1.Introduction (Lindy Hyam)
Introduction of Ms Lindy Hyam, Chief Executive IDP, and Ms Robyn Stokes, Program Director, Australia South Africa Institutional Links Program
Appreciation for the invitation
How the invitation came about: June 2000 meeting between Committee and IDP at IDP

2. Our key objectives for today (Lindy Hyam)
IDP and our Australian client organisations have been working with your higher education sector since early 1995. We would like to discuss with you how the linkages which have been established might continue to contribute to your higher education agenda

Rather than wait for the conclusion of the South Africa Links Program in 2003 we have taken the initiative two years ahead to identify options for sustainability.

We would also like to identify how IDP and our Australian client organisations can further cooperate and collaborate with SA to contribute to building SA’s education and training capacity

3. About IDP Education Australia (Lindy Hyam)
Who we are:
A lead player in the international education and development services industry since 1969.
A not-for-profit company, owned by the Australian universities and representing over 400 Australian education and training providers overseas, including our universities and TAFEs
Through a global network, we work in partnership with other governments and education institutions to develop business solutions to meet their capacity building needs. We have direct access to Australia’s education and development services, expertise and intellectual capabilities

What we provide: our five core businesses (listing development services first to de-emphasise student services for the SA context)

International infrastructure: 63 offices in 35 countries with 500 staff. This enables us to have firsthand knowledge of what is happening across the continents in education and in development

Our underlying values:
Our focus is on meeting needs of those with whom we work in partnership & all stakeholders
We are committed to empowerment and accountability, quality, a learning environment, valuing people and their equal rights, integrity and honesty, consultation and openness, intelligent risk taking.
We have a global network, but a one Company focus

Our approach is to work in partnerships for building capacity through business solutions
We work from the simplest of activities to the most complex such as from a straight technical assistance to the design of a sector-wide program.

We work in partnership with the in-country government, donor agency, delivery partners and local community organisations to achieve the desired goals.

4. Case studies & potential strategies for partnerships in development (Lindy Hyam)
Education and training:
Education and training management: Thailand
Working with a number of education training institutes in Thailand, IDP is facilitating links to Australian institutions and ensuring Australia’s most appropriate short-term training and mentoring in specific education areas including science, mathematics and technology curriculum development

Quality improvement in equity of access and in teaching and learning in core curriculum areas such as science and mathematics: Indonesia
Working with the education ministry in Indonesia, IDP has provided capacity building for improving access to education in the private and public secondary education in Indonesia. We also worked with the ministry in core curriculum areas such as SMT and assisted with implementing the changes through provincial pilot centres

Potential strategy: cooperation in priority education and training areas

Education and training integral to strengthening other development sectors:

Health improvement: Papua New Guinea
In association with the Government of PNG and Australian health agencies, IDP is working to improve delivery of health services in PNG

Governance and public sector reform: Thailand
IDP is accessing the public sector training strengths of Australia to work with the Royal Thai Government to deliver 37 short courses in public sector reform for Thai civil servants. Courses are delivered in Thailand, with an emphasis on rural development

Potential strategy: cooperation in priority areas where education is a key component of the development

Building capability in human resources: student/staff interchange: two or multiple countries:

Upgrade of teachers from Pakistan
In association with the education ministry in Pakistan, IDP arranged and managed the upgrade of Pakistani teachers through short-term training and work experience in 4 countries: Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Australia, drawing on the education and training links through IDP’s international offices

Strategic partnering: Malaysia
In partnership with the Technical and Vocational Education Division of Ministry for Education IDP has provided short-term training for Vice Principals; for curriculum development, especially science and mathematics utilising distance education; and for examination assessment and evaluation.

Student exchange in health training: Australia and Africa
Increasingly Australian and overseas students in the health services are growing their experience through international student exchange to work in rural development

University Mobility – Indian Ocean Rim
A program which provides a formal mechanism for such exchange

Potential strategy: assistance with a scheme enabling young South Africans to gain work experience in other countries and grow the experience of the South African community

Potential strategy: developing capacity to build the SA community through short and long-term international education opportunities in partnership with other scholarship and benefactor schemes

5. Our understanding of South Africa’s goals and directions in education (Robyn Stokes)
IDP has had close alignment with South Africa’s national education development agenda since early 1995 when we established our office in Johannesburg. We have followed the reform closely from:
-The initial 1994/1995 frameworks for reform of the higher education system to redress the social, economic and political challenges of the new Republic
-The National Commission on Higher Education and its Review in 1996
-The subsequent Green, Draft White Paper and White Paper and its enactment through Parliament in 1997 and subsequent revisions
-The Council on Higher Education’s report in 2000 on equity, quality and social development in the move towards a new higher education landscape; and
-The March 2001 National Plan for Higher Education and the current National Working Group and sub-groups; and
-The March 2001 consultative document on the new framework for Funding of Public Higher Education

