Universities In South Africa Research Articles

The Adult Learner Self-Directedness Scale: Validity and reliability assessment

Orientation: The absence of a scale to assess the academic self-directedness of adult learners in South African open, distance and e-learning milieus.Research purpose: This article describes the further validity and reliability assessment of the Adult Learner Self-Directedness Scale (ALSDS), which assesses adult learners’ academic self-directedness in an open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) university in South Africa. An initial validity and reliability study yielded a four-factor scale with 35 items loading onto it, while this study reports on a three-factor scale with 15 items loading onto it.Motivation for the study: Factors such as socio-economic conditions and past education practices make South African open, distance and e-learning higher education (ODeLHE) challenging for socio-economically disadvantaged students. The growing trend of online tuition and assessment in South African universities requires research into strategies that may improve a student’s success and throughput. In ODeLHE, student self-directedness may contribute to academic success, and thus a reliable scale is needed to assess it. Currently, there is no such South African scale.Research approach/design and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was implemented, using self-report data from the students of the College of Economic and Management Sciences at a South African ODeL university. The ALSDS comprises three factors: success orientation for ODeLHE (self-efficacy beliefs), active academic behaviour (learner agency) and use of strategic resources (learning context management).Main findings: The findings indicate that the ALSDS appears to be a valid, internally consistent and reliable scale suitable for assessing ODeLHE adult learners’ academic self-directedness. Further research is, however, required to establish metric and scalar invariance.Practical/managerial implications: The scale may provide a reliable starting point for developing a scale for assessing ODeLHE students’ existing academic self-directedness. Knowledge of existing self-directedness capacity may be useful in designing and implementing holistic learner support programmes.Contribution/value-add: The ALSDS may provide a reliable Afrocentric starting point for developing a measure for assessing the academic self-directedness of South African ODeLHE students.

The Rise of the Neoliberal University in South Africa: Some Implications for Curriculum Imagination(s)

The public university in the global South continues to be trapped in an existential slumber, struggling to self-define/self-diagnose its purposes, rationales, goals and agenda(s). Despite the emergence of the #FeesMustfall, #RhodesMustFall, and more recently the #Asinamali student protests, South African higher education continues to adopt neoliberal and colonial conceptions of institutional reforms, seen through the emergence and enactment of performance management instruments, demographic understandings of transformation, incoherent/illogical policy prescriptions, and the use of technology as pedagogic replacement. In this article, I attempt to do two things. Firstly, I critique the South African higher education policy and legislative framework as largely inadequate and neoliberal in nature and designed to reinforce market-orientated logics and discourses. Secondly, and in thinking beyond the neoliberal university, I propose what an inclusive curriculum could look like through a decolonial lens. I end the article with some parting thoughts on the future of the neoliberal university in South Africa, and the potential implications for what I see as the emergence of decolonial and transformative curricula.

Stakeholder perceptions of university-industry collaboration on tourism and business students’ employability in two continents

ABSTRACT This study explored whether the teaching environment of six universities across Finland, United Kingdom, and South Africa are currently producing the competencies required by the industry. It also assessed the effects of university-industry collaboration activities on students’ work readiness and employability. The research adopted mixed method approach to data collection. Structured questionnaire survey was used to collect quantitative data from students, and semi-structured interviews were used to collect qualitative data from lecturers and industry representatives. Findings from the University of Zululand (UNIZULU) were compared with findings from the other universities in South Africa. UNIZULU students had the highest ratings compared to the students from the other universities across the dimensions of career preparation, desirable graduate competencies and work readiness. In contrast, UNIZULU students had the lowest ratings in terms of industry engagement and student engagement, for which this study provided management implications.

Unintended Pedagogical Consequences of Emergency Remote Teaching at a Rural-Based University in South Africa

