Rethinking Higher Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa

This book explores the opportunities and epistemological and structural challenges facing higher education in postcolonial South Africa, and argues for a fundamental transformation to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Taking the concept of transformation as a unifying thread, this book discusses the evolving trajectories of higher education in South Africa, with particular emphasis on the decolonial initiatives that have emerged in the post-Apartheid era. During this time, there have been persistent calls for South Africa to move beyond Eurocentric education programmes and curricula in favour of a system that reflects the continent’s culture and identities of all South Africans. The book argues that incremental reforms of existing structures are insufficient, and that instead a deeper, more fundamental shift in higher education structures, values and systems is needed. Overall, the book calls for a comprehensive transformation to expand access for historically disadvantaged communities, enhance quality and competitiveness, address past injustices, and improve the quality and capacity to act together for a more sustainable and just future.

Also exploring the digital transformations which have accelerated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this book will be an essential read for researchers and policy makers working on higher education in South Africa.