University-industry-government research and development collaborations in public higher education institutions in South Africa

Abstract

This paper explores the university, industry and government (UIG) research and development (R&D) collaborations that academia in South African higher education institutions (HEIs) with clothing-related programmes engage in. In the research on which the paper is based, Fashion, Consumer Science, Textiles and Clothing Management academia were purposively sampled to gather data regarding the UIG R&D collaborations. Data collection was conducted through an online questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze data and present results in figures and graphs. Findings show that majority surveyed academia had never been involved in UIG R&D collaborations with any government levels, the clothing, textiles, leather and footwear (CTLF) industry or other clothing related organizations. The paper concludes that the ability of surveyed academia to produce ‘relevant’ new knowledge may be limited due to under developed UIG R&D collaborations. The likelihood of the surveyed clothing-related programmes producing graduates with ‘relevant skills’ for a changing world may also be negatively impacted.

Keywords:

• HEIs
• clothing-related programmes
• triple helix
• clothing industry
• SDGs 2030
• AU Agenda 2063

Acknowledgments

This paper arises out an Honours study of Sihlobo Sinqobile at the University of Pretoria. The shorter version of this paper was presented at the 2019 Triple Helix Conference hosted in South Africa. This work is based on the research supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa [Grant Number: 107395], Pretoria University and Tshwane University of Technology.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement: [Grant Number 107395].