In this empirical article, we argue that while emergency remote teaching (ERT) may have achieved its goal of saving the academic years during the COVID-19 pandemic, it also constructed unintended pedagogical consequences that were possibly overlooked at the time of advocating for it. We also contend that students and lecturers from rural-based universities (RBUs) in South Africa experienced different unintended pedagogical consequences compared to their counterparts who belong to urban-based universities (UBUs). Thus, the research question that the article raises is as follows: What were the unintended pedagogical consequences that students and lecturers based at RBUs experienced during the transition to ERT? Drawing on students’ and lecturers’ lived experiences of ERT, this article foregrounds unintended pedagogical consequences that arose at one RBU in South Africa during the transition from face-to-face teaching to ERT. Underpinned by the tenets of critical realism philosophy, as well as student integration theory, in-depth interviews with three lecturers and six students were conducted. The findings of the study indicate that home conditions, individual characteristics, pre-COVID-19 blended learning experiences, university training and support, teaching, learning, assessment practices, and policies altogether contributed to the construction of unintended pedagogical consequences of ERT presented in this article. These consequences include (1) the exclusion of low-income students from active teaching and learning, (2) equipping middle-class students with better chances of success than working-class students, (3) distressing female students and lecturers more than their male counterparts, and (4) unproductive assessment practices. This study may be beneficial to academics and policymakers from similar contexts in their plight to continue with remote teaching and assessment (RTA) after the pandemic.

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Resemiotization: tracing the movement of resources in landscape architectural design trajectories

University students in landscape architecture need to mobilize a range of resources in their design trajectories in order to resolve their designs. Often design education settings are influenced by design traditions of the global north, and thus may favour particular ways of knowing. This article aims to contribute to a multimodal pedagogy for diversity exploring the ways in which diverse students mobilize resources to move between spatial, verbal and visual modes in a landscape architectural design trajectory. It specifically traces the resources that one student brings to her learning environment in a university in South Africa, and identifies the experiential, social, semiotic, interactive and pedagogical resources she deploys. The authors demonstrate how these resources shape and prompt the student’s meaning-making processes, and how she mobilizes these resources to move her design trajectory forward. They do this by building on Kress and Van Leeuwen’s Reading Images (2006) model of visual grammar, adapted for three-dimensional space, and Kress’s notions of design in Multimodality (2010). The concept of resemiotization is key here to recognizing and understanding the meaning-making potential of modes. The authors argue that the affordances of different modes prompt resemiotization of resources at different times in the design trajectory, moving between material expression and nonmaterial (re)conceptualization. The processes of resemiotization can thus generate emergent meanings and transform them within the student’s landscape design trajectories. This approach to pedagogy can valorize the agency, identity, ways of knowing and resourcefulness of diverse meaning-makers.

Cultural barriers to intercultural/ interracial communication among black and white South African women

There are a number of Important cultural barriers between black and white South African women. These Include language, nonverbal communication, world view, thought pat terns and stereotypes. In an attempt to Investigate some of the cultural barriers this exploratory study focuses on the opinions of 20 black South African women and 20 white South African women. A convenience sample was used and the respondents were undergraduate students at the University of South Africa. Personal semi-structured interviews were conducted with the respondents. Open-ended questions were used allowing each respondent to provide her own perspective or point of view.

CISG Advisory Council Opinion No. 22

The CISG-AC started as a private initiative supported by the Institute of International Commercial Law at Pace University School of Law and the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London. The International Sales Convention Advisory Council (CISG-AC) is in place to support understanding of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the promotion and assistance in the uniform interpretation of the CISG. At its formative meeting in Paris in June 2001, prof. Peter Schlechtriem of Freiburg University, Germany, was elected chair of the CISG-AC for a three-year term. Dr. Loukas a. Mistelis of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London, was elected secretary. The founding members of the CISG-AC were prof. Emeritus Eric E. Bergsten, Pace University School of Law, prof. Michael Joachim Bonell, University of Rome la Sapienza, prof. E. Allan Farnsworth, Columbia University School of Law, prof. Alejandro M. Garro, Columbia University School of Law, prof. Sir Roy M. Goode, Oxford, prof. Sergei n. Lebedev, Maritime Arbitration Commission of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, prof. Jan Ramberg, University of Stockholm, Faculty of Law, prof. Peter Schlechtriem, Freiburg University, prof. Hiroo Sono, Faculty of Law, Hokkaido University, prof. Claude Witz, Universität des Saarlandes and Strasbourg University. Members of the council are elected by the council. At subsequent meetings, the CISG-AC elected as additional members prof. Pilar Perales Viscasillas, Universidad Carlos III, Madrid; prof. Ingeborg Schwenzer, University of Basel; prof. John Y. Gotanda, Villanova University; Prof. Michael G. Bridge, London School of Economics; prof. Han Shiyuan, Tsinghua University and Prof. Yeşim Atamer, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey, prof. Ulrich G. Schroeter, University of Mannheim, Germany, prof. Lauro Gama, Pontifical Catholic University, Justice Johnny Herre, Justice of the Supreme Court of Sweden, prof. Harry M. Flechtner, University of Pittsburgh, prof. Sieg Eiselen, Department of Private Law of the University of South Africa, and prof. Edgardo Muñoz López, Universidad Panamericana, Guadalajara, México. Prof. Jan Ramberg served for a three-year term as the second chair of the CISG-AC. At its 11th meeting in Wuhan, People's Republic of China, prof. Eric E. Bergsten of Pace University School of Law was elected chair of the CISG-AC and prof. Sieg Eiselen of the Department of Private Law of the University of South Africa was elected secretary. At its 14th meeting in Belgrade, Serbia, prof. Ingeborg Schwenzer of the University of Basel was elected chair and at its 24th meeting in Antigua, Guatemala, prof. Michael G. Bridge of the London School of Economics was elected chair of the CISG-AC. At its 26th meeting in Asunción, Paraguay, ass. Prof. Milena Djordjević, University of Belgrade, Serbia, was elected secretary, and she was reelected short after the 30th meeting in Rio de Janeiro. Prof. Pilar Perales Viscasillas of the University Carlos III of Madrid was elected chair of the CISG-AC after the 30th meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

