South African National Survey of Research and Experimental Developments sector results and trends: higher education personnel engaged in R&D at a glance 202/21. Fact sheet 49

Research and development (R&D) in South Africa is dependent on the human resources that are available within the national system of innovation (NSI). The higher education sector hosts the majority of the country's R&D personnel, making it instrumental to the research performed across the NSI. This fact sheet shows how the number of R&D personnel in higher education declined in 2020/21 for the first time in ten years.