Faculty presentation Research and postgraduate education May 2017 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Faculty presentation ‐ Research and postgraduate education May 2017 Professor Stephanie Burton

2017 to 2021 : The 5 -Year plan

Strategic Plan, UP 2025 – Vision: To be a leading research-intensive university in Africa, recognised internationally for its quality, relevance and impact, and also for developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally. 5 Strategic goals in the 2017-2021 Plan: 1. To enhance access and successful student learning 2. To strengthen the University’s research and international profile 3. To foster and sustain a diverse, inclusive, and equitable University community 4. To optimise resources and enhance institutional sustainability 5. To strengthen the University’s social responsiveness and impact in society

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Goal 2: To strengthen the University’s research and international profile

Research remains central to UP’s vision – “We aspire to be an institution that advances the frontiers of knowledge and makes a positive impact on the world by focusing on areas of greatest societal need.” The starting point:

• wide-ranging expertise and research platforms focussing on some of

the major challenges confronting Africa and the world

• well-positioned to play a leading role as a hub for African and global

research networks

• a solid history of international engagement and a primary focus on

Africa.

UP Strategic Plan 2017-2021

Intended outcomes in 2017-2021 plan:

1. Increased output and impact of research

• heightened national and international profile and visibility and
• improvement of UP’s position in the international university

rankings 2. A more inclusive research environment

• greater participation by students as well as academic staff

3. Enhanced postgraduate throughput and success.

• 4. Increased innovation
• leading to successful commercialisation of research.

Update on research performance data…

Journal article publications - 2008 to 2016*

*2016 data to be confirmed

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Journal article publications - 2008 to 2016*

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

*2016 data to be confirmed

Web of Science publications 2006-2015

National report on 2015…

Research output data from DHET report on 2015

2014 2015

Internation al ISI and IBSS SA journals Total journal

• utput

% internation al Internation al ISI and IBSS SA journals Total journal

• utput

% internation al

UKZN 1197 405 1602 75 1201 444 1645 73 UP 1115 346 1461 76 1173 411 1584 74 UCT 1196 76 1372 87 1206 187 1389 87 WITS 1066 185 1272 85 1099 209 1308 77 SUN 994 340 1334 74 964 291 1256 58 UNISA 587 440 1027 57 681 488 1169 65 NWU 624 624 980 64 700 373 1074 65 UJ 567 194 761 75 638 261 899 71

Total of all publication units (with books and proceedings)

Overall Units in 2015 % of overall Units nationally UP 1837 11.3 UKZN 1763 10.8 UCT 1653 10.1 WITS 1554 9.5 SUN 146 8.7

Weighted research output per capita

Per capita publications Research Masters Graduates Units Doctoral Graduates Units Total Weighted Research Output Weighted Research

• utputs per

capita UP 1.54 1023 999 3859 3.24 SUN 1.32 924 801 3141 2.92 RU 1.53 195 207 889 2.80 UKZN 1.31 799 1014 3576 2.67 UCT 1.40 595 669 2917 2.47 WITS 1.36 588 609 2751 2.41

The really good news…

Thank you!

UP PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 2014 2015 2016 Target 2016 Target 2017 1 % academic staff with doctoral degrees (excluding joint appointments) 56.2 62.97 63.4 58 64.00 2 % Black staff (Department of Labour EE definitions) 41.2 42.78 53.8 44% 56.8% 3 Publication units per academic FTE staff 0.81 1.05 1.2 1.0 1.18 4 Weighted M and D graduate output per academic FTE staff 0.88 1.34 1.4 1.05 1.85 5 First-time entering undergraduate headcount enrolments* 8 648 8 773 7868 8787 8 937 6 Total undergraduate headcount enrolments* 34 747 35 551 35698 33500 35 450 7 Master’s headcount enrolments* 6 853 6 911 6120 6853 6 721 8 Doctoral headcount enrolments* 2 155 2 279 2357 1967 2 283 9 Number of graduates in scarce skills areas (excluding distance education) 4 257 4 684 4759 4257 4 809 10 % of UG black contact students 48.3 49.95 51.7 50.0 51.89 11 % of PG black contact students 55.4 56.80 58.9 56.6 58.47 12 % registrations in SET (contact students)* 53.3 52.50 53.0 53 52.70 13 % successful FTE students to total FTE enrolments* 82.7 83.6 84.2 82 84.00 14 FTE contact students per FTE teaching staff member 21.2 26.44 29.3 25 25.77

