USA Africa Dialogue Series - University of Cape Town's New Admissions Policy

From: Patrick Bond <pbond@mail.ngo.za>
To: DEBATE <debate-list@fahamu.org>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 10:25 AM
Subject: [Debate-List] (Fwd) University class-apartheid: UCT council against, UCT SRC in favour

(interesting that a new class-based system of access is beginning

• 16 Jun 2014
• The Mercury

UCT's new admissions policy

THE Council of UCT has passed the university's new admissions policy with a majority vote in spite of objections from the student representative council.

Other indicators for disadvantage aside from race will now be taken into consideration when deciding on student applications.

The applicant's home language, the education of the applicant's parents, whether the applicant's family was receiving a social grant and other factors would now be considered.

This was expected to come into effect for the 2016 intake.

The council met on Saturday to vote after a senate recommendation two weeks ago that the policy should be adopted. – Mercury Correspondent

***

Wits proposes new med school admission policy
Katharine Child | 10 April, 2014

Wits vice-chancellor Professor Adam Habib this week proposed a new quota system that would ensure that disadvantaged students were selected for medical school regardless of race.

Said Habib: "The new draft policy was a way to make sure that the best students were selected from an unequal world.

"An achiever from St John's [a top private school] will look different to one from a very poor school."

A team is investigating the proposed system.

Wits received 8000 applications for medical school places this year. Only 230 were accepted.

"In the past five months I have been screamed at many times and have been threatened with legal action from parents [whose child] was denied entry."

Habib said he knew of a case in which a student had tried to change his racial classification to coloured at the Department of Home Affairs to improve his chances of acceptance into a medical degree course.

Currently, Wits accepts the top 35% black and coloured students and the 35% top white and Indian students.

The proposed system would mean 50% of medical students admitted were from the top academic achievers, up from 25% currently.

Then the top 10% of students from the poorest schools, 20% from rural areas and 10% blacks and coloureds would gain entry.

The remaining 10% would be drawn in a lottery, a system used in Sweden and the Netherlands that produced good-quality doctors, according to Habib.

On Monday night, Habib asked: "Why should billionaire Patrice Motsepe's child take precedence over a poor white child?"

Frans Cronje, CEO of the SA Institute of Race Relations, agreed with Habib's proposal.

"This is a progressive move and we support Habib. Black does not equal disadvantaged."

The University of Cape Town also has teams investigating admission polices for all UCT degrees to ensure that it takes students who have a disadvantaged background without relying solely on race.

UCT vice-chancellor Professor Max Price previously said in a letter to students: "The use of self-declared race was seen as increasingly problematic. There were white students who are disadvantaged but do not benefit from the current policy."

Habib said rural students had to be represented in medical degrees because they were more likely to return to rural areas to work.

There is a severe shortage of doctors in rural areas, with NGO Africa Health Placements estimating that only 35 of 1200 medical students who graduate each year work in rural areas.

The SA Medical Association trade union's spokesman, Phophi Ramathuba, said the proposed policy made sense.

"Wits has done well to deal with issues of racial division but it needs to bridge inequality and get poor children becoming doctors."

***

Financial Mail

Which SA universities get top marks?

by Andile Makholwa, 23 January 2014, 07:32

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SOUTH Africa's leading universities are engaged in a fine balancing act: they are in a battle to claim top spot while trying to meet the needs of transformation. Though progress has been made over the past 20 years of democracy, many higher-education institutions still mirror apartheid demographics.

The formerly white universities are still considered the best and, since they opened up to all races, attract record numbers of applications - again this year, tens of thousands were turned away.

Wits University, which had 5500 places for first-year students, received 46000 applications. The University of Cape Town (UCT) had 4200 places but received nearly 20000 applications while the University of Pretoria (UP) received 42000 applications for 10500 places. The University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) - a merger of the previously white University of Natal and largely Indian University of Durban-Westville - attracted 89000 for 8400 places.

Most of the 197900 first-year places are at institutions that have been historically disadvantaged and underresourced and, because they have lower admission criteria, inequalities are perpetuated.

UCT, under vice-chancellor Max Price, is revising admission criteria. Price, who is a medical doctor, wants more attention to be paid to the background of a student when selections are made instead of merely using race-based quotas.

