Access, Equity, and Admissions in South African Higher Education

The 2015 student protests, #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall, gave rise to the call to decolonise curricula and end the dominance of Western ideologies in South African higher education (HE). The argument put forward in this paper is the need to shift from a traditional approach to a humanised pedagogical approach, wherein students frame knowledge around individual experiences to construct personal and shared understanding. Although limited scholarship around decolonising South African fashion HE exists, such scholarship does not focus on storytelling and circle learning as pedagogical strategies. To address this research gap, narrative humanism, referred to in this research as storytelling, and circle learning are put forward as pedagogical strategies to integrate student identities for personal connection in South African fashion HE. This paper aims to explore the affordances of storytelling and circle learning to decolonise South African fashion HE. Through qualitative action research, two teaching and learning interventions, termed the pilot and main studies, were designed and applied with fashion students at a South African HE institution. Data collection entailed semi-structured student questionnaires, artefacts, and a reflective research journal. To analyse the data, content analysis was employed. The findings reveal that, irrespective of cultural lived experiences or diverse backgrounds, storytelling afforded a decolonised approach in terms of inclusivity, collaboration, and a safe environment for socially engaged dialogue and peer feedback. Similarly, circle learning seemed to reduce teacher-student power relations and contrasted traditional modes of delivery. Circle learning appeared to encourage meaningful, engaged participation, affording a progressive pedagogical strategy to accommodate student and teacher voices in open dialogue. This paper contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning in that storytelling and circle learning are suitable pedagogies to decolonise fashion education in the Global South.

This study explores how microcredentials could be directed towards social justice ends in South African (SA) Higher Education (HE). The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) draft Open Learning Policy Framework (OLPF) is premised on understanding open learning as a social justice imperative, identifying digital badges and microcredentials as strategically significant in open learning. Microcredential activities in SA HE are still nascent, so academic staff from only one SA university, who were actively experimenting with digital badges and microcredentials, were able to be interviewed. Interviews with selected local and international informants involved in researching and/or working with microcredentials in HE were also conducted, to investigate other practices and approaches in this field that could advance social justice in SA HE. The social justice framework of Nancy Fraser, which theorises ‘parity of participation’ in the dimensions of economic, cultural and political injustice, provided the analytical lens with which to interrogate the qualitative data. The findings indicate that microcredentials can remedy systemic inequities for both staff and students in the university studied. More broadly, microcredentials can afford the recognition of alternative epistemologies and cultural practices, and linking microcredentials to qualifications frameworks can allow for increased mobility of workers who can access an ‘ecosystem’ of work and educational opportunities, and potentially improve their lives. However, a coherent, integrated national post-school education and training (PSET) policy environment, explicitly based on social justice principles, is urgently needed to facilitate and guide further microcredential development so that it may help remedy inequities in SA HE.

Orientation: This study outlines institutional effectiveness (IE) in higher education (HE) and interrogates its underlying elements from a student perspective. Following a review of contemporary perspectives on student educational outcomes, the study identifies and explores the importance of four pertinent indicators of IE in the context of a South African (SA) higher education institution (HEI). Research purpose: This study aimed to explore the structural validity and reliability of the Student Educational Outcomes Effectiveness Questionnaire (SEEQ), administered to students at an SA HEI, collecting data on their perceptions of IE. Motivation for the study: Institutional effectiveness is a contested concept in HE and several approaches to define it, using various sets of underpinning elements, can be found. The conceptualisation and measuring of IE within the SA HE sector is a hugely neglected area of research. This study therefore attempted to delineate and to gauge IE, utilising the perceptions and preferences of students at an SA HEI. Research design, approach and method: Data for this study were collected using a self-selection sample (N = 807) of students from four schools at the selected HEI. Reliability and exploratory factor analyses were performed to explore the internal consistency and structural validity of the above-mentioned SEEQ. Main findings: The reliability of SEEQ is deemed to be acceptable and the validity of the four theoretical constructs (or dimensions) hypothesised in respect of IE from a student perspective were supported. Practical/managerial implications: Preliminary empirical evidence suggests that SEEQ could be employed in a cautious manner by HEIs (especially in SA), with a view to gauge IE, as well as to promoting the scholarship and management of institutional performance and student success. Contribution or value-add: This article presents a multidimensional approach to the depiction and measurement of IE from a student perspective. It makes a handy initial contribution to a grossly under-researched phenomenon in the SA HE sector.

