South African Higher Education Sector Research Articles

A linguistic evaluation of the South African higher education sector: A reflection on 30 years of democracy (1994–2024)

The core objective of this article is to evaluate the progress made in linguistic development over the past three decades, with a specific focus on the role of language and its philosophical underpinnings in reshaping and decolonising South African higher education landscape. Linguistic imperialism as a conceptual framework alongside the Framework for Policy Analysis were employed to inform, guide and support the author’s contention that linguistic hegemony is still dominating the discourse within the higher education sector. The research adopts a qualitative approach, utilising content analysis for data analysis purposes. The findings of the article reveal that despite 30 years of democracy, the influence of colonial-era language philosophy and western epistemologies persists. It is suggested that comprehensive implementation of language policies could effectively address the transformation and decolonisation agenda. It further advocates for alignment between policy and practice through pragmatic, intentional and transformative initiatives aimed at identifying, interrogating and disrupting the coloniality of power and its western epistemologies, as far as language policy and practice are concerned. In conclusion, the article emphasises the urgent need to counteract existing linguistic imperialism and hegemony embedded within colonial knowledge systems by enacting transformative policies that will prioritise student access, success, linguistic diversity, linguistic justice, epistemic justice and social cohesion within the framework of higher education.Contribution: The aim is to provide guidance to language policy implementers in South African universities by offering an overview of the linguistic advancements achieved between 1994 to 2024.

Reflecting on the experience of the rationalisation and consolidation of the faculties and campuses at Walter Sisulu University: successes and challenges

One of six comprehensive universities in South Africa, the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) combines the best academic credentials from universities and technikons in an effort to effectively meet the socio-economic development needs of the nation, in the Eastern Cape Province, and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Chris Hani Municipality, King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality. An institution of a new generation, the WSU is more than the sum of its parts. Its goal is to improve community potential through quality academic programs, research, and community engagement projects with a strong emphasis on involvement and sustainable development. This article considers the different successes and difficulties associated with the WSU rationalization and consolidation of faculties. This theoretical article observes that the government started using rationalization and consolidation as a tool to reconfigure and reform the higher education sector. Rationalization and consolidation are nothing new, and several nations have used them to revamp or reorganize their higher education industries. The article provides literature debates and scholarly background on comparing the South African higher education sector's proposed rationalisation and consolidation to those of other nations' higher education sectors, however, would reveal the most ambitious reform program ever launched in recent memory. The conceptual paper adopts a thematic qualitative approach. The primary wave of the mergers mandated by the government that happened in 2004 and 2005 was preceded by the 2002 merger of Walter Sisulu University.

Learning from students: Factors that support student engagement in blended learning environments within and beyond classrooms

Technology is key to making education systems more resilient to disruptions. In the South African higher education sector, technology will continue to play a much larger role than the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology, however, cannot replace the value gained through social contact and concerns about relational disengagement in curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular spaces have been noted. Drawing on large-scale qualitative data collected as part of the South African Survey of Student Engagement, this article explores what students consider as the most important factors in supporting their learning and development and how these factors might be translated to technologically enhanced learning and teaching spaces. Such insights from students’ experiences could inform blended learning and teaching spaces that leverage technology to enhance relational engagement.

The psychological contract and staff retention among South African higher education employees: The influence of socio-demographics

Orientation: The global skills crisis, ‘the great resignation’, and technological advancements have impacted the higher education (HE) sector in South Africa. Staff retention is at risk because of the specialised skills sought by institutions, making employment relationships and skill retention top priorities.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the influence of socio-demographic differences on the relationship between psychological contract preferences and staff retention among South African HE employees.Motivation for the study: High staff turnover in South African HE sector and inability to retain crucial skilled employees pose challenges for HE institutions (HEIs) in a complex and diverse environment.Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted on a purposively selected population of full-time employees, both academic and administrative, with a final random sample of participants (N = 493) employed in an open-distance HEI in South Africa. Inferential statistics, specifically tests for significant mean differences, were performed.Main findings: Higher education employees from different race, gender, age, job level and tenure groups differ considerably in terms of their psychological contract preferences and their satisfaction with organisational retention practices.Practical/managerial implications: Interventions for HE staff retention should prioritise strengthening diverse employees’ psychological contracts, meeting their needs, and ensuring fulfilment of promises and commitments in the employment relationship.Contribution/value-add: This paper’s unique contribution lies in the new insight it provides into the psychological contract and retention-related preferences of diverse employees in the South African HE context.

