COVID-19 and the academe in South Africa: Not business as usual

Abstract

The famous R.E.M. song laments 'It's the end of the world as we know it, I had some time alone, I feel fine…'. Many South Africans would agree that COVID-19 signals the end of the world (or business) as we know it, and through the lockdown we have certainly had some time alone. But contrary to the lyrics, all may not be fine, especially for South Africa's scientific community.

Reflections on the public university sector and the covid-19 pandemic in South Africa

“…Some universities made devices and data available to students (Hedding et al 2020;USAf 2020b). At the national level, NSFAS undertook to provide funded contact students with learning devices in the form of laptops.…”

“…Most of the reporting on the impact of covid-19 on universities has focused on the teaching and learning function (Phakeng, Habib, and Kupe 2020;Walwyn 2020). Where reporting has considered the impact on research, the focus has either been on the future funding of research or on those research activities that cannot transition to online or virtual modes (Hedding et al 2020;Servick et al 2020).…”

“…Researchers have faced particular challenges during lockdown in cases where they have been relying on or were planning to do laboratory work, conduct clinical trials or undertake fieldwork. In such cases, research had to be delayed or redesigned, where possible (Hedding et al 2020). Delays have caused additional complications as funded research projects are unable to spend their budgets on certain activities such as fieldwork, and highly bureaucratic national research funding agencies remain inflexible in terms of budget spend and future allocations.…”

“…Delays have caused additional complications as funded research projects are unable to spend their budgets on certain activities such as fieldwork, and highly bureaucratic national research funding agencies remain inflexible in terms of budget spend and future allocations. This has led some to argue for more considerate and responsive funding provisions by the country's research funders (Hedding et al 2020).…”

“…For many others at South African universities, much has changed, and, at the time of writing, uncertainty prevails as to the duration and the extent of that change. Not that this has discouraged some from auguring that the university will be changed forever following the pandemic (Benhayoun 2020;Hedding et al 2020;Phakeng, Habib, and Kupe 2020;Witze 2020).…”