Service-learning (SL) was a relatively unknown term in South African (SA) Higher Education (HE) until the late 1990's. In response to the call of the White Paper on the Transformation of Higher Education for “feasibility studies and pilot programmes which explore the potential of community service in higher education” the Joint Education Trust1 (JET) launched the Community - Higher Education - Service Partnerships (CHESP) initiative in 1999. The major focus of this initiative was to assist SA Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to conceptualise and implement SL as a means of giving expression to the mandate given in the White Paper. This paper tracks the development of the CHESP initiative and its contribution towards embedding SL in SA HE. The paper highlights some of the key outcomes at an institutional and national level and underpins these through the results of a comprehensive external review of CHESP undertaken in 2007, eight years after the initial launch.

This state of the art review paper offers a synthesis of published studies on students with disabilities’ experience in South African higher education since 1994, when a democratically elected government came to office. The article presents a review of published studies describing the experiences of students with disabilities in South African higher education (SAHE) in the period 1994-2017. In order to obtain a perspective on the experiences of students with disabilities in South African higher education institutions, a synthesis of the findings and implications of South African studies relating to students with disabilities in SAHE is provided. Three aspects will be discussed namely: (a) conceptualisation of disability; (b) access, inclusion and participation in higher education; and (c) supporting mechanisms for students with disabilities. From this, challenges, areas needing further studies, lessons learnt, approaches and policy implications for policy-practitioners and institutions are suggested.

This case study examined how intersecting identities create multiple barriers to knowledge access for final-year students at a South African higher education institution using a blended instructional approach. Grounded in intersectionality theory and Ubuntu philosophy, the study explored how race, gender, class, language, and other identity markers interact to shape students’ educational experiences and access to knowledge. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with twelve final-year students from three disciplines: Education, Business Studies, and Social Sciences. Thematic analysis revealed five major themes: compounding identity-based exclusions; navigating linguistic and cultural barriers through Ubuntu principles; economic constraints intersecting with social identities; digital exclusion in blended learning environments; and institutional responses to intersectional challenges. The findings demonstrate that students experience knowledge access barriers not as isolated challenges but as interconnected systems of disadvantage that require complex navigation strategies. The study contributes to understanding how intersectionality manifests in South African higher education contexts and highlights the need for institutional approaches that recognise and address the multifaceted nature of educational barriers.

The funding of public higher education presents challenges in most countries. Funding models attempt to find the ideal distributive model to support the production of graduates needed for the economy of any country. In South Africa the demand for higher education grew substantially since 1994, while the ratio of state funding in comparison to the enrolment increase was not proportionate. In 2004 the Ministry of Higher Education implemented a new funding framework in order to address issues of equity, access and efficiency in higher education. The aim of this paper is to analyse the current funding framework and its impact on enrolment and graduate rates in South African Higher Education. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p1861

