Higher Education and SADC Regional Development

Neil Butcher Merridy Wilson-Strydom Sarah Hoosen Cathy Macdonald Andrew Moore Lindsay McDonough

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Research Design and Methodology Gathering SADC HE Data Overview of HE in the SADC Region Discussion

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Diverse Region with wide variation in populations, poverty levels, education contexts◦ Population (2006) ranged from 1.146 million people in

Swaziland to 61.532 million people in DRC◦ GDP per capita (2006) ranged from $175 in Malawi to

$5,720 in Botswana◦ Human Development Index (HDI) rankings (2007)

range from Mauritius (65) to Mozambique (172) Some variation in key economic sectors, but

agriculture remains major economic sector for most countries.

In most cases (not all) principal exports are primary products

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‘The SADC vision is one of a common future, a future in a Regional community that will ensure economic well-being, improvement of the standards of living and quality of life, freedom and social justice and peace and security for the peoples of Southern Africa’ (SADC website, emphasis added)

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Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) Priority Intervention Areas◦ Cross-Sectoral Intervention Areas:

Poverty eradication; Combating HIV and AIDs Gender equality and development Science and Technology ICTs Environment and sustainable development Private sector Statistics

◦ Sectoral cooperation and integration Intervention areas: Trade/economic liberalisation and development Infrastructure support for Regional integration and poverty

eradication Sustainable food security Human and social development (RISDP, 2001)

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Elements relevant to HE:◦ Mechanisms to support access with the region, including

student and staff mobility◦ Mechanisms to allow representation of different member

countries (esp. post-graduate level)◦ Cooperation in design of learning programmes and

materials◦ Bilateral and multilateral links in support of collaborative

research and joint/split-site teaching◦ Cooperation in examination of academic programmes

and quality assurance◦ National support of HE to ensure provision of qualified

staff, infrastructure, library holdings, scientific and other equipment

◦ Promotion of participation for socially excluded groups◦ Establishment of Centers of Specialization to build

capacity in the Region

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1. Describe HE in the SADC Region, with a focus on collection and analysis of institutional data and an analysis of national HE contexts;

2. Understand the current status and potential of Regional collaboration in the HE arena;

3. Collect baseline data that can be used as a starting point for the collection of Regional HE data in the longer term; and

4. Reflect on the processes of gathering comparative Regional HE data where national contexts differ widely.

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Ministries of Education in the 14 participating countries

64 Public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) currently members of SARUA

No private HEIs included in the study

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Two questionnaires (translated into French and Portuguese), one targeting HEIs and one targeting MoEs, with sections focused on:◦ Institutional data◦ Funding data◦ Quality assurance◦ Regional collaboration

Multiple data gathering methods:◦ Emailing (faxing and couriering in some instances) of

questionnaires to MoEs and HEIs◦ Intensive email and telephone follow-up by English,

French and Portuguese speakers◦ Visits to a sample of countries (Angola, Botswana,

DRC, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia)◦ Review of MoE websites, HEI websites and literature.

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Questionnaire development based on review of existing HE data sources and research to define data categories best applicable across the range of country contexts

Quality mechanisms:◦ Data verification spreadsheet prepared to check tallying

of responses received◦ Where data was not accurate or was unclear a

verification request was prepared◦ Data subjected to second round of checking during

preparation of country reports◦ Final versions of reports sent back to participants for

verification◦ Data captured in consolidated regional spreadsheets

cross-checked against final versions of country reports to ensure consistency

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Challenging to get responses In some cases internet access was noted as

a challenge, in others, the breadth of data being collected was noted as too time consuming to complete

Where responses not received, additional data sources were consulted in an effort to extract data.