But all the top universities are in a quandary: they need to balance the desire to move up the global rankings while transforming into institutions more representative of SA society.

More research and publication helps as regards global recognition, but genuine transformation requires that they nurture talent within instead of merely recruiting top international researchers.

None of SA's 23 public universities feature in the top 100 global rankings. Three or four tend to appear in the top 500, with UCT leading the pack, followed by Wits, then Stellenbosch and sometimes UP or UKZN.

However, the picture is different when compared only with other emerging countries. UCT ranked third in the 2013/2014 table of Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China & SA bloc) and emerging countries produced by the UK's Times Higher Education. Wits came 15th.

New Wits vice-chancellor, Prof Adam Habib, has promised to pay more attention to research and postgraduate work over the next 10 years, presumably the period for which he will be vice-chancellor. A doubling of its existing cohort of 100 postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate scholarships to the tune of R300m over five years are among his plans.

But he faces numerous challenges as Wits has slipped in stature. It has dropped in the global rankings and lost staff to new rivals such as the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

But Habib is still keen to displace UCT, he tells the Financial Mail.

Several factors caused Wits to fall behind. The university failed to compete on salaries; was lax on academics who did not publish enough; and though student numbers grew rapidly, staff recruitment did not keep up, which meant more teaching and less time for research.

The once prestigious Wits Business School has been racked by turmoil for most of the past decade as several heads quit or were forced out.

Last year it had 14 full-time students, fewer than the 20 required to keep accreditation from the UK-based Association of MBAs.

"The big focus over the next five years should be on remunerating better scholars. Research needs good academics. If you lose great academics, you start losing your research output," says Habib.

He admits that it has lagged in research in recent years.

Moving up the global rankings is his priority. He wants to position Wits as a world-class African university which focuses on research and is racially integrated.

Price has similar ambitions. "Being an Afropolitan university is part of our mission," he says.

"We're cosmopolitan because we've got lots of African students, have strong partnerships with many African universities, we do research and we have expertise, and the rest of the world wants to partner with us because of the focus we bring to many of these issues."

However, Price doesn't make it a goal to be in the top 100. "There are competing priorities and being ranked in the top 100 isn't a priority. We want our graduates to have a value system that's related to social justice and a concern with changing society."

All SA's top universities say their goal is to focus on research while being the best on the continent.

The importance of university rankings has grown and the desire to focus on research and postgraduate studies appears to be related.

Globalisation and competition for high-level skills has fuelled universities' desire to be part of rankings.

"We have huge interest in measuring performance of any kind," says Prof Johann Mouton, director of the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science & Technology at Stellenbosch University.

"The problem is that every one of the international rankings uses very similar indicators. For instance, the biggest weight in many of these rankings is international scientific publications," he says.

Those factors make up between 60% and 70% of the weightings. Six indicators are often looked at: the number of research papers; chapters in books; books; citations in international publications; conference proceedings; and number of PhDs. Government also considers research output when allocating funds to universities.

Some rankings ask if the university has produced Nobel laureates.

"Many of these rankings do not always contain appropriate indicators. So you are comparing universities in SA that are relatively young - some of them 50 years old, which is young for a university - with institutions such as Harvard, which have been around for centuries and have huge resources and endowments," says Mouton.

As differences in circumstances are not taken into consideration, the rankings are not based on equal comparisons.

Within SA there are stark differences. Universities with a track record in research cannot be compared with universities of technology (former technikons) or previously black institutions that had no research facilities. Size also matters.

What about teaching and community engagement? These are difficult to measure, but important. SA universities are required to address historical imbalances but no points are awarded for redress.

Mouton says one option is to compare faculties instead of universities. But that is also not easy because faculties are not always similar or have the same subjects.

Vice-chancellors welcome the rankings though they also point to their weaknesses. In an article in the Times Higher Education in December last year, UKZN vice-chancellor Prof Malegapuru Makgoba said the rankings were good though they were controversial.

"But the global rankings had several attractive features for KwaZulu Natal: they provided recognition and affirmation of peers by peers - something universally endearing to academics, particularly in developing countries; they spoke to our core missions (research, teaching, community engagement, internationalisation and industrial partnerships); and they provided us with transparent criteria, benchmarks and quantifiable indicators," wrote Makgoba.

