1. DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Public Funding for Research in South Africa
Diane Parker
1 June
Research & Innovation Dialogue
Emperor's Palace

2. Role of the DHET in funding Research in South Africa
DHET supports the development of a strong public post school education and training system in South Africa through a range of steering mechanisms including policy, planning and funding
funds institutions (universities; TVET colleges; Community education and training colleges; National Institutes of Higher Education; Quality Councils) to provide quality PSET; and fund students (through NSFAS) to access and succeed in their studies (undergraduate)
Universities – teaching and learning; research; community engagement
DHET supports the development of research capacity in universities - develops and maintains policy on research outputs; allocates funding for research outputs, and capacity building of university academics to conduct quality research.
support the development of a strong public higher education system in South Africa, and seeks to do through a range of steering mechanisms including policy, planning and funding

3. Funding Higher Education (R 38.5 bn in 2018/19)
Block Grant (discretionary)
75% of budget
Earmarked grants
(steer transformation)
25% of budget
Teaching input grant
Teaching output grant
Research output grant
Institutional Factor
Infrastructure and Efficiency
New Universities Grant
SMU operational grant
University Capacity Development
HDI Development Grant
Clinical Training Grant
Veterinary Sciences Grant
Foundation Provisioning
TIU – generated by approved FTE enrolments; funding groups based on CESM categories linked to cost
TOU- generated by Non-research graduates and diplomas; weighting according to NQF level and qualification type
ROG- research M, Doctorates and publications; all RO receive the same funding regardless of field
Institutional Factor (a) for disadvantage : the proportion which a university has of students from disadvantaged backgrounds (race as a proxy); and (b) size: university size in terms of contact and distance FTE student enrolment; less than receive additional funding.

4. Funding Research in Universities
Research Outputs Grant generated through
Publication output units
Research Masters and Doctoral Graduates
Research Outputs Grant is part of the Block Grant (discretionary funding for university operations) – does not directly fund research
University Capacity Development Grant (earmarked)
Student development/ success
Staff development/ success
Curriculum/programme development
System development (collaborative grants)
Funding for PG students
through subsidies based on enrolments and graduates (enrolment planning)
research M and PhD (through ROG)
H and coursework M (through TOG)

5. Funding has incentivised publication of research
Annually the Department evaluates research outputs against the research outputs policy. The implementation of the policy has resulted in improvements year on year with respect to the quantity of research outputs.

6. Quantity and quality of research outputs
Research output quantity has improved – now need to focus on quality
The funding policy encouraged some problematic practices - compromises the knowledge generation enterprise ( ‘playing the system’ for maximum financial reward):
targeting journals that publish with minimum quality assurance and review (predatory journals)
universities rewarding individuals for published articles
‘salami-slicing’ a piece of research work
huge pressure on individual academics to ‘publish or perish’ -, compromising other roles that the academic must play (undervaluing the key role of teaching, especially at the undergraduate level).
universities employing people dedicated solely to conducting research, and publishing, so that the university’s research output is increased.
Collaborative project on improved capacity for managing research outputs and incentivising quality.

7. Funding for publications
State funding of publication output
Research publication output
Stare financial year
Ave R Value per publication unit
% Increase
Academic year
Publication units
% increase
2002/03
22 962
7,6%
2000
5 940
10,2%
2003/04
24 145
5,2%
2001
5 876
-1,1%
2004/05
71 189
194,8%
2002
6 427
9,4%
2005/06
77 609
9,0%
2003
6 361
-1,0%
2006/07
81 276
4,7%
2004
6 660
2007/08
85 026
4,6%
2005
7 228
8,5%
2008/09
88 418
4,0%
2006
8 003
10,7%
2009/10
16,0%
2007
7 751
-3,1%
2010/11
14,2%
2008
8 353
7,8%
2011/12
2009
9 109
9,1%
2012/13
-6,5%
2010
9 748
7,0%
2013/14
-0,3%
2011
11 191
14,8%
2014/15
-3,3%
2012
12 364
10,5%
2015/16
-1,6%
2013
14 009
13,3%
2016/17
-4,0%
2014
15 316
9,3%
2017/18
-1,4%
2015
16 304
6,4%
2018/19
3,2%
2016
18 181
11,5%

8. Research Output sub-block grant
Research outputs grant has remained fairly stable for the past decade (as a % of the total block grant)
State Financial Year
R block-grant (000)
R sub-grant (000)
% of block grant
2009/10
12,13%
2010/11
12,64%
2011/12
13,58%
2012/13
12,77%
2013/14
13,69%
2014/15
14,16%
2015/16
14,67%
2016/17
14,70%
2017/18
13,22%
2018/19
13,17%

9. THE UNIVERSITY CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UCDP) IS INTENDED TO OPERATE AT THE NEXUS OF QUALITY, ACCESS AND SUCCESS
Equity
Quality
UCDP
Success

10. THE UNIVERSITY CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT GRANT AND PROGRAMME
THE UNIVERSITY CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT GRANT: A CONTRIBUTION
TO RESOURCING
THE SYSTEM
FOR SUCCESS
RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT GRANT
TEACHING DEVELOPMENT GRANT
Staff development
Programme development
Student development/ success
THE UNIVERSITY CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME: GEARING THE SYSTEM FOR SUCCESS
But also:
OTHER DHET & GOVT FUNDING MECHANISMS
UNIVERSITY CONTRIBUTIONS
COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

11. UCDP staff development initiatives will be implemented through the SSAUF

12. MAIN ACTIVITY AREAS FOR THE UCDP: 2018 -2020
Activity Types
Fund allocation as per ministerial statement on funding (R‘000)
2018
2019
2020
Individual university capacity development plans (26)
University and nationally-led collaborative projects
45 650
72 665
73 226
Nationally led project: nGAP
Nationally led project: HELMP
8 100
8 400
8 873
Total
3 year total
Notes:
The amounts above are allocations as per the Ministerial Statement on University Funding for The value for the outer year (2020) is a an estimate.
There are substantial other funds that support the implementation of the UCDP, derived from a range of partnerships that the DHET has established.

13. University-led collaborative projects initiated so far for the 2018-2020 UCDP cycle
Name of Project
Lead University
Amount allocated
1. Future Leaders Initiative
NMU R
2. South Africa-Sweden University Forum UP
R5,500,000
3. New academics transitions into HE
UCT
R5,870,582
4. Building a student advisory system
UFS
R8,865,000
5. Building the capacity of HELTASA
R2,079,732
6. Learning from the National Benchmark Tests (NBTs)
R4,421,596
7. Establishment of a Centre for African Languages Teaching at the University of Johannesburg UJ
R12,000,000
8. UCDP Monitoring and Evaluation Project
SUN
R7,566,000

14. Nationally-led collaborative projects initiated so far…
Name of Project
Lead
Amount allocated
New Generation of Academics Programme
DHET
R750,000,000
US – SA Higher Education Network University Staff Doctoral Programme
R51,119,236
PSET Research Chairs Programme
R97,774,944
Higher Education Leadership and Management Programme
USAf
R25,373,000
Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education
R17,970,639
Study into cost of producing university graduates
R4,680,000

15. Thank you