[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Impressive Univ of Joburg research poaching

[Patrick Bond]

www.mg.co.za

UJ's brain-gain battle with Wits
MONAKO DIBETLE - Jan 19 2009 06:00

Wits University's illustrious education policy unit (EPU) is considering 
relocating lock, stock and barrel to the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

This week UJ's deputy vice-chancellor for research, Professor Adam 
Habib, confirmed that the EPU had approached UJ about a possible 
relocation and that UJ had made an offer that would see the whole unit 
housed there. "It's now the EPU's decision," he told the Mail & Guardian.

UJ has been manoeuvring strongly to win a coveted place among the 
country's top five universities, partly by beefing up its research 
capacity. Habib said that in the year since he joined UJ he has been 
approached by a number of individuals and units, at Wits and elsewhere, 
about joining UJ.

Wits vice-chancellor Loyiso Nongxa denied knowing of any impending EPU 
move and expressed "surprise" at the M&G query. "We are not aware of any 
official submission made by our EPU regarding a definitively different 
future," he said.

Nongxa said he endorsed Dr Shireen Motala, director of the EPU, in her 
response to the M&G that "the EPU continues to be at Wits with business 
as usual". The idea of the EPU moving is "pure speculation, mischievous 
and could jeopardise the good relations that the EPU enjoys with Wits 
and UJ," Motala said.

Mary Metcalfe, head of the school of education, where the EPU is 
located, refused to countenance the possibility of losing the unit: "The 
Wits EPU is firmly part of Wits and will continue to be. If an 
individual in the EPU chooses to resign and move to UJ we would regret 
the departure, but the Wits EPU will continue and the projects under way 
will continue."

The unit was founded in 1987 as a joint venture between Wits and the 
then National Education Coordinating Committee to research 
post-apartheid education policy. In recent years it has provided policy 
support, research and analysis to government departments and has focused 
strongly on education rights.

"If I were in Wits's position I would be concerned. The EPU is important 
… for its historical link to the democratisation of this country," said 
John Pampallis, head of the Centre for Education Policy Development. The 
unit's move would be a "loss for Wits but a great gain for UJ", he said.

The M&G understands that the extent of Wits's financing of the EPU, 
which largely relies on donor funding, is a major factor in its possible 
migration. But the unit's "financial arrangements have been under review 
within the faculty for some time now", Nongxa said.

Habib confirmed that UJ was actively enhancing its research capacity and 
said "it is good for academics to be wanted by universities because they 
have been taken for granted for too long ... There is always competition 
between universities."

UJ recently introduced a grant of R5-million for senior research 
professorship and has, in the past year, attracted top academics from 
Wits and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

Those who migrated from Wits are sociologist Sakhela Buhlungu and 
political analyst Xolela Mangcu. UKZN has lost anthropologist David 
Moore, political scientist Lawrence Hamilton and media and cultural 
studies expert Jenny Clarence Fincham.

"Wits is not aware of an exodus," Nongxa said. "Given the particular 
sets of skills that [Wits staff] represent, it would be unusual for 
there to be no movement of staff."