Academic Perspectives on the Acquisition of Task-Fit Digital Devices in an Open Distance Learning University: Challenges, Constraints and Hassles

There is an increasing awareness of the prominence of the virtual setting environment as education shifted from conventional face-to-face teaching and learning to a blended environment that includes distance education. This phenomenon has also affected how teaching is delivered in Higher education institutions. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that limit the provision of task-fit digital devices in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) University in South Africa. The article emanates from data collected from a collaborative project by different universities entitled “The dynamics of space and place in Sub-Saharan higher education institutions”. This study deployed qualitative research methodology and data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The Task-Technology Fit model was used as a theoretical framework. The investigation led to several critical findings which were categorised into the following themes: deficient technologies, delayed procurement of digital appliances, supplying used computers to newly appointed academics, negative implications of pedagogical practices and finally, poor ICT support.
 
 Received: 27 June 2022 / Accepted: 14 October 2022 / Published: 5 November 2022

Prospects of Blended Learning for the Post-COVID-19 Higher Education: The Instructors’ Perspectives at a University in South Africa

The study explored the prospects of the blended learning approach for post-COVID-19 higher education from the perspectives of instructors at a university in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study was qualitative and adopted the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) design. Using the purposive sampling method, a sample of twenty-eight academics was drawn from one university. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and thematically analysed. The findings revealed that blended learning has prospects for higher education in the post-COVID-19 context; such as accommodating vulnerable students without access to the internet and devices, increasing use of technologies for teaching and learning, facilitation of teaching and learning at any time and place, and solving problems of classroom overcrowding, increasing opportunities for higher education enrolment, breaking communication barriers between university instructors and students, and solving problems of truancy and absence of students and lecturers during the face-to-face lecture hours. In light of these findings, this study concluded that the prospects of blended learning should be harnessed for higher education in the post-COVID-19 context. The present study also considered some recommendations for making the blended learning approach effective in attaining higher education goals. These included increasing investment in the use of technologies for teaching and learning; and ensuring that there is continuous training of instructors in the use of emerging technologies for educational purposes while government at all levels continues to support HEIs for the implementation of the BL delivery system. Keywords: Blended learning, Online learning, Face-to-face learning, Higher education, University instructors, COVID-19 lockdown

Enabling mental health task-sharing: a collective case study of undergraduate clinical associate training programmes in South Africa