Since 1995 we have been working in close collaboration with your Ministry, universities and technikons and their peak bodies. In 1995 on behalf of the GoA, an IDP team in which I participated, worked with all of these bodies to develop a plan for the GoA to contribute to your reconstruction and development through capacity building in the higher education sector. Through this experience, IDP:
-Established links with a very broad cross section of your higher education system
-Met some very committed and inspiring people
-Gained an overview of key issues influencing social, economic and political redress
-Through a consultative framework, designed a program for RSA and GoA higher education institutions to work together to contribute to your reconstruction and development program and establish direct, potentially sustainable, linkages

In 1996 IDP, for the GoA, worked with the team of four from your Higher Education Review who came to Australia and New Zealand under the leadership of Professor Jairam Reddy to review Australia’s higher education reform. IDP worked with the team to identify their needs, arrange their itinerary and schedule of meetings and accompany the team to the meetings. Through this experience, IDP and I personally as I moved around Australia with the team: Learnt first hand the depth of the issues influencing social, economic and political redress in SA and the challenges involved in the transformation process

In 1996 the GoA tendered the Australia South Africa Institutional Links Program on the open market according to Australian Government Procurement regulations. IDP won the tender to manage the Program and has been managing it since on behalf of the GoA and in consultation with your government through the Ministry for Education, the Committee for Technikon Principals and the South African Universities Vice Chancellors Association. Through this role, IDP has: Closely followed your education reform through our close working partnership with your Ministry, the CTP and SAUVCA and with all of the universities and technikons involved throughout the course of the Program

The potential strategies for cooperation and collaboration which Lindy Hyam has outlined relate to aspects involved in a number of your goals and directions in the transformation of the higher education system. For example:
-Producing the graduates needed for the social and economic development in SA, including academic staff development, and ensuring retention within the country and within the education sector
-Increasing equity in access to education
-Improving staff equity, including upgrade of staff skills and leadership development
-Achieving diversity in your education system to allow for all levels of education and training, and diverse modes of delivery
-Sustaining and promoting research for the future development of the country, including employment generation
-Quality assurance mechanisms

We look forward to further exploring the possibilities with you. First I would like to give you an overview of the Australia South Africa Institutional Links Program and its contribution to your development agenda. The question: "Where do we go from here?" will also contribute to the potential strategies for cooperation which we have outlined.

6. Australia South Africa Institutional Links Program & your development agenda (Robyn Stokes)
Program Overview
Funded by the GoA through its Agency for International Development (AusAID)
Managed by IDP Education Australia
Program Director: Robyn Stokes

Program objectives
-Increase capacity in higher education institutions to participate in South Africa’s reconstruction and development through linkages between South African and Australia higher education institutions
-Promotes: collaborative, mutually beneficial linkages

How it operates to achieve its objectives
-Involves capacity building:
(i) of SA institutions taking account of their terms of reference for teaching, research and community development, and
(ii) of disadvantaged groups through training

Program funding
-A$6.6 million = approx ZAR26.4 million
Over 8 years
-Three rounds of links projects: 1997, 1998, 2000
-Each links project is 2 to 3 years’ duration
-Each is funded up to A$200,000 = approx ZAR800,000
-Each contributes staff time free of charge
-Relatively small amount of funds with high return through strong will and commitment


Program categories: 30 links projects
-Community education development (11)
-Institutional development (9)
-Research and development (1)
-Economic policy; planning and administration (9)

Seed Funds (suggested by a South African):
-Seed-funding activities for the disadvantaged institutions to build
Initial links
-International experience
-Proposal writing skills
-Involved 15 disadvantaged institutions
10 technikons
5 universities

Project fields of training
-Health (7)
-Planning and Management (5)
-Staff development (5)
-Education and Training (4)
-Environment (4)
-Agriculture and Rural Development (3) Project outputs
-Training courses: government and community
-Train the trainers: educators and academic staff
-Publication: in refereed journals, at conferences
-Production of texts, teaching materials, manuals
-New teaching courses and units (including SMT)
-New centres, units and programs
-Participation in international activities

Participating institutions
-Universities and technikons as project coordinators
-Consortia include technical, education, nursing colleges, government agencies, etc
-Encourages consortia of disadvantaged working with disadvantaged
-22 South African institutions coordinate projects
-30+ additional SA institutions involved in the program

How the Program works
-Call for joint proposals for funding
-Assessment process

Sub-contract between IDP & projects
-Seminars for project coordinators

Joint South African/Australian assessment process
-Impact and relevance to priority needs
-Likelihood of achieving objectives
-Benefits to South Africa and Australia
-Cost effectiveness
-Experience and commitment
-Institutional support
-Potential sustainability after funding
-Participation of women

Implementation arrangements
-Implementation by agreed plan
-Equality in approach
-Progress reporting
-Financial management
-Program Coordinating Committee

Case studies (1): Primary health care
-Primary eye-care nursing (2-810)
-Addressed primary eye-care
-Successful training programs/manuals
-Adopted by Provincial Health Dept
-980 professional nurses trained in NW Prov
-Courses incorporated in healthcare courses
-Incorporate National + Provincial Health Dept
-Programs have official accreditation

