The US-SA Higher Education Network (USSA HEN) is a coalition of universities, foundations and government agencies dedicated to strengthening ties among higher education institutions. Inyathelo’s partnership with US-SA HEN incorporates several levels of engagement.  Inyathelo is a programme lead on university Advancement and third stream income, universities as anchor institutions, and university research office capacity development.

The outcomes set for Inyathelo in the US-SA HEN partnership agreement have been to facilitate the development of two concept papers, one on third stream income and the other on anchor universities in South Africa. The paper on anchor institutions was released in July 2022 by author  Dr Samuel Fongwa, senior research specialist in the Inclusive Economic Development Division of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). The title of Dr Fongwa’s paper is  Universities as anchor institutions: What implications for South African universities?”

The third stream income paper will focus on the evolution of thinking on third stream income following the publication of the research report produced by the Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL)  at Rhodes University in 2009. Inyathelo plans to follow up on the recommendations in the Vice Chancellors’ conference report which discussed the CHERTL research, and identify the shifts in the environment since 2009.