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The Conundrum of Achieving Quality Higher Education in South Africa

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Achieving Equity and Quality in Higher Education

Abstract

Widening access has been a buzzword in the arena of South African higher education (HE) since South Africa (SA) became a democratic state in 1994. More than 20 years later, there is agreement that the quantitative aspect of widening access for non-whites (also referred to as Blacks) into HE has tremendously improved. However, the literature reveals that the transformational agenda on widening access is constrained by ever-increasing student numbers coupled with infrastructural incapacity, curriculum reform and institutional supportive elements. The Fees Must Fall movement, which has gathered impetus is an articulation of one example of weak supportive elements in HE with growing student dissatisfaction in relation to their accommodation and tuition fees. Additionally, at a qualitative level, it is valuable to understand the extent to which widening access has indeed infused programme offerings across public higher education institutions (HEIs) and the challenges that institutions are facing in throwing open their doors to a wider subscription of customers. This chapter therefore presents a landscape of achievements, shortfalls and challenges in terms of specifically focusing on issues of institutional support and curriculum reform and the implications these have for the quality of HE. Issues of ‘fitness for purpose’ and ‘fitness of purpose’ are presented to illuminate the conundrum implicit in current HE provisioning in SA. The authors undertake this through a case study of three distinctly different public HEIs in SA, demonstrating the current HE terrain in widening access within a transformational HE plan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal—Edgewood Campus, Durban, South Africa

    Sadhana Manik & Labby Ramrathan

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  1. Sadhana Manik
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  2. Labby Ramrathan
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Correspondence to Sadhana Manik .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

    Mahsood Shah

  2. Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia

    Jade McKay

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Manik, S., Ramrathan, L. (2018). The Conundrum of Achieving Quality Higher Education in South Africa. In: Shah, M., McKay, J. (eds) Achieving Equity and Quality in Higher Education. Palgrave Studies in Excellence and Equity in Global Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78316-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78316-1_11

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78316-1

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