University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP)

1. Background 

The UCDP grants management unit (“the Unit”) is responsible for managing and administering of UCDP (“University Capacity Development Programme”) grants as well as managing the implementation of the Staffing South Africa’s Universities Framework. The University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP) was introduced at the beginning of the 2018 academic year as an instrument to assist in addressing these imperatives and to add to the gains that had already resulted from other national programmes such as the Teaching Development Grant, the Research Development Grant, the Foundation Provisioning Grant, and the range of initiatives that universities implement. The SSAUF takes as its starting point the urgent imperative to recruit, support and retain black academic staff to address their very serious under-representation at all levels in the

sector. It also recognizes the need for more explicit attention to be paid to creating much

wider awareness of academic work as a career that is both attractive and attainable for those with ability, and sets out ways through which staff can be effectively recruited, developed and inducted into an academic career. This should lead to greater retention of academics in the system, and to promotion opportunities for well developed, capable staff. Specifically, the SSAUF intends to:

• Identify and nurture academic talent early in the academic development trajectory, at senior undergraduate level or early post-graduate level; and
• Support newly recruited academics to acquire doctoral degrees (or Master’s Degrees in selected fields); develop teaching expertise; develop research skills, including scientific publication skills; provide development opportunities for academic staff at all levels; and enable the recruitment of supplementary staff to enhance and strengthen teaching and research at universities.

The SSAUF intends to make possible a rapid increase in the number of people likely to enter the academic profession, and is designed also to have a significant systemic effect through its emphasis on multi-faceted, phased development.

The Unit currently houses a total of 7 grants, viz:

1. UCDG – University Capacity Development Grant;

is given to South African universities to implement the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP). The UCDG represents an integrated approach to teaching and research development. It is a combined grant resulting from the integration of the former Teaching Development Grant (TDG) and the Research Development Grant (RDG). In particular, the UCDG consists of four separate, but interrelated sub-programmes:  student development, staff development, cross-cutting and programme development.

    ii. ECP – Foundation Provision Grant/Extended Curriculum Programme;

The main purpose of foundation provision is to improve the academic performance of those first-time entering undergraduate students, who already comply with the minimum requirements to enrol for a particular university qualification, and who have already enrolled for that qualification, but who are at risk of failing or dropping out. Such students are placed on formal Departmental approved extended curriculum programmes, which are in most cases one year longer than the regular qualification.

Earmarked foundation provision funds complement the teaching output sub-block grant in which graduates are funded. Any improvement in the student success rate of a university that will eventually result in more students graduating because of students being placed on extended/foundation programmes funded by earmarked foundation funds is to the benefit of a university, as additional graduates are funded within the teaching output sub-block grant.

     iii. nGAP – New Generation of Academics Programme;

The nGAP involves the recruitment of highly capable scholars as new academics, against carefully designed and balanced equity considerations and in light of the disciplinary areas of greatest need. It is envisaged to be the biggest programme within the SSAUF. The most important features of the programme are that scholars are appointed into permanent posts firmly factored into long-term staffing plans right from the outset, and appointments are governed by contracts which clearly spell out the expectations, obligations, roles and responsibilities of the employing university and of the scholar/newly appointed academic.

It is intended that the scheme will be recurrent, and successive cohorts of nGAP scholars will be taken on at intervals that are determined by fund availability.

Given the scale of the need for new academics each year, described in section 3 of this document, the nGAP aspires to allocate 400 posts across the sector, per annum (approximately 25% of the number of new academics needed per year). Therefore, if 400 scholars are taken in for 6 consecutive years, after 6 years the scheme will have reached its intended scale with a maximum of 2 400 scholars spread across the 6 years of the nGAP.

This means that, on average, each university could be nominally allocated 15 nGAP posts per year. Differences in size, and staffing plans in any given year, will of course play essential roles in determining the number of posts an institution is able and willing to absorb, and thus the allocation of posts.

