1. Doctoral Education in South Africa and Seven African States
Nico Cloete, Peter Maassen and Teboho Moja
Global Higher Education  Salon, International Institute of Education
UN Plaza, New York
18 May 2016
UWC Institute of Post-School Studies

2. Research on Higher Education Governance
Often dominated by normative starting points and contestable assumptions, and anchored in HE studies and literature only

3. Market orientation?

4. Student involvement?

5. Professional leadership?

6. Research on Public Governance in Sub-Saharan African countries
Central concept: Political order (Fukuyama; Olsen; Rothstein)
Focus on: Quality of public governance
Basic condition for valid research on quality of governance in (Sub-Saharan) Africa:
Move away from continental focus to the study of inter-country differences in public governance
Morten Jerven (2015) Africa: Why Economists get it Wrong

7. Basic assumption: Quality of Governance
For poor countries, political-administrative order and competent institutions, that is, a well-functioning state bureaucracy, are a precondition for social progress, increased knowledge production, and economic growth (e.g. Huntington 2006; Olsen 2007b; Fukuyama 2011, 2013, 2014; Rothstein and Teorell 2012; Cloete et al. 2015)

8. The institutional matrix of public governance
Four institutional levels relevant to university governance:
HE Policy sector
Supra-national and international level
Cabinet/government level
Ministry level
Agency level
Knowledge space level

9. System-level governance: Higher education and science
What knowledge is available with respect to Quality of Governance in the area of HE & Research/Science?
Limited Valid Data on Quality of Governance in African countries

10. Analytical framework for research on public governance of HE & research in Sub-Saharan Africa
Two main concepts: capacity and autonomy
Central assumption: nature of interaction between capacity and autonomy in state bureaucracies (incl. university administration) central component of Quality of Public Governance
Capacity consists of resources (incl. financial resources) and specific bureaucratic staff aspects, while autonomy has to do with the number and nature of mandates issues by politicians/principals.

11. Analytical scheme Low Autonomy High Autonomy Low Capacity
Low Autonomy
High Autonomy
 Low Capacity
 Limited Bureaucratic Effectiveness
Low Bureaucratic Effectiveness
 High Capacity
 Low Bureaucratic Effectiveness
High Bureaucratic Effectiveness

13. Figure 3: Quality of governance dynamics in SSA universities?
High
capacity
(Too many rules)
(Excessive discretion)
Subordination
Autonomy
Low capacity

14. Africa needs research universities
Traditionally, universities in Africa focussed on ideology, elite selection and training, and performed poorly on knowledge production.
Africa needs to shift to increased participation (from low base of under 10% ) and increased knowledge production - massification and differentiation.
Research universities in low- and middle-income countries have crucial roles to play in developing differentiated and effective academic systems.
Understanding the characteristics of the research university and building the infrastructures and the intellectual environment needed for successful research universities is a top priority (Altbach, 2013).

15. More PhDs
Castells – the university as engine of development in the knowledge economy (1991 Kuala Lumpur, World Bank; UWC 2001).
Knowledge more important than capital or materials.
Talent, not capital is the primary source of competitive advantage
Unprecedented growth – China pa, University Sao Paulo more than the whole SA system – traditional systems US, UK much slower.
Number of doctorates far exceed number of places in US in % of PhD’s got tenure track position, by % ( new PhD’s, new academic jobs). In Germany only 6% aim for academic position
What do they do – finance, research organisations, pastors.
Silicon valley – innovation.
Ms Zuma (AU commissioner, 2013) – Africa must produce ten’s of thousands of PhDs – as long as they stay in SA.
Naledi Pandor DST Budget speech, July 2014 – SA must produce 6000 per year and will ask government for R5billion
The PhD factories – is it time to stop? (Cyranoski 2011 Nature)

16. PhD production in SA vs a number of selected OECD countries, 2000 and 2011
Country
Average annual growth rate in total PhDs
Population
2011
2011 SET PhD graduates per 100,000 of 2011 population
2011 total PhD graduates per 100,000 of 2011 population
Australia
4.7%
15.9
27.2
Canada
3.3%
10.3
16.5
Czech Republic
9.6%
14.5
23.5
Finland
-0.2%
21.1
34.4
Germany
0.5%
24.2
33.4
Hungary
5.1%
6.5
12.4
Ireland
10.1%
20.3
31.6
Italy
11.1%
11.8
18.6
Korea
6.0%
14.0
23.4
Norway
6.4%
16.7
26.2
Portugal
3.5%
11.4
21.9
Slovak Republic
12.8%
16.1
31.0
Switzerland
2.2%
30.1
44.0
Turkey
7.4%
3.5
6.3
United Kingdom
19.5
32.5
United States
4.5%
13.0
South Africa
1.6
3.0
Source: OECD (2013) Graduates by field of study, data extracted on 4 July 2013.

