Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Recent student protests in South Africa have underlined the persistent underfunding of higher education with state contributions to university education declining in the period 2000 to 2015. At the same time the post-apartheid era has seen student numbers in higher education double. Yet what is seldom mentioned in the media coverage given to the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall protests is the impact that all this has had on university staff. Staff have had to do more with less. Larger classes, more marking and growing pressure to offer quality teaching has led to a more demanding working environment with less time for research. Yet the pressure to publish has not gone away. Academic staff are still expected to do the scholarly work and to publish it, in fact their jobs and promotion may depend on this. This paper will argue that in the current uncertain climate in higher education, it is crucial that research is developmental and that it links to and seeks to inform teaching and assessment practices. In 2016 two Senior Scholars were appointed in the Centre for Higher Education Development at the University of Cape Town. The goals for this Senior Scholar project were to strengthen research capacity in education development practice and to support research capacity of black and female researchers. The presentation will report on this project and describe the theoretical framework used for understanding this work.