Prof. Patrick FitzGerald (University of Witwatersrand) and Prof. Rita Maré (Unisa Vice-Principal Academic: Teaching and Learning) sign the memorandum of understanding at Unisa’s Florida Campus.
Collaborations, particularly those related to research production, are the game of the 21st century information society, knowledge economy, and the 21st century university, said Professor Patrick FitzGerald from the University of Witwatersrand (Wits).
“As a single university, no matter what comparative advantages you have, no matter what intellectual talent or particular strengths you may have, you are not really going to go forward and perform optimally, and leverage and exploit your resources, unless you are able to use those resources to enter into fruitful collaborative partnerships. Because one institution cannot have the critical mass; it cannot have all the equipment, and all the energies to actually achieve optimally.”
FitzGerald was speaking to staff from Unisa and Wits on 12 November, when the two universities confirmed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and launched their research collaboration plans.
Both universities have agreed to develop initiatives with special focus on identified niche areas and sharing of resources towards the advancement of each other’s research cultures; jointly organise and host public lectures, seminars, policy dialogue, symposia, and conferences; collaborate in joint research and development initiatives, with particular focus on the biosciences, plant and animal health, natural resources, and engineering; participate in joint projects including the development of joint research and publications, exchange of academic materials as well as the sharing of technical expertise and resources; provide opportunities for exchange of post-doctoral fellowship at either university; and cooperate in supervision, tuition, and assessment of postgraduate students.
The way forward, said FitzGerald, is to strategically pick the right partnerships in the right fields, with the right people. He said universities should have the requisite commitment to design effective partnerships to take forward a whole series of complexities and yield effective results in how they respond to what is occurring in the country.
He added that Wits’s commitment to Unisa in lab-based research is a sustained one. “…We are happy to join you since you are a new player, who brings new investments, who is possibly going to have equipment that we don’t have or more recent versions of the equipment. You are going to have a cadre of academics, you are going to have postdoctoral and postgraduate students, who can relate to us, and with all the technologies at our disposal in terms of ICT, I think there is every opportunity, and that this is something that Wits needs to do.”
FitzGerald said Wits is known asa research-intensive university, and therefore they are focused on going forward and contributing not only to science and lab-based research, but to society. “We need the hard research, we need the research outputs, but we also need the socialisation and commercialisation of intellectual capital based on good science. This is one of the things that South African universities have generally under-achieved in. We need to be more resolute in order to achieve according to our potential. We probably need a lot more partnerships of this kind. It’s difficult for a single university to drive it forward without affirming partnerships, and networks of innovation. It is sometimes those relationships with colleagues from other universities that drive and spark innovative thinking … The document (MoU) must be taken forward in the real world,” he said.
Executive Dean of Unisa’s College of Graduate Studies, Professor Greg Cuthbertson, also addressed the importance of partnerships, but spoke on the policy changes relating to sustainable development, higher education and research, as well.
“…What has interested me quite a lot is the CHE (Council on Higher Education) document on new formats for doctoral research … and I think this project has a lot to do with those configurations which break out of universities being the custodians of advanced degrees on their own. And Unisa has not explored these things enough, and I congratulate this college (CAES) for being the leaders in establishing this kind of contact.”
Cuthbertson was impressed with the MoU, and said one of the aspects that stood out was the conscious focus on postdoctoral exchange. “It’s a thing that we all struggle with as universities and to have a reciprocal relationship where Wits postdoctoral students come to work at Unisa for career advancement, and vice-versa, is a fantastic arrangement, because I know how universities do struggle to find places, and in a competitive environment, give people career options, which I think are immeasurable in terms of promoting research. So the postdoctoral exchange concept in your memorandum is a very fertile region for research in the future.”
Professor Maggie Linington, Executive Dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES), said given Unisa’s geographical reach across Africa, the university’s success in enhancing innovative research and postgraduate studies had the potential to influence the future of research in South Africa and on the continent.
She said that, amongst other things, the science laboratories currently being built at Unisa’s Florida Campus demonstrate Unisa’s commitment to becoming a research-intensive university, a university dedicated to enhancing research and innovation and the production of postgraduates.
Linington said Unisa’s Research and Innovation Portfolio supports research partnerships and collaborations across disciplines and universities. “…We recognise that through collaborations we can create critical maths and science research, and research on focus areas critical to the country, and produce a new generation of scientists for the nation … The university sees a competitive advantage in research through the collaborative approach that attracts top researchers. Therefore both Wits and Unisa will benefit hugely from this collaboration.”
Linington added: “We believe that there is expertise across the science sector and if you want to actually benefit from the expertise in South Africa, collaborations and partnerships are pivotal to it … We need to collaborate across disciplines if we want to fix problems. We need multi-disciplinary research, and we need multi-disciplinary teams, and we can only be strengthened from each other’s expertise.”
Dr Monde Ntwasa from the School of Molecular and Cell Biology at Wits presented a brief context of the MoU. Click here to view his presentation.
Unisa Vice-Principal Academic: Teaching and Learning, Professor Rita Maré, said both institutions would benefit from the sharing of expertise and resources in the interest of science. “The collaboration with the Wits is an important milestone for Unisa. Working closely with a neighbouring university with a strong research culture will have mutual benefits for postgraduate students, researchers and for the creation of new knowledge. The possibility of developing a joint qualification is another exciting possibility to share resources.”
Professor Fhatuwani Mudau from Unisa’s Department of Agriculture and Animal Health said the challenge moving forward would be ensuring that the MoU was more than just a piece of paper. Words needed to be put into action, he said, if both universities were to ensure the collaboration bore fruit.
Staff from the University of Witwatersrand and Unisa listen to a presentation by Dr Monde Ntwasa (School of Molecular and Cell Biology: University of Witwatersrand)
* Written by Rivonia Naidu-Hoffmeester
