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This concept note was produced for a symposium held under the banner of Critical University Studies -- South Africa (CUS-SA) at the University of Johannesburg in August 2022. The opening plenary session was addressed by Profs. Premesh Lalu, Sarah Mosoetsa and Sarah Nuttall. A summary of a paper prepared for this symposium by Michael Peters on the university in techno-rational times was presented as part of the panel. The rest of the symposium featured critical discussion in response to this concept note and presentations of potential chapter contributions for a book on the theme. The concept note is followed below by six responses by South African higher education scholars in response to Michael Peters' and the CUS-SA concept note.

Equity and redress, in and through education, are fundamental commitments of the new South African democratic government that ensued in 1994 after a brutal and protracted history of colonial and apartheid segregation and oppression denied the majority black population the fundamental right to equitable and quality education. A raft of ambitious and far-reaching policies were put in place to achieve these laudable goals. Yet more than 26 years after the ending of colonial and apartheid rule, the South African education system, and society in general, remain, far from equal -- made apparent by the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper we take a critical (re)look at South African education governance and funding policies, considering why the South African Schools Acts (SASA) and the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF), first promulgated in 1997 and 1998 and subsequently amended, have not delivered as expected on the promises of equity, redistribution and redress. The paper advances conceptual flaws, operational failures and implementation naivety as to why these promises have not been realised, advocating for an alternative social justice model for school governance and funding.

This paper seeks to understand how the curriculum is experienced across two higher education institutions to probe students' understandings of epistemic access in the context of decolonisation debates. Three particular aspects of student experience of the decolonised curriculum and pedagogy are scrutinised. First, we look at the kind of sociality encouraged in the pedagogic encounter. Since a core function of education is social and cultural formation, a question arises as to what kind of sociality is possible between students and lecturers in a decolonised education space, including in the context of COVID-19. Second, we explore patterns of participation including, academic activities and support provided. Third, we investigate the knowledge forms and canon to which students are exposed in their respective programmes, with consideration of language issues. Finally, we examine the decolonisation of the curriculum in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The disruption of the academic year by the COVID-19 pandemic required higher education institutions to manage and lead under untenable conditions. This article is a case study of a leadership model adopted at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) located in South Africa. It offers insights into how the leadership and governance evolved and enabled management of the crisis presented by the pandemic. This article presents the relevant theory and concepts on leadership followed by a review of the impact of COVID-19 on higher education. This is followed by an interpretation of the sequence of events as they unfolded at UJ propelled by the mandate to leave no student behind and continue with the academic year. The UJ experience was characterised by the values of social justice, equity, access and teaching excellence. This article explores the University of Johannesburg's response in relation to these values and leadership theories.

This paper aims to map the landscape of higher education transformation in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations while exploring the status of BRICS nations in some of the global university rankings and analysing their potential to give new meaning to notions such as excellent and world-class universities. The study provides different theoretical perspectives about global university ranking and about the notion of "world-class/excellence." Based on the literature exploration, the gathered data from some of the global university ranking agencies and the critical reflections from purposefully selected respondents, it is considered that the quest for world-class universities is articulated in several public policy documents of BRICS nations. While some attempts to achieve this quest vary (e.g. from China's strong effort to India's least effort), BRICS nations, like many other nations, seem to evolve towards this ambition, as universities have become the centre point of the development agenda. The ability of BRICS nations to provide new meaning to "world-class/excellence" notions, although not clear, cannot be disputed given the indications that the BRICS bloc is emerging as an alternative economic force and the role higher education is playing in this emergence.

The evolution of South African universities continues to be shaped by both apartheid and more recent post-apartheid policies. Yet the South African university system is mainly an elite, low participation and high attrition system, offering a medium quality education. Moreover, there is uneven attention to the opportunities that internationalization might bring to South Africa. The paper explores South Africa's position in a global, African and regional perspective, and looks at post-apartheid trends in the internationalization of higher education. Finally, it provides an analysis, looking forward, of the essential conditions for more beneficial internationalization. This will include addressing "brain drain" and "brain gain," global dialogue and mutual learning, and collaborative partnerships, marked by a common commitment to sound academic values, scientific integrity, ethics and social responsibility.

This concept note was produced for a symposium held under the banner of Critical University Studies – South Africa (CUS-SA) at the University of Johannesburg in August 2022. The opening plenary session was addressed by Profs. Premesh Lalu, Sarah Mosoetsa and Sarah Nuttall. A summary of a paper prepared for this symposium by Michael Peters on the university in techno-rational times was presented as part of the panel. The rest of the symposium featured critical discussion in response to this concept note and presentations of potential chapter contributions for a book on the theme. The concept note is followed below by six responses by South African higher education scholars in response to Michael Peters' and the CUS-SA concept note. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Education for All and Millennium Development Goals commit national governments, international agencies and civil society to ensure that all children are provided with basic education. In South Africa this would mean full attendance in Grades (1-9). The achievement of universal primary education and gender equity across low-income countries are seen as critical to efforts to reduce poverty, increase equity and transform the developmental prospects of all people. South Africa has committed itself to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals premised on the right to basic education for all which is enshrined in its Constitution. However, unlike a number of other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa has near universal access to formal public schooling up to the end of the compulsory phase: this phase comprises of the foundation phase (Grades 1-3); the intermediate phase (Grades 4-6); and the junior secondary phase (Grades 7-9)--a total of 9 years of schooling. However, substantial infrastructural backlogs deprive learners of equal opportunities to quality education. Expanded access has little import unless it includes regular attendance, enables progression through grades at appropriate ages, and provides meaningful learning, achievement and completion. Using quantitative empirical data from two districts in two different provinces in South Africa, this article reviews patterns of participation. It pays particular attention to dropout, age-grade progression and repetition in understanding the dynamics of access. The article concludes that access must be more than just a place in a school for every child; it must be meaningful access. (Contains 1 table, 6 figures, and 7 notes.)

