Commercialisation of Higher Education in South Africa

Introduction and Literature Review

South African education policies place priority on addressing historical education imbalances, but should as well be sensitive to the demands of an ever-increasing global knowledge-driven environment. The educational approach cannot be dominated by the needs of the domestic educational technique of South Africa ignoring the trends exerted by the global world (OEDC Annual Report, 2004:44). Higher education in South Africa should notice that they operate and function in a knowledge-driven overseas locations in which both domestic and foreign undergrads demand access to the best value education at the best reputable authorities of ideal education in the world.

In this regard, most definitions of internationalization of even better education include the following: “Internationalisation is a process that prepares the sector for successful participation in an increasingly interdependent world … The process infuse all facets of the post-secondary education system, fostering international understanding and developing skills for effective living and working in a diverse world” (Francis, 1993 talked about by Patrick, 1997).

The position of higher education in South Africa as long as be evaluated considering the re-integration of South Africa into the global community. South Africa was rapidly re-integrated to the world community by obtaining almost immediate membership of influential international organisations ensuing 1994. Kishun (1998:59) indicated that South Africa became a member of among others the following out of country institutions: United Nations; Organisation of African Unity; Commonwealth; International Olympic Committee; Federation of International Football Associations; and Lome Convention. Integration of influential international establishments is a necessary but not sufficient pre-condition for internationalization of higher education. Sustainable internationalization should be in detail aligned to the emerging foreign trends and events in the education sector.

An analysis of the basis on that internationalization of higher education occurs is needed as decently as the benefits of the internationalization process. This research is conducted against that background.

Problem Statement

Whilst South Africa is in a process of transition regarding even better education to address the imbalances of the past, the question arises whether the South African educational sector is able to compete in the global economy that regard knowledge as a commercialised commodity.

Methodology

A sample size of 781 respondents from six institutions of higher education in South Africa was selected. Senior students were randomly certain paying for the convenience sampling technique. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed to measure the perceived competitive profile of institutions of higher education in South Africa. The questionnaire constitutes five measuring foci, namely:

· Section A: Institutional data about the location at which the respondent is enrolled.

· Section B: Biographical information in terms of gender, type of student and globe of origin.

· Section C: Decision standards used to select an institution of higher education.

· Section D: Four competitory dimensions of higher education institutions, including strategic competitiveness, institutional competitiveness, product competitiveness, and tactical competitiveness.

· Section E: Open-ended questions, aimed to identify the reasons why respondents pick a specific institution of even greater education, their opinion on the institution's competitive reputation, and the factors that may harm the international competitiveness of the particular institution.

The data was changed into two opposite categories, namely those who agreed with the statements and folks who disagreed, enabling the researchers to derive a hypothesized agreement-disagreement distribution. Those who neither agreed nor disagreed were allocated to the disagreement group set providing and expected disagreement response set of 57% (p=0.57) and an agreement response set of 43% (q=0.43). The Binomial test was employed to determine whether the observed distribution correspond in on the hypothesized distribution using a significance test total amount of 0.05. Furthermore, the level of agreement or disagreement with the selected competitive statements and the extend of agreements between the respondents from the different specialists on the various statements got determined by executing four statistical procedures, namely: ANOVA to compare the means of respondents from the different institutions; determining how much of the perception variation serves to be accounted for by the influence of the different governments of higher education; determining the averages for each strategic dimension to find an indication of the level of agreement amongst the competitory statements; and determining the standard deviations to obtain an indication of the extend to that consensus exists within the sample.

Findings

With regard to the strategic competitiveness of South African institutions of higher education to engage in a seamless network the respondents got of the opinion so South African specialists of higher education give low priority to attract intercontinental students, are not well well&wshyp;known for attracting foreign students, are not actively involved in exchange programmes of undergrads and lecturers, and do not have active engagements or agreements with other tertiary institutions, businesses and communities.

On the issue of institutional competitiveness, the majority of respondents were of the conviction so institutions of higher education in South Africa have the ability to attract quality students, does not suffer an international student culture, offers qualifications the present are internationally accepted, can contend international reputability on post-graduate level, offers competitory tuition fees, deliver researching outputs the current are internationally recognized, and are not merely accessible.

In terms of product competitiveness the majority of respondents indicated too agencies of higher education in South Africa have active orientation programmes to familiarise foreign and domestic students with the institutions, offer guarded and safe learning environments, provide leading info technology for academic growth and excellence, do not just adapt to the needs and wants of students, and submit convenient service packages to students.

With regard to tactical competitiveness institutions of ideal education in South Africa undergo the ability to accumulate a diploma or degree offering that meets or exceeds out of country criteria in terms of offering subject content of international standard, dealing with internationally acclaimed staff, aggressively marketing its qualifications internationally, claiming international acceptable through-put, and having acceptable grant and loan schemes obtainable to students.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The majority of respondents are in agreement the current institutions of higher education in South Africa are able to contend internationally on the one competitory dimensions (strategic, institutional, tactical and product). Internationalisation requires that institutions of better education in South Africa should emphasise a faintly loosening of the relationship with Government, notwithstanding the paradoxical crisis to fashion new transformational bodies to address the imbalances of the past. Internationalisation of higher education implies such a internationalised institutions operate on new super ordinate levels that has its own legal, administrative and revenue-raising powers.

In terms of strategic course governments of higher education is able to think about at least one of the following internationalization approaches:

· “Would-be internationalization”: Applies to academics and institutions wanting to be faced in internationalization but facing concerns in being considered on equal terms.

· “Life or death internationalization”: Countries, their academics and institutions, which view internationalization cooperation as indispensable for such a status and role in the worldwide world.

· “Two areas”: Academics and authorities experience the selection of striving for either more national or more international status and orientation. The academic field in which one is operating often determines this.

· “Internationalisation by import”: Countries and experts overly treat internationalization only as coming from outside, by hosting foreign students and publishing research. It should not represent a separate strategy towards internationalisation.

References

Kishun, R. 1998. Internationalization in South Africa. In The globalization of Higher Education. Scott, P. ed. Buckingham: Open University Press.

OECD Annual Report. 2004. Education. p.41-45.

Patrick, K. 1997. CSDF project extensive report: Internationalising the University. Melbourne: RMIT.