DST Human Capital Development Initiatives

1. DST Human Capital Development Initiatives P Matutu & T Auf der Heyde PPC briefing 10 September 2014

2. Presentation outline • HCD Landscape: Institutional context • HCD Landscape: Policy framework • HCD Systemic challenges • DST HCD Interventions: • Established researchers • Emerging researchers • Post-graduate students • Science promotion • Conclusion

3. Human Capital Development (HCD) landscape: Institutional context • DBE: responsible for basic education (over R205 billion including provinces; 25,826 schools, 11,932,881m learners) • DHET: responsible for Higher Education (over R30 billion for universities; 25 universities; 972,000 students) • DST: responsible for research development and support, and innovation across the national system of innovation (R6.5 billion; 720,000 learners, 9,771 students)

4. HCD landscape:National policy framework • National Development Plan (NDP) ... by 2030 • produce more than 100 doctoral graduates per million of the population (increase the number of Africans and women); • produce an additional 100,000 PhDs; • at least 75% of academics with doctoral degrees; • acknowledges the importance of hosting science expositions as a way of stimulating interest in science among young people. • Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) • will implement the first five-year of the three phases of the NDP • the DST contributes to Outcome (5):a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path

5. HCD landscape:Doctoral output

6. HCD landscape:PhDs / million population

7. HCD landscape: DST policy framework • National Research and Development Strategy (2002): • Human Capital Development, • investment in S&T infrastructure, • knowledge generation, • strategic management of the public S&T system, and • "centres and networks" of excellence • Ten Year Innovation Plan

8. HCD systemic challenges • Supervisory capacity to improve postgraduate completion rates (38.6% of academic staff with PhDs). • Low bursary values resulting in low progression ratios (from Bachelors to Honours to Masters to PhD) and high demographic drop-off. • Poor demographic representation at established researcher levels. • Small science system (currently producing 34 PhDs per million population, GERD as percentage of GDP less than 1%).

9. HCD systemic challenges:Demographic drop-off

10. HCD systemic challenges • High attrition rates (e.g. 2001 PhD cohort): • 46% enrolled never completed degree • 29% dropped out in first two years • 36% drop-out in natural sciences, 53% in humanities • Low bursary values (e.g. 2013/14)

11. DST HCD Interventions Established researcher level Next-generation level Emerging researcher level Science Promotion 11

12. HCD Conceptual Framework Next Generation Researchers Emerging Researchers Established Researchers Postgraduate Bursaries Workplace Readiness Postdoctoral Fellowship Thuthuka SARChI CoE HCD conceptual framework

13. NRF Investment in HCD

14. Established researchers:Black male/female permanent instruction staff as a proportion of total (nationally)

15. Established researchers:(NRF supported)

16. Established researchers:(NRF investment excl. bursaries)

17. Established researchers:Flagship initiatives • The South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) • The Centres of Excellence (CoE) Programme

18. Established researchers: SARChI • Intended to expand and renew the SA scientific research base. • Address historical racial, gender and age imbalances. • Align with socio-economic development priorities. • Increase number of world class researchers in SA. • Awarded chairs 149. • Next call for at least 20 chairs: • Black or female candidates will be prioritised, and international candidates • Two or three will be co-funded with industry.

19. Established researchers:SARChI-funded students • In 2013, research chairs supervised a total of 1612 students • 662 funded through SARChI • 950 funded through external funds.

20. Established researchers:SARChI Publications

21. Established researchers: CoEs • Physical or virtual centres of research which enable collaboration across disciplines and institutions; • Student training environments; • Conducting locally and internationally relevant competitive research; and • CoEs • Established CoEs = 14

22. Established researchers: CoEs

23. Established researchers: CoEs

24. Established researchers: Conclusion • The DST interventions (CoEs and SARChI) are yielding results in terms of the expansion of the supervisory capacity of the science system, • A number of organisations are sponsoring chairs outside the DST/NRF system and universities are adding full professors trying to emulate the SARChI example, • The initiatives are gradually succeeding in improving the race and gender inequity among the students supervised, and • Additional investments in these initiatives would be essential to further expand the system while concomitantly improving student representation.