This article draws primarily on the relevant literature to reflect on two critical moments that changed the South African (SA) higher education landscape: #Rhodesmustfall and #Feesmustfall. It examines how universities have responded to the calls for curriculum decolonisation in the aftermath of the hashtag movements and the implications for reimagining Academic Literacy (AL) pedagogies in SA universities. The article is framed around two arguments. First, although Rhodes fell during the student protests, it did not dismantle the resilient institutional cultures that have sustained racial and epistemic hierarchies. In the context of AL, these epistemic hierarchies often influence module contents, pedagogies and assessment practices. Second, given the socio-economic challenges in SA, curriculum decolonisation should inspire transformative practices in classroom spaces. The article therefore concludes that AL pedagogies should focus on providing students with key cognitive competencies and literacies that can assist them to participate in disrupting Western epistemic domination, increasing their chances of academic success and employability. To achieve these, AL curricula should include discipline/context-specific indigenous and culturally inclusive pedagogies. In addition, lecturers should use a mixture of academic texts that allow students to recognise and appreciate the fact there are different ways of being, knowing and doing.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present reasons for the mobility of women in senior management positions in South African higher education. Against the backdrop of women underrepresentation and retention challenges in institution of higher learning in this country, it is pertinent to share the experiences of senior women, with the aim of understanding institutional structures and cultures that make it difficult for women to survive in senior positions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used a qualitative approach. The focus of this paper was on the women who had held or were still holding senior management positions in higher education in South Africa. The requirement for this paper was that these women should have moved out or across institutions while at a senior management position. This paper drew from five women from different institutions and involved them in in-depth interviews. The women who fitted the category of senior management in this paper included deputy vice chancellor, deans and heads of departments.FindingsThe findings indicated that the decisions to opt out of senior management positions for the women ranged from personal to institutional. The personal reasons that emerged from this paper pointed mainly to issues of salaries. The women opted to move out of their positions for better salaries which they believed they would get in the private sectors or in other institutions. Professional development also led women to move to more promising spaces that could afford them an opportunity to grow. Apart from these personal reasons, hostile institutional cultures were cited by all women as the most serious contributory factor to their turnover. Of these, they cited patriarchal practices that led to oppression and dominance, which made it difficult for them to cope in the senior positions they held.Originality/valueThis paper aimed to respond to a gap in research on senior management women’s mobility in higher education, specifically in South Africa. According to Samuel and Chipunza (2013), there is a serious concern that pertains to retention of senior management within African higher education. However, most studies do not provide a focused attention on women but offer a general interpretation of senior management turnover. There seems to be lack of research that aims at understanding the contextual reasons that lead to turnover of women senior management in South African higher education. Against the backdrop of low representation of women in senior positions in specifically South African higher education and calls for equity, the study looked at the reasons why higher education institutions at times fail to retain this most sought after group (women) in these positions of power. Understanding issues around this matter has the potential to contribute towards improved practices while adding a voice to discourses around gender equity and equality.

The phenomenon of exceptional academic achievement in South African higher education is under-researched and frequently overshadowed by concerns around failure, underachievement, and poor quality of throughput. This paper reports on a study of exceptional academic achievement in one South African university. Taking a selection of contextually relevant and available variables, a logistic regression methodology was applied to a sample of graduates from the University of KwaZulu-Natal - an internationally ranked, recently merged and rapidly transforming South African university. As an outcome of this application, a model of the socio-demographic and educational variables associated with exceptional academic achievement in undergraduate students was developed. The model suggests that variations in race, gender, financial aid allocation, matriculation score and matriculation English symbol are significantly associated with increased odds of exceptional academic achievement. Interaction terms for race and gender were also entered in the model. The study also found that when compared to all other groups, White females were most likely to excel academically. The results from the study provide a basis for connecting discourses pertaining to excellence, exceptional academic achievement, and quality of throughput at an undergraduate level with those of equity and equality in South African higher education. It highlights that although some advances in the equity of academic achievement for different race and social groups at the University of KwaZulu-Natal have been made, there is considerable room for improvement in this in the domain of exceptional academic achievement.

