Knowledge generation over the decade 1995-2004 in South Africa, and its relationship to the changing nature of socio-economic landscapes, suggests an ever closer relationship between the research produced in higher education, and its social and scientific purposes. These have been identified largely by the State through its regulatory frameworks, economic, and social agendas. In this article we examine the research generation of postgraduate students of education in South African higher education institutions in the first decade after apartheid. Using the Project for Postgraduate Education Research (PPER) as an example, we explore the role of large-scale research projects in South Africa, and how such work might respond to Government priorities, as well as issues identified by society and the academy in partnership with the State. (Contains 7 endnotes and 8 tables.)