The profile of postdoctoral research fellows in South Africa: Trends over the past two decades

Abstract

The need for evidence on postdoctoral research fellows, or ‘postdocs’, has become increasingly evident globally, as many countries, including South Africa, lack information on these researchers. We used existing sources of quantitative data to provide a longitudinal profile of postdocs at South African public universities. These sources include national research-and-development surveys and data from the national Higher Education Management Information System. Our focus was on postdocs’ representation and research intensity (i.e. time spent on research) within the national research system, as well as on two key demographic features, namely nationality and gender. We draw comparisons with findings reported for other countries to situate our results within the global science system. Interpretation of our results leads us to comment on global and national developments and policies relevant to postdocs.

On violence in South African higher education: An ideological perspective

“…On violence in South African higher education: An ideological perspective moment, South Africa does not have national legislation or framework that governs the rights and responsibilities of postdocs in the country (see Hlatshwayo, 2024;Kerr, 2023;Prozesky & Van Schalkwyk, 2024). This has meant that we do not know in real terms how many postdocs are in South Africa, how many of them are South African, how many are women, the number of postdocs who are from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, or the research contribution of these scholars, amongst others.…”