"The rankings have also allowed universities to create comprehensive institutional profiles to help identify their strengths and weaknesses."

UCT overtook Wits by attracting the right talent.

Price says a university is only as good as its academics. "It is about attracting the top academics and encouraging them to focus on research. Another factor is that we try to be a university of choice ... If you want to learn about emerging markets in Africa, the place to come to is the Graduate School of Business because we've got the expertise and connection with other institutions in Africa."

UCT has tried to be the place to go to in as many fields as possible.

It has the strongest medical school in SA when measured by quantity of research - the number of publications and the money it raises for research. The school produces about a third of all UCT's research and raises about half the money that goes into research, which includes into HIV/Aids and malaria, which is expensive.

The university has 33 A-rated researchers and the same number of research chairs, out of 100.

Though Wits has been displaced, it remains strong in many respects, such as in paleontology and mining engineering.

Habib prefers a comparison between faculties.

"UCT doesn't have much [by way of comparison] in engineering. The big two players are Tukkies (UP) and Wits. In health sciences, the big two research players are UCT and Wits, in humanities the top player is Wits, number two is UJ."

In 1988 Wits was number one in quantity and quality of research and its output was 25% more than UCT's.

Wits had published 1037 publications, UCT 800, and Stellenbosch and UP 300 and 400 respectively. UP has since moved up to 1300, UCT to 1300, Stellenbosch to 1100, while Wits is still where it was in 1988.

Indeed, Stellenbosch and UP have made strides. Stellenbosch vice-chancellor Prof Russel Botman says it has spent the past decade focusing on research.

"Now we produce the most research in the country and on the continent, and that is where we beat UCT," he says.

Stellenbosch has moved into the top 300s from the 400s in global rankings, which Botman says indicates that it is becoming better known.

Much of the work was started by his predecessor, Chris Brink, who surveyed international perception of the university. Most respondents said they did not know the university and those who did knew it only by its link to the apartheid regime.

"That was a big part of my job - to change the international opinion of Stellenbosch. Now we're beginning to get into better positions on the rankings. We had to focus on research, student success, the presence of international students and staff, and international recognition," says Botman.

That also meant hard choices. Academics were asked to publish more of their papers in international and the better-known journals while courses were offered in Afrikaans (its historic language of instruction) and in English.

UP, which also has the apartheid Afrikaans heritage, has also undergone extensive surgery over the past decade. Its language of instruction is now English though some courses are in Afrikaans.

Though it's had to improve research output, UP has retained its focus on teaching. Vice-chancellor Prof Cheryl de la Rey says the university's main business is human capital development. With more than 48000 students, it's the biggest university that participates in the rankings. It has about 14000 graduates a year and produces about a third of all engineers in SA.

De la Rey says that part of UP's transformation was a move away from its focus on teaching to publishing in non-Afrikaans journals.

UKZN says it has made steady progress. It retains some of the best researchers in medicine, science and the arts.

Makgoba declined to be interviewed but in the article in the Times Higher Education boasts of "profound" transformation.

He says that in 2004, 45% of UKZN scholars were research-active; today the figure is 89%. The university graduated 100 PhDs in 2004 compared with 177 in 2012; it had 60 postdoctoral researchers in 2005 compared with 276 in 2013. Industry income was R7,2m in 2005; in 2011 it was R24,2m. Overseas academics made up 9% of the faculty in 2004 and 36% in 2012. Citations to UKZN-affiliated publications increased from 17575 in 2004 to 23664 in 2012.

"This success could not have been achieved without active engagement with the global rankings," he says.

Though the top universities are improving in research output and teaching, the picture turns gloomy when the thorny subject of transformation is considered. Given SA's history, government has directed every institution to redress the imbalances of the past. However, the rate of transformation has been slow - though many have good plans.

An equity index produced by UKZN's Prof Kesh Govinder and Makgoba found many institutions wanting on transformation (see graphics). Makgoba is also the chairman of the ministerial oversight committee on transformation.

When the index was published in December in the SA Journal of Science after it was presented to parliament in October, it caused controversy with other vice-chancellors who challenged the analysis.

