Abstract
The project for the revitalisation of Southern Africa’s higher education sector is dependent on, among other things, the capacity of the region’s universities to produce research, to communicate that research to a broad public audience and to use the research output in the process of educating future generations of graduates. Given this context, research output in the great majority of Southern African universities is barely visible. While the introduction of new digital media may offer greater accessibility and expanded opportunities for the visibility of scholarly communication, this may be insufficient to meet the needs of the many scholars and other actors who seek to build on existing bodies of knowledge, whether to advance society or in order to create knowledge for its own sake. This article reports the findings of two 2008 studies – The state of public science in the SADC region and Opening access to knowledge in Southern African universities. Working within a frame which understands knowledge produced in universities as a public good, this article examines the issues at play in terms of the productivity-visibilityaccessibility of scholarly communications in regional higher education. The conclusion discusses a possible approach to improve such productivity-visibility-accessibility, through the adoption of a strategic vision of open access to knowledge and through consideration of two breakthroughs pertinent to achieving a vision of revitalised higher education in the region. 1 A partnership constituted by the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Association of African Universities and the South African University Vice Chancellors Association, now Higher Education South Africa.
Highlights
The project for the revitalisation of Southern Africa’s higher education sector is dependent on, among other things, the capacity of the region’s universities to produce research, to communicate that research to a broad public audience and to use the research output in the process of educating future generations of graduates
We present two questions for consideration that were either explicitly or implicitly posed by the two Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) studies, namely: (1) What are the barriers to productivity-visibility-accessibility of scholarly communication in the process of the revitalisation of higher education in the electronic age? (2) What approaches to improving productivity-visibility-accessibility are appropriate for Southern African universities?
Recent analysis of Southern African Development Community (SADC) articles included in the citation databases of the including the Web of Science (ISI) Web of Science, Medline and African Journals Online (AJOL) journals, in the study on The state of public science, confirms the picture painted by Tijssen (Mouton et al, 2008: 47-48)
Summary
The project for the revitalisation of Southern Africa’s higher education sector is dependent on, among other things, the capacity of the region’s universities to produce research, to communicate that research to a broad public audience and to use the research output in the process of educating future generations of graduates. Investment in electronic networks, and the changes in research and scholarly communications practice that are set in motion by the introduction of these networks, has been slow to take root on the continent Initiatives such as the African Union’s plan of action on the Second Decade of Education for Africa 2006 – 2015 recognise the ‘link between high-level human resources, knowledge production and sustainable development’ (African Union, 2006). Initiatives for institutional change are beginning to permeate Southern African universities, with the main goals being student access and success, quality in higher education, research and engagement with the country and regional context These goals are connected, in different ways, to the accessibility of the knowledge that may be present, though not visible, within the universities. Southern Africa’s universities struggle to meet their obligations as contributors to regional development, through creating and disseminating locally produced knowledge
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