Addressing Students’ Unrest in South African Universities: The Need for a Facilitative Management Approach

Abstract

This study addresses the continuous occurrence of students’ unrest in South African universities due to the alleged pseudo-collaborative management styles of universities. Experiences, literature and observation, confirmed that student-oriented unrests are unabated, and that management of universities seem to struggle to ameliorate or find a lasting solution to these issues. This study is a theoretical analysis laced with facilitative management theory. The study is located within the transformation agenda by adopting a transformative paradigm to guide the study. The suggestible solutions, which include promotion of collaborative engagement, galvanisation of public opinions, the building of listening leaders and participatory management, were discussed as a dimension of a peaceful university system. The study also recommended full implementation of collaborative engagement, respect for the opinions of all stakeholders with a listening ear and ensuring that university culture is structured to accommodate equal participation of all stakeholders