1. TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL AND IN SOUTH AFRICA Somarie Holtzhausen School of Higher Education Studies Faculty of Education UFS

2. MISSION OF HE HE in its variety of forms is expected to contribute to social and economic development through four major missions:  The formation of human capital  Building knowledge bases  The dissemination and use of knowledge  The maintenance of knowledge (OECD 2008)

3. UNIVERSITIES AND THEIR MISSIONS THROUGH THE AGES See Lategan (2009): The university as a key concept in higher education studies. Chapter 3 In Bitzer: Higher Education in South Africa (pp. 57 – 58):  Mainly the university in the Western World: - The medieval period (12 th – 14 th centuries) - Higher education for the elite (15 th - 19 th centuries) - The ‘ivory tower’ period (up until the 1950’s) - The period of ‘democratisation’ of knowledge and opening up access (after the 1960’s).

4. ERACONTRIBUTIONS Universities as producers of values Religious and imperial values promoted Via church or imperial state Universities as producers of elites Selection and training of elite classes for society Ivy League, Grand Ecole, Oxford Cambridge Universities as producers of professionals E.g. Law, Engineering, Medicine, Accounting Based on societal and economic needs

5. ERACONTRIBUTIONS Universities as producers of science Emergence of the scientific movement Von Humboldt movement in Germany, MIT, Land Grant universities Universities as producers of mass education Need for large numbers of educated members of society (particularly after WWII and colonialism) E.g. large undergraduate classes, open and distance learning, ICT Universities as producers of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activities Needs of society for innovation, business applications, the knowledge economy, science and technology E.g. Silicon Valley (Stanford), University of Singapore

6. TRACES OF ALL THESE (HISTORICAL) FUNCTIONS CAN BE FOUND IN ANY UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AT A PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME. SYSTEMIC DIVERSITY IS PREFERABLE, BUT ALL UNIVERSITIES NEED TO HAVE ACCESS TO EXCELLENCE IN THE SYSTEM. THE IMPORTANCE OF LIFELONG LEARNING WHEREBY KNOWLEDGE IS CONSTANTLY RECYCLED AND RENEWED. THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY – PARTICULARLY IN COUNTRIES WHERE CLASSROOM LEARNING FOR LARGE NUMBERS OF STUDENTS IS NOT AFFORDABLE. THE PRODUCTION OF FLEXIBLE CITIZENS WITH CORE VALUES. RIGIDITY OF THE DISCIPLINES NEEDS TO BE NEGOTIATED. THE IMPORTANCE OF UNIVERSITIES TO OPERATE IN THE PUBLIC (NOT ONLY THE PRIVATE) INTEREST. AUTONOMY FROM THE STATE SHOULD BE EARNED BY PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY.

7. INTERNATIONAL HE TRENDS  Globalisation  Flow of information and technology  The knowledge society  Borderless education  New teaching Resource rich environments Technologies New purposes of student contact (With acknowledgement to Prof Anthony Melck)

8. INTERNATIONAL HE TRENDS  Research Mode 1/ mode 2 knowledge Applied research  Knowledge management Electronic academic information Broadband/wide pipe IT Library co-operation  Output-orientated learning Supply and demand Employability of students Performance-related productivity (With acknowledgement to Prof Anthony Melck)

9. INTERNATIONAL HE TRENDS  HE provision Borderless education Commercialisation Managerialism Revision of government funding Increase in third stream income  Others?

10. NATIONAL HE TRENDS  Transformation  Changing the HE landscape  Governance  Funding  School-university interface  Efficiency  Quality assurance  Increasingly competitive environment (ref. ‘capped growth’)  Relevance and African involvement  Others?

11. “The small number of researchers focusing on higher education has made the emergence of a distinctive field more difficult. In part because it is an interdisciplinary field, higher education research has no established methodology. It borrows from other fields. Again, this is both a strength and a weakness. Utilizing research methods from diverse disciplines has contributed to original and innovative research. On the other hand, it has hindered the creation of an identifiable research community” (Altbach, in Sadlak & Altbach, 1997: 6)

12. NATIONAL HE TRENDS  Curriculum, learning, teaching, assessment (action and developmental research)  Institutional research  Policy research  Systems studies  Comparative studies  Case studies  Quality and impact studies  Higher education and community (engagement) studies  Others?

13. Expansion of research into HE in developing nations and an expansion of publication options Major centres of HE research will lose their domination and new research communities will develop The leadership of major centres will prevail and retain their impact Increased interest in learning, teaching and assessment (including accountability and measurement of effectiveness) The gulf between IR and other HE research will prevail as well as the gap between basic and applied research (with some confusion regarding the audiences for research in the field) HE will remain an interdisciplinary field of inquiry Faculty will be increasingly interested in HE research Large scale research will be limited due to lack of funding. (Altbach, 1997: 18 – 19)

14. A better balance and integration between the research agenda of researchers and users Strengthening of regional and international networks for reporting data and research Inclusion of currently peripheral research communities in international mainstream Improvement of links in the HE research community (education faculties, centres, government, councils, etc.) and with researchers in the social sciences Strengthening the interdisciplinary nature of the field Links with immediate needs of institutional managers and policymakers Linking HE researchers to groups in related fields, e.g. science policy, international education, comparative education (Altbach, 1997: 18 – 19) Others?

15. AGENDAS IN HE RESEARCH (A)What should be on the HE research agenda for Africa (the African context)? Why? (B)What should be on the HE research agenda for South Africa (the national context)? Why? (C)What should be on the HE research agenda for regions in SA (Central, North, East, South)? Why? (D) Institutional (IR) research agendas?