Programme Director, Ms Penny Ntuli
Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation, Honourable Mr Gert Oosthuizen
Director General of SRSA, Mr Alec Moemi
Mr Thabo Mahlangu (CATHSSETA) board member representing board chairman)
CEO of CATHSSETA, Mr Mike Tsotetsi
Media organisations present here
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
We are gathered here this morning to officially launch the sports Sport Research Programme. The programme has three key pillars, namely 1. Applied Research programme (focusing on knowledge generation and to be implemented in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology and its agencies including the National Research Foundation in lieu of long term policy development), 2. Action Research programme (focusing on researching contemporary matters affecting sport in lieu of providing solutions and evaluating the current policies and programmes of sport), 3. Post-Graduate Development Programme (PDP). The PDP is a partnership between Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) and the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA), which will allow for a significant amount of post graduate research to be conducted towards addressing the information and research gaps identified in the Sport, Recreation and Fitness sector in the Republic of South Africa.
We will focus on the areas of research in order to support a few students who will present their preliminary research findings and on progress of their studies at the 2012 South African Sport & Recreation Conference (SASRECON) which will be identified based on their research topics, to receive bursaries for the remainder of their studies. The full amount of the bursary scheme is R9, 174 million over three years, and will be offered to a total of thirty (30) post graduate students per annum over a period of three years as from 2014 onwards.
The government of the Republic of South Africa released its Medium Term Strategic (MTSF) Framework in 2009. The MTSF is a Framework to Guide Government’s Yearly Programme of Actions (POA) from 2009/14.
In the successive years since 2009, our government has re-affirmed its five national priority areas which include education, health, employment creation, rural development as well as crime and corruption.
The POA noted education and job creation as major challenges that South Africa needs to tackle as a matter of urgency, together, with other national priorities as indicated above. At the same time the POA acknowledges that “lack of education and unemployment are the main causes of high level of inequalities and poverty in South Africa”.
Cabinet made a clarion call to all state departments to align their plans and programmes to accommodate the five national priorities in their delivery projects to eradicate poverty, inequality and unemployment. This means in essence, building a social pact between all sectors of society i.e. business, labour, government and civil society in the struggle for a better life for all South Africans.
During the implementation of these programmes by government, it was noted that progress has been made since 2009, but there are concerns that “resources devoted to research and development (R&D) for advancing transformation and service delivery are not sufficient at present. R&D as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has stagnated for several years.
Hence, the National Sport and Recreation Indaba (NSRI) held on 21 – 22 November 2012 adopted a National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP) with a strategic emphasis on the strategic importance of education and training in the delivery of sport and recreation in South Africa. This emphasis is “to empower the human resources base through the provision of accredited education and training”.
The NSRP is aiming at addressing this anomaly of skills shortages, inadequately qualified individuals, and unemployed graduates in the sport and recreation sector. The Post-graduate Development Programme will assist our sport system to close existing gaps in information and research which can in turn empower our system to address skills development and contribute towards employment creation.
It is against this background that Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) together with the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA) will open a window of opportunity to provide for post-graduates to study towards their Masters and PhD’s studies in 2013. This offer to these potential students will include a bursary for a total of 30 post graduate students, comprising of 10 PhD and 20 Masters Studies per annum for a period of three years.
The choice of this level of study is influence by the fact that a situational analysis was conducted by SRSA in September 2012 to ascertain the number of registered Masters and Doctoral candidates currently at our universities that offer sport as a learning area in 12 out of 17 Universities. The findings are that there are only 267 post-graduate students in sports related studies at these 12 Universities.
We will therefore notify credible higher education institutions in South Africa that offer sport, recreation and fitness as a field of study, to identify prospective students to receive this bursary. The potential participant and institution of higher learning involved in this programme should satisfy particular criteria as drafted by a joint Steering Committee from SRSA and CATHSSETA.
The following are examples of topics that will be considered by the Steering Committee to benefit from the Post-graduate Development Programme:
- The impact of sport on social cohesion.
- The impact of sport on the improvement of the overall academic performance of learners.
- The correlation between winning athletes and a sustainable school sport programme.
- The position and role of women in sport and recreation.
- The relationship between the provision of resources and the high performance achievements of athletes with a disability.
- The impact of the programmes of Sport and Recreation South Africa in addressing Government priorities.
- The economic impact of Sports Tourism on the South African economy.
- The contribution of sport to the Gross Domestic Product of SA.
It is therefore our belief that this programme as outlined above will assist SRSA and the government of South Africa to fulfill their mandate which is embedded in the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2009/14 and in the Programme of Action (POA) of 2012 especially in confronting the challenges of education, skills shortages, Research and Development (R&D) as well as the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
This will further enable all of us to bridge the gaps between information and research as is evident in sport and recreation and provide us with necessary ammunition to deal with skills development and employment creation needs; with requisite skills to monitor and evaluate progress in this regard.
Thank you.
