Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST)

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Browsing Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) by browse.metadata.advisor "Prozesky, Heidi Eileen"

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    The profile and innovation outcomes of South African doctoral graduates in STEM, 2000–2018: A mixed methods study
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Albertyn, Charl Hofmeyr; Prozesky, Heidi Eileen; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Center for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In South African policy discourse, doctoral graduates are viewed as important producers of the innovation that would form the foundation of South Africa’s innovation-driven economic development, and the use of public funds to incentivise the production of doctoral graduates is extensive. Nevertheless, little is known about the innovation produced by these doctoral graduates, and evidence on the factors that facilitate and impede their innovation is lacking. A review of the global literature showed that even internationally, relatively little evidence has been produced in this regard. This study addresses these gaps, and is the first to describe, on a national scale, South African doctoral graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects (abbreviated with the acronym “STEM”), their innovation, and the factors that facilitate their innovation. A mixed methods study was conducted of doctoral graduates who received their doctorates in STEM subjects at a South African university in the period 2000–2018. The study involved the analysis of a subset of 2 225 responses collected through a national survey, whereafter semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 purposively selected survey respondents. In this study, roughly a third of all the doctoral graduates in STEM reported significant innovation, and it identified a range of systemic factors that facilitated this innovation. Products of the doctorate that are relevant to the business sector, such as patents, were found to be most facilitative of the significant innovation that graduates produced. However, most solutions produced from the doctorate were oriented towards academic use, and too underdeveloped for direct use by the business sector. Proximity and collaborative networks between the producers and business-sector users of new solutions were also found to be important facilitators of uptake and further development of these solutions. In terms of demographics, male doctoral graduates were found to be more likely than their female counterparts to produce significant innovation, which is associated by many interviewed graduates with the burden of childcare. Doctoral graduates who were older than the median age at graduation were more likely to produce significant innovation. This, as per interviewed graduates, is linked to their greater degree of work experience and knowledge of users’ requirements for innovative solutions. As for factors pertaining to the South African national system of innovation (NSI) as a whole, existing expertise and regulatory factors in certain industries were associated with significant innovation, as elucidated in the interviews. The study provides an evidence-based framework, namely the “STEM Bedrock framework”, whereby the factors that facilitate the innovation of South African doctoral graduates in STEM subjects can be understood. Lastly, this study makes several recommendations to funders, policymakers, stakeholders in higher education and research practitioners in this field.