President Cyril Ramaphosa has asked universities and national science councils to work more closely with government on jobs, water, energy and new technology. He made the call on Tuesday at a meeting with university vice-chancellors and science councils at the Union Buildings in Tshwane, SAnews reported.
Ramaphosa said universities and public research bodies could do much more to support the country’s development goals. He said most of that potential was still not being used.
“No developmental state has succeeded without strong universities and strong public research institutions,” Ramaphosa said.
The President said the official unemployment rate stood at 33.7%. He said close to half of young people looking for work could not find a job.
He said more than 23 million South Africans still lived below the lower-bound poverty line. That was despite a drop in poverty rates between 2006 and 2023, he said.
Ramaphosa said South Africa spent about 0.6% of its Gross Domestic Product on research and development. He said the target was 1.5% by 2030.
“Both public and private investment in research have not kept pace with the needs of our economy,” he said.
The President called for more investment and for planned cooperation between government, research bodies, universities and other social partners. He said research should lead to practical solutions and economic opportunities.
He listed water and energy security, artificial intelligence, industrialisation and the country’s critical minerals as priority areas. He asked universities and science councils to do more research on processing those minerals inside South Africa.
On artificial intelligence, Ramaphosa said the country needed its own ability to build, govern and use data for its people. “South Africa must be a producer, not merely a consumer, of emerging technologies,” he said.
The President also spoke about skills. He said universities, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) should work as one coordinated system.
He said young people should be able to move from school to further study and then into work. He said this needed more workplace-based learning and training that matched what the economy needs.
Ramaphosa said the request did not take away the independence of universities. “Asking our universities to serve national development does not mean asking them to surrender their institutional autonomy,” he said.
He said a working partnership would also have to deal with the finances of higher education institutions and with governance instability. He said government and the institutions needed to talk more closely about policy changes.
The President said public procurement should be used better, so that the State becomes a first customer for locally developed innovations.
“By the end of this meeting, we hope to have reached concrete commitments to better structure collaboration between government, our universities and our science councils,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the meeting was the start of that work.
Source: this article is based on reporting by SAnews.gov.za. Image: GCIS via SAnews.gov.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.