Through an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data on school funding in South Africa, this paper aims to analyse the user fee policy option in public schooling in South Africa. Debate is ongoing about the role of private input into public schooling and whether this practice affects access (and the constitutional right) to basic education, and the effects of decentralised school finance policy and its outcomes. A central question is whether school fees have led to greater equality and equity in the schooling system or whether they contribute to greater inequity. Differentiation in the public schooling system is often caused by the presence of private contributions which are used to employ extra educators and lower educator ratios-significant quality differentials. Using empirical data and a disaggregated methodology, this paper illustrates how key equity indicators are affected by the presence of private contributions. Further, it is suggested that while non-state provision of education is limited in South Africa the model of user fee and private contributions is an important feature of post-apartheid education. Finally it is argued that a key challenge in post-apartheid South Africa is to address equitable access to quality education for the majority of disadvantaged learners, and enhance redistributive mechanisms in education financing in public schools. (Contains 4 figures, 5 tables and 3 notes.)

Through an analysis of recent quantitative data on equity and school funding in South Africa, this article aims to explicate the patterns and typology of inequality in post-apartheid South Africa, and to deepen our understanding of the construct of equity. It also aims to understand the application of equity in the context of public schooling through a disaggregated school-level analysis of a key equity indicator, per capita expenditure. This approach quantifies inequity and progress towards equality, and establishes a broader set of variables and correlates by which to understand school finance equity. It also analyses the impact of private contributions on formal basic schooling. The significance of this study lies in its contribution to the quantification of finance equity and inequity through a better understanding of finance input data analyses that go beyond race-based analyses.

Access to higher education has been relatively addressed well globally, while student success rate remains a serious concern, given several issues around quality. This study therefore aims to explore the role of epistemic access for effective teaching and learning in higher education and it is keen to account student's experiences and views on regular and distance programmes. A questionnaire using google form was instrumented to gather both quantitative and qualitative data among students and graduates in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Statistical analysis was used for quantitative data, while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. The results confirm the theoretical claim that the pursuit of authentic knowledge is adequate when epistemic access is ensured. The study recommends that higher educational institutions offering both modes must fulfil their epistemic duties by ensuring epistemic access to students. In general, the participants in the study agreed that the regular university programmes are more conducive for epistemic access, while distance education has other advantages such as flexibility and affordability. The study contents that both modes have merits and demerits. It is, therefore, necessary that both are available at good qualities for students to benefit from them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting social justice has been at the centre of higher education in South Africa since democracy. However, social justice for all remains an issue despite redress policies. This conceptual paper focuses on exploring plausible means for ensuring social justice in higher education. Teacher professional development and resilience are highlighted and discussed in this paper as frameworks that can help in promoting social justice especially in times of disruptions. The paper argues that there is need to rethink teacher professional development and resilience now and, in the future, given how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the usual ways of operating within education sectors and higher education in particular. Remote teaching and learning was introduced to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is mostly done online and is underpinned by a specific set of pedagogical principles and assessment practices, most of which are alien to staff and students in the majority of universities in South Africa. This widened the gap between and among students and universities, with universities finding that their staff need to be equipped to promote student success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cohort of 782 Soweto (black South African) students was traced during students' first 4 years of schooling, 1987-90 (apartheid still in effect). Only 55 percent completed second grade in 4 years, but repetition in grade was a much greater problem than dropping out. Discusses postapartheid policy implications for improving educational efficiency and quality. Contains 52 references. (SV)

The political and social changes occurring in South Africa make issues of training researchers more urgent and more complicated. Capacity building in nongovernment organizations and problems in training to overcome race and gender inequities are reviewed. (SLD)

Quantitative approaches, based on numerical analyses of operationalised variables, used to present teaching and learning trends in higher education, are pervasive. However, teaching and learning trends disaggregated by gender are generally collected and/or reported according to a binary operationalisation. The gender binary is associated with heteronormative dispositions. This paper examines the extent to which gender operationalisation, as it relates specifically to teaching and learning trends in South Africa, promotes heteronormative dispositions and the consequent implications for social justice. Framed within Nancy Fraser's approach to social justice, heteronormative dispositions constitute misrecognition and hence injustice. Based on a review of data gathering and reporting on teaching and learning trends by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), it is clear that, at present, non-binary expressions or analyses of gender are misrecognised. The paper argues that gender operationalisation associated with trends in teaching and learning contributes to heteronormative dispositions that are not commensurate with social justice. It calls for the disruption of binary gender operationalisation linked to teaching and learning trends as a mechanism for full recognition and socially just knowledge production. This paper does not focus on research in a moment of social disruption but rather seeks to disrupt research processes which could be exclusionary and promote injustice, and thus interrupt socially-unjust representations, specifically as it relates to gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]