17. Policy pressures on doctorate production in SA

18. Doctoral graduates produced by universities in 2012

19. Progress of 2006 intakes of new doctoral students after 7 years by cluster

20. Doctoral graduates by race (1996–2012)

21. Black doctoral graduates produced by universities in 2012

22. PhD graduates by nationality (2000, 2004, 2008, ‌2012)
Source: Cloete et al. (2015) Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education

23. Average annual growth rates by nationality and gender (2000–2012)
Source: Cloete et al. (2015) Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education

24. Top 20 countries of origin of the 2012 international PhD graduates
Country
2012
Accumulative % 1
Zimbabwe
142
22.50% 2
Nigeria 76
34.60% 3
Kenya 43
41.40% 4
Uganda 29
46.00% 5
Ethiopia 23
49.70% 6
USA
53.30% 7
Cameroon 19
56.30% 8
Ghana
59.40% 9
Tanzania 18
62.20% 10
Zambia 17
64.90% 11
DRC 15
67.30% 12
Lesotho
69.70% 13
Malawi
72.10% 14
Sudan
74.40%
India
76.50% 16
Mozambique
78.60%
Namibia
80.60%
Germany
82.40%
Botswana
84.00% 20
Rwanda
85.60%
Source: Cloete et al. (2015) Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Universities

25. New South African Realities
SA has 5 Universities in Shanghai top 500
2. SA a PhD bargain!
Full time research PhD Costs
UK (Bath) – $ fees (foreigners) + $ living = $46 050
US (Berkeley) – $ fees + $ living = $54 900
US (NYU ) – $ fees + $ living = $67 300
SA (US) – $2000 +$1000 (foreigners) + $ living = $13 000
SA three times cheaper than Bath, four times cheaper than Berkeley and five times cheaper than NYU
Golden triangle – Efficiency, Transformation Quality (perceived)
But the Africans from the rest of Africa are not SA Africans, not black, not disadvantaged or not “ours” (nationalism or middle class xenophobia?)
Too few doctorates at African flagship universities

26. Policy choices – SA a PhD hub for Africa?
SA wants to triple its PhD output and has made considerable investment in doctoral studies!
SA does not have the student interest/availability or the staff capacity to reach the targets (capacity exhaustion)
“As we are all acutely aware, we do not have the supervisory capacity in South Africa to produce the number of PhDs the government has set as a target. I suspect that we also don’t actually have the local candidature either. It thus seems logical that given our skills shortages and capacity challenges that where skilled workers wish to remain, they ought to be welcomed. (Cloete et al Knowledge Production)
SA Emigration policy – loose control over lows kills (township conflict- xenophobia) but restrict high skills (academic xenophobia)
Knowledge economy hubs – Silicon Valley, EdHubs (San Francisco)
6. Currently government and universities on a nationalistic path
6 May from a established scholar from the rest of Africa:
Nico, In retrospect, the odds were stacked against me, as the order of preference the selection committee had agreed upon beforehand was first a black South African, then coloured SA, then Indian and then a non-national.

27. Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (HERANA)
Network of 50 participating academics and senior administrators (mainly planners) in 12 countries
Project is currently in its 7th year. Carnegie, Ford, Norad.
Participating African countries and “flagship” universities
Botswana – University of Botswana
Ghana – University of Ghana
Kenya – University of Nairobi
Mauritius – University of Mauritius
Mozambique – Eduardo Mondlane University
South Africa – University of Cape Town
Tanzania – University of Dar es Salaam
Uganda – Makerere University

33. Program Self-Study Assessment (PSSA)
In this component institutions and programs are encouraged to do an analysis of the purpose of the doctoral programs they are offering.

34. There are contested purposes of a doctoral degree that range from developing:
training for an academic career,
training for a research career in academia,
training for research in the economy at large,
curiosity‐driven work in its own right and for its own sake, and
high‐level training within a professional context” (Green & Powell, 2005, p.49)

35. The Supervision and Support Model (SSM)
involvement in faculty research and applications for research grants;
joint publications and conference presentations; and
teaching opportunities provided to those pursuing academic careers.

36. The Student Self Assessment (SSA):
The focus here is the students taking more responsibility for their own learning and development.
This would require continuous assessment of their learning experiences.
Demanding accountability from those responsible for their development.
It consists of ensuring satisfaction with supervision and support provided;
Active involvement in academic and professional development; and
Ongoing assessment of progress made towards achievement of goals

37. Thank You!!!