Miemie Struwig, Storm Watson
Abstract
The Council of Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa identifies the core functions of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as teaching and learning, research and innovation as well as community engagement. The primary objective of this study is to develop and evaluate scenarios for re-imagining research and innovation within the digital landscape of South African public HEIs. For this study, primary data was collected through the analysis of the 2021 annual reports and official websites of the 26 public universities in South Africa. An environmental scan was conducted through content analysis of these documents to identify current trends and key uncertainties affecting the institutions’ core functions of research and innovation concerning their digital landscapes. The scenario narrative for research and innovation, related to the digital landscape at South African HEIs was that the HEIs might experience positive developments in research funding, however, they would continue to grapple with challenges in research capacity. These challenges present both opportunities and threats as HEIs needed to leverage available funding while ensuring that they had the necessary capacity to maximise their research potential.