The Biennial Research & Innovation conference. Universities South Africa is looking to establish a Higher Education-Government Forum
Playing to its advocacy and lobbying role, Universities South Africa has established the need to build and strengthen collaboration with stakeholders as a top priority. These stakeholders include the government, Parliament, business, the science community and international partners.
The organisation’s Chairperson Professor Adam Habib sees the body playing more of an activist role moving forward.
“We need to be engaging Parliament, crafting consensus, speaking to other stakeholders, starting conversations with the corporate sector. That is where we need to move to establish an engagement with government … so we can craft a consensual agenda that is ambitious,” he says.
Government and state institutions are undoubtedly Universities South Africa’s top priority given that its members do not operate in a vacuum and are subject to policies developed at this level. It has identified these stakeholders as the relevant government departments, Parliament, the Council on Higher Education, the National Research Foundation, the Academy of Science of South Africa and related sectoral bodies.
University associations and individual institutions across the world also form part of this focus.
The business sector, however, is considered as much a key partner for South Africa’s universities as public sector institutions. This priority is also less about the private sector being a funding source than it being a welcome destination for university graduates.
The organisation’s strategy recognises that the collective research strength of South Africa’s universities is an enormous national asset that enables them to assume a leadership role in facilitating economic growth through research and innovation.
Universities South Africa has therefore identified the need to establish a Higher Education-Business Forum to offer a framework and process that engages business and university leaders in dialogue to improve their mutual understanding and address broad issues.
These issues are seen as the changing nature and requirements of the world of work, the perceived movement offshore of research and development spend by local, dual-listed companies, room for collaboration to tackle major social and economic challenges, combatting social exclusion and developing a culture that encourages and rewards enterprise, innovation and life-long learning.
Universities South Africa believes that closer public and private sector collaboration can also contribute to national and regional development imperatives, specifically outlined in the National Development Plan.
Given the importance of the higher education sector to the future wellbeing of the country, it is equally incumbent on the public and private sectors to partner with these institutions to collectively build that future.