However, the number of posts that will be made available, and the intervals between successive cohorts, will be determined by the ability of the DHET to source funding for successive cohorts. One hundred (100) posts are deemed to be the minimum to initiate a cohort in the programme.

The nGAP covers a six-year period for each cohort taken onto the programme, covering a 3-year development programme plus 3 years induction thereafter.

The nGAP will be structured as follows:

• a development programme of 3 years duration (with the possibility of the programme being tailored to meet the needs of individuals);
• three years induction after successful completion of the Development Programme; and
• continuing permanent employment at the appointing institution thereafter.

     iv. NESP – Nurturing of Emerging Scholars Programme;

Emerging scholars are students in their final year of undergraduate study, or are Honours or Master’s students or graduates, whose academic performance is strong. The NESP recognises the potential of this group of students or graduates and seeks to actively direct some of that potential towards a career in academia, through making structured, attractive prospects and opportunities visible and available to them.

       v. UCDP NCP UPSET – University Capacity Development Programme, National Collaborative Projects, Unfurling Post School Education and Training;

Articulation is one of the means by which access into Universities of Technology can occur. Typically, applications exercising this avenue of access are drawn from TVET colleges. Historically this type of access has been on the decline nationally. In order to mitigate this decline, the UPSET project intends to develop articulation implementation plans in 9 articulation hubs located in selected universities across the 9 provinces in which articulation initiatives with TVET college partners is deliberately planned, carefully executed, and monitored to sustain these articulation plans beyond the life span of the project.

      vi. USDP – University Staff Development Programme;

The University Staff Doctoral Programme (USDP) forms part of the Existing Staff Capacity Enhancement Programme (ESCEP), one of the core programmes within SSAUF. The main purpose of the USDP is to support academics and professional staff at South African universities to undertake and complete doctoral studies within a period of four years or less. The cost for a University Staff Doctoral Candidate (USDP) is R166,667 per annum for a period of three (3) years. Therefore, each of the three funded staff doctoral candidates will be supported over a three-year period to a total value of R500 000. Funding for USDP support includes the following: Registration and tuition fees; Research costs; Travel and accommodation costs (for data collection, etc.); and Conference attendance (a paper or poster must be presented for the candidate to attend).

vii. UCDP AANCP – Academic Advising National Collaborative Project with the University of the Free State,

The definition16 and adoption of academic advising has shown to have a positive impact on student success and a national academic advising initiative aligns well with the student success focus area of the UCDP.

An academic advising collaborative project was initiated and supported during the first three-year cycle of the UCDP. Seven universities participated in the project. The academic advising collaborative project had the following goals/deliverables:

• Expansion of dedicated institutional Academic Advising capacity;
• Baseline investigation of institutional Academic Advising practices;
• Training and Development of advisors (professional and peers);
• Enabling collaboration between Academic Advisors and Institutional Researchers;
• Pilot and share of Academic Advising practices;
• Reporting on monitoring and evaluation of practices; and
• National sharing through an Academic Advising Seminar.

The close-off of the first three-year cycle of the collaborative project grant will be marked by the launch of a National Academic Advising Association (ELETSA – advise in Sesotho). During the second cycle of the UCDP. The academic advising work will be further strengthened by expanding the network from 7 to 1417 universities. The project will develop a greater focus on integrating academic and career advising and on developing greater career advising expertise.

Whilst 14 institutions will be able to participate as direct partners in the project, all universities could consider how to use the second cycle of the UCDP to develop their own academic advising capacity, for example by sending staff for training through the Academic Advising Professional Development (AAPD) short learning programme.

Universities could thus include a project in their Institutional Grant Sub-Programme project plan that enables participation in national academic advising capacity development initiatives. Guidelines on how to budget for this component will be provided to universities.

Unit staff/contact persons:

1. Mzuvele Yeni – UCDP Project Manager
2. Kyle Fitzgerald – UCDP Project Administrator
3. Mthobeli Myeza – UCDP Project Administrator
4. Nkosingiphile Mtshali – UCDP Project Administrator
5. Fuzile Mfeka – UCDP Project Administrator