raymond haines
4.1 Introduction
T
he expansion and development of cused of being responsible for many woes
the petrochemical industry in the of the world, while the 1990s saw a major
post-World War II era was no doubt rationalisation of the chemical and pharma-
responsible at that stage for chemistry glo- ceutical industries. However, the number of
bally attracting some of the largest classes students in chemical areas graduating from
at universities. Chemistry graduates had no technikons
1
remained static over the five-
difficulty in obtaining employment, often year period mentioned above, with a slight
being able to pursue research at larger lo- increase since then.
cal chemical companies. Although South
Africa did not have multinational chemi- The early 2000s witnessed major changes
cal companies like countries in Western in the tertiary education landscape in
Europe or the United States, chemistry in South Africa as a consequence of the gov-
this country was nonetheless considered ernment’s decision to rationalise most of
a subject worth pursuing and one where the universities and technikons (see Chap-
employment was almost guaranteed. From ter 1). Notwithstanding these merger proc-
the mid-1980s, however, in spite of the con- esses, which have undoubtedly led to some
siderable increase in the total number of rationalisation as far as departments (or
students attending tertiary institutions in schools as they are commonly now known)
South Africa, chemistry student numbers of chemistry are concerned, the country
remained more or less static, and compared still has 20 tertiary institutions with chem-
with commercial and financial subjects, istry departments, with some schools/de-
there was a relative decline in the popularity partments being located on more than one
of the subject. Furthermore, over the period campus.
from 1997-1998 to about 2002-2003 there
was an almost 50% decrease in student An important source of employment sev-
numbers, although the current numbers eral decades ago for those who wished to
appear to have returned to those of 1997- pursue careers in chemistry research was
1998. Some of the reasons for this decline the National Chemical Research Labora-
were global, with chemistry often being ac- tory (NCRL) at the Council for Scientific and
1
Technikons were higher education institutions in South Africa that focused on technological training. They are now called universities of
technology.
105
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