Education challenges in South Africa: Insights from Servaas van der Berg and other experts

Join us for an enlightening discussion on the critical state of education in South Africa with Prof Servaas van der Berg, a leading development economist who has spent his career fighting poverty and inequality. He is joined by Mary Metcalfe, Nic Spaull, Carol Nuga and Nompumelelo Mohohlwane.
Van der Berg brings his many years of experience and wisdom to the table, and his passion for making a difference shines brighter than ever. He has been influential both as an academic and as a public intellectual. His legacy includes a unique brand of honest analysis and evidence-based solution finding in tackling socioeconomic challenges.
Key Points:
• The importance of education for future success
• Challenges within the South African education system
• The impact of these challenges on people for life
• Consequences for national development
SARChI Chair
Until recently, Prof van der Berg held a SARChI Chair in the Economics of Social Policy for 15 years. (The acronym stands for the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the country’s Department of Science and Innovation via the National Research Foundation).
RESEP
The influential research group, RESEP (Research on Socioeconomic Policy), evolved around his Chair.
Why education?
To fully appreciate the significance of Van der Berg’s contribution over the years, it is important to grasp that he has focused on education for most of his career, but as an economist, not an educator.
He chose to target education not only because it is an area in great need of improvement in South Africa but also because he considers it key to unlocking socioeconomic advancement for the population.
Quantitative analysis
The strength that Van der Berg and his economics colleagues bring to the education table is the ability to work with data. They use analytical methods well established in the economic sciences - especially quantitative methods such as the statistical analysis of large data sets - to cast light on the challenges associated with policymaking in education.
Capacity building
In addition to his extensive body of work, Servaas has given the country an enormous gift of young researchers that he has brought into the work of RESEP. He has supervised many to the PhD level, who are now supervising others.
This capacity building is an immeasurable asset for the country, creating a community of excellent researchers learning from each other and contributing to the educational community.
Tags: Education, South Africa, Stellenbosch University, Prof Servaas van der Berg, SARChI Chair, Social Policy, Educational Challenges, National Development, Expert Panel, Development Economics, RESEP, Data Analysis, Policy Impact, Capacity Building
Links:
• Stellenbosch University
• SARChI Chair in the Economics of Social Policy
• Research on Socioeconomic Policy (RESEP)
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