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Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Blade Nzimande has launched a new initiative to rejuvenate and strengthen the social sciences and humanities in South Africa's higher education system. A team led by Professor Ari Sitas from the University of Cape Town, and assisted by Dr Sarah Mosoetsa from the University of the Witwatersrand, has been appointed to develop a charter aimed at affirming the importance of human and social forms of scholarship.

These areas have increasingly been downplayed as a result of the priority focus on natural sciences, technology and business studies. Since 1994, government has focused attention on developing ‘scarce and critical skills'. While supporting these initiatives, Minister Nzimande has become concerned with the relative neglect of the social sciences and humanities in universities and other post-school institutions.

Prof. Sitas' team will examine existing initiatives and explore innovative programmes in South Africa as well as in other developing and developed societies. As part of the initial phase of the project a South African reference group has been established to advise and assist the task team. An international reference group is in the process of being established and will include leading academics from Brazil, China, France, India, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Senegal, and the USA.

Launching the project, Minister Nzimande said the social sciences and humanities played an extremely important role in South Africa's liberation struggle in undermining apartheid pseudo-science and apartheid history, as well as helping to reclaim and build democratic traditions.

"Social and political theory have been central to creating an understanding of how our society has functioned, and the work of South African social scientists, historians and writers was of great assistance in helping our leaders and people to guide our struggle. In the last two decades, the social sciences and humanities have taken a back seat.

"Now is the time for the teaching of and research in the social sciences and the humanities to take their place again at the leading edge of our struggle for transformation and development of South African society. They must play a leading role in helping our people understand and tackle the scourges of poverty, unemployment, racism, discrimination all kinds and HIV/AIDS," Minister Nzimande said.

"At a deeper level, we also look to our social scientists, philosophers, historians, artists and others to help us to rebuild our sense of nationhood, our independence and our ability to take our place proudly in the community of nations. We should not only be consumers of theory from the developed world. We should also become more active producers of social theory and of art, helping assert our intellectual and artistic independence while continuing to engage our colleagues from both the developed countries and from the developing world, especially the former colonies," he said.

Minister Nzimande said the task team would provide guidance on a way forward to strengthening social sciences and humanities and enhance quality in this key sector of higher education in the country.

Prof. Sitas said the decline in these areas of scholarship was palpable.

"All the professional associations and stakeholders in the broader humanities have been voicing concerns through the Academy of Science of South Africa (Assaf) and through their respective associations. Higher education bodies have been raising the alarm both about the quality and quantity of our PhD endeavours, Prof. Sitas said."

He said his team has instituted processes that will provide the Department of Higher Education and Training with a charter of key interventions for the social sciences and humanities by June 2011. As part of fact-finding, workshops and interviews will held with local stakeholders (Assaf, Deans, Vice-Chancellors, Research Directors), and scholarly encounter of leading academics in the global south will be invited to share their expertise.