TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH

INTERNATIONAL AND IN SOUTH AFRICA

Somarie Holtzhausen

School of Higher Education Studies

Faculty of Education

UFS

MISSION OF HE

HE in its variety of forms is expected to

contribute to social and economic development

through four major missions:

The formation of human capital

Building knowledge bases

The dissemination and use of knowledge

The maintenance of knowledge (OECD 2008)

UNIVERSITIES AND THEIR MISSIONS THROUGH THE AGES

See Lategan (2009): The university as a key concept in higher education studies. Chapter 3 In Bitzer: Higher Education in South Africa (pp. 57 – 58):

Mainly the university in the Western World: - The medieval period (12th – 14th centuries) - Higher education for the elite (15th - 19th centuries) - The ‘ivory tower’ period (up until the 1950’s) - The period of ‘democratisation’ of knowledge and opening up access (after the 1960’s).

ERA CONTRIBUTIONS

Universities as producers of values

• Religious and imperial values promoted• Via church or imperial state

Universities as producers of elites

• Selection and training of elite classes for society• Ivy League, Grand Ecole, Oxford Cambridge

Universities as producers of professionals

• E.g. Law, Engineering, Medicine, Accounting• Based on societal and economic needs

ERA CONTRIBUTIONS

Universities as producers of science

• Emergence of the scientific movement• Von Humboldt movement in Germany, MIT, Land Grant universities

Universities as producers of mass education

• Need for large numbers of educated members of society (particularly after WWII and colonialism)• E.g. large undergraduate classes, open and distance learning, ICT

Universities as producers of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activities

• Needs of society for innovation, business applications, the knowledge economy, science and technology• E.g. Silicon Valley (Stanford), University of Singapore

T R A C E S O F A L L T H E S E ( H I S T O R IC A L ) F U N C T IO N S C A N B E F O U N D I N A N Y U N I V E R S I T Y S Y S T E M AT A PA RT IC U L A R P O IN T IN T IM E .S Y S T E M I C D I V E R S IT Y IS P R E F E R A B L E , B U T A L L U N I V E R S IT I E S N E E D T O H AV E A C C E SS T O E XC E L L E N C E I N T H E S Y S T E M .T H E IM P O RTA N C E O F L IF E L O N G L E A R N IN G W H E R E BY K N O W L E D G E I S C O N S TA N T LY R E C YC L E D A N D R E N E W E D.T H E IM P O RTA N C E O F T E C H N O L O G Y – PA RT IC U L A R LY I N C O U N T R I E S W H E R E C L A SS R O O M L E A R N IN G F O R L A R G E N U M B E R S O F S T U D E N T S I S N O T A F F O R D A B L E .T H E P R O D U C T IO N O F F L E X IB L E C I T I Z E N S W I T H C O R E VA LU E S.R IG I D I T Y O F T H E D IS C I P L I N E S N E E D S T O B E N E G O T IAT E D.T H E IM P O RTA N C E O F U N IV E R S IT IE S T O O P E R AT E IN T H E P U B L IC ( N O T O N LY T H E P R IVAT E ) IN T E R E S T. A U T O N O M Y F R O M T H E S TAT E S H O U L D B E E A R N E D BY P U B L I C A C C O U N TA B IL I T Y.

INTERNATIONAL HE TRENDS

Globalisation

Flow of information and technology

The knowledge society

Borderless education

New teaching• Resource rich environments• Technologies• New purposes of student contact

(With acknowledgement to Prof Anthony Melck)

INTERNATIONAL HE TRENDS

Research• Mode 1/ mode 2 knowledge• Applied research

Knowledge management• Electronic academic information• Broadband/wide pipe IT• Library co-operation

Output-orientated learning• Supply and demand• Employability of students• Performance-related productivity

(With acknowledgement to Prof Anthony Melck)

INTERNATIONAL HE TRENDS

HE provision• Borderless education• Commercialisation• Managerialism• Revision of government funding• Increase in third stream income

Others?

NATIONAL HE TRENDS

Transformation

Changing the HE landscape

Governance

Funding

School-university interface

Efficiency

Quality assurance

Increasingly competitive environment (ref. ‘capped growth’)

Relevance and African involvement

Others?

“The small number of researchers focusing on higher education has made the emergence of a distinctive field more difficult. In part because it is an interdisciplinary field, higher education research has no established methodology. It borrows from other fields. Again, this is both a strength and a weakness. Utilizing research methods from diverse disciplines has contributed to original and innovative research. On the other hand, it has hindered the creation of an identifiable research community”

(Altbach, in Sadlak & Altbach, 1997: 6)

NATIONAL HE TRENDS

Curriculum, learning, teaching, assessment (action and

developmental research)

Institutional research

Policy research

Systems studies

Comparative studies

Case studies

Quality and impact studies

Higher education and community (engagement) studies

Others?

Expansion of research into HE in developing nations and an expansion of publication optionsMajor centres of HE research will lose their domination and new research communities will developThe leadership of major centres will prevail and retain their impactIncreased interest in learning, teaching and assessment (including accountability and measurement of effectiveness)The gulf between IR and other HE research will prevail as well as the gap between basic and applied research (with some confusion regarding the audiences for research in the field)HE will remain an interdisciplinary field of inquiryFaculty will be increasingly interested in HE researchLarge scale research will be limited due to lack of funding. (Altbach, 1997: 18 – 19)

A better balance and integration between the research agenda of researchers and usersStrengthening of regional and international networks for reporting data and researchInclusion of currently peripheral research communities in international mainstreamImprovement of links in the HE research community (education faculties, centres, government, councils, etc.) and with researchers in the social sciencesStrengthening the interdisciplinary nature of the fieldLinks with immediate needs of institutional managers and policymakersLinking HE researchers to groups in related fields, e.g. science policy, international education, comparative education (Altbach, 1997: 18 – 19)Others?

AGENDAS IN HE RESEARCH

(A)What should be on the HE research agenda for

Africa (the African context)? Why?

(B)What should be on the HE research agenda for

South Africa (the national context)? Why?

(C)What should be on the HE research agenda for

regions in SA (Central, North, East, South)? Why?

(D) Institutional (IR) research agendas?