BackgroundThere is a shortage of the human resources needed to deliver mental health services which is likely to be exacerbated by COVID-19. Due to mental health workforce shortages, task-shifting and task-sharing approaches have been implemented in a number of countries. Clinical associates, a mid-level cadre working under the supervision of medical practitioners, could play a role in delivering mental health services but it is not clear if they are adequately prepared. This study explored the mental health curriculum content of the undergraduate clinical associate training programmes in South Africa and the views of key informants of the adequacy of training in mental health.MethodsA qualitative collective case study approach was utilised for this multisite study at the three universities in South Africa offering clinical associate degrees. The study consisted of in-depth interviews utilising videoconferencing of individuals involved in each programme and a document review. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted.ResultsNineteen interviews were conducted. Mental health formed part of the curriculum in all three programmes with the bulk of the training taking place in the final year of the three-year degree. Facility-based training ranged from two weeks to four weeks with one university only using hospitals with mental health units while two universities used hospitals at which the students were based for the year regardless of potential mental health exposure they would receive. The list of curricula inclusions extended to seldom-seen conditions. The quality of training and supervision appeared site-dependant and only one university set minimum experiential targets.ConclusionThere is a basis on which to build the competencies and skills regarding mental health in this cadre. A training model that integrates mental health early in the undergraduate curriculum, focuses on common conditions and those with high disease burden, includes time in a mental health unit, provides facility-based trainers with detailed guidance to improve standardisation, and includes specific experiential targets that are monitored will enhance the potential utility of this cadre.

Perspectives on Contributory Factors to Student Success in Higher Education at a University in South Africa

Over time, many students that enroll in programmes at the university end up dropping out without completing their studies. This trend is worrisome as it points to a defeat of the objectives of entering and graduating from the university. Therefore, this study explored the perspectives of contributory factors to student success in higher education at a South African University. The study addressed one objective namely, participants’ understanding of factors that contribute to student success in higher education. To address this objective, a qualitative case study design located in the interpretive paradigm was employed to generate data through a semi-structured interview from twelve participants purposively selected from undergraduate and postgraduate students. Of these twelve participants, four represented First Time Entering (FTEN) students, four (4) second year and third year respectively and four (4) postgraduate students across two faculties, namely the Faculty of Education and School Development and Faculty of Economics and Information Technology Systems , Komani campus,Walter Sisulu University, South Africa. The data was analysed thematically. The results revealed the following themes, namely, no student left behind, the need for an enabling environment, students as partners, data-informed practices, assessment for sustainability, and a multi-dimensional approach for success. With these findings, the study concludes that addressing the needs of all students collectively, creating an enabling environment, involving students as partners, the use of data-informed practices, and assessment for sustainability among others all impact students’ success in higher education. Thus, as part of the contribution to the body of knowledge, these findings highlight factors that contribute to the debate on students’ success in higher education. Key Words: First Time Entering Students (FTENs), Higher Education, Enablers of Student Success

Collaborative Learning: A Veritable Tool for Promoting Classroom Participation Among Pre-Service Teachers in Rural Universities in South Africa

The benefits of collaborative learning (CL) in teaching-learning have been well-documented. According to existing literature, it will help students and teachers learn from one another, develop good communication skills, foster a sense of community, trust and respect, and retain and apply the information in their future studies. Unfortunately, observation coupled with research shows that pre-service teachers’ participation in South Africa's rural universities is at its lowest ebb – a potential source of concern to education stakeholders given its futuristic implications in the light of CL benefits. Less pre-service teachers’ participation has been linked to cultural influence, environmental factors and students’ backgrounds and have negatively impacted students’ academic achievement. This paper seeks to typify CL as a panacea to pre-service teachers' apathy toward learning. In doing this, social constructivism theory (SCT) was adopted to underpin the study. Drawing from the principles of participatory action research, fifteen undergraduate students were randomly selected, and data was gathered with the instrumentation of semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The study revealed the think-peer-share strategy, group work strategy, micro-teaching strategy, positive feedback and encouragement, learner-centred method, and inquiry method as strategies for improving participation among pre-service teachers in rural universities. Recommendations were made in line with the findings of the study.

Exploring Hybrid Course Design in Promoting Active Engagement in extended curriculum and mainstream contexts

The current COVID 19 pandemic has propelled evidently all courses in Universities to be taught using online technologies within a hybrid mode. There has been a cry from the academic environment on how to make student responsive and engaged in a very lonely online environment as opposed to face-to-face classrooms that are seen as engaging and responsive. This study seeks to investigate in both extended curriculum programme and mainstream programmes how hybrid courses are designed such that they can promote active engagements. This is of interest in these programmes because of the approach to curriculum design in extended curriculum programmes versus mainstream programmes. The research design is that of an interpretative paradigm within case study design using a qualitative research approach. The sample for the study is made up of three faculties extended curriculum programmes and mainstream courses in a traditional University in South Africa. The main reason behind selecting three faculties with extended curriculum and mainstream is to understand the difference in how engagements are designed in the hybrid models in extended curriculum versus mainstream. This is to further enhance hybrid engagement between these two programmes. In each of these three faculties, two courses were selected because of their engagement in online learning and hybrid learning initiatives, making a total number of six courses. Activity Theory was used to analyse the hybrid/blended learning environments and focus group interviews were analysed to identify conditions, which enable and constrain engagement in these hybrid environments. The study concludes that it is imperative that academic development supports and enhances the development and agency of academics in creating active and engaging hybrid or online environments in both extended curriculum and mainstream programmes.