Funding Open Educational Resources in Higher Education: A South African Public Policy Perspective

The direct crediting of book allowances to student accounts was, among other reasons, underpinned by the belief that students would be able to substitute prescribed study material with online content. The article attempts to understand if the local open educational resources (OER) funding policy environment was prepared for this significant transformation. The paper applied a critical theory paradigm and a documentary research strategy to identify policy-level documents on OER funding in the South African higher education sector. Content analysis was then applied to review what they said about OER funding. These outcomes were then measured against the National Policy Development Framework 2020, which also dominated the study’s conceptual framework. The study’s significant findings were that the OER funding policy did not meet the policymaking principles of the framework, and this exposed Higher Education to a poorly funded OER environment. The study recommended hastening the finalization of OER policy and the flexible application of current policy terms to include OER as a fundable higher education cause.

Vehicle brand perception among generation X in the South African higher education sector

Vehicle brand perception among generation X in the South African higher education sector

Towards the effective development of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) curricula: an exploration of strategies and solutions in education

This study investigated the affordances (hindrances and opportunities) of developing a comprehensive Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) curricular product in the South African higher education sector. The methodology consisted of an initial literature review illustrating the use of DfAM in higher education and the existence of formal DfAM curricula. Through the literature, the researchers sought these hindrances and opportunities to guide the development of a curriculum sample product. In addition, appropriate theoretical frameworks were investigated and then combined with pedagogical aids in the form of Embedded Tactile and Sensory Technology (ETaST). The overall theoretical findings indicate that a formally structured DfAM curricular product will benefit not just AM-related subjects, but education fields beyond STEM. This research indicates that a DfAM curricular product may lead to an expansion of AM utilisation beyond mere production initiatives for industry but also as a pedagogical aid product for higher education. Furthermore, the use of such DfAM curricular products can infiltrate broader sectors which will increase the time and uptake of AM. The study recommends the implementation of the DfAM curricular product in the undergraduate sector of various subjects to corroborate the findings.

Developing Critical Digital Literacies Through Digital Storytelling

The South African Higher Education sector has undergone major transformation since the end of Apartheid more than 25 years ago. Critical digital literacies and critical (digital) citizenship, aligns with the most important aspects of the transformation agenda, ‘the production of socially conscious graduates that will become the thinkers and leaders of tomorrow' (Soudien et al 2008). The ability to link the past and the present, the personal and the political is an important element of critical digital literacies. This paper reflects on projects introduced in a first year Extended Curriculum Programme course for Architectural Technology and Interior Design students at a University of Technology, in which students created a digital story after visiting historical sites in the Western Cape. Framed by Critical Race Theory concepts of master narratives and counter-storytelling, using multimodal analysis of the digital stories, this paper will highlight examples of students' attempts to disrupt common narratives through their creative yet personal engagement with the past and the present.

Academic advising during emergency remote teaching and learning: A South African higher education perspective

Academic advising remains an emerging profession and practice in the South African higher education sector, with an increase in evidence-informed literature about advising for this context in recent years. The disruptions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have been significant for academic advising. This paper posits that the pandemic has had a catalytic effect on advising, how it is perceived, and how it is practiced at the university where the author works, thus potentially setting the scene for change. By drawing on data generated through interviews with 15 academic advisors, the paper examines the likelihood of change (or morphogenesis). The examination is underpinned by Social Realist principles. Margaret Archer’s notions of structure, culture, and agency, as well as elements of her work on the morphogenetic cycle, guides the study. The focus is on the potential of advising and advisors within and for SA HE contexts. The academic advisors interviewed emerge as a previously under-valued and poorly utilised link among students, lecturers, and the broader institution. The paper concludes by elucidating how the work of academic advisors during the pandemic could bring about greater integration of advising with other dimensions of the academic project, while foregrounding the high-impact potential of advising for SA HE contexts.

