Postgraduate options
IN SA, postgraduate student enrolments and outputs remain low in relation to national economic and social development needs. A strategy to increase and accelerate human capital development, including postgraduate education, is vital for SA to remain competitive.
SA is experiencing three crises, says Prof Michael Kahn, analyst in research and innovation policy and professor extraordinaire at Stellenbosch University. They are poverty, growth and the environment, all of which are further exacerbated by the presence of three distinct economies.
“We have done better in some areas than others, being able to compete internationally in some areas of business,” Kahn told a research and innovation conference hosted by Higher Education South Africa.
Over the past 40 years, the country’s two biggest employers, agriculture and mining, have virtually collapsed, says Kahn, noting that these economic sectors have been targeted for a turnaround under the National Development Plan.
“SA is mainly a services economy, having showed the strongest growth in this area over the past 40 years, followed by manufacturing, mining and agriculture,” he says. “There are very few people in business, law and accounting with PhDs.”
The Global Competitiveness Index ranks SA ninth in the world in terms of financial market development. In accounting and auditing, the country is in the top three.
Kahn has noted a misalignment between industry and knowledge production. “Industrial strategy tries to be all things to all people, lacking focus and having a weak understanding of innovation.”
To illustrate, he compares this country with developments in Korea. In the period 1963 to 1987, Korea has been awarded 343 USPTO patents, while SA was granted 1,744 patents. SA was on the edge of catching up with the advanced countries in the world. In the period 1987 to 2008, Korea registered 57,625 patents, while SA registered only 2,232.
“Until we change what we do, we should no longer use patents as a target. If a country exports hi-tech products, it makes economic sense to focus on patents. In enhancing competitiveness in the platinum group mining cluster, for example, it would be necessary to grow manufacturing capacity,” says Kahn.
“Korea grew its manufacturing capacity through an inherited focus on education. Education is highly venerated in Korea, which is something we should emulate. It also had strong agreements between industry and the state, which we also do not have in SA. The National Planning Commission is advocating that this relationship be fostered and enhanced.
“As a country, we should not fixate too much on how we interpret numbers, focusing too much on the ratio of gross domestic product to research and development spending. The number of active, full-time researchers in SA has not grown since 2002, which is a concern.
“There has been good transformation in research capacity in the state sector, although this has not occurred in the university sector because institutions cannot compete in paying comparable salaries,” says Kahn.
He says that to revitalise postgraduate training, this country must raise investment levels, hire and retain the best staff and hunt for this talent locally and globally.
“The overarching project must be the war on poverty in all its manifestations, being the major crisis of the day.”