Vuyisile Msila
Johannesburg - The recent Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation’s draft policy on reclassification of universities comes at a time when conscientious universities are asking themselves a number of pertinent questions including the accommodation of the impending technological revolution as well as building engaged institutions.
In between, there have been debates on aspects such as academic freedom vs academic autonomy, underscoring the local vs the global as well as teaching versus research. And this draft policy may be critical in posing the right questions on whether universities have adequate, relevant, and pragmatic teaching, research and community service.
The policy points out that universities could be downgraded or closed if they do not meet certain requirements. Of course, others will be upgraded when they show qualities of full universities.
The role of the universities ought to be clear and those institutions that do not qualify will be reclassified as University Colleges which will operate under the auspices of full universities. And all this would apply to both public and private institutions.
Never have communities been so concerned about the relevance of programmes at universities and the employers continue to quibble about the under preparedness of graduate students in South Africa.
The questions people were asking this week after the publicisation of the policy draft on Monday was whether or not the higher education department was on the right track as it gazed at the standing of higher education institutions in South Africa.
Some hoped that this may help scrutinise the quality of programmes in various institutions of higher learning. One also hopes this exercise will not neglect the proliferation of universities of technology which are a strong necessity in a country with a shortage of skills in certain specialised areas offered at these institutions.
This draft policy may be focusing on the necessary idea that universities need to specialise in certain programmes such as business, nursing sciences, technology, or chemistry. Society needs this for excellence can be bred in such institutions because the concentration is not diverted by other programmes.
Furthermore, specialisation can help attract a certain kind of student that might not be served well in institutions whose programmes may be too broad and general. Yet, we are at a time when universities are expected to be close to the world and their environment.
We hope that this will not be a blind spot of this policy. Emerging and seasoned experts in higher education speak of the universities’ interconnectedness where institutions of higher learning are intertwined with several ecosystems which include not only knowledge but culture, economy, social institutions, learning, people and the natural environment.
Barnett maintains that these are all delicate and to advance and succeed universities need to engage with these closely. Therefore one hopes that the policy is not opposed to the building of ecological universities which are necessary in societies where many are contemplating the building of solid African universities.
There is more in building humanising institutions that respond to the challenges of their society. Without being prepared for varied ecosystems, universities may not better serve their immediate communities.
We live at a critical time in Africa with debates focusing on when do we decolonise institutions of higher learning. The trap we may find ourselves in is saying that some institutions are more amenable to decolonisation than others for all need to transform.
We have witnessed the reluctance in the academia where those in the pure sciences for example, maintain that their areas need not decolonise after all the answers will be the same to problems in the West as well as in the Global South.
As they trivialise the debates they guffaw that the value of x will still be the same anywhere one goes. The truth is whilst this policy may be able to push internationalisation and liberalisation it may not adequately address aspects such as political and cultural environments.
Universities have become broader, and they can be messy if we try to minimise their real envisaged mission in Africa.
Indeed, we have witnessed universities beginning to rot from a number of angles. There have been a number of challenges from research output to building of new professoriate. Several institutions have programmes that hardly talk to the surrounding communities.
Furthermore, students have been exposed exclusively to writers and experts outside the continent thus the university implicitly saying nothing is of value or intellectual from Africa. Many questions also arise although they may seem outside this draft policy. Have we addressed the taboo topics that delay progress; themes that multiply the rot in institutions of higher learning. Issues of race, equity and privilege will always be tied to the DNA of many institutions and any policy that comes needs to examine these or else any potential change will be a mere fallacy.
What should we do to build true rainbowism without abdicating the questions of harmony and nationalisation to sport? Have we started looking at institutions that will uphold African indigenous languages?
This suggested policy would be failing if some of these are relegated towards the rear end. The university needs to play a huge role in society, and all should be careful of thinking we are on the right course whilst we are promoting intellectual neurosis and alienation that would stifle all the role-players.
One is certain though that many may cautiously celebrate this draft policy because in some institutions there are colleges, faculties, and schools where neither research nor teaching is a priority. This always has an impact on quality and the policy can result in more focused institutions.
Some faculties in institutions do not produce enough as research output and policies that guide members are not very clear. More significance will also need to be explicated on the meaning of university rankings and what they mean to institutions and how these will impact on the grading.
In fact, this policy should explain the meaningfulness or meaninglessness of these rankings. Usually, institutions that are ranked low do not care about these rankings, for obvious reasons. Hopefully, the policy would eventually comment on the meaning of National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researchers or absence thereof in institutions.
The draft policy must face and respond to tough questions which include language policy. Copious institutions point out that they have transformed the language policies and are now accommodating indigenous languages when all they do is to translate question papers into several indigenous languages. Will this not determine upgrading or downgrading of institutions?
The document is, however, clear on the differentiation between a normal university and a research university. Africa needs programmes that enhance research activities, for there is a paucity of black researchers in particular.
Furthermore, research is eyed with disinclination and perceived as a gatekeeper by several novice researchers because it is hardly taught in undergraduate programmes. More opportunities could be created if role-players can establish universities that offer research opportunities for all students; this would help demystify research at the undergraduate level. Among the problems we have in Africa today is that research specialisation is on the low side and students complete their courses of study with no expertise in research. It would have been helpful to have universities underscoring this.
In fact, research universities can address a number of ills in society through initiating research for scientific and technological discovery. We may need to develop or have another category, the teaching university which emphasises the thinking of students, accommodating human faculties such as the social, the cultural as well as creativity.
With the current debates on the engaged university, the teaching university is pivotal. The teaching university would also be ideal in promoting access, success, and the learning needs of a variety of students.
Finally, the policy should be looked at as a boon because we always need to constantly question the very idea of a university. Some institutions lose their vision and objectives as time goes on. Grading and classifying universities may assist these institutions to focus on that which is basic to their mandate.
Yet, we should avoid labelling institutions as “failed or downgraded”, we may choose to state that these are institutions that have changed their focus or specialisation. For obvious reasons, citizens will never want to register in “downgraded institutions”.
Msila works at Unisa. He writes in his personal capacity.