Key strategies for research

1. Conducting research that has impact – “Research that matters”

– Build world class, high impact research productivity

• internationally recognised research
• interdisciplinary approaches to complex challenges
• partnerships with key stakeholders
• external funding.

– Play a leading role in research focussing on Africa – Develop institutional and faculty research focus areas

Improve UP’s ranking position

High impact, emerging and new focus areas

The environment, its natural resources and sustainability Food production, food security and nutrition Human and animal health Sustainable development, governance and human rights Computer science and computational opportunities New materials and energy Humanities and society Future cities and smart transportation Sport and exercise medicine and diseases of lifestyle Neurosciences Astrophysics and astronomy Data science and digital technologies

RANKING SYSTEM IMPACT MEASURE % WEIGHTING Times Higher Education (THE) – Papers per research and academic staff – Reputational survey – Citation impact (normalised average citations per paper) – proportion of internationally co‐authored research papers 6% 18% 30% 2.5% QS



Citations per staff



Academic reputation 20% 40% QS BRICS – Papers per staff member – Citations per paper ( over 5 years) – Academic reputation ( over 5 years) 10% 5% 30% QS Subject rankings  Citations per paper (over 5 years)  Normalised H‐index per subject area (over 5 years)  Academic reputation (over 5 years) % is weighted differently per discipline

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Greater impact is key

Articles published in journals with IF > 2 and > 5 (2011-2016*)

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0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

% of articles in journals with IF > 2 or > 5 docs with impact >=2 docs with impact >=5

Faculty papers and citations (WoS)

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FACULTIES: 2015/2016 2016/2017 Papers Citations Papers Citations Arts and Humanities 504 274 921 492 Engineering and Technology 1928 3711 2264 4486 Life Sciences and Medicine 4040 11358 4704 14244 Natural sciences 1651 3341 1840 4036 Social sciences & management 2239 2304 2108 2711

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5 10 15 20 25

ESI subject fields where UP features in comparison with other SA research Universities by citations per paper

UP UCT WITS SU UKZN

What we can do to increase research impact

Impact is influenced most by citations and peer review / reputation – Incentivise high impact publication

• Reward publication in top (1 % normalised) impact factor journals using

research subsidy allocation

• Provide research subsidy allocation to drive publication in international

journals

• Incentivise book publications and monographs
• Provide reduced subsidy for journals with impact measure lower than 50%

within the normalised sector

• Provide reduced subsidy for articles in South African journals with IF lower

than 1, even if in the SA DHET list.

• Discourage conference proceedings
• Ensure author identification is associated with UP - ORCID

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What faculties need to pay attention to

• Publications in high impact journals
• Beware predatory journals! (UP: 1.2% in period 2005-2014)
• More international collaboration and co-authorships
• Strategic partnerships
• Increase international visibility
• Have clear - and visible - research plans and focus areas
• Reduce reliance on a few leading researchers, find succession

plans

• Increase external funding
• Translate and commercialise research

X Decrease the number of article units X Encourage young researchers to go for low impact SA journals X Condone publishing in non-listed journals X Allow publications in predatory journals

Things NOT to do:

Key strategies (2)

2. Creating a more vibrant and transformed research community

• Build research capacity to enable transformation and development

– Set targets for improving research output and impact – Support leading and emerging researchers

• Provide an enabling environment

– Strengthen programmes for development of emerging researchers – Strengthen programmes for supporting postgraduate students – Seek external funding