The adoption of professional social networks by researchers at South African public universities

Background: Professional social networks (PSNs) have changed the research landscape by influencing how different communities of scholars engage within the community. Whilst there has been much research on this topic focusing on students and large public communities, perceptions around PSNs by scholars remain largely uncertain.Objectives: This study determines the degree to which academic staff engage with PSNs at different public universities in South Africa.Methods: The study adopted a quantitative approach using an online survey that was completed by 950 academic and research scholars at 17 public universities in South Africa. Additional support was provided with a qualitative approach using 10 semistructured interviews.Results: Scholars at South African public universities have adopted traditional, generic and PSNs to disseminate publications, enhance online visibility and collaborate with peers both nationally and globally. Scholars’ disinclination to use PSNs was associated with plagiarism, copyright, commercialisation of content, privacy, security challenges, issues related to the design, government and organisational challenges. Furthermore, there were no official policies, guidance from institutions, support from governments or professional social networking services.Conclusion: Scholars have adopted PSNs but do not use these online systems extensively. This is attributed to a lack of support from various stakeholders, missing policies and system misalignments, resulting in reduced research productivity. University leadership should be guided by this study and introduce active measures to encourage collaboration and dissemination of research outputs.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its drivers among dental students at University of the Western Cape, South Africa.

Vaccine hesitancy has seen an uprising over the decades, even though there have been many advances regarding vaccine-preventable diseases. Of late, vaccine hesitancy has resurged towards the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has major effects on the human body and has led to the development of different vaccines, which have been shown to provide immunity against the novel coronavirus. Dentists are at an increased risk to COVID-19 because of the nature of their work. It is imperative to have high vaccination coverage for this group. The aim of this study is to determine vaccine hesitancy and drivers associated with vaccine hesitancy among dental students at a university in South Africa. A dental school in South Africa was chosen as the setting for this study. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted by means of an anonymous, online, validated questionnaire to determine vaccine hesitancy. Of the 205 dental students participated, 83.9% (n = 172) students were vaccine not hesitant. The main concerns regarding the vaccines were identified as safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Pressure by family or friends and the university to get vaccinated was evident. Vaccine hesitancy is high despite mandatory vaccination policies in South Africa. Specific drivers contributing to vaccine hesitancy were identified as doubt in the efficacy and safety of the vaccine. This study has highlighted the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy among dental students at University of the Western Cape, prior to compulsory vacccination implementations.

Online Teaching and Learning in Correctional Facilities: Opportunities and Tensions

In a prison environment, inmates participating in online learning face numerous challenges. Access to education and digital materials must compete with security protocols that usually stifle innovative approaches to online learning. Education in prison environments is well-established, and studies attest to this notion. This article explores online learning in a correctional environment where inmates enrol with two distance education institutions, the Open University of the United Kingdom (OUUK) and the University of South Africa (UNISA). The study showcases the conditions, opportunities and tensions in online education in prison contexts in the nexus of providing access while ensuring security. The article further concedes that various countries are embarking on viable partnerships between correctional services, institutions of higher learning, non-governmental agencies, and other stakeholders. The two institutions, OUUK and UNISA, through well-guided Memoranda of Agreements (as argued in this article), have provided best practices and models that could be emulated to advance the agenda for the fourth industrial revolution in online learning. The qualitative documentary research that directed this article used a case study of the two open distance learning institutions, and it entailed a directed, inductive document analysis of national and institutional policies and Memoranda of Agreement (MoA). The research findings point to the continued impact of the tensions between access and security and strategies in ameliorating these tensions. Thus, with specific practices and multiple factors in each country, conditions and opportunities for online learning exist and are utilised to the best of each country’s abilities in offenders’ educational pursuits.

