November 2016
The recent International Research Conference on Scientometrics, STI Policy and Science Communication hosted by SciSTIP and SciCOM provided the perfect opportunity for the launch of three ground-breaking books.
In the first book, The emergence of systems of innovation in South(ern) African: Long histories and contemporary debates, edited by Prof. Mario Scerri, we are led through the long history of systems of innovation in South Africa. The historical scope of this book lends itself to providing input on the current debates, for example on higher education in South Africa. The second book, Institutional Research in South African Higher Education, edited by Professor Jan Botha and Ms Nicole Muller also adds to this debate and our current understanding of the higher education system. The book analyses and explains the history, current state and possible future directions for institutional research in South African Higher Education. The final book, The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania, authored by Dr Susanne Koch and Prof. Peter Weingart shifts the focus to a more political level. In it Dr Koch and Professor Weingart explain their argument for why they believe recipient governments (they look at South Africa and Tanzania) find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of dependency when making use of experts from donor nations. For more information on these books and where to purchase a copy, please have a look at the detailed descriptions below.
The emergence of systems of innovation in South(ern) African: Long histories and contemporary debates
Editor: Prof. Mario Scerri
Available: to be published on 30 November 2016
This book, edited by Professor Maria Scerri promises to be a captivating read and a first of its kind. The book, divided into a section on “Histories” and a second on “Thematic Areas” traces the existence, nature and the evolution of systems of innovation in South Africa. The book covers the time period between the Early Stone Age to the present date. Within the first section the focus is on providing a chronological history of the developments in the territory that would later be joined into the Republic of South Africa. The second section moves the focus to the present and addresses several critical aspects of the post-apartheid national system of innovation.
Institutional Research in South African Higher Education
Editors: Prof Jan Botha and Nicole Muller
Publisher: SUNMeDIA, Stellenbosch
Available: [Click here]
This book, jointly edited by Professor Jan Botha and Ms Nicole Muller has the distinction of being the first book written on institutional research in South Africa and as such has a critical role to play in furthering research on the topic in the country. Institutional Research (IR) as a focus area within the broader field of higher education research (HER) has developed over the past fifty years or so into an established field of scholarship and practice, based in institutions and organised into a network of professionals and academic associations across the world.
In this book, twenty-six authors representing thirteen different universities in South Africa and the USA as well as the Department of Higher Education and Training present the results of research projects undertaken specifically for the purpose of this book, namely to analyse and explain the history, current state and possible future directions for IR in South African Higher Education. Engaging with and building on leading IR theories the authors of this book tell the story of IR in South African Higher Education, highlighting the range of intersecting contexts and practices characterizing this field of scholarship and practice in this part of the world.
The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania
Authors: Dr Susanne Koch and Prof. Peter Weingart.
Published by African Minds, Cape Town
Available: [Click here]
With the rise of the ‘knowledge for development’ paradigm, expert advice has become a prime instrument of foreign aid. At the same time, it has been object of repeated criticism: Several studies have documented the chronic failure of ‘technical assistance’ – a notion under which advice is commonly subsumed – in terms of ‘capacitating’ recipients.
The book reveals fundamental problems of expert advice in the context of aid that concern issues of power and legitimacy rather than merely flaws of implementation. Based on empirical evidence from South Africa and Tanzania, the authors show that aid-related advisory processes are inevitably obstructed by colliding interests, political pressures and hierarchical relations that impede knowledge transfer and mutual learning. As a result, recipient governments find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of dependency, continuously advised by experts who convey the paradigms and agendas of their respective donor governments.
Building on an interdisciplinary framework grounded in the sociology of science, the theory of democracy and development studies, the monograph offers far-reaching findings and explanations why aid-related expert advice tends to keep young democracies in a status of dependence rather than making them self-reliant.