Abstract
South Africa’s post–apartheid governments have taken far–reaching policy measures to transform the system of higher education, do away with its strongly segregated character, and develop an efficient and internationally recognised system that provides equal chances for all ethnic groups. Since 2002 higher education has become the explicit target of a government policy, geared to cultural development and intervention, including the enforcement of a series of mergers between traditionally white and black universities and former technikons (currently universities of technology). This process has caused intense debate at the level of leadership and among policy makers in these institutions, but little is known of how this ideological battle over educational development has affected daily academic practice. This paper gives a first, somewhat tentative discussion on the current effects of the changes in higher education in South Africa, and in particular at one of the institutions affected: the newly merged North-West University (NWU). The article is based on documentary research and three personal visits to the university; in the process a joint research project was initiated between the VU University of Amsterdam (VUUA) and NWU. This paper attempts to shed some early light on how efficiency and social equity goals are met within NWU’s institutional merger, beginning from a cultural perspective that focuses on the construction of ‘merger narratives’. The paper also gives a voice to critical reactions, narratives of resistance that have emerged from the university shop floor.
Highlights
In terms of developmental goals, South Africa has long claimed a special position in international politics and policies
Subsequent elections have put this task in the hands of a single political party, the African National Congress (ANC) that came to power in 1994 with the support of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)
In present-day South Africa social and economic development is the outcome of a neo-liberal free market policy combined with and/or restricted by certain government measures
Summary
In terms of developmental goals, South Africa has long claimed a special position in international politics and policies. I shall pay brief attention to recent work in similar endeavours, before dealing with post-merger integration processes played out at the shop-floor level at NWU Both at the institutional-structural level and the life-world level, some narratives of success and failure (Vaara 2002, 2003) are analysed, drawing on different experiences and ways of reasoning. NWU is currently concluding a process of academic alignment, there remain significant differences between the various campuses with regard to teaching, research performance, and institutional culture. These impact on the prospects for a merged identity, which is one of the principal goals to be pursued. With the choice of such a perspective the study will link up to recent debates on identity and change at higher education institutions
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