AS the HIV/Aids pandemic continues its rampant path through the social structures of South Africa, the system of higher education in the country faces complete decimation.
This warning was issued by Michael Gibbons, secretary-general of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Gibbons was addressing an Aids seminar at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Durban late last year.
He stressed that one of the biggest challenges facing universities in the new millenium was the need to keep the structures of higher education functional. “No one — universities included — should dare to imagine that as Aids-related deaths continue to mount, our social structures will continue to somehow lurch forward. Indeed, the structure that is supporting us now is going to collapse,” cautioned Gibbons.
He continued: “HIV/Aids is going to decimate the higher education structure in this country and much of Southern Africa. That means that universities will fail in their social contract to deliver the stream of highly qualified scientists, engineers, nurses, doctors, etc that we expect them to.”
According to Gibbons, the challenge lies in mainstreaming Aids into the business of higher education. Mainstreaming, he said, requires a completely different approach to the training process because of the projected acute shortage of teaching staff at institutions of higher learning. A crucial facet in this new thinking about teaching, research and university structure encompasses the idea of multi-skilling.
This entails training an individual in a specific field to perform a range of related skills. “This will allow the system to tick forward,” said Gibbons. Students who are HIV positive may not be able to complete a four-year engineering course while those who are healthy may be stranded without a teacher if academic staff perish due to the killer virus.
Therefore, mainstreaming will also necessitate the adjustment of courses as well as the duration of these courses in order for society to derive maximum benefit from the multi-skilled students.
As the Aids scourge spirals uncontrollably into every sector, particlarly commerce and industry, Gibbons warned South African universities not to channel their investments into foreign companies. “If this happens, there’ll be insufficient funds to develop local industries which may then be forced to fold,” he said.
Gibbons said that the financial resources of universities will also be drained by HIV-positive academic staff who will continue to draw a salary but may become completely unproductive as the Aids virus takes its toll. “It takes a long time to die from Aids-related ailments. With 40% of the university community in South Africa being HIV positive, it means that a lot of money will be invested in people who cannot work effectively,” said Gibbons. He added that universities’ financial resources could dry up to such an extent that there may be no money available to replace staff who succumb to HIV/Aids.
Student intake may be drastically reduced in future years because the current highest rate of HIV infections is in the 15 to 25-year age group. This will not only choke the financial life-line of universities but could also see entire departments closing due to dwindling student enrolments.
“It is therefore imperative to make a portion of every course offered at every institution contain information about Aids,” emphasised Gibbons. He urged South African universities to seize the initiative and not wait for their international counterparts.
“It may be a wrong perception but there is definitely a tendency by outside countries to view Aids as being mainly an African problem,” concluded Gibbons.
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, February 21, 2000.