The use of open daTa in The governance of souTh african higher educaTion

An Introduction to the Project London, Thursday 25 April 2013

INTRODUCTION Using the Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET)

as a case study, this project proposes to examine:

• the value of the emerging CHET open data initiative to

university planners as well as higher education studies

researchers;

• the limitations of the open data initiative in its current form;

• role CHET plays as an intermediary in making the data

available; and

• some of the unintended consequences of opening access

to the dataset.

As an additional sub-component, the project will undertake

a situational analysis of the use of open data in the South

African higher education and research context.

gOveRNaNCe Two governance contexts:

• Governance of the higher education system by the State

• Governance of individual institutions by Council and

university management

Open data allows for:

• comparisons between inidividual universities and between

clusters of universities

• decision-making being emperically based rather than

ideological informed

• transparency and accountability of public institutions

by external stakeholders

OPeN DaTa

23public

universities

Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS) Database

Consultants

gOveRNmeNTOPeN DaTalaNDsCaPe

DATA

CAPACITY

POLITICAL WILL

BudgetCensus

CrimeElection SAPS

DHET

NRF

Treasury

LEGAL ENVIRONMENT

Protection of State Information Bill (“Secrecy Bill”)

IP laws(copyright/patents)

The Promotion of Access to Information ActThe Constitution

PRessURes FOR OPeN DaTa

• advocacy groups – supply side pressure through policy intervention (e.g. Open Democracy & Data Initiative; Open UCT)

• Research – supply side pressure through policy intervention via intermediaries (e.g. ODDC case study research)

• Funders/donors – supply side pressure through conditional funding terms

• Hackers – demand side through product development (e.g. HacksHackers Cape Town; OKFN-ZA)

PRESSURE

INTERMEDIARIES

OPeN DaTa sUPPly

HEMIS DHET CHET

Does the data exist? Is it available online in digital form? Is the dataset machine readable? Is the machine readable data available in bulk? Is the dataset available free of charge? Is the data openly licensed? Is the dataset up-to-date? Is the publication of the dataset sustainable? Was it easy to find information on the dataset? Are linked data URIs provided?

4 7 9

HemIs data captured as student and staff records

Only non-personal data available publicly

CHeT data only available in the form of performance indicators

ReseaRCH QUesTIONs

1. How does the specific case of the CHET open data initiative fit into current open data policy and practice in South Africa?

2. What is the value of opening data on higher education in South Africa to practitioners and researchers?

3. What are factors which inform operability of open data in terms of data packaging/delivery and user interface? And, (i) assuming data needs to be curated rather than simply stored, and (ii) that the systematic organisation of information is not a neutral act, who should determine how data is presented?

4. What are the implicit and explicit roles of intermediaries in the data flow process in the context of the case of South African higher education open data?

meTHOD Open data landscape in South Africa: desk study and unstructured interviews

Use of CHET open data (uptake, operability, etc.): structured interviews with representative sample drawn from 23 public universities + interviews with higher education studies researchers in South Africa

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