South African National Survey of Research and Experimental Development: key sector results and trends: higher education sector R&D at a glance. Fact sheet 30

Key Points

R&D in South Africa's higher education sector reached R13.2 billion in 2018/19, with a major focus on natural sciences and technology.
Almost one-third of national R&D spending occurs within higher education, supporting both local and international researchers.
The analysis indicates a significant trend of nearly a quarter of researchers being postgraduate students from outside South Africa, reflecting a diverse academic environment.
Strengthening the capacity of South Africa's research community may have long-lasting impacts on innovation and development.

Abstract

South Africa's higher education (HE) sector plays a pivotal role in the national system of innovation- both as a performer of research (whether basic, applied, or experimental development), but also as a capacity builder of researchers from South Africa and abroad. This fact sheet shows that in 2018/19, one-third of South Africa's annual R&D spending, about R13.2 billion, took place within HE sector, with the majority of this spending oriented towards the natural sciences, technology, and engineering. A key trend is that almost a quarter of researchers are not South African, although most of these are postgraduate students.

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