The Lost, the Least and the Last: A South African Higher Education Case Study Exploring the Possibility of Defying the Barriers to Learning (original) (raw)
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Draft Paper: A Transformation Barometer for South African Higher Education
2015
Higher education has shifted, in substantive respects, from a fragmented and structurally racialized system of 36 public and more than 300 private institutions in 1994 to a relatively more integrated, ‘system-like’ formation of 26 public universities (traditional, comprehensive and universities of technology) and 95 private higher education institutions in 2015 (see Blom, 2015). Nine hundred and ninety thousand (990 000) students are enrolled in the public higher education sector, and 120 000 in private institutions in the same sector, according to the 2013 statistics (DHET, 2013). It has only recently been fully recognized by policy-makers, as expressed in the Green Paper on Post-School Education and Training of 2013, that the long-term transformational requirements of the South African post-school education and training system requires fundamental reconstitution and integrated articulation and development. This wider system is still in the process of being planned, funded and built from the existing institutions within the sector, as well as new entities, comprising both public and private educational providers. In this context, it will become important for us to think ‘university transformation’ not in terms of the internal dynamics and requirements of the university system, but crucially also in relation to its role, functions and purposes within this wider post-school education and training system and, more widely, within society and the economy. In a sense, universities have to achieve a double-transformation: internally, to better reflect the goals set by policy and South Africa’s constitutional goals, and externally, in their contribution to the wider PSET and society.
Discussion Paper: Transformation Discourses and Universities in South Africa
Our vision is of a South Africa in which all our people have access to lifelong education and training opportunities, which will in turn contribute towards improving the quality of life and building a peaceful, prosperous and democratic society'. (Department of Education, Vision Statement, 2008) 'What is it about [higher education] which keeps alive our optimism in its socially transformative power and provides the preconditions for any socially transformative project, yet which also pulls in the opposite direction -towards an ethos of individual competition and the reproduction of a hierarchy of social advantage?' (Ruth Jonathan, 2001, p.48) This paper explains some of the terminology used to describe South African universities, traces key shifts in access, and seeks to explain and identify issues around the transformation project in higher education. It constitutes a work-inprogress contribution to thinking in the research team on how we understand transformation discourses and practices in relation to policy and institutions on the one hand, and poverty reduction and pro-poor professional education on the other. Jansen et al raise the question as to what the reach and impact of changes in higher education have been on higher education practices, what changes mean to higher education practitioners, and how changes are shaped by both the national context and the global arena. How poverty reduction is framed by universities, by selected professional education sites in those universities, and how this framing is acted on, negotiated, understood by diverse actors and shapes professional education is central to the research project. Framings of transformation and human development discourses and practices in relation to professional education by universities and diverse actors are then also at issue.
Leeds African Studies Bulletin, 2019
The term 'transformation' has become a commonplace among many people in South Africa. The social and economic conditions of the so-called historically disadvantaged people work parallel to and contradict how 'transformation' is discussed and understood in some established institutions-in particular, South African higher education. Against the backdrop of colonisation, apartheid and post-apartheid neo-colonialism, frustrated by unemployment-inequality-poverty, some South African students responded and demanded for decolonial 'transformation' of South African universities in 2015/2016. In this article, based on more than two years fieldwork in Cape Town, I draw on data based on key social actor's perspectives and interviews to challenge how 'transformation' is understood in the context of higher education-in post-1994 South Africa. In so doing, drawing from existing literatures on transformation-#RhodeMustFall and #FessMustFall and participant observation, I present a discussion about refocusing discourse on 'transformation' to socioeconomic empowerment of the so-called disempowered people in South Africa. I argue that 'racial binary' is not synonymous to 'transformation', and the 'real' transformation lies in refocusing discourse on transformation to social and economic empowerment of the South African people.
