People rarely get what they really want because there are trade offs on aspects of value. How do these people choose? People just make the choices that they believe will make them happiest. They accept the trade offs for the best solution.
So why is there a migration of skills from South African tertiary education institutions into commercial sector or even the export of the same to other countries? Well other than that they are not happy?
This year in particular I have been looking at tertiary education for my children, they are getting to an age that with all the competition for places we need to review what options are out there.
South Africa was my first port of call. That was a wake up call. Looking into the international standing of their degrees, given that 20 years ago they were very international and highly ranked, there have been some serious losses in some of their standings. Those whispered concerns over the past couple of years had some weight. They are now involved in an escalating pay dispute.
There are numerous ways that standing can be lost, many without actual standards being compromised. It comes down to the acceptability to the international corporations, governments and their perceptions. What is their confidence in the proffered tertiary qualifications? The loss of autonomy, their reorganisation of institutions, the reduction in research and the reputation of their disappearing staff. The school system’s social experiment has produced a confusing intake for the tertiary education.
In many post independence African Nations there has been the itch, urge to reform the tertiary education. Some justified, but without due consideration it has discounted and in several cases devalued the qualifications until they are only recognised within their own borders. In an effort to provide it all for everyone they are producing more of reduced value.
The biggest hit these institutions have taken is the retention of notable staff and even decent staff. Traditionally academic professionals are paid considerably less than their commercial counterparts. The security, lower stress and satisfaction have meant that they have traded income for satisfaction. The past few years their pay has been eroded by inflation and increases not near equal to inflation.
I was in South Africa a fortnight back and had a discussion with a friend, a past lecturer. He had been doing some part time work to keep in touch with the commercial sector and earn a few extra bucks. He has now dumped lecturing in favour of commercial sector. He could no longer make ends meet. I queried dropping his dreams of moving up the ranks of the University and the response that by the time he was a Dean he could look to living in a shanty town shack. Similar responses have been forthcoming from other lecturers that I know who are casting about for alternatives in the recession.
They have lost their satisfaction, eroded by poor remuneration and we see their Civil Service hustling for a 8% increment and the Govt refusing as they claim that the CPI (Consumer Price Index) is 7%. Working for a week there every few months has allowed me to see that the CPI needs segregation as the basket for civil servants, lower incomes, is not the same basket for others. There are some costs that have dropped bringing the CPI down with them and these are home prices and in real terms losses. With the World Cup the prices were ratcheted up and I note have not come down.
At the end of the day the dedicated and talented are most often very marketable and move to seek satisfaction and better remuneration in other countries. So South Africa is exporting it’s skills in key ministries that keep the population and next generation, on it’s feet and productive and we hear Africa’s lamentation “ we are loosing our skills”.
Education is a long term investment and commitment yet we see South Africa continues to loose it’s skills in key ministries that keep the population on it’s feet and productive. The standing of any tertiary institution is a live status, not unlike that of the tennis rankings, if it doesn’t move one way it will move the other. Rarely in stasis, there are new comers trying for a piece of the pie and those who fall find it a long climb back up.
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