Influential factors impacting leadership effectiveness: A case study at a public university

Orientation: As a result of increased globalisation and rapid changes in the technological, social, economic and political spheres, the environment in which businesses and organisations function has become increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). This has created a unique set of challenges for the leaders of these organisations, including higher education (HE) in South Africa.Research purpose: This study aimed to identify potential influential factors that have impact on leader effectiveness in a HE VUCA environment.Motivation for the study: Leadership effectiveness under VUCA conditions within the South African higher education sector no longer only depends on professional leadership training. A thorough understanding of crucial influential factors moderating leader effectiveness and a sober strategy to overcome potential negative impact is pivotal. This study seeks to contribute to this understanding and to leadership theory and practice.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research approach was adopted to test research participants’ perceptions regarding the significance of influential factors impacting leadership effectiveness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 employees in leadership positions at a single public university. A rigorous 16-stepwise method was used to analyse the qualitative data that employed a directed qualitative content analysis.Main findings: The major findings of the study include theoretical and empirical support for four influential factors impacting leadership effectiveness, that is, organisational culture, the role of women in leadership, and the role of millennials in leadership and diversity.Practical/managerial implications: Recommendations for university leaders to create an enabling environment for effective leadership to navigate VUCA are provided.Contribution/value-add: The significance of this study lies in the potential contribution to leadership theory and insights for leaders in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to be effective in the face of VUCA.

Equity in Admissions Policies of Undergraduate Students in Post Democracy in Selected South African Universities

This paper investigates the policy pathways that inform and regulate student selection and admission at three selected universities in South Africa, namely the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Cape Town and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. We argue that these universities have progressed a long way in addressing the race problem in their enrolment strategies. However, their main target group remains students from rich or affluent communities, to the exclusion of potentially good students from marginalised groups, particularly those from under-resourced township and rural schools. As a result, their main challenge in the context of formal access to higher education in South Africa has largely shifted from a race problem to one of social class. This is due to an overemphasis on narrow conceptions of merit that cannot be reconciled with equity and social justice concerns. The paper suggests that current notions of merit warrant reconceptualization in order to embrace these missing dimensions. While there is plenty of evidence that most institutions agree on the need to embrace a particular form of affirmative action to address current social imbalances, given the fierce contestation of redress policies within the South African higher education sector, they find it difficult to develop and implement adequate admission strategies in practice.

An Analysis of Higher Education Policy Act 101 of 1997

The South African higher education sector is one of the most contested sectors with high policy influxes since the beginning of current democratic dispensation. From a horrendous past where it endured the repressive strategy that disenfranchised majority of the population, the country’s higher education system undoubtedly needed a thorough reshape to meet the then changing national development needs and aspirations of the newly elected democratic government. Hence, the prime strategy of redressing past imbalances and inequalities accruing from pre-democratic era, was justified through Higher Education Policy (HEP) Act 101 – whose operational consistency is evident in the past twenty-five years. This synoptic review focuses on HEP Act 101 by unravelling the circumstances presaging its formation, the policy provisions and amendments – whose sectional highlights are also embodied herein. The brief prelude to the policy’s penultimate silver-jubilee forms an agendum for extensive research on its performance over the last quarter-century, while the ensuing discourse aims to channel scholarly attention on critical matters that may inform a new HEP formation or amendment, that will be more agreeable with contemporary socioeconomic needs of the masses and synchronous to new national development goals in the long run.

Workplace Bullying and Its Implications for Gender Transformation in the South African Higher Education Sector

While transformation in the higher education sector in South Africa has been the subject of intensive research since 1994, few studies have explored the link between workplace bullying and transformation. Whereas workplace bullying has drawn researchers’ attention for decades, it is only recently that scholars have started to interrogate the phenomenon through the intersectional lens. This paper employs intersectionality to explore women academics’ experiences of workplace bullying and to suggest links between workplace bullying and gender transformation in the higher education sector in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a cross-section of 25 women academics who had experienced workplace bullying. As part of data triangulation, four union representatives and three human resources practitioners were also interviewed. The study’s main findings indicate that gender, race and class mediate women academics’ experiences of workplace bullying. In historically White universities, African, Coloured and Indian women academics, particularly those from working-class backgrounds, are more likely to be bullied, by seniors, peers, administrators and students. For White women academics, race ameliorates their workplace bullying experiences. The simultaneous effects of race, gender and class derail transformation as members of previously disadvantaged groups either remain stuck in junior academic positions, or exit the sector.