5 SA HEIs did not submit responses, HEMIS data was used

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Research Population

Questionnaire responses received

Documentation provided

No Response

Outstanding Verification Request

Ministries of Education

14 11 1 2 3

Higher Education Institutions

64 53 2 9 17

Totals 78 64 (82%) 3 (4%) 11 (14%) 20 (25%)

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Individual HEI reports prepared for each of the participating HEIs

Overview of HE at the national level was prepared based on MoE responses and literature

National level review and HEI reports compiled into individual country reports

Regional report – based on review of country reports, as well as analysis of data at a regional level

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Challenges and suggestions for future efforts

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High quality, up to date and comparable data on HE in SADC is needed if HE is to fulfill its developmental potential

Putting in place processes for gathering Regional level data within SADC is one of the priority areas of the RISDP – aim is to have harmonized statistics and an integrated database of key statistics in place by 2015

The challenge of gathering Regional level data (within SADC and many other regions) has been documented

Inter-dependence of national and international (regional data gathering and management processes)

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Challenge One: Getting a First Response: Many contact details and people provided

had changed Reaching the final response rate of 83%

required time consuming follow-up procedures

MoE example HEI example

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Challenge Two: Data Accuracy On receipt of questionnaire responses, data

was checked using verification spreadsheet – tallying of numbers within tables and also across questions

In most instances, responses needed to be send back at least once for verification

Some responses to verifications requests provided accurate data, sometimes new inconsistencies were introduced

20 initial verification requests remain outstanding despite follow up email and telephone calls

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Example One: The number of contact students (15, 710) and

distance students (384) add up to 16, 907. the number of full time (12, 602) and part time (2, 724) students add up to 15, 326. The number of national students (14, 942), SADC students (136) and other international students (632) add up to 15, 710.

Example Two:The total number of academic and research staff

provided in question 8 (38, 736) are much higher than the total numbers broken down by field of study/faculty (905).

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Challenge Three: Defining comparable units of analysis/data categories

Examples of data categories, definitions not followed accurately, data not presented according to data categories in the questionnaires

Headcount data was used as the basis for this study. Some HEIs record data based on full time equivalents (FTEs). FTE and Headcount data do not always tally

Most common, were differing definitions of ‘major fields of study’ and ‘levels of study’

Data was cleaned as far as possible, but in some instances inconsistencies remain

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Challenge Four: Reference Year and Actual versus Estimate data

Respondents were asked to provide data for the ‘most recent academic year available’ and to note the reference year.

Also asked to specify whether data was ‘actual’ or ‘estimate’

In most cases actual data was presented, but a few examples of estimated data were found (noted as such in country reports)

Data provided by different respondents did not always refer to the same reference year – specified in individual reports, but treated in the same way in regional level analyses

Data provided was mostly from 2006/07 year, but in some cases 2005 and in a few instances 2008 data was provided.

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Challenge Five: Question Types Study brief included broad focus on HE sector in SADC countries,

including:◦ HE data,◦ Information about quality assurance,◦ Information about capacity building needs,◦ Funding data, and◦ Information on extent of regional collaboration, as well as the extent to which

collaboration is valued. Used quantitative and qualitative questions in which more descriptive

responses could be provided. Qualitative responses useful when preparing country reports and to

better understand a specific country, but were of less value at regional level as comparability became more challenging.

Also difficult to assess accuracy of more subjective, qualitative responses – country visits showed the different meanings very similar responses might have.

Respondents asked to provided explanations for some quantitative data, but in few cases were such responses sufficient to allow accurate interpretation.

Suggestion – smaller, focused studies that examine specific topics in greater depth

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Summary of findings

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Need to interpret data within the complex historical context of African HE.

Findings presented in this section are based on the data provided by public HEIs that are currently SARUA members. No data from private providers was collected. In some countries, newer public HEIs may not yet be SARUA members.

Study was very broad, not possible to present all findings in detail – summaries are captured here.

Focus of this presentation is at Regional level, not country specific

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Country No. Public Universities

No. Publicly funded polytechnics/ colleges

No. private Universities or Colleges

Total Enrolment

Population Size (2006) (millions)

Angola 1 47,373 16.403

Botswana 1 21 5 15,710 1.702

DRC 4 31,478 61.532

Lesotho 1 7 0 8,508 2.447

Madagascar 6 2 21 41,691 2.447

Malawi 6 7 4 7,869 12.758

Mauritius 2 7 30 9,720 1.253

Mozambique 4 3 12 46,865 19.886

Namibia 1 2 2 8,378 1.991

South Africa 23 80 746,538 47.391

Swaziland 1 1 4 5,785 1.146

Tanzania 15 18 33,420 38.524

Zambia 3 43 6 14,395 11.700

Zimbabwe 9 8 4 52,453 12.233

SADC TOTAL

77 119 168 1,070,183 246.833

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0.434% of the total SADC population are enroled in HE – when SA is excluded this drops to 0.162%

In all countries (except Malawi and Zimbabwe) private institutions outnumber public institutions need to better understand the private HE sector in order to properly plan for HE in the Region

Predominantly contact provision with 72% of students in region enroled as contact students and 28% as distance students

All MoEs reported funding challenges, yet only 8 noted that support from business and industry was part of their funding strategy

HE policy and regulatory environment shows some similarities and some differences:◦ In most countries increasing access and addressing gender disparities are

noted A range of statutory bodies playing a significant role in HE were

provided 8 of the 14 MoEs reported monitoring institutional level

governance and management, but only 4 set targets in this area

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HEI Functions (Source: HEI questionnaire data)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Angola

Botswan

aDRC

Leso

tho

Madag

ascar

Malawi

Mauriti

us

Mozambiqu

e

Namibia

South Afri

ca

Swazila

nd

Tanz

ania

Zambia

Zimbabw

e

Perc

enta

ge fo

cus

Teaching andLearningResearch

CommunityService

Majority focus heavily on teaching and learning

Regional averages:◦ Teaching and learning – 63%◦ Research – 26%◦ Community engagement/service/outreach – 10%

In all but two countries, HEIs focus less than 30% of their attention on research – implications for knowledge economy

Research output low

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Madagascar: Research shows that, in 2006, only 64% of the Faculty in universities had their PhDs or the equivalent, and that very few of the faculty were engaged in research or publishing. Limited research capacity among Faculty undermines their ability to train and stimulate students.

Tanzania: The university receives insufficient money from government to fund all research and other academic activities. In response to this challenge HEI X seeks to generate some revenue internally, and has a plan to develop additional income sources.

59% of HEIs reported that they have research policies/strategies in place (although few examples were provided)

53% of HEIs report having plans in place for collaboration with business and industry.

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In general, the gross tertiary enrolment ratios of SADC countries are low, ranging from 1-17%, but with most countries falling into the 2-4% range

Gender representivity remains skewed:◦ All SADC countries – 49.89% female students,

50.11% male◦ SA exclude – 36.84% female students, 63.15%

male◦ Gender disparity greatest in the SET area

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Headcount number of students (all levels of study) per major field of study

233,607

334,249

402,974

73,486

6,2380

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

Science,Engineering and

Technology

Business,Management

and Law

Humanities andSocial Sciences

Health Sciences Other

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

(Hea

dcou

nt)

Under - graduate degrees

Post -graduate diplomas

Masters degrees

Doctoral degrees

Other Totals (all countries)

Science, Engineering & Technology

200,045 7,139 12,840 3,799 9,784 233,607

Business, Management & Law

277,834 23,160 17,440 1,188 14,627 334,249

Humanities & Social Sciences

339,353 22,039 19,438 4,695 17,449 402,974

Health Sciences 57,309 3,857 7,550 909 3,863 73,486

Other 4,071 368 392 51 1,356 6,238

Totals (all countries)

878,611 (83.63%)

56,563 (5.38%)

57,660 (5.49%)

10,642 (1.01%)

47,079 (4.48

%)

1,050,555

Totals (SA Excluded)

258, 287 (86.19%)

19,862 (6.63%)

15,993 (5.35%)

740 (0.25%)

4,798 (1.60

%)299,680

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Total Under - graduate degrees

Post -graduate diplomas

Masters degrees

Doctoral degrees

Other

Science, Engineering & Technology

37,141 28,854 3,363 3,053 536 3,583

Business, Management & Law

49,622 38,166 7,078 3,672 124 2,690

Humanities & Social Sciences

68,194 53,556 9,642 3,561 529 2,441

Health Sciences 12,005 8,985 2,541 1,079 114 788

Other 5,544 3,805 455 99 23 1,528

Totals (all countries) 172,506

133,366 (73.98%)

23,078 (12.80%)

11,464 (6.63%)

1,326 (0.74%)

11,030 (6.12%

)

Totals (SA Excluded) 48,280

38,334 (76.80%)

6.575 (13.17%)

3,742 (7.50%)

143 (0.29%)

1,120 (2.24%

)

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Total Female

Male Under- graduate degrees/ diplomas

Post graduate diplomas

Masters Degrees

Doctoral degrees

Other

Science, Engineering & Technology

10,091 25,8%74.2

%1,623 823 2,908 3,445 834

Business, Management & Law

5,508 36.6%63.4

%834 562 1,632 877 905

Humanities & Social Sciences

9,508 39.4%60.6

%905 655 2,348 2,540 1,130

Health Sciences5,152 48.7%

51.3%

1,130 391 1,273 932 719

Other915 52.6%

47.4%

719 106 481 434 0

Totals (all countries)

31,174

40.6%59.4

%5,211 2,537 8,642 8,228

3,588

Totals (SA Excluded)

12,321

27.7%72.3

%2,480 605 3,785 3,534

1,617

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Malawi: ‘Retention of qualified and experienced teaching staff, perpetual problems of underfunding, lack of teaching and learning materials, dilapidated physical infrastructure and facilities’

Mauritius: ‘Difficulties in attracting high quality faculty because of limited research programme infrastructure’

Swaziland: Brain drain of lecturers caused by poor salaries and other conditions of work. Lack of up to date equipment and faculties required to provide training and skills development that is commensurate with the changing socio-economic environment’

Zambia: ‘The HE curriculum is not sufficiently responsive to current local and global needs. There are high levels of brain drain for lecturers and instructors’

Zimbabwe: ‘Financial resources in HE are inadequate for teaching and research faculties in both old and new institutions. Brain drain/flight of skills is resulting from inadequate human resources, in terms of quality and quantity. Addressing the negative effects of HIV and AIDs is also a challenge. There are losses of qualified human resources and reduced performance’

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Areas of critical staff shortages reported by participating HEIs

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28

17

26

8

14

21

32

23

41

15 15 15 15 15

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Science,Engineering &

Technology

Business,Management

and Law

Humanities &Social Sciences

Health Sciences InstitutionalManagement

Major Field of Study

Num

ber

of in

stitu

tion

s

Yes

No

No data

All HEIs submitting responses reported that regional cooperation in HE was valued and most (73%) reported that they derive benefit from such collaboration

Enrolment of students from SADC countries was also valued by most HEIs

Student and staff mobility is a key element of the SADC Protocol

Previous research has shown that most movement of staff and students is from SADC countries to South Africa

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Country Students who are National Citizens

Students who are SADC Citizens

Students from other countries

Angola 47,353 0 20

Botswana 14,942 136 632

DRC 31,437 10 30

Lesotho No data No data No data

Madagascar 14,428 537 175

Malawi 7,824 31 10

Mauritius 9,655 4 61

Mozambique 46,790 3 72

Namibia 7,469 700 209

South Africa 679,774 35,745 14,536

Swaziland 5,660 108 17

Tanzania 30,967 38 203

Zambia 14,315 21 59

Zimbabwe 52,289 120 44

SADC TOTAL 962,903 (94.73%) 37,453 (3.68%) 16,068 (1.58%)