This research aims to examine and analyse some of the problems that women in leadership positions face in South African higher education. Women have been denied leadership positions in higher education. This became increasingly clear in developing countries such asSouth Africa. However, in recent years, there has been a great increase in the achievement of women in leadership roles in higher education.. South African higher education has undergone a gender stereotype reversal, largely due to an increase in women in leadership positionssuch as vice-chancellors, rectors, deans, and department heads. This study contends that being a female does not preclude successful leadership in South African higher education. A qualitative content analysis was utilised to guide this work when reviewing and analysing current scholarly literature such as articles, book chapters, and theses. To build a coding system and present the findings of this paper, the following themes were identified:(1) challenges women face in leadership positions in South African higher education; (2) the influence of patriarchy in leadership positions in higher education; (3) Influence of patriarchy in leadership positions in higher education; (4) Redressing the challenges faced by women in higher education. The findings of this paper revealed that being a woman is not a barrier to success in leadership, but they also highlighted that women continue to face basic problems in academic leadership. This article concludes by claiming that gender stereotypes, gender inequity, and discrimination against women in leadership roles are issues preventing women from achieving their career progression goals in academia.

Hyflex teaching and learning is relatively a new concept within the South African higher education context. This teaching and learning approach brings to the fore the possibility of combining the existing teaching platforms for maximizing not only physical access to knowledge, but epistemological access, the latter is also described in this paper as meaningful access. The argument in this paper is that access cannot be meaningful until there is room for student engagement in the teaching and learning process, otherwise, all efforts to ensuring access in educational institutions will remain a mere paper fantasy. This paper, therefore, brings to the fore the need for higher education in South Africa to maximize the possibilities being offered by the Hyflex teaching and learning, not only for student engagement but meeting the need and respecting the democratic choices of students in terms of the modalities that work for them the most. Hence, it is argued in this paper that Hyflex learning is not a mere fad, but a choice for effective engagement with an emphasis on the needs of students at the center of all the pedagogic and curriculum choices in higher education. Keywords: Hyflex teaching and learning, epistemology access, student engagement, higher education, modalities, etc.

The assumption that higher education (HE) is the engine behind social and economic development as well as an agent for human emancipation has led to massive investment in HE development. Consequently, nation states, policy makers, and educational planners have made the equitable provision and delivery of HE their top agenda and vision. In the South African context, this gave rise to the enactment of a number of policy initiatives at both government and institutional level so as to translate this vision into reality. While significant milestones were achieved in the quantitative aspects of equity as encapsulated in widened access to higher education, there are persistent challenges that threaten the overall quality and performance of the HE system. These include but are not limited to issues such as student funding, student level of unpreparedness, academic development programmes, pedagogy and the language issue. If these and other challenges are not addressed, they may render the equity vision elusive, however well-intentioned. This paper sought to explore critical challenges experienced by HE institutions in South Africa in their efforts to embrace the equity imperative. The focus of the paper transcend mere exploration by articulating strategies that are meant to revitalise the HE system so as to make it more responsive and relevant to a massified student population.

Humanised assessment is the process of aligning and implanting the elements of humans into gauging learners’ academic and non-academic endeavours. Given the surge in curriculum and pedagogy decolonisation, Africanisation, and humanisation discourse, an inquiry needs to be focused on humanising the assessment process. Therefore, this study fills the literature gap by providing insights on humanised assessment in South African higher education. The study explored the authors' perceptions and literature evidence on assessment in South African Higher education, how humanising the South African higher education assessment is, the most adopted assessment practices in South African higher education, and how assessment can be further humanised in South African higher education institutions. The critical interpretive synthesis methodology was utilised for the study, which combines evidence from the literature and the researchers’ views (involving bibliometric and documentary analysis methods) for synthesising evidence on the research subject). Findings indicate that assessment in South African higher education is perceived to be linguistically biased, unfriendly, and harsh to students’ personalities, learning desires, and choices; formative and interactive assessment are the most used approaches in South Africa; the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered the humanisation of the education process, including executing assessments that promote students' learning processes. Thus, putting a human face and voice into the assessment process and instruments enhances the “humanness” that qualifies as humanised assessment.

Chapter 8 - Access and Equity in Higher Education in Indonesia: A Review from the Periphery