The index, for instance, estimates that it would take Stellenbosch 226 years to reflect the country's demographics if the current rate of its black student graduation were to be maintained.

For UCT, it would take 50 years and it would take UP 30 years to transform. UKZN seems to be in a better position with predictions that it would take 12 years, while it would take Wits 21 years.

It is scathing when considering academic staff. It predicts that it would take 371 years for UP to transform at the current pace, 253 years for UKZN and 204 years for Stellenbosch. It would take Wits 82 years and UCT 78 years for their staff to reflect SA's demographics.

The index has caused consternation within the academic sector and will probably be a subject of discussion for some time. Though other vice-chancellors have accepted the findings, they object to the predictions it makes. Botman complains that the researchers didn't factor in the universities' plans to redress the legacy of apartheid, which would have made a big difference.

"We question the method and there will be a debate about that within [higher education SA]. " He says the oversight committee did not speak to the universities and that not enough credit was given to their progress.

Stellenbosch, he says, had only 700 black students in 1990, now 32% of its 28000 students are black, including Indian and coloured students. It wants 50% by 2018.

He concedes, however, that his staff component remains a problem.

Nevertheless, many of these historically white institutions are making progress in enrolling black students. Government's growing student financial aid programme has helped in this regard and universities seek additional funding to help those who can't afford fees but have the potential to succeed.

Wits, for instance, has between 70% and 75% black - about 53% African - out of 30000 students. At UCT black students are below 50% in a population of 26000.

Price says there is a shortage of black people with PhDs who want to be lecturers.

"It takes about 20 years from the time you get a PhD to the time you become a professor. So the pool we're tapping into are the people who completed their PhDs in 1993 and there were few black people getting PhDs then."

Another issue is funding. Top academics cost more and Price says the market has placed a premium on top black academics because they're scarce.

Universities traditionally don't pay well enough to compete with government and the private sector. They've relied on employment security, travel opportunities and long sabbaticals to attract staff. For instance, a professor with a PhD and 20 years' experience earns about R700000/year, which is what a director in government with a junior degree and less experience earns.

De la Rey says the challenge is not just black academics - UP competes directly with government as it is on its doorstep.

Wits and UCT are hoping their focus on postgraduate work will help them retain some of their hardworking black students. They're exploring funding options for those who need help.

"In my view, it's fine to take in people who may not be completely ready. They can be supervised," says Price. "We can apply affirmative action more aggressively at junior level. But I think if you start appointing a person who doesn't deserve to be a professor just because they're black, you create all sorts of problems besides the fact that you will have people who can't supervise PhD students or produce research papers. You reproduce racial stereotypes that black professors are not as good as white professors," he says.

Habib has a similar view. "I refuse to say I'm going to compromise on service because I want to improve racial demographics. I'm going to do both together. I think you can get good black staff," he says.

Habib is the former deputy vice-chancellor responsible for research at UJ, where he played a key role in the transformation of the institution's racial profile (see next story).

A shortage of funding has been a persistent problem.

A Higher Education Council study says if SA were to be funded according to the world average, R37bn would be needed. Currently SA spends about 20% of GDP on education, which is high by global standards. However, universities get R22bn, just 12% of the education budget.

This has curbed growth in higher education. In 19 years, student numbers more than doubled to 920000. But the number of lecturers hasn't and there are backlogs in infrastructure and facilities.

Two new universities have been established, but it will be years before they help clear the backlogs. Higher education & training minister Blade Nzimande expects the number of university students to reach 1,6m in 2030.

The main source of funding for universities is government. They also receive money from donors, endowments, research contracts as well as student fees. However, for most of the previously white universities, government funding is less than 40% of their budget.

Nzimande says his department is reviewing the university funding model to ensure that it supports transformation and deals with the backlogs in the former black universities.

Already close to 8% of the infrastructure money goes to the historically disadvantaged universities.

"But obviously there will have to be an increase in resources. If we say education is a priority, we must then put our money where our mouths are," he says.

Last week Nzimande unveiled a paper for SA's post-schooling system which says further education & training colleges need to play a greater role.

Universities, however, are expected to play an equally prominent role in research and the production of highly skilled individuals.

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