Rethinking Higher Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Transformative Trajectories within a Decolonial Paradigm

Emnet Tadesse Woldegiorgis, Logan Govender, Dennis Zami Atibuni

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040346938
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Théorie et pratique de l'éducation

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 policymakers working on higher education in South Africa.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• PART 1 Conceptualizing Higher Education Transformation and Social Justice
• PART 2 Resistance, Leadership, and Decoloniality in Higher Education
• PART 3 Equity, Accessibility, and Technological Transformations in Higher Education
• Index