Communicable diseases (016)
-Addressed control of communicable disease
-Successful train trainers – black nurses
-Outbreak manual – web mounted
-Model widely used elsewhere in SA
-30 modules on communicable disease control
-18/21 trainees obtained certificates
-Manual on web for all SA
-Provincial Health Dept integral to Program

Case studies (2): Agriculture extension
-Poultry production (104)
· Community level: poverty alleviation – trainees
· Training in effective poultry management
· Empowered women: small scale commercial
· Included local schools
‘The training programs were successful and have led to poor people enthusiastically taking up the small business opportunities generated by the project activities

Case studies (3): Environmental
-Environmental education (2-109)
-Consortium: 4 HDIs and 2 HAIs
· Developed & published curricula materials
· Delivery by Black SA teachers, on-site, D/E
· Professional development for staff – through participatory research
‘Influenced the minds and hearts of the next generation …5 participants have been appointed to the National Standards Generating Body for Environmental Educators’

Independent Program Review: Successful:
-Capacity building
-Training
-Assistance to SA agenda
-Disadvantaged equity environmental issues
-Establishing links
-Benefits to Australian institutions
-Management arrangements and IDP
‘ IDP Education Australia is commended for its good organisation , administration, reporting and ‘hands-on’ stewardship. Both SA and Australia project officials were very satisfied with the performance of IDP’

Independent Program Review
-90% of projects = satisfactory to excellent in their achievements
-Contributed to improvements for the general population in:
· Health
· Agriculture
· Environment
· Education and training

Program Review Outcomes: Contributions included:
-Train the trainer
-Mentoring
-Shadowing
-Politicising environmental issues
-Training disadvantaged women
-Building tertiary links
-Building community links
-Capacity building
-Some international strengthening
-Value for money
-Most had high sustainability potential
-Many successful SA/Aust links
-Success of seed funds for links - for historically disadvantaged
-SA links with government
? Sustainability of linkage
? Third country linkage

Review recommendations
-Newsletter
-Focus on 2, not 3, of:
-Establishing an institutional link
-Institutional strengthening
-Benefits to disadvantaged communities
-Fewer projects, more funding per project
-Include contribution to staff replacement
-Mechanisms for sustainability of link
-Incl government departments
-Ensure spread/use of training materials

The Future of the Progam?
Our understanding is that a possible 4^th round will not be funded by the GoA as they are changing their focus to Further and Technical Education
Hence, the importance of our discussions today to capture and sustain ongoing benefits from what we have collectively achieved to date

Where to from here?
-Building the capacity of young academic staff through institutional linkages for mentoring
-Potential strategy: cooperate to develop an approach for linkages between -South African and appropriate Australian and/or other country partner education institutions to build the capacity of young staff to contribute to teaching, research and community development through beneficial in-service partnered mentoring programs and collaborative research programs

7. IDP in the broader context & opportunities for SA participation (Lindy Hyam)
-IDP conference September 2001
-Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) October 2001

8. Return to our key objectives for today (Lindy Hyam)
We have outlined our understanding of the issues which are driving your current directions in education and would welcome the opportunity to further explore these direction with you.

We have also demonstrated how IDP and our Australian client organisations have good linkages with your higher education sector. We would like to discuss with you how these linkages might continue to contribute to your higher education agenda and how we might build sustainability into the worthwhile linkages to ensure this.

In our discussion with you now, we would also like to return to the potential areas of cooperation for the future which we have raised during our presentation and explore viable options with you.

Potential strategy : cooperate in priority education & training, for example:
Academic staff development through leadership
Mentoring in-service programs – peer institutions globally
Short-term international participatory placements

Research capacity building through
Collaborative research opportunities – agriculture, health
Development of expertise in commercialization

Technical and vocational training
Establishing an institutional training links program with industry – on and off-shore
Training links program between technical colleges, technikons and universities with clear articulation
Development of expertise in recognition of prior learning and self assessment for quality assurance

Internationalisation
Systemic development of internationalisation commencing with the creation of a knowledge base
Regional focus on internationalization for development purposes

Potential strategy: Other sector development through education, for example:

Further identify sector development opportunities through ongoing education at all levels
Agriculture technology transfer strategies in land and water management, linking in with other donor programs such as ACIAR and Cooperative Research Centres in Australia
Public sector management & governance, systems & practices & management expertise across portfolios, for example in health

Potential strategy: Scheme of work experience for young South Africans in other countries to grow the SA community, for example:
Short-term tied exchanges or assignments with specific project focus drawing upon IDP’s international network of 35 countries
Young leaders business management program

Potential strategy: Higher Education business round table
Women chiefs of enterprises
Funding options:
-South Africa government funding
-Donor agency funding
-Shared funding – government, donor agency, donor country, benefactor & trust institution, individual education institutions globally, industry & corporate