A systems approach to the production and retention of academic staff with PhD : a case study of a University of Technology

Abstract

Compared to most countries with similar economies, South Africa presents figures that reflect that per million there is a critical shortage of doctorate holders. Doctoral education has been linked to economic growth and global competitiveness; however, several scholars have bemoaned the country’s extremely small doctoral output in relation to its economic and social development needs. The higher education (HE) system has set a throughput rate of 20% per annum but higher education institutions have, to date, only achieved 11%. This should come as no surprise as decades into democracy the South Africa HE system is still reliant upon the top 10 traditional universities for its doctoral graduate output. This anomaly can be attributed to how these higher educational institutions were established during apartheid and their approved programme qualification mix (PQM) mandates. During this period in South African history, only traditional white universities located in urban areas had the required research infrastructure and were permitted to offer doctoral degrees. This lack of access to further postgraduate training left South Africa with a dearth in highly skilled academics (professoriate), of which an estimated 20% will retire within a decade leaving a vacuum in the higher education system. Efforts to fill this vacuum are hampered by the following factors: i) there is a global demand for the limited available academic talent, ii) the current South African doctoral output is inadequate to replace its ageing professoriate at an equivalent rate, iii) programmes aimed at developing the next generation of academics (nGAP) have not been fully implemented, further, the posts complement constitutes a mere 25% of the country’s needs. The nGAP programme had envisaged the allocation of 15 posts per institution to meet the annual demand for academics however to date it has only managed 5 posts on average since inception in 2016. This study thus seeks to explore the challenges of producing and retaining academic staff with PhDs within and from outside the nGAP programme in the UoT sector and, in particular, at one institution through a systems lens. The study focusses then on XYZ institution and adopts a systems lens approach. From data analysis it has emerged that the profiles of PhD candidates in the country and the production and retention of academic staff with PhDs are the key determinants of the percentage of academic staff with PhDs. A qualitative system dynamics causal loop diagram (QCLD) conceptual model that illustrates the dynamics between these variables is presented and discussed. CLDs were chosen as they are powerful tools that visually illustrate the interdependence and interrelationships between variables embedded in any system under review and assist in the identification of leverage points for effective policy intervention.