Group rapporteur Ms Jeanette Botha of Unisa reported that discussions in the second working group highlighted differences over interpretation of the term knowledge transfer. In many contexts this could be taken to mean knowledge transfer within a community for a community - community engagement at a grass roots level. However, knowledge transfer could also imply collaboration between higher education institutions; the sharing of best practice and content.

Chinese delegates were keen to stress the importance of non-formal education in their country, particularly the transfer of skills and knowledge to groups which may otherwise be excluded including women, the disabled and farmers. Participants noted the issue of social responsibility frequently extends beyond the need to produce graduates to a requirement for greater engagement with the community.

To date, knowledge transfer between institutions and contexts has not always been successful because of perceptions of ownership of knowledge or allegations of political motives. Discussants also noted that although most institutions have a sense of global social responsibility, they are constrained by financial or political restraints to concentrate on their local context.

It was ventured that ICDE could in the future fulfil the role of clearing house, bringing together institutions which could benefit from a conversation between leaders, faculty and administrators. ICDE could also create a database of best practices, resources and needs to enable institutions to seek and provide assistance.

It was noted that there is room for more sharing of expertise in the implementation of open educational resources (OER). A significant barrier to the transfer of entire programmes between institutions is, however, the creation of satisfactory models allowing for credit transfer, particularly given the challenges of language, qualification frameworks, and quality.

The working group concluded that there are significant financial incentives for two or more institutions to work together on specific challenges, thereby reducing costs, and increasing opportunities for external funding.

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