Transformation Discourses and Universities in South Africa
2008
Our vision is of a South Africa in which all our people have access to lifelong education and training opportunities, which will in turn contribute towards improving the quality of life and building a peaceful, prosperous and democratic society'. (Department of Education, Vision Statement, 2008) 'What is it about [higher education] which keeps alive our optimism in its socially transformative power and provides the preconditions for any socially transformative project, yet which also pulls in the opposite direction -towards an ethos of individual competition and the reproduction of a hierarchy of social advantage?' (Ruth Jonathan, 2001, p.48) This paper explains some of the terminology used to describe South African universities, traces key shifts in access, and seeks to explain and identify issues around the transformation project in higher education. It constitutes a work-inprogress contribution to thinking in the research team on how we understand transformation discourses and practices in relation to policy and institutions on the one hand, and poverty reduction and pro-poor professional education on the other. Jansen et al raise the question as to what the reach and impact of changes in higher education have been on higher education practices, what changes mean to higher education practitioners, and how changes are shaped by both the national context and the global arena. How poverty reduction is framed by universities, by selected professional education sites in those universities, and how this framing is acted on, negotiated, understood by diverse actors and shapes professional education is central to the research project. Framings of transformation and human development discourses and practices in relation to professional education by universities and diverse actors are then also at issue.
Rethinking Transformation and Its Knowledge(s): The Case of South African Higher Education
The article argues that since the early days of the democratic transition in South Africa 'transformation' as a concept has lost its intellectual, political and moral content through becoming institutionalised. In order undo the institutionalisation of transformation, it is necessary to explore its relationship to two types of knowledge: knowledge for transformation and knowledge of transformation. The paper argues that transformation at higher education institutions needs to be seen in the interface between knowledge for and knowledge of transformation.
Transformation in Higher Education, 2016
Universities, in their multiplex roles of social, political, epistemological and capital reform, are by their constitution expected to both symbolise and enact transformation. While institutions of higher education in South Africa have been terrains of protest and reform – whether during apartheid or post-apartheid – the intense multiplex roles which these institutions assume have metaphorically come home to roost in the past 2 years. Not unlike the social-media-infused rumblings, coined as the ‘Arab Spring’, the recent cascades of #mustfall campaigns have brought to the fore the serious dearth of transformation in higher education and have raised more critical questions about conceptions of transformation, and how these translate into, or reflect, the social and political reform that continues to dangle out of the reach of the majority of South Africans. What, then, does transformation mean and imply? How does an institution reach a transformed state? How does one know when such a state is reached? These are a few of the concerns this article seeks to address. But it hopes to do so by moving beyond the thus far truncated parameters of transformation – which have largely been seeped in the oppositional politics of historical advantage and disadvantage, and which, in turn, have ensured that conceptions of transformation have remained trapped in discourses of race and racism. Instead, this article argues that the real challenge facing higher education is not so much about transformation, as it is about enacting democracy through equipping students to live and think differently in a pluralist society
The Arhythmic Pulse of Transformation in South African Higher Education
2011
This paper makes the argument that South Africa is an important site for understanding how universities are engaging with the questions of change and transformation. It argues that what it means to be human is a more intense question in South Africa than it is in most other parts of the world. It tries to show how this theoretical space is being opened up in the South African academy and uses the experience and examples of key interventions within the higher education sector such as the new Reitz Centre at the University of the Free State, and the Centre for Non-Racialism and Democracy at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. By working through the examples, the article makes the argument that these new initiatives are important for scholarly efforts elsewhere in the world on the question of human development. This is especially so in the emphasis South African universities are placing on the question of race. The article argues that the challenge facing this South African eff...
Interrogating Transformation in South African Higher Education
This paper makes the argument that South Africa is an important site for understanding how universities are engaging with the questions of change and transformation. It argues that what it means to be human is a more intense question in South Africa than it is in most other parts of the world. It tries to show how this theoretical space is being opened up in the South African academy and uses the experience and examples of key interventions within the higher education sector such as the new Reitz Centre at the University of the Free State, and the Centre for Non-Racialism and Democracy at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. By working through the examples, the article makes the argument that these new initiatives are important for scholarly efforts elsewhere in the world on the question of human development. This is especially so in the emphasis South African universities are placing on the question of race. The article argues that the challenge facing this South African effort is its relative neglect of questions of epistemology and forms of knowledge that fall outside the mainstream Western model.