‘They are just women, what do they know?’: The lived experiences of African women doctoral students in the mathematics discipline in South African universities

Background: The presence of African women in mathematics has been nearly invisible. The underrepresentation of African women in this field is a result of their historical socio-political marginalisation. The mathematics discipline is politicised, racialised, and gendered to systematically oppress African women. The mathematics fields continue to be a masculine and white male dominated field, which reinforces and preserves masculine culture which is hostile and unwelcoming to women. African women mathematicians are further oppressed because of their racial and gendered identities in fields that are ideologically founded on proving the racial, gendered, social, cultural, and intellectual inferiority of Africans.Aim: The article aims to exemplify the lived experiences of African women doctoral students in the mathematics disciplines in South African universities. The article critically interrogates the factors that influence the participation, progression, and retention of African female doctoral students in the mathematics disciplines.Setting: The article comes from a larger study which investigated the reasons why African doctorate students do not become academics after they receive their doctorates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in South African universities. This paper focuses on the experiences of 10 African female doctoral students at five universities in South Africa. The universities were selected because they ranked in the top five in South Africa. Two of the institutions are historically Black universities and the rest are historically white institutions, with one historically Afrikaner-speaking university—between 2019–2021.Methods: This article employed a qualitative research methodology, where semi-structures interviews were conducted with 10 African female doctoral participants in mathematics disciplines in five South African universities and is underpinned by the theory of intersectionality.Results: The findings reveal how interlocking systems of oppression continue to influence the recruitment, retention, and progression of women in the mathematics discipline, thereby providing insight into the mechanisms that need to be altered and/or put in place to actively recruit African female doctoral students and retain them in academic positions.Conclusion: The article concludes that despite the mathematics field proclaiming neutrality and objectivity nevertheless, African women still experience racism, sexism, and classism. The experiences of African women in mathematics are vital to understanding the reasons why there is a high attrition rate of African women in the mathematics discipline in academia and why they do not become academics when they could transform this discipline.

A Trajectory towards a Culture of Quality: A Phenomenological Study of an Open Distance Learning University in South Africa and in China

Over the past few years we have witnessed immense advancements of technology which challenge conventional teaching methodologies. Through an international staff exchange program that was attended over a period of two weeks, this paper compares two distance education universities from two culturally diverse continents; Africa and Asia, more specifically, a distance university in China and an open distance and e-Learning university in South Africa. This paper focuses on supporting students through quality assurance by reflecting on both distance-learning institutions and generated data by means of field notes and observations that took place during presentations. It is argued that effective and quality teaching and learning cannot occur without tightened quality control measures in a course. Arguably, if teaching and learning is quality controlled, success and throughput rates would improve. The findings in this paper indicate that an enabling environment that caters for quality assurance activities to be implemented on a continuous basis needs to be effected. Distance learning institutions need to move towards a culture of quality and by doing this they need to tailor their student support not just to produce graduates at end of a cohort but to produce quality graduates needed for the ever-evolving and rapidly transforming information and communication technologies. This paper concludes with recommendations for distance education institutions to move towards a trajectory of a culture of quality. It is argued that an environment that is conducive for quality assurance activities is needed for an effective culture of quality to ensue.

Working with and through Neoliberalism: Envisioning Research Supervision as a Pedagogy of Care in a Context of “Privileged Irresponsibility”

The report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion revealed that exclusionary practices are commonplace in South African universities. They remain a compelling factor that contributes to student attrition in Master’s and doctoral programmes, and they were a trigger to the #RhodesMustFall movement. Universities, oblivious to their doublespeak, have institutionalised curriculum decolonisation and delivery, yet simultaneously enforce neoliberal performative principles (fast-tracking increased numbers despite different levels of student readiness). The extent to which traditional, hierarchical research supervision models (with their genesis in an asymmetrical master-apprentice power dynamic) have responded to the needs of the euphemistically coined “non-traditional” student is moot. In a context of unprecedented increase in research supervision workloads and pressure to decolonise, there is limited research-informed knowledge as to how research supervisors navigate these contradictory conditions. This article reports on a study informed by a Freirean “pedagogy of care” as it attempts to address this lacuna by exploring the research supervision experiences and practice of a sample of 18 research-active professors in a College of Humanities at a research-led university in South Africa. Data was generated through in-depth interviews and subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. The findings indicate that a deep sense of care exists among the sampled supervisors and it manifests in various ways as supervisors actively work with and through neoliberal protocols.