• Support internationalisation activities to increase visibility and impact

– Attract international staff and students to the University – Increase international postgraduate numbers – Build strategic partnerships

Key strategies (3)

3. Enhance student success through research at all levels of study

• Build an inclusive culture of research

– by including students in research programmes – establish research focussing on student success. – blended learning, inquiry led curricula, and online approaches

• Develop the postgraduate environment and experience

– Improve completion times and throughput

Postgraduate education – what needs to be done

1. Position within the broad research activity of the University and linked to research strengths: 2. Address improving completion times 3. Strengthen supervisory capacity  better supervision practices  attract increasing numbers of talented postgraduate students  effective skills training  efficiency in completion of degrees 4. Plan for effective recruitment  link into the University’s areas of research excellence 5. Recognise postgraduates as emerging researchers  part of the academic community of scholars  fostering their intellectual development

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• 1. Postgraduate completion times:

1.90 2.60 1.11 1.19 1.21 0.00 1.15 1.07 2.32 2.96 4.44 2.76 4.53 4.10 2.26 4.08 2.26 4.04 3.22 4.13 3.42 3.20 3.97 2.81 3.80 2.78 3.59 5.31 4.76 5.11 4.71 5.67 4.14 5.26 4.52 5.59 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 EBIT Edu EMS HS Hum Law NAS Theol VS GRADUATION INDEX (YEARS)

Average Graduation time to completion, 2014 ‐ 2016

Honours Masters (Formal Instruction plus Research) Masters (Research) Doctoral

11 PhDs > 6 years 153 MSc > 3 years

Improving postgraduate completion times

1. The General Regulations:

– Registration for 2 years and then Dean’s permission for re-registration – Assignment of supervisors - within 1 month, recorded on the PS system – An Agreement between student and supervisor - within 1 month of confirmation

• To include a workplan, timelines and expectations for completion

– Annual reporting on progress

• Effective faculty management of proposal and ethics approvals to complete in

first year - at least!

• Close monitoring of progress on PS system – for re-registration and bursaries
• 2. Expectations: What is required of a Masters?
• A Masters degree does not require that the student completes original research which

makes a novel contribution to the body of knowledge in the field.

• ‘A research Masters student must have acquired a body of advanced-level knowledge,

have completed a piece of independent research, and have applied skills of critical analysis and evaluation to the results of the research”

• Masters by coursework only is permissible

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Improving postgraduate completion times (2)

1. Doctoral degrees: – A PhD degree is a research-based qualification, awarded for an independent study conducted in the sciences or humanities. – requires the creation and interpretation of new knowledge – making a significant and original contribution at the forefront of the academic discipline or area of professional practice, – manifest ability to conceptualise, interrogate and answer high level research questions, and understanding of relevant research techniques. – The work must be of a quality to satisfy peer review and merit publication.

• 2. Planning

– The Agreement is key – with agreed objectives upfront – Co-supervision helps – Thesis by compilation of published articles is possible

• 3. Examination processes

– No more orals…

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Improving postgraduate completion times (3)

• 1. Thesis / dissertation word limits?
• 2. Cohort supervision and peer group learning
• 3. Collaborative supervision, joint degrees
• 4. Professional doctorates

5. Responsibilities

• HoD –

– assign and confirm supervisors within one month of the student’s registration, –

• versee and record the agreements between supervisors and postgraduate students,

– monitor and report postgraduate student progress annually.

• Supervisor –

– Signing agreement with the student within 4 weeks of assignment of the supervisor – Ensuring finalization of the proposal and completion of Ethics approval within [6] months of registration – Ensuring completion of the research work with sufficient time for writing of the dissertation / thesis – Ensuring submission of the dissertation / mini-dissertation / thesis on the required date to enable graduation.

