A Debate on the Neoliberal Policies and Fiscal Crisis in Higher Education in South Africa

Abstract

Despite the announcement made by the South African government to decommercialise the Institution of Higher Learning (IHL), the fiscal crisis in higher education remains a stumbling block in the functionality of higher education. The fiscal crisis is caused by the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) adopted at the national level, which advocate for government cutback in financing public sector. The crisis has led the IHL to adopt a market approach, which places the corporate segment in the IHL and treats education as a commodity that can be bought and sold. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the extent to which neoliberal policies contribute to the fiscal crisis in higher education. The neoliberal policies adopted at the national level challenges the conventional nature of higher education as a public good. Using extant literature, this paper argues that neoliberal policies are responsible for the funding crisis in higher education. It also argues that it is only when neoliberal policies are challenged at the national level, then, will the crisis disappear and if not, higher education will continue to be at the receiving end of these hostile policies.