Teaching and learning interaction in South Africa’s higher education: Some weak links

Figures & data

Table 1. Total enrolment and graduation rate, South Africa

Year	Total undergraduate enrolment (UG)	Total undergraduate graduation (UG)	UG graduation rate (percent)	Total postgraduate enrolment (PG)	Total postgraduate graduation (PG)	PG graduation rate (percent)
2009	684,419	108771	15.89	128747	36083	28.23
2010	726882	113183	15.57	138610	40142	28.96
2011	766771	117559	15.33	147893	43066	29.12
2012	781710	120,396	15.40	149,026	45597	30.60
2013	800753	130050	16.24	159750	50773	31.78
2014	789110	133371	16.90	156444	52002	33.24
2015	799990	139105	17.39	163661	52419	32.02
2016	785351	147204	18.74	170666	55872	32.74
2017	832351	151546	18.21	183175	59385	32.42

Source: Center for Higher Education Trust (2016); DHET (2019).

Table 2. Student to staff ratio all universities in South Africa

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
UNISA	80	87	85	83	87	82	78
UNIZULU	31	32	36	38	38	40	36
MAN	42	46	43	44	39	40	36
UFH	24	25	27	29	30	31	32
DUT	28	27	30	31	29	28	30
TUT	36	34	35	31	30	30	30
UJ	14	18	19	20	19	19	29
WSU	31	33	30	31	29	27	28
NMMU	27	26	27	28	30	28	28
VUT	31	33	37	36	34	30	27
CUT	28	28	29	28	27	26	26
UNIVE	39	36	34	29	24	23	26
UWC	19	17	19	22	20	22	22
NWU	36	30	26	29	29	22	22
UKZN	17	17	19	20	19	19	21
UFS	17	18	18	19	21	21	20
UP	19	19	20	20	21	21	20
ULP	18	15	15	18	20	20	19
SUN	18	19	19	18	18	18	17
RHODES	16	15	16	16	11	13	14
UCT	15	15	16	15	13	13	12
UWITS	10	11	11	11	10	11	11
Average	25	26	27	27	27	26	27
National target	20	20	20	20	20	20	20

Source: Council on Higher Education and Training (Center for Higher Education Trust, 2016).

Table 3. Percentage of permanent academic staff of public universities by qualification

	2004	2006	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
PhD	29	33	34	35	36	37	39	41
Masters	32	32	33	34	35	34	34	34
Others	39	35	33	31	29	29	27	25

Source: Fisher and Scott (2011); Center for Higher Education Trust (2016).

Table 4. Impact of quality input on student success

Variables	Coefficient (t)	R	R^2	F
Constant	38.176(3.230)**	0.956	0.913	38.593
LWPHD	0.381 (7.501)**
STSFR	0.699 (3.339)**
PUEXP	0.381 (0.964)

Dependent Variable: SUCRT; Predictors: (Constant), PUEXP, LWPHD, STSFR. T statistics in (); ** means significant at the 5% level of significance.

Table 5. Impact of quality staff on research output

Variables	Coefficient (t)	R	R^2	F
Constant	−0.839(−6.801)**	0.970	0.941	207.926
LWPHD	0.056 (14.420)**

Dependent Variable: WROUT; Predictors: (Constant), LWPHD. T statistics in (); ** means significant at the 5% level of significance.

Center for Higher Education Trust. (2016). South African higher education open data. Center for Higher Education and Trust. http://chet.org.za/data/sahe-open-data

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DHET. (2019). Statistics on post-school education and training in South Africa: 2017. Department of Higher Education and Training. ISBN: 978-1-77018-8464.

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Fisher, G., & Scott, I. (2011). Closing the skills and technology gap in South Africa Background paper 3: The role of higher education in closing the skills gap in South Africa. The World Bank Human Development Group,1–56. Africa. (October). https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2879/4915e2fb0e9841917110005d963f5bc456a1.pdf?_ga=2.121838466.841110602.1584451405-1583425823.1584102331

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