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DEGREE Word limit PhD 90 000 Masters (Research) 50 000 Masters (Coursework) 25 000

Postgraduate supervision practices – quality supervision

“The Art and Science of Supervision”

• Its an Art because:

– Many skills and qualities cannot be learned from text – It takes practice and hands-on experience.

• Its also a Science as:

– There is a body of research that described the process and how to use skills in order to achieve good

• utcomes.

Professor Carmel McNaught. Being an effective supervisor, presentation at UP, May 2017

http://www.xybodytreatments.com.au/images/pictures/large/metadata/leader_good.jpg

We need more workshops

• n supervision, colleagues

Postgraduate supervision capacity

Adequate, high quality supervisory capacity is a draw-card for students As the enrollment of postgraduate students at UP increases, there will be an increase in the amount of supervision required

• Increasing the number of supervisors available
• nGAP and emerging academics
• Early Career Researcher Programme
• “Smarter” ways of providing supervision
• cohort supervision
• use of online platforms
• international collaborations
• The supervisory workload of academic staff members needs to be closely

monitored and managed.

• Is everyone doing their share of supervising???

How to we gauge postgraduate supervision capacity?

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Lecturer Senior Lecturer Associate Professor Professor HOD/ Director

• 1. Research Publications
• 1a. Number of

publications 1 3 4 6 5

• 1b. Number of units

0.5 1 2 2.5 2.5

• 2. Supervision Load
• 2a. MSc

2 3 4 5 4

• 2b. PhD

2 3 4 3

• 2c. Post‐doc

1 2 SUPERVISION OUTPUT 2a) No of MSc graduates per year 1 1.2 1.6. 2 1.6 2b) No of PhD 0.5 1 1.5 2

DEPARTMENT X PROFESSOR / DR 2015 2016 2017 Theoretical Prof A 1 2 Prof B 3 2 2 Prof C 3 2 1 2 Prof D 3 2 2 Prof E 6 6 4 2 Prof F 1 1 2 Dr G 1 1 1 1 Dr H 1 1 1 Dr I 1 1 1 Prof J 4 2 2 Dr K 1 1 Prof L 1 1 1 2 Prof M 1 1 1 2 Prof N 5 5 4 2 Dr P 1 1 1 1 Prof Q 1 1 2 Dr R 1 1 1 Prof S 1 1 2 Dr T 3 3 2 1 19 academics with PhDs 39 32 15 32

How can departments gauge supervision capacity?

Postgraduate recruitment

The critical factors in the achievement of effective postgraduate training: Recruitment and creation of a conducive research environment for high levels of productivity Main focus areas:

• Recruitment of new postgraduate students
• Retention of enrolled postgraduate students
• Visibility and attractiveness of UP’s postgraduate programmes
• The quality of administrative and academic services rendered to

postgraduate students

• The availability of funding opportunities to academically deserving

candidates.

Recruitment targets agreed with the DHET

• The University of Pretoria’s projected postgraduate enrolment growth rates for Faculties

from 2017 to 2021 are shaped by national postgraduate requirements as set by the DHET.

• With the exception of the Faculty of Theology, all faculties are projected to have positive

annual growth rates for Masters and PhD degree programmes.

• The Faculties of Law, Natural and Agricultural Science and Veterinary Sciences are

projected to have the highest growth rates of 3.2%, 3.5% and 7.6%, respectively, for doctorate degrees.

• The expected overall annual growth rate for all the faculties is 1.9%, which means

postgraduate recruitment activities should be aimed at achieving this growth rate.

• Given the diversity of prospective postgraduate candidates in terms of socio-economic

characteristics, no single postgraduate recruitment approach would be adequate to meet the needs of all prospective postgraduate students.

• Hence an integrated approach that addresses different needs or challenges that are

likely to be encountered by postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows throughout the postgraduate life cycle should be implemented.