Assessing Students’ Perspectives Towards Entrepreneurship in South Africa

The devastating truth for young people in the education sector, particularly at the tertiary level, is that they will have no job after finishing their degrees. It is still challenging to find work, making starting and running your own business an attractive and necessary alternative source of income. Thus, an avenue out of poverty exists in Africa’s critical need to be discovered and establishing a business may hold the key. This study sought to assess students’ perspectives on entrepreneurship in the South African higher education sector. Data was collected from 332 students using a probability sampling approach. Specifically, a simple random sampling technique was adopted to identify the respondents. A quantitative and descriptive study was undertaken using a Likert Scale questionnaire to ascertain students’ feelings towards entrepreneurship. Data were analyzed through the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 24 using descriptive statistics. Tables, percentages and frequency distribution were used to present the findings of this study. The results reveal an overwhelming agreement among students that various factors, viz. personal attitude, perceived behavior control, self-efficacy, subjective norms, and entrepreneurial intention, are the significant determinants of entrepreneurship. Therefore, institutional managers should provide a supportive structure and atmosphere to foster the growth of entrepreneurial behaviour. This could boost individual confidence and the sense that completing tasks is simple, hence promoting perceived behaviour control. The findings of this study could assist higher education institution managers in developing initiatives that can create and entrench entrepreneurial skills and mindsets in students such that they are well prepared to face the unpredictable and ever-changing world. This study has contributed to the literature on entrepreneurship in the higher education and the developing world. Future research should focus on a qualitative research design to understand the challenges students encounter in establishing startups.

Making Known the Real: An Exploration of Academic Advising Practices in a South African Higher Education Context

This is the first in a series of papers that emanate from the author’s doctoral research. This research explores academic advising as a profession and academic advisors as practitioners in the South African Higher Education sector; it focuses on advising within the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (FCLM) at a research-intensive public university in South Africa. During the period of investigation, academic advising engagements between students and the author were logged, thus forming a baseline dataset for the doctoral study. In phase one of the data analysis, baseline data were coded and clustered into overarching and subsidiary categories. The baseline dataset consists of 34 subsidiary categories, which form part of seven overarching categories; it contains 2240 entries based on 1023 consultations with 614 individual students during the three-year period under investigation. Using Archer’s (1995, 2000, 2005) notions about Social Realism as a theoretical framework, the author critically scrutinises the complex nature of the work that academic advisors do in a layered analysis of the baseline data. The author posits that it is through these layers of interpretation that one moves from the layer of the Empirical (experiences), through the layer of the Actual (events), to what Archer calls “the Real”, that is, the layer of mechanisms or underlying driving forces that brings about what happens in the layers of the Empirical and the Actual. This paper focuses specifically on the role of the academic advisor; it postulates inferential observations about academic advising by using the baseline dataset as a way in, while keeping the academic advisor central to the discussion.

Localisation of SDGs in Higher Education: Unisa’s whole institution, all goals and entire sector approach

This paper documents the processes leading to the hosting of the University of South Africa (Unisa) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Localisation Indaba1 in November 2019. Of interest is how the programming, which started as a purely inreach community engagement project, ultimately embraced the whole institution, all SDGs and the South African higher education sector. Data was generated via two platforms, namely participatory action research and a survey evaluating the Indaba. The following cycles emerged: the development of a Unisa Management Policy Brief calling for the SDGs Localisation Indaba in 2017 (Cycle 1); the development of an SDGs for Society Research Stream as part of the Unisa Annual Interdisciplinary Academy and Summer School in 2018 (Cycle 2); and the SDGs Localisation Indaba in 2019 (Cycle 3). The Indaba led to the SDGs Localisation Declaration which resulted in the formation of the SDGs Liaison Committee. Several agreements were made to expand SDGs localisation at Unisa. Finally, the Indaba attracted many participants from outside Unisa, especially from other institutions of higher education. However, it took almost three years to realise the SDGs localisation dream at Unisa. The key recommendation is thus that those championing SDGs localisation should be prepared to continue moving forward despite delays due to management changes and processes.Keywords: Higher education, sustainable development goals, domestication, localisation of the SDGs Introduction

Higher education leadership responses applied in two South African comprehensive universities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A critical discourse analysis

