REMARKS BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY, MR BUTI MANAMELA, TO THE CLOSING SESSION OF THE TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION BRICS AND EMERGING ECONOMIES UNIVERSITIES SUMMIT
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG
2 DECEMBER 2016
Programme Director
Vice Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg – Prof. Ihron van Rensburg
Distinguished international guests
Ladies and gentlement
I would like to thank the organisers for the invitation to take part in this important forum, which building on successful summits that have been held in Moscow in 2014 and New Delhi in 2015. These forums are important as they bring together higher education sector leaders, policy makers and industry representatives across three continents to not only reflect on challenges the higher education sector faces but how these challenges can be tackled going forward.
At this 3rd BRICS & Emerging Economies Universities Summit we hope your deliberations will lead to actions designed to transform Higher Education in Brics countries to be more competitive by being leaders in solving social issues faced by our countries. It is important that the orientation of the higher education, be to solve challenges faced by our countries and to excel in solving these instead of other countries being experts in solving the challenges we face.
I wish to remind the Forum of the goals that South Africa has set itself to achieve by 2030 as enshrined in the National Development Plan. By 2030 the country aims to have a
· Further and higher education and training that enables people to fulfil their potential
· An expanding higher-education sector that can contribute to rising incomes, higher productivity and the shift to a more knowledge-intensive economy
· A wider system of innovation that links universities, science councils and other research and development role players
To thrust of the NDP is that higher education is valued not only because of the private returns it provides to its recipients, but it is also valued as a public good.
Through the Post school education system we want citizens to realise their potential as they develop their capabilities. As a private good we expect it to enable individuals to be more productive, which will result in increased incomes contributing to eradicating poverty and helping our society to escape the grip of poverty. This is important as the traditional economy based on commodities is shrinking while the service and knowledge economy are increasing their importance. To take advantage of the knowledge economy good solid university education and training based on quality basic education is essential.
Now the challenge of the knowledge economy is not uniquely South African, every Brics country is tackling the challenge of ensuring its citizens are able to participate in the knowledge economy and excel in it. Some of the Brics countries have gone further than others in tackling this problem. That is why these kind of forums are helpful, not only are we able to learn from each other on how to deal with these challenges, but we also learn to avoid choices that lead to failures because other fellow Brics members have tried them.
The private returns of higher education make access paramount, as governments wish to succeed in the 21st century characterised by the knowledge economy. Developing countries are faced with the goal to provide mass post school education to all their citizens, in order to ensure their citizens are not marginalised. Access to universities not only promises equipping of graduates with skills to take part in the knowledge economy but provides also social mobility. This is because students gain critical skills that allow them to operate at the highest levels of society and provide solutions needed by each society they are in.
Fundamentally it means the greater the access to university education excellence the better the individual student’s life is, and the society benefits from educated members of society.
To increase access will not be easy as South Africa is experiencing some of the challenges associated with increased access, it is currently showing itself through funding challenges that have led to conflicts with students. I hope through the forum lessons have been learnt on how to ensure rapid access while increasing quality of qualifications. I am hoping lessons have been shared on how to equitably fund university education and the whole post school education landscape. It is becoming clear that government cannot alone fund education, therefore the forum should provide alternatives and how industry can help sustain funding to post school institutions.
There is always pressure to make more spaces available at university while increasing quality of lecturing and learning.
It will be also be helpful if the forum discusses examples of effective mechanisms for directing students to Technical colleges rather than Universities. Not all young people need to go to university, but we need a fair and equitable mechanisms to help students to make this choice.
The challenge is how to build higher education systems that can match those of developing nations? This task is daunting in the context of limited resources and pressure for access. This cannot be done by turning our institutions to be copies of the universities in the developed world solving problems faced by the developed world. The challenge is how using the best standards can we specialise in solving problems facing our countries. This is not a call for universities to be mediocre, but a call to be excellent in building our societies applying the best scientific rigour to solve challenges faced by our governments and societies.
Not only will this compel governments to spend more in ensuring universities remain resourced and competitive, but will also ensure that meritocracy is enshrined in societies as they develop.
Because of limited resources it means cooperation among the nations and universities is no longer a luxury. Brics universities need to promote collaboration that promotes excellence and allows for joint work that results in research that is of world standard. This means finding ways of working together to extend available resources to boost the profile of Brics universities. Sharing of the resources includes sharing of lecturers and expertise to improve the quality of teaching in our institutions.
It should be possible for institutions to make it possible for lecturers to work in different universities to expose students to the best that Brics offers.
I am first to acknowledge that institutions have different missions, different histories and resource bases, but by working collaboratively higher education institutions can learn from each other and can support each other to ensure Brics universities excel in the quality of education they offer. That is why this forum is important to forge these kinds of relations and collaborations.
It is important to recognise centres of excellence among the institutions and use those to anchor collaboration. At the same time these pockets of excellence need to be supported and promoted. As governments we cannot force this relation, but as governments we can make this possible. But universities need to lead the way on how to develop a uniquely Brics university characterised by excellence and relevance to challenges we face.
Lastly, it is important in these forum to explore the role industry in university education. Industry is important stakeholder both to contribute financially to an excelling university sector, and to ensure curriculums take into account the industry needs. Academics cannot sit in an office and design curriculum without inputs from industry, otherwise universities run the risk of producing graduates not valued by industry. Such forums should make it possible to find each other.
I thank you