The present postgraduate enrolment position

Date run: 5/5/2016 and 5/5/2017 FACULTY General Postgraduate Honours Master Doctorate 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 00001 ‐ Humanities 7 2 351 337 612 584 195 212 00002 ‐ Natural and Agricultural Sc 411 416 732 741 536 521 00004 ‐ Law 435 500 168 182 00005 ‐ Theology 21 29 34 212 140 135 108 00007 ‐ Economic and Management Sc 38 623 693 430 654 614 169 190 00008 ‐ Veterinary Science 2 1 47 20 156 157 85 95 00009 ‐ Education 188 213 328 367 260 263 155 166 00010 ‐ Health Sciences 208 143 110 103 731 762 140 152 00012 ‐ EBIT 1629 1432 1311 1337 314 314 00018 ‐ GIBS (Faculty) 365 406 333 303 24 53 Grand Total 808 1409 3598 3139 5436 5401 1921 1993

Faculties University of Pretoria HEMIS student headcount forecasts Annual growth rate 2017‐2021 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Health Sciences M‐level 922 979 905 926 946 948 950 1.2% D‐Level 168 144 168 175 183 187 191 3.3% Sub total 1090 1123 1073 1101 1129 1135 1141 1.5%

Date run: 5/5/2016 and 5/5/2017 FACULTY General Postgraduate Honours Master Doctorate 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 Health Sciences 208 143 110 103 731 762 140 152 Grand Total 808 1409 3598 3139 5436 5401 1921 1993

How do postgraduate students find information and make choices?

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What faculties need to do about recruitment

Faculty/Academic programme-targeted recruitment

• Fix the websites!!
• Identify focus areas and academic programmes where they need to recruit postgraduate

students – Programmes that do not attract adequate forecast numbers of registrations may need to be prioritized - or dropped.

• Take into account the targeted enrolment targets
• Determine teaching and supervisory capacity.

Research focus area targeted recruitment

• Target the broad institutional and faculty research themes and focus as attractive
• ptions for postgraduate students seeking projects
• Multi-disciplinary research needs collaboration between different faculties

– Research involving multi-disciplinary researchers has higher chances of being funded than small research projects conducted in disciplinary silos. – Big projects are a platform for postgraduate research projects, with supervisory capacity available from teams of research-active academics.

Recruitment action plan for postgraduates at UP

FOCUS AREA Activity USING TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVELY Improvement in information provision and visibility on the UP website Online Request Form on UP Web International Online platforms BIRAP and ITS reports Enhancement of PeopleSoft Online Application Process (OAP) system for postgraduates PROVIDING EXCELLENT SERVICE International Application fees removed Direct contact with potential superviors Rapid responses and admission outcomes Follow‐up on prospective students Research preparation Using bursaries, scholarships and exchange programmes to enhance postgraduate recruitment Postgraduate Support Desk Communication between the Graduate Support Hub and postgraduate students via emails SPECIFIC INITIATIVES Postgraduate Fly @ UP Media platforms UP Pipeline focus Networking with undergraduate and postgraduate students Establishing long‐term relationships with specific funding organisations or companies Networking with other institutions of higher learning Collaboration with South African Embassies Alliance with national or international partners Partnering with UP Alumni

Postgraduate education and UP’s international profile

The primary focus is on building and strengthening strategic research partnerships with research universities in the fields that UP has prioritised

• A meeting place for scholars from Africa
• Strengthening research productivity and impact
• Achievement of recognition
• Access to international funding
• A postgraduate destination in Africa.

We have collaborative relationships and formal partnerships with many institutions abroad

• based on research collaboration, staff and student exchange
• postdoctoral fellowships, international students at undergraduate and

postgraduate levels. We must develop more international postgraduate programmes and co- supervisory arrangements with international partners

X Decrease the number of article units X Encourage young researchers to go for low impact SA journals X Condone publishing in non-listed journals X Allow publications in predatory journals X Expect too much from Masters dissertations X Prolong PhD studies X Neglect MoUs with postgraduate students X Pay too little attention to postgraduate students X Neglect your websites X Ignore recruitment opportunities X ….

Things NOT to do: