UNIVERSITY EDUCATION AND RESEARCH FOR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION. MYTH OR REALITY FOR UGANDA

BY PRORESSOR VENANSIUS BARYAMUREEBA, CHIEF GUEST AT

UGANDA MARTYRS UNIVERSITY (UMU)’ S ANNUAL RSEARCH CONFERENCE, 09.30AM, 19 NOVEMBER 2014

VC UTAMU & Chairperson of UCVF; www.utamu.ac.ugbarya@utamu.ac.ug

Overview• Higher Education (HE)

• University Education

• Research and Innovation

• Research and Development (R&D)

• Engagement

• Quality Assurance (QA)

• QA Systems/Frameworks

• Social Transformation (ST)

• Way Forward

Higher Education

• Education beyond high school

• Education that occurs after secondary education

• Post-secondary education

• Tertiary education

• Third level education

• Often delivered at universities, institutes, colleges, schools, academies, seminaries

What is a University?• Cambridge Dictionary: A college or collection of

colleges at which people study for a degree.

• An institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects and provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education.

• An educational institution designed for instruction and examination of students in many branches of advanced learning, conferring degrees in various faculties, and often embodying colleges and similar institutions.

Pitfalls in University Education in Uganda• Focus on short courses, certificates and diplomas• Universities by nature are academic and not

vocational– Universities run academic programmes and thus the

graduates are academic degree holders. – Vocational education (certificate/diploma education)

should be handled by vocational institutions

• Less focus on research- Low research output• Poor teaching and research infrastructure• PhD holders are still few compared to students

enrollment in Universities• Low tuition fees that are far less than unit cost• General curricula in most disciplines that falls short

of producing graduates with a specific skills set…

What is Research? • The systematic investigation into and study of

materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

• A systematic inquiry that investigates hypotheses, suggests new interpretations of data or texts, and poses new questions for future research to explore.

• Research consists of:

– Asking a question that nobody has asked before;

– Doing the necessary work to find the answer; and

– Communicating the knowledge you have acquired to a larger audience.

Research Ethics• Research ethics involves the application of

fundamental ethical principles to a variety of topics involving research. Reasons why it is important to adhere to ethical norms in research:– Norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge,

truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions against fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data, promote the truth and avoid error.

– Ethical standards promote the values that are essential to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. For example, many ethical norms in research, such as guidelines for authorship, copyright and patenting policies, data sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are designed to protect intellectual property interests while encouraging collaboration.

Why adhere to ethical norms in research• Many of the ethical norms help to ensure that

researchers can be held accountable to the public. • Ethical norms in research also help to build public

support for research. • Many of the norms of research promote a variety of

other important moral and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare, compliance with the law, and health and safety. – For example, a researcher who fabricates data in a clinical

trial may harm or even kill patients, and a researcher who fails to abide by regulations and guidelines relating to radiation or biological safety may jeopardize his health and safety or the health and safety of staff and students.

Crosscutting ethical principles: • Honesty. Strive for honesty in all scientific

communications. Honestly report data, results, methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data. Do not deceive colleagues, granting agencies, or the public.

• Objectivity. Strive to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research where objectivity is expected or required.

• Integrity. Keep your promises and agreements; act with sincerity; strive for consistency of thought and action.

• Carefulness. Avoid careless errors and negligence; carefully and critically examine your own work and the work of your peers.

Crosscutting ethical principles Cont’d:

• Openness. Share data, results, ideas, tools, and resources. Be open to criticism and new ideas.

• Respect for Intellectual Property. Honor patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. Do not use unpublished data, methods, or results without permission. Give credit where credit is due. Give proper acknowledgement or credit for all contributions to research. Never plagiarize.

• Confidentiality. Protect confidential communications, such as papers submitted for publication, personnel records, trade or military secrets, and patient records.

• Responsible Publication. Publish in order to advance research and scholarship, not to advance just your own career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative publication.

Crosscutting ethical principles Cont’d: • Responsible Mentoring. Help to educate, mentor, and advise

students.• Respect for colleagues. Respect your colleagues and treat

them fairly.• Social Responsibility. Strive to promote social good and

prevent or mitigate social harms through research, public education, and advocacy.

• Non-Discrimination. Avoid discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or other factors that are not related to their scientific competence and integrity.

• Competence. Maintain and improve your own professional competence and expertise through lifelong education and learning.

• Legality. Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental policies.

Research and Development (R&D)• R&D is investigative activities that a business chooses to

conduct with the intention of making a discovery that can either lead to the development of new products or procedures, or to improvement of existing products or procedures.

• R&D is work directed toward the innovation, introduction, and improvement of products and processes.

• Innovation is a new method, idea, product, etc. Innovation generally refers to changing or creating more effective processes, products and ideas, and can increase the likelihood of a business succeeding. Businesses that innovate create more efficient work processes and have better productivity and performance.

• Government must set research and innovation priorities where public funds are involved

Importance of R&D in Business• Proven Sales Growth. There is a strong correlation between

how much effort is put into R&D, and how well a company performs.

• Competitive Advantage. Businesses are better positioned to compete in the worldwide marketplace with constant R&D investments at the proper levels.

• Innovation. Innovation is and has always been recognised as a vital driver of economic growth and stability. New ideas can act as catalysts for a whole era of new goods and services that change the economy, increasing its strength and vitality.

• Furthering the Company’s Mission. If you’re just offering the same product or service with no interest in expanding, your business will grow stagnant and eventually be left in the dust. Great businesses are always innovating, always looking for ways to gain that competitive edge. R&D is a necessary step toward furthering your company’s vision and goals.

University Engagement with Strategic Partners

• Student engagement with community/industry

• Staff engagement with community and industry

• Establishing teaching and research collaborations

– Informal and formal collaborations

– Contract research

• Public Private Partnerships

• Knowledge transfer partnerships

• Research dissemination

– Research policy briefs

• Innovation and Business incubation centres

Quality Assurance (QA)• Maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or

product, especially by means of attention to every stage of the process of delivery or production

• A process-centered approach to ensuring that a company or organization is providing the best possible products or services

• Administrative and procedural activities implemented in a quality system so that requirements and goals for a product, service or activity is fulfilled

• The systematic measurement, comparison with a standard, monitoring of processes and an associated feedback loop that confers error prevention

• Two principles in QA: Fit for purpose’’ and ‘’Right first time’’• QA cycle consists of four steps: Plan, Do, Check and Act (PDCA)

Enforcing QA• Institutional assessment (evaluation & outputs)• Institutional audits • Value for money audits• System audits (qualitative description of processes)• System accreditation (comprehensiveness of

programmes/systems)• External Audits e.g. by Regulatory Bodies • External stakeholder involvement (professional

bodies, potential employers, government departments, alumni, parents, local communities)

• Internal stakeholder involvement (faculty, students)

QA Indicators

• Quality indicators are statistical measures that give an indication of output quality and can also give an indication of process quality

• Quality indicators are formally recognised figures or ratios used as yardsticks to judge and assess quality performance

QA Frameworks/Policies• There are QA policies/frameworks at:

– HEI level e.g. University QA policies/frameworks– National/Country Level e.g. NCHE of Uganda– Regional Level e.g. Inter-University Council of EA– Continental level –AU Commission– Global level e.g. UNESCO/OECD Guidelines on “Quality

Provision In Cross-Border Higher Education”: UNESCO’s Capacity Building Activities In Qualifications Recognition, Quality Assurance And Accreditation-- Towards A Coherent Framework

• QA frameworks/policies guide HE at these levels• QA frameworks/policies provide QA indicators that are

used to measure quality

Social Transformation• In social scientific literature the term social

transformation is increasingly used to describe societal changes and generally indicates a critical stance towards older notions of the idea of development. Some scholars consider social transformation studies as a field of research that can lead to positive steps for social and political action to protect local and national communities against negative consequences of global change.