TOTAL (EXCL SA) 283,129 (98.87%) 1,708 (0.60%) 1,532 (0.54%)39

Country Staff who are National Citizens

Staff who are SADC Citizens

Staff from other countries

Angola 1,329 0 172

Botswana 540 0 278

DRC 1,359 0 5

Lesotho No data No data No data

Madagascar 880 0 20

Malawi 774 2 16

Mauritius 285 1 12

Mozambique 2,045 1 119

Namibia 269 47 24

South Africa 25,261 466 1,560

Swaziland 154 46 29

Tanzania 2,542 1 17

Zambia 602 6 57

Zimbabwe 1,075 2 5

SADC TOTAL 37,115 (92.79%) 572 (1.43%) 2,314 (5.78%)

TOTAL (EXCL SA) 11,854 (93.24%) 106 (0.83%) 754 (5.93%)40

Examples of collaborative academic and research work provided by 63% of HEIs

Examples of collaborative community projects provided by 56% of HEIs

Examples of collaboration with business/industry provided by 39% of HEIs

Much of this collaboration is with HEIs outside of the SADC Region

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Rhodes University in South Africa offers postgraduate qualifications in Education to students from Namibia

Faculty of Engineering at the University of Botswana administers a Project Management Programme in partnership with the University of Dar es Salaam

Ardhi University in Tanzania has academic staff and student exchange programmes with University of Cape Town and University of Botswana

University of Malawi has an agriculture programme administered by the Faculty of Agriculture in partnership with Sokoine University in Tanzania

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‘Maintaining effective communication’ ‘Lack of funding for regional collaboration’ ‘Lack of awareness of benefits of Regional

collaboration’ ‘South African universities often have a dominant

position in partnerships’ ‘Poor infrastructure and facilities that support

learning and teaching’ ‘Staff turnover’ ‘Very little or no involvement by researchers in

practical research which involves their local environment’

‘Internal apathy’ ‘National ICT infrastructure and bandwidth prices’

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Factors influencing HE potential in the SADC Region

Enabling Features Constraining Features

Regional policy framework

Regional policy frameworks in place to guide HE development at regional level (e.g. Protocol, SADCQF)

Protocol on Education and Training is dated now and lacks practical implementation details

National level policy frameworks

All SADC countries have national HE policy frameworks in place

Sophistication of national policies differs

Enrolment patterns Enrolment reported to have increasedMost SADC countries provided some programmes in fields of study NB for regional development

Increasing enrolment places constraints of capacity and impacts qualityEnrolments in SET remain lowFew students enroled at post-graduate levelSignificant gender disparities remain

Staff capacity MoEs have recognized this challengeMost HEIs reported having staff development mechanisms in placeRegional collaboration and exchanged help to build capacity

Critical staff shortages identified in various areas (esp SET)Lack of resources prevent attraction of highly qualified and experienced staffBrain drain and HIV and AIDS reported to limit capacity

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Factors influencing HE potential in the SADC Region

Enabling Features Constraining Features

Research output Low research output identified as major challenge by MoEs and HEIsVarious interventions planned

Low numbers of post graduate students likely to exacerbate this challenge

Funding Government recognize need to increase HE fundingIncreases in donor funding for HEMost of the HEIs reported plans for fund raising

Most HEIs remain heavily dependent on government fundingInsufficient resources impacts on quality and HE’s potential role in support regional development

Quality assurance More than half of SADC countries have QA frameworks in place or being set upSADCQF and AAU QA projectsMost HEIs reported some form of internal QA process

Imperatives to expand access and improve quality are in tensionUnclear how well national and institutional QA is being implemented

Regional cooperation Most MoEs and HEIs reported high value placed on collaborationRegional policies in place to support collaboration

Regional collaboration appears to be ad hoc rather than coordinatedFunding challengesLack of, or poor quality ICT infrastructure

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1. Reflection on the data gathering challenges and implications for longer term data gathering processes2. Comments on the findings – do these present an accurate reflection of SADC HE? 3. Areas requiring additional, more in-depth research4. Recommendations to support regional collaboration

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