation)

• Staff seems to be more critical than students• Research training overall seems to be working (key

skills)• Need to look at

• Overall programme structure / examination• Co-supervision model • Financial sustainability & resourcing• Look at partnerships• Institutionalisation in academic core of UWC is NB.

• Regular review and continued reflection• Track graduate destinations • Consider developing a Doctoral-level programme

36

Thank you.

PleaseSaveOurPlanet.

University of the Western CapeCentre for the Study of Higher EducationDr Thierry M. Luescher-Mamashela Coordinator HEMA 2012

37