• In the social sciences societal transformation refers to the change of society's systemic characteristics. This incorporates the change of existing parameters of a societal system, including technological, economic, political and cultural restructuring.

Social Transformation Trends • Social Transformation influences productive

infrastructure, which can bring about new technological changes and new patterns of participation in the international division of labour.

• New structures of economic organization are developing. This may imply a change in ownership rights, as well as in investments, production, distribution and supply.

• The distribution and use of political power take qualitatively different forms. This involves changes in the structure and performance of state institutions and other bodies of decision-making and control.

• A society's value-normative system can change, often in a way that allows the emergence and stabilisation of pluralist institutions.

Social Transformation at a Glance • Social transformation affects all types of society in

both developed and less-developed regions, in the context of globalisation of economic and cultural relations, trends towards regionalisation, and the emergence of various forms of global governance.

• Globalisation is leading to new forms of social differentiation at the international and national levels. Polarisation between rich and poor, and social exclusion are problems affecting most countries as well as the relations between them.

• The issue can no longer be defined in terms of development, since it is no longer possible to draw clear lines between developed and underdeveloped areas, nor to put forward a universally-accepted goal for processes of change.

Social Transformation at a Glance• The study of social transformation refers to the

different ways in which globalising forces impact upon local communities and national societies with highly diverse historical experiences, economic and social patterns, political institutions and cultures.

• Any analysis of social transformation therefore requires analysis both of macro-social forces and of local traditions, experiences and identities.

• The response to social transformation may not entail adaptation to globalisation but rather resistance. This may involve mobilisation of traditional cultural and social resources, but can also take new forms of 'globalisation from below' through trans-national civil society organisations."

Social Transformation: Other Views• John Brennan, Roger King and Yann Lebeau. The Role of Universities in

the Transformation of Societies; An International Research Project Synthesis Report, November 2004. ISBN 0 7492 0513 X

• Genov, N. 1999. Managing Transformations in Eastern Europe. UNESCO-MOST, Paris.

• From Castles, S. 2000. Development, social transformation and globalisation. Given at a Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies workshop 23-25 June 1999.

• Celine Sachs-Jeantet, Managing Social Transformations in Cities: A Challenge to Social Sciences, Management of Social Transformation, Discussion paper No. 2, UNESCO, http://www.unesco.org/most/sachsen.htm

• Castles, S., Arias Cubas, M., Kim, C., Koleth, E., Ozkul, D. and Williamson, R. 2011. ‘Karl Polanyi’s Great Transformation as a Framework for understanding Neo-Liberal Globalisation‘, Social Transformation and International Migration in the 21st Century Working Paper No 1. Sydney: The University of Sydney.

The Role of Universities in Transformation of Societies

• What is being transformed in society: the economic, the political, the social and the cultural aspects.

• Universities have frequently been regarded as key institutions in processes of social change and development. The most explicit role they have been allocated is the production of highly skilled labour and research output to meet perceived economic needs. But to this role may be added, especially during periods of more radical change, roles in the building of new institutions of civil society, in encouraging and facilitating new cultural values, and in training and socialising members of new social elites.

• Transforming universities: changes in universities can be viewed in terms of curricula reforms, quality and standards; diversification; access policies, student profiles and experiences; and academic responses to change.

Transforming Universities to Transform Society • Changes in curriculum, quality and standards

– Meeting new external standards

– Quality assessment and accreditation

– Responses to local drivers

• The diversification of higher education– Internationalisation, Regionalisation and

specialisation

– Privatisation

• Access policies

• student profiles and experiences– Student activism

• Academic responses to change

University Education & Research for Social Transformation. Myth or Reality for Uganda

• Neither a myth nor a reality– A poorly planned education system that is not

integrated

– Universities are faced with poor inputs including students

– Poor quality graduates in most disciplines

– Low research quality and output

– Low investment in research and development (R&D)

– Less interest from the local industry in R&D

• The government needs to put in place a favorable environment for University Education and Research to shrive => Social transformation

Till we meet again!

I THANK YOU