Background: This article explored the leadership responses that were used by two comprehensive universities in South Africa (Nelson Mandela University and University of Johannesburg) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in continuing with the rolling out of their teaching and learning programmes safely and digitally under disruptive conditions.Aim: Whilst universities in the developing world such as South Africa were expected to face challenges during the pandemic, this article showed that the leadership executives and general staff in two of its large universities, instead, crafted equitable and flexible improvisations to overcome the social challenges that could have posed a threat to their academic project.Setting: The selection of these two specific universities provided a unique opportunity to engage with comprehensive, massified and post-merger former Technikon-university institutions that mainly cater for working-class students.Methods: The social justice theory was utilised to frame the study, whilst critical narrative analysis was the methodology.Results: This research reveals that South African comprehensive universities possess capacity to adapt and innovate in the middle of an institutional crisis using their flexible systems and agile personnel to drive the academy under such circumstances. The study also reveals that the process of social justice is full of contradictions. As the universities created equitable measures to assist underprivileged students, these measures also generated injustices for others.Conclusion: This generated admirable and productive systematic traits to observe about some of our universities, as the South African higher education sector continued to engage with difficult conversations such as transformation.

A social learning theory model for understanding team-based professional communication learning for computer science students

The study interrogates an annual course with undergraduate computer science students that takes place against the background of national student protests at universities across South Africa to effect equitable access to universities. It uses reflections by computer science students of their experience of collaborative work on a Scenario Pedagogy (SP) course, as well as the results of a survey of student collaborative practices in a digital space as a window into their learning trajectories. The study demonstrates and offers an understanding of how SP can contribute to developing computer science students as communicators in their discipline at university and future workplaces. It explores the usefulness of Communities of Practice (COP) and Knowledgeability across Landscapes of Practice (KLP) theory as an analytical tool-set as well as a descriptive language for investigating and explaining learning events. The changing and changed landscape of higher education and the world of work present new challenges and opportunities, particularly in curriculum development and delivery. Utilising “authentic†pedagogies and social learning theory provides appropriate tools for meeting these challenges. Exploring reflective practices and their contribution to the emerging of transformed practices and identities in the South African higher education sector would be a fruitful avenue of future research.

Learning environments in higher education: Their adaptability to the 4th industrial revolution and the 'social transformation' discourse

The South African higher-education sector is currently undergoing a significant phase in its transition. The phase is marked by a sense of uncertainty felt across institutions and entities that make up the sector. This uncertainty, to a large extent, is brought about by the socio-political realities the transition entails. Compounding this situation is the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution (Hadden), a phenomenon to which the higher-education sector needs a heightened degree of adaptability. The learning environments provided by the higher-education sector are therefore crucial in terms of advancing the cause of positive social change as a realisable educational objective. Against this backdrop, this conceptual article examines the issue of social change as a moral imperative. The purpose is therefore to contribute to the 4IR discourse currently evolving in the context of South African higher education and its social change agenda, with cognitive capitalism as a theoretical lens. Significant scholarly work has been done on the issue of technological advancement and its implications for the social practice of education. However, a concerted effort has not been undertaken to examine the 4IR as an inevitable educational experience with potential to be both materialistically transformative and morally enslaving. The article concludes that, as 4IR unfolds into a magnificent event and starts to control every aspect of human life in general, and education in particular, the moral and ethical affirmations that support the experience of education may run into troubled waters

Inclusion in Times of Covid‑19: The Case of International Students in South Africa

The Covid‑19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to the teaching, learning and research functions of universities around the globe. It has also impacted their internationalisation efforts in significant ways. From the perspective of South Africa’s public higher education sector, this article reflects on how international students at the country’s universities have been affected by national and institutional responses to Covid‑19. It highlights the specific challenges and constraints international students faced in light of Covid‑19 related restrictions such as travel bans, university closures and the national lockdown. In doing so, several aspects of the international student experience are explored, specifically regarding travelling home, communication, accommodation and immigration. The article also addresses the issue of remote learning and academic continuity, arguing that international students, especially those who were outside the borders of South Africa, are at risk of being left behind. It advocates for the inclusion of international students in national and institutional considerations and plans for the successful completion of the 2020 academic year. The article recognises that, in the absence of coordinated national responses, institutional approaches to the treatment of international students have differed from one university to another. Such differences can be linked to the differentiated nature of the South African higher education sector, where the capacity of institutions to deal with Covid‑19 related challenges and to respond comprehensively to the needs of different groups of international students varies in accordance with the availability of relevant structures, systems, digital platforms and other resources. As a reflective practitioner account, the article draws on the experience of the authors in higher education internationalisation as well as on the collective experience of a community of practice of the International Education Association of South Africa, which represents the majority of public universities in the country.