4. NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM
4.7 COMPONENTS OF NATIONAL SYSTEM OF INNOVATION AND THEORIES This section reviews literature on the identified components of the NSI and related theories within This section reviews literature on the identified components of the NSI and related theories within
4.7.2 NSI Human Resources and Human Capital Development (Items VI & Viii) This sub-section reviews framework conditions of HCD at both the system (cabinet-authorised) This sub-section reviews framework conditions of HCD at both the system (cabinet-authorised)
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A study conducted by Botha and Von Gruenewaldt (2006) concluded that the public research system was seriously under-capitalised and inputs of around R700 million would be needed annually over six to seven years for its renewal compared to the present level of around R350 million a year. The autonomy enjoyed by university councils and executive management under the Higher Education Act (Act No. 101 of 1997) means that the ways in which the complex and highly interdependent functions of teaching, research and extension/outreach are set up and sustained are generally at the discretion of the HEIs.
The DHET, created in 2009, handles both schools and the higher education sector, which according to the OECD (2007b:128), “has introduced a new funding formula for universities which provides some (weak) incentives to encourage good research performance”. In the NSI context, the OECD (2007b:24) states that “the formula underpinning the DoE funding stream should be reassessed with a view to providing stronger incentives for, and greater selectivity in resource allocation to, work of high quality”, while arguing that measures for "ring-fenced funding are needed to foster the emergence of newcomers to the competition" (OECD, 2007b:24).
4.7.2 NSI Human Resources and Human Capital Development (Items VI & Viii)
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However, higher (and further) education and training are the responsibility of the DHET, not the DST.
Table 4.7.2-1: Human capital development actions and outcomes desired by the SOUTH AFRICAN HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS AND OUTCOMES
Human capital development actions and outcomes
By 2018 South Africa will have:
210 research chairs at universities and research institutions across the country by 2010 and 500 by 2018 (58 were in place in 2006)
About 6000 PhDs produced per year in all SET disciplines by 2018
About 3000 SET PhDs/doctorates produced per year by 2018
An optimal ratio of technicians and researchers
A 2.5 per cent global share of research publications (2006:0.5 per cent)
2100 patent cooperation treaty international applications originating from South Africa (2004:418)
About 24000 patent applications at the South African Patent Office (2002:4721) Source: DST (2008:9)
A discrepancy exists between the intentions of the NGP vision 2030 by EDD (2010) the TYIP of 2008 HCD actions in Table 4.7.2-1 and the Twelve Outcomes of government and the associated Delivery Agreements. The South African HCD system is locked into sets of inter-dependent
‘pipeline jams’ with piecemeal interventions having so far served only to make the supposedly
‘fatigued’ system more refractory to positive change (SA DST Ministerial Review Committee, 2012:144).
First, the 2010-2014 Performance Agreement (Delivery Agreement 5) between the President and the Minister of S&T and the Minister of HET stipulates reaching the following targets by 2014: 20 000 honours degree graduates; 4500 master’s degree graduates; 1350 doctoral graduates; along with the provision of 100 postdoctoral fellowships (100 postdoctoral fellows are far below the 627 recorded in the official 2008/09 National R&D Survey). The Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS) data by the DHET indicates that reaching the targets by 2014 should not prove to be insurmountable and, in some cases have already been exceeded in 2010.
Second, according to the NGP (EDD, 2010:278), South Africa produces 28 PhD graduates per million per year, which is low by international standards. The NGP EDD (2010:278) targets of 100 PhD graduates per million per year by year 2030, which translates to more than 5000 graduates per year against the figure of 1420 in 2010, while the TYIP targets about 6000 PhDs produced per year in all SET disciplines by 2018. The NGP (EDD, 2010:278) further states that "if South Africa is to
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be a leading innovator, most of these doctorates should be in science, engineering, technology and mathematics". The failure of human resource provision is the key weakness of the NSI, which represents a joint failure across government for which no short-term solution is in operation (SA DST Ministerial Review Committee, 2012:78).