The effects of higher education policy on transformation in post-apartheid South Africa
Cogent Education, 2019
Before 1994, some higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa seem not to value social inclusiveness of various groups in higher education, particularly people from disadvantaged backgrounds. As a result, access and widening participation are viewed as problematic and difficult to sustain since they involve students from poor and under-represented social backgrounds. The perception of restricting access from a social justice point of view presupposes inequalities based on the segregation policies of the apartheid era. Transformation in higher education is considered an indicator of social progress. It relates to a process of an absolute overhaul of social thinking and results in meaningful social transition. In 2002, a major policy decision was taken via the National Plan on Education as a means to approach transformation of the higher education system in South Africa. Attempts to amend the policy on higher education have not translated into material benefits for the majority of previously disadvantaged black people in South African society in terms of access, equity and participation in higher education. This research study aims to provide an overview of the conditions resulting from the policy on transformation in the context of higher education. The research concludes that improving access could be achieved by offering equal and standardised educational programmes in all universities. The research further
The State of Transformation in South Africa's Public Universities
2023
This report seeks to provide an assessment of the state of the transformation project in South African higher education. It brings to a conclusion the work of the second Ministerial Oversight Committee on Transformation in the South African Public Universities (TOC) appointed by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Honourable MP, Dr Blade Nzimande in 2017. A key recommendation of the 2008 Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions was that the Minister should consider the establishment of a standing structure to monitor transformation in South African higher education. As a consequence, he appointed the first TOC in 2012. The second TOC was appointed in 2017 and scheduled to complete its term in 2020. The essential remit of the TOC is to advise the Minister and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) on the progress of the transformation project in the higher education sector. The TOC was tasked with, inter alia, reviewing institutions’ annual reports and evaluating their transformation plans and charters. This report is produced in line with the overall mandate given to it by the Minister of reporting on the state of transformation in the country’s universities. The report is a comprehensive overview of the higher education system from a macro perspective. It offers an assessment of where the universities in the country stand in the current period in relation to key commitments they have made to transform themselves. It follows and builds on important developments and reports which have been published since the report of the 2008 Ministerial Committee. The most important of these are the study produced by the first TOC in 2013 out of which came the Equity Index; a report on the factors hindering transformation by the South African Human Rights Commission in 2016; a study in 2015 to evaluate and assess the extent of gender transformation in higher education by the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) and the Higher Education Transformation Network; a discussion paper produced by Universities South Africa (USAf) in 2015, ‘‘Reflections on Higher Education Transformation’; the report on the 2nd Higher Education Summit of 2015, a Council on Higher Education (CHE) 20-year review in 2016 of the state of health of the higher education sector and various sectoral reports developed within USAf and by the South African Students’ Congress. This report has two objectives, first, to analyse the current state of the transformation of higher education in South Africa; and, second, to advise the Minister on appropriate policies and strategies which will assist in expediting the pace of transformation in the higher education sector. It was developed through a critical review of two years of annual reports, those for 2018 and 2019, which were provided by the country’s twenty-six universities; and a study of the significant corpus of writing, commentary and public media reports on the developments that have taken place in South African higher education since the report of the 2008 Ministerial Committee. The institutions’ reports provided the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) research team with the material and data necessary to understand where institutions found themselves in relation to the goals they had set for themselves; in relation to the sector as a whole; and in relation to what was happening elsewhere in the world. These reports were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. It is important to also note here the developed state of research into South African higher education. The body of literature that is available is extensive. It provided the research team with important insights into the key issues which arose in the institutions and in the sector. Important features of the report include: 1. An analysis of institutions’ understandings of the term “transformation”; 2. A timeline and periodisation of the transformation journey institutions have walked since 1994; 3. A proposed framework for operationalising transformation indicators; 4. An assessment of the state of transformation through the use of a transformation matrix; and 5. A set of thematic recommendations. As a reading of the report will show, institutions have responded to the challenge of transformation in a range of ways – from compliance-based approaches to approaches which seek to deal holistically with the challenges of teaching and pedagogy, developing research trajectories for themselves which address the country’s major developmental challenges and building strong, collaborative relationships with stakeholders such as government, the corporate sector and civil society. Significant about the report is its innovative attempt to build an analytic framework for examining the sector. This attempt, built around what are described as the constitutive features of a higher education institution, provides a theoretically and methodologically substantiated approach to understanding and assessing change in a university. As a closeout report for the Minister and the Department it is hoped that it meets the high requirement of being useful for how institutions should take on the challenge of constantly improving themselves and how the Department and the Minister exercise their oversight responsibility. It is hoped, too, that it will assist the Council on Higher Education to which the oversight responsibility for monitoring transformation has been handed from the TOC.