25. Emerging researchers: Initiatives • DST/NRF interventions (2014/15) • Postdoc programme (+/- R100m) • Thuthuka programme (+/- R50m) • Competitive funding for unrated researchers (+/- R22m) • Research career advancement fellowship programme

26. Emerging researchers:Average grant values

27. Emerging researchers: Demographic profile

28. Emerging researchers: NRF Investment Excl. Bursaries

29. Emerging researchers: conclusions • While significant investments were made in this category by the DST, it has not led to significant growth in numbers of supported researchers, but in the growth of average grant. • In terms of equity, consistent growths have been in the proportion of white women, while proportional representation for blacks and black women fluctuates. • Careful implementation of these programmes is necessary to improve black (particularly black women) participation.

30. Post-graduate students:Students supported through NRF

31. Post-graduate students:NRF support as percentage of total

32. Postgraduate students: Demographics of NRF funded students

33. Postgraduate students: NRF Investment

34. Post-graduate students: Conclusions • Over the past five years government has supported at least 34,030 postgraduate students (5,131 in 2009/10 to 9,771 in 2013/14), with more than doubling of the financial investments from R194.77 million to R541.18 million, during this period. • In terms of black representation significant improvements have been made over the past 6 years. • In terms of women the targeted proportional representation is close to being reached at masters and doctoral levels.

35. Science promotion:school level interventions (2014 to 2019) • In February 2014, the DST adopted the “Framework for the DST’s activities in support of basic education” (2014-2019). • The Framework supports basic education through: • Promotion of public engagement with science • Enhancing effective teaching and learning environment through technology and educational research • The science engagement programme comprises an established portfolio of activities, which in many ways: • complement the objective of the National Strategy for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education; and • generally contribute to teaching and learning of mathematics and science.

36. Science promotion:National Science Week • Contributing to increased learners’ participation in mathematics and science • Activities like the annual National Science Week (NSW), science festivals and science centre-based science awareness exhibits stimulate learners’ interest in mathematics and science, which enhances the DBE’s intentions to increase learners’ participation in these learning areas. • Up to 70% of about 700,000 participants in the NSW and festivals were learners, mainly in the FET band. • Up to 65% of the 1.6 million visitors to science centres in 2013 were learners (GET and FET combined).

37. Science promotion:Science Centres • Science centre-based support • In addition to pure science awareness exhibits, science centres have hands-on exhibits that are linked to curriculum concepts across grades. • Of the 33 science centres supported by the DST: • 27% have fully equipped science laboratories, assisting learners from under-resourced schools with experiments. • 42% have mobile laboratories, conducting scheduled school visits to assist with experiments. • 12% collaborated with their provincial departments of Education in the delivery of teacher in-service training in the 2013 academic year. • Up to 90% annually conduct supplementary tuition and/or exam preparatory sessions in Mathematics and Physical Science.

38. Olympiads and competitions • STEMI Olympiads and competitions • STEMI Olympiads and related competitions create an opportunity for learners to apply and refine knowledge gained from formal classroom learning and teaching. • The DST supports 8 STEMI Olympiads and related competitions, which collectively contributed to 28% of the just above 1 million people who participated in the DST-supported science engagement programme in the 2013/14 financial year. • SET career awareness • DST campaign on SET careers include profiling mathematics and science teaching. • 10,000 copies of SET career booklet to be distributed in the 2014/15 financial year. • First SET career workshop on the SET career booklet involving about 60 subject advisers of Limpopo happening during the NSW 2014 in Limpopo.

39. Science Promotion: Learners and public reached in 2013

40. Science Promotion: SAASTA Investment

41. Conclusions • More resources are required to grow the established researcher initiatives and increase the values of average grants. • More funds will be invested in the post-graduate category, but tighter monitoring of demographics and completion rates will be essential. • Graduated PhDs need to be tracked to establish level of retention in system. • Strategy documents, legislation, and more funds will be required to improve science promotion initiatives.

42. Enkosi Siyabonga Siyathokoza Thank you Presentation www.dst.gov.za