THE FREE STATE, SOUTH AFRICA The Free State, South Africa - OECD

Higher Education in Regional and City Development

The Free State, South Africa

Jaana Puukka, Patrick Dubarle, Holly McKiernan, Jairam Reddy and Philip Wade.

Higher Education in Regional and City

Development: The Free State,

South Africa 2012

This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.

ISBN 978-92-64-16914-2 (PDF)

Series: Higher Education in Regional and City Development ISSN 2218-3140 (online)

The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. Cover credits: Design: ?Francisco Esquer Mares Photo: ?Igno van Niekerk Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: publishing/corrigenda. ? OECD 2012 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgement of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to rights@. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at info@ or the Centre fran?ais d'exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at contact@.

FOREWORD ? 3

Foreword

Universities and other higher education institutions can play a key role in human capital development and innovation systems in their cities and regions. Reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development are the OECDs vehicle to mobilise higher education for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. The reviews analyse how the higher education system impacts local and regional development and help improve this impact. They examine higher education institutions contribution to human capital and skills development; technology transfer and business innovation; social, cultural and environmental development; and regional capacity building. The review process facilitates partnership building in regions by drawing together higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and work together towards them. To know more about the OECD review process and requirements, visit Higher Education and Regions website at edu/imhe/regionaldevelopment.

These reviews are part of a wider multi-annum work of higher education in cities and regions co-ordinated by the OECD Programme on Institutional Management of Higher Education (IMHE). In 2004-07, the OECD/IMHE conducted an extensive study with 14 regional reviews across 12 countries. This resulted in the OECD flagship publication Higher Education and Regions: Globally Competitive, Locally Engaged (OECD, 2007) with recommendations to benefit both higher education institutions and national and regional governments. In 2008, the OECD/IMHE launched a second series of OECD Reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development to address the demand by national, regional and local governments for more responsive and active higher education institutions. As a result, 14 regions in 11 countries participated in the OECD review process in 2008-11. The third round of reviews was launched simultaneously to respond to the OECDs global strategy and increasing demand on the ground. The reviews were carried out by the OECD/IMHE in collaboration with international organisations and associations, and other OECD programmes and directorates. This work supports the OECD Innovation Strategy, Skills Strategy and Green Growth Strategy.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT, THE FREE STATE, SOUTH AFRICA ? ? OECD 2012

4 ? FOREWORD This OECD review of the Free State, was the first of the third round of

OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development and the first of its kind in South Africa and Africa.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT, THE FREE STATE, SOUTH AFRICA ? OECD 2012

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ?

Acknowledgements

Numerous national and regional stakeholders and representatives of higher education institutions provided valuable insights during the review visit and in the form of comments. The OECD would like to thank in particular the leadership of the University of the Free State, the Central University of Technology and the Free State Education and Training Trust, who participated in the review process and opened the doors of their institutions for the OECD review team; the regional co-ordinator Lochner Marais and his University of the Free State task team as well as other active counterparts for this review in the national ministries and agencies, provincial and local governments, business and the third sector. The OECD is grateful for the generous support from the Free State Education and Training Trust and the University of the Free State for the funding of the self-evaluation process as well as the Flanders government who made this review possible by funding the OECD-led peer review. Finally, the OECD would like to thank Lumina Foundation for its support in the review team.

This publication draws on interviews carried out during a week-long review visit in 3-9 October 2010, on the findings of the Free States Selfevaluation Report and using additional information provided to the review team as well as OECD report on South African Education, OECD Reviews of National Policies for Education - South Africa (OECD, 2008). The OECD review team had a productive programme and were received openly by a wide range of stakeholders.

The peer review visit was led by Jaana Puukka (OECD/IMHE). This publication was co-ordinated and edited by Jaana Puukka with the support from Oscar Valiente and Austin Delaney (OECD/IMHE). Peer reviewers were Patrick Dubarle (former OECD Secretariat), Holly McKiernan, (Lumina Foundation); Jairam Reddy (former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Durban Westville) and Philip Wade (former OECD Secretariat). In addition, Akilagpa Sawyerr (former Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities) participated in the review visit. Further details about the review team can be found in Annex 1 of this report.). Freya

HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT, THE FREE STATE, SOUTH AFRICA ? ? OECD 2012

6 ? ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Damrell and Carola Miras provided assistance in the final editing phase and Rachel Linden supervised the publication process.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT, THE FREE STATE, SOUTH AFRICA ? OECD 2012

7 TABLE OF CONTENTS ?

Table of contents

Foreword.............................................................................................................. 3

Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 5

Acronyms ........................................................................................................... 11

Assessment and recommendations.................................................................... 14

Chapter 1. The Free State in context.............................................................. 41 Introduction: origins of spatial, social and economic inequalities.................. 42 1.1 Geography and sub-regional features ....................................................... 45 1.2 Governance............................................................................................... 47 1.3 Demography and urbanisation.................................................................. 50 1.4 Health, poverty and welfare...................................................................... 51 1.5 The regional economy .............................................................................. 55 1.6 Higher education in South Africa ............................................................. 60 1.7 Higher education and training in the Free State ....................................... 68 References ...................................................................................................... 75

Chapter 2. Human capital and skills development in the Free State .......... 79 Introduction .................................................................................................... 80 2.1 Higher education and training providers in the Free State ....................... 81 2.2 Regional demographics and human capital development......................... 83 2.3 Ensuring access and success in higher education and training ................. 92 2.4 Increasing participation of adults: Lifelong learning.............................. 110 2.5 The governance of the higher education and training system in the Free State .............................................................................................................. 119 Conclusions and recommendations .............................................................. 124 References .................................................................................................... 132 Annex 2.A1. Widening access to and improving success in higher education: the Victoria University case ......................................................................... 134

HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT, THE FREE STATE, SOUTH AFRICA ? ? OECD 2012

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download