According to the NGP EDD (2010:278), South Africa needs to increase the percentage of PhD qualified staff within the HEIs from the current 34 per cent level to over 75 per cent over 20 years;
double the number of graduate, postgraduate and first-rate scientists and increase the number of African and women postgraduates, especially PhDs to improve research and innovation capacity and normalise staff demographics. The SA DST TYIP target 3000 PhDs in SET to graduate annually by the year 2018. The SA DST TYIP (2008:28) further states “South Africa will need to increase its PhD production rate by a factor of about five over the next 10-20 years”. As from 2005, universities in South Africa were rewarded quite significantly for producing more PhD graduates in all fields of science. In 2007, both the DST and the NRF set PhD targets for the country, though the targets were “slightly unrealistic and ambitious” (Mouton, 2013:2). According to the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf, 2010) the current system, which is comparatively unproductive in terms of annual numbers of doctoral graduates (about 1000 per year), is severely resources stretched, limiting the ability of the HEIs to increase doctoral graduates five-fold as required by the SA DST TYIP (2008). Implementation of Delivery Agreement 5 can result in reaching the target for growth planned in national GERD as a percentage of GDP of 1.5%
unattainable and would amount to a slow strangulation of the research side of the NSI.
According to qualitative case studies by CREST in Mouton (2013:2), four main imperatives in policies and strategies in PhD training in South Africa over the past 15 years are the quantity, quality, efficiency and transformation and equity. Policy and strategy documents by various bodies articulate the demand for an increase in PhD production in South Africa “symbolically” expressed in the 1997 education White Paper. For example “…symbolic policy texts are by nature potentially contradictory, ambiguous and open to multiple mediations and interpretations” (Kruss, 2003:69).
The demand became explicit in the 2001 NP for Higher Education “but at that point no targets were set” (Kruss, 2003:69). In 2003, South Africa’s education department revised the national funding framework for universities and research Masters and PhDs as knowledge outputs were added to subsidies for research outputs. While there is no policy imperative that deals explicitly with quality and efficiency, Mouton (2013:2) notes that quality has been assumed in all of the policy documents. “The tacit approach is perhaps because the notion of ‘quality’ is an elusive concept that cannot easily be measured through standard indicators. There seems to be an
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assumption that our system is inefficient” (Mouton, 2013:3). The most explicit statement of demand for greater efficiency was in a 2012 Green Paper and the NDP: Vision 2030 by NPC (2011b), which give a target of a 75% throughput rate for higher education. In conclusion, Mouton (2013:3) states “it is essential that universities achieve the right balance between national demands and good practice in supervision. Ultimately, universities cannot simply slavishly and uncritically follow and implement such demands. They need to protect the academic project (and their supervisors), which is the pursuit of excellence in everything that we do.” According to this research policy, ambiguities and contradiction give rise to contestation and competing interpretations as policy moves to institutional level and the level of practice.
Where there are measures in place, for example the Dinaledi Schools or SARChl, there are no publicly available evaluations of the projects. The SARChl is one of the most effective antidotes to the heavy pressure of teaching on capable researchers. The SARChl focuses on natural sciences, with reference to important areas such as education and service delivery and, therefore, the initiative needs to be re-configured and implemented in other priority areas critical for South Africa's development. Figure 4.7.2-1 outlines uncertainty of the South African HCD pipeline in the NSI. One of the key deficiencies identified is the limited analysis of the NSI performance in terms of the educational system, despite the plentiful official statistics, which should include variables such as regional location of schools, race, class, and gender and subject choice.
Figure 4.7.2-1: Human capital pipeline in the NSI Source: OECD (2007b:151)
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In summary, as shown in Figure 4.7.2-1, the 2007b OECD Country Review indicates that uncertainty can be attributed to the (i) high dropout rates from the school system at [1] due to economic and social reasons, such as poverty and HIV/AIDS; (ii) relatively low number of students move into scientific and technological subjects in the further education and training (FET)[2]; (iii) considerable proportion drop out ([3] and [4]) among those who do move on to further/higher education in scientific and technological fields; (iv) large proportion move directly to employment rather than to postgraduate training ([5]) among those who graduate with first degrees in scientific and technological subjects; (v) high drop-out rates remain at postgraduate level ([6] and [8]); and (vi) high number among those who graduate at Master’s or PhD levels, move directly to employment outside R&D are indicated in ([7] and [9]). This is because of more attractive prospects than proceeding from a Master’s degree, doctoral or post-doctoral research (OECD, 2007b:151-152). Harvey (2000:3) notes a causal link implies that HEIs “should be able to provide graduates with some sort of package of attributes that meshes with what an employer is looking for”.
4.7.3 The NSI Knowledge Infrastructure and Knowledge Transfer (Items Ix & Xi)