An upcoming International Public Policy Congress in South Africa will seek to engage academic delegates from South Africa and Australia alongside government and industry representatives in developing research proposals on issues related to national productivity.
The Congress is the second of its type held by public-policy think tank the Eidos Institute in Cape Town, South Africa, reflecting growing links between the Australian and South African Higher Education systems.
The South African National Development Plan (Vision 2030) places the creation of an expanding higher education sector that is able to “contribute to rising incomes, higher productivity and a shift to a more knowledge intensive economy” as central to the nations developmental aims.
Eidos Institute CEO Bruce Muirhead stated that the International Congress reflects the aim of the Eidos Institute and its university members to act as a bridge for policymakers, academics and industry representatives to access and better interpret knowledge existing in public policy research across the globe.
“In both South Africa and Australia, the complexity of public policy issues has significantly grown,” he said.
“Approaching these issues from a cross-national perspective, where open dialogue is facilitated between leading academics, policy-makers and government officials from both countries is an important step in finding answers to some of our shared problems”.
Workforce participation and productivity, on both sides of the Indian Ocean represents a key umbrella area for government and industry alike.
In South Africa, a mismatch in the supply and demand of skills in the labor market is causing a barrier to the nations social and economic development. In Australia, workforce participation is improving but productivity has been described as ‘stagnant’.
The South African University sector has most recently been in the news following a stampede which broke out at amongst gathered students waiting to enroll at The University of Johannesburg, which killed the mother of a prospective female student and left dozens more injured.
The South African government has pledged to expand access to universities and colleges as part of a drive to counter youth unemployment and address skills shortages in Africa’s largest economy as its system struggles to extend education opportunities once reserved solely for whites.
Working Group areas for discussion at the 2012 Eidos Institute Public Policy Congress include ICT and digital inclusion, learning futures, systems to address community violence and national heath.
The Congress will run over the course of two days, beginning the evening of the 8th of February and finishing February 10th.
As an Eidos Institute member university South African University the University of Pretoria leads a consortium of South African Universities involved in the Congress, including the University of the Western Cape and Durban University of Technology.
Leading academics will join a number of Australian university delegates at the Congress, which will also feature keynote addresses from University of Pretoria Vice Chancellor Professor Cheryl de la Rey, Eidos Institute CEO Bruce Muirhead and Australian High Commissioner to South Africa Ms Ann Harrap.
The increasing relevance and role of think tanks as umbrella institutions under which experts and leaders from different backgrounds and disciplines can develop and discuss policy related ideas, values and strategies is emerging as an innovative new feature on the global higher education landscape.
As a think tank free of ideology and government influence the Eidos Institute is one of a number of progressive Australian think tanks increasingly translating academic scholarship and applying it to push boundaries and test new solutions to public policy issues.
For more information on the International Public Policy Congress or the work of the Eidos Institute, please visit www.eidos.org.au
Eidos is seeking sponsorship to host this event - anyone requiring further details please contact Lynn Hammer at lynn@eidos.org.au or 07 3009 7900.
Samantha Dean
