/ 30 April 2010

Declaration: embracing the opportunity

Declaration: Embracing The Opportunity

This summit recognises this extraordinary opportunity for a re-examination of our understanding of the post-apartheid South African university, 15 years after our democracy; embraces the opportunity to reposition this sector in a reconfigured post-school education and training system to pursue key national development goals; and commits itself to address the challenges raised in the report of the ministerial committee on discrimination (the ‘Soudien report”).

We re-affirm the fundamental principles of the White Paper in Higher Education adopted in 1997 after extensive and inclusive processes of consultation with the sector: equity and redress, democratisation, development, quality, effectiveness and efficiency, academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability.

We recognise the challenges of:

  • Sustaining responsive and engaged knowledge institutions that are fit for the purpose of transformation and development in South Africa and in particular to respond to regional social and economic needs and human resource development;
  • Producing socially responsible graduates conscious of their role in contributing to the national development effort and social transformation;
  • Developing a well-organised, vibrant research and development system that integrates the research and training capacity of higher education with the needs of industry and of social reconstruction;
  • Deepening robust and inclusive democratic processes at system and institutional level;
  • Increasing access to, and articulation within, post-school education and training, particularly to the poor;
  • Developing a framework for a continuum of institutions that are differentiated in relation to their strengths and purposes and linked to regional/local economic networks, and that facilitate portability of students, academics and knowledge across the sector;
  • The pressures of commodification and commercialisation in higher education which have privileged business efficiencies over academic concerns;
  • The many factors impacting on the quality of the academic project; and
  • The poor conditions under which many students learn and live.

We affirm:

  • Academic freedom and institutional autonomy as necessary freedoms that enable our universities to address the imperatives and developmental challenges of our society effectively. At the same time we recognise that there are duties and responsibilities that inhere in these freedoms: the duties include our commitment to transform our universities so that they become more equitable, inclusive and just;
  • The need for strong governance for universities to be publicly accountable;
  • The contribution of this sector to the broad system of education, and its specific contribution to strengthening basic education; and
  • Our commitment to ongoing and robust engagement.

Key recommendations

  1. Establish a permanent stakeholder forum. The department of higher education and training must lead a broad consultative process immediately after the summit to define the role and functions of this forum and a process for it to be established.
  2. Convene an annual summit to review progress in the sector (the sector being accountable to itself). Annual summits should keep institutional progress in relation to the recommendations of the Soudien report on the agenda.
  3. A working group should be urgently convened to take forward the framework for institutional differentiation developed in the summit and develop recommendations in consultation with the sector.
  4. Develop mechanisms to promote student-centredness and caring universities.
  5. Develop a charter on learning and teaching.
  6. Seek a focused recapitalisation of historically disadvantaged institutions.
  7. Strengthen the emphasis on postgraduate studies and research.
  8. Revitalise the academic profession including the development of a coordinated plan to increase the number of younger researchers.
  9. Ensure stronger intrainstitutional capacity building and knowledge sharing to foster inter-institutional sectoral solidarity and collaboration.
  10. Ensure commitment to good corporate governance.
  11. Address the decent work requirements of academics and support staff.
  12. Develop a national framework for development of student leadership.
  13. Develop programmes for improving the opportunities of young African academics, particularly women.
  14. Higher education institutions must contribute to the development of African languages as academic languages. This includes the development of African-language- based postgraduate outputs across disciplinary areas.
  15. We need a curriculum oriented towards social relevance and supporting students to become socially engaged citizens and leaders.

Mary Metcalfe, director general of higher education and training, read out this declaration at the end of last week’s two-day summit in Cape Town. (This is a slightly edited version)