Reflections on equity and diversity at higher education institutions in South Africa

Exploring Factors Affecting the Attraction and Retention of Academic Employees at the Durban University of Technology

“…The present study uncovered that female employees felt that they were treated differently compared to their male counterparts and their needs differed from those of male counterparts. This disparity is supported in the literature, where, for example, Cassim (2005) noted that gender equity in higher education is increasingly becoming the subject of attention and research globally as well as in South Africa, particularly since the promulgation of the Employment Equity Act. An Indian study suggested that market value and social value as the factors determining the employee attraction (Ahmad, Khan, and Haque 2019)…”

Progress towards Employment Equity in Institutions of Higher Education in South Africa

“…According to Cassim (2005) equity refers to techniques that are exploited to support equal opportunity and warrant fair treatment. One of the issues of fairness is that access ought to be based on ability and application, and not on factors such as ethnicity, gender or socio-economic status.…”

“…Thus, South Africa's political and social transformation has prompted higher education institutions to develop their respective transformation programmes based on the principles of democracy, equity, and social justice. Several higher education institutions have already advanced on equity and diversity while others are lagging behind (Cassim, 2005).…”

Governance of the South African University under Democracy and the Triumphalism of Managerialism over Transformational Leadership

“…Universities, by nature of their core business, have been in a perennial relationship of precarious flux with society and state (Nolte, n.d.;Jansen, 2003;Cassim, 2005;Vinger & Cilliers, 2006;Dominguez-Whitehead, 2011). State-funded, universities are required to be creative and innovative to maintain theoretical and policy relevance (Jansen, 2003;Mkandawire, 2005Mkandawire, , 2011Chipunza & Gwarinda, 2010).…”

“…A democratic South Africa embarked on a series of restructuring policies, variously interpreted as attempts to wrestle power from universities and eroding scope for institutional autonomy and academic freedoms (Cassim, 2005;du Toit, 2014). Necessitated by political transformation, restructuring of the South African University exacerbated the turbulence, uncertainty and high turnover of academic leadership.…”