Between a rock and a hard place: dilemmas regarding the purpose of public universities in South Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the idea of 'core business' in contemporary South African public universities. South Africa's public higher education system has global ambitions, but is also highly internally stratified. Drawing on new data from interviews with higher education leaders and government policymakers across a number of South African institutions, we show that while the rhetoric of 'core business' of the university has been adopted by higher education leaders, the question of what constitutes the purpose of the university, in South Africa and arguably beyond, is subject to ongoing debate and negotiation. The multiplicity of conflicting but coexisting narratives about what universities should do in South African society-producing excellent research, preparing a labour force, or addressing societal inequalities-exposes a persisting tension surrounding the purpose of a public university. And while this tension has historical origins, we show that responses to addressing these various roles of the institution are not developed organically and in a neutral context. They emerge under conflicts over limited state funding and attendant and opportune market pressure put on public universities in times of crisis, that shape profoundly their framing and outcomes, and the future of the universities.

Emergent transition from face-to-face to online learning in a South African University in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic

“…However, their efficiency can be different because of various factors such as being unclear to users, bandwidth requirements, take-up and maintenance cost, manuals, customisation and adaptation to the local environment (Anderson, 2016). However, this needs effective e-learning policies in place in order to address the needs of students and lecturers as according to the recent study conducted by Swartz et al (2019) to explore the core business in contemporary South African universities.…”

Unbundling and higher education curriculum: a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory view of process

“…In selecting a range of institutional stakeholders, we intend to illustrate key trends and discourses. Swartz et al (2019) provide an overview of the history and contextualisation of South African Higher Education. In essence, their paper points to the State-driven, post-1994 classification of the (then) 23 Higher Education institutions into three broad categories, according to their core focus and based on their histories as shown in Table 1.…”

Negotiating the "new normal": University leaders and marketisation

“…Indeed marketmaking and market exchanges are dynamic, sometimes fragmented and often contested processes (Komljenovic and Robertson 2016). And while authors such as Marginson (2013) and Ntshoe (2004) argue that full commercialisation in HE is not feasible and has not happened entirely in any jurisdiction, as HE is a "regulated quasi-market" (where pure economic imperatives are subsumed through public subsidies, loans, set caps on fees charged and exclusive access to elite institutions), the new terrain of public-private partnerships has presented novel ways of thinking about what constitutes "the core business" of the public university (see Swartz et al 2018).…”

“…Yet, the view that the involvement of private companies in public university activities would act as a catalyst for change was present in interviews in both countries. In South Africa this was particularly evident in terms of recent political economic crises, particularly the push for universities to gain further revenues in order to afford fee-free education for low income and working class students (see Swartz et al 2018). In this regard in South Africa, responses indicate that senior leaders were not fundamentally arguing against the market sector being involved but were concerned rather with how policy frameworks should shape the relationship.…”