scholarly journals On not taking language inequality for granted: Hymesian traces in ethnographic monitoring of South Africa’s multilingual language policy

Multilingua ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy H. Hornberger
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Current Implementation ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
South African Higher Education

AbstractSouth African higher education is at a critical juncture in the implementation of South Africa’s multilingual language policy promoting institutional status for nine African languages, English, and Afrikaans. South African scholars, not content merely to comment from the sidelines on the policy, its promise, and challenges, have also engaged in implementation efforts. This article explores two such initiatives, both focusing on the use of African languages in higher education institutions where English is already established as the medium of instruction, and both undertaken with explicit goals of righting South Africa’s longstanding social injustices. I collaborated with colleagues at the University of Limpopo and the University of KwaZulu-Natal to assess current implementation and identify next steps and strategies for achieving truly multilingual teaching, learning, and research at their institutions. Taking up Hymes’ (1980) call for ethnographic monitoring of bilingual education, I sought in each case to jointly describe and analyze current communicative conduct, uncover emergent patterns and meanings in program implementation, and evaluate program and policy in terms of social meanings. I argue that ethnographic monitoring in education offers one means toward

scholarly journals Management and Governance in Higher Education: South African Universities under Siege

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
C.C. Wolhuter ◽  
P. Langa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Academic Profession ◽  
University Management ◽  
The South ◽  
Institutional Governance ◽  
Governance In Higher Education ◽  
The University ◽  
South African Higher Education

The recent spate of changes in university management worldwide should be carefully considered, interrogated and assessed against its impact on the capacity of the university fulfilling its unique role in society. For various justifiable reasons, South African higher education has been finding itself under the spotlight of the international community since 1994. The article surveys the South African academic profession vis à vis the changes that have been taking place regarding university governance and management. It is concluded that the South African academic profession, as far as (de jure and de facto) governance and management are concerned, find themselves sandwiched between two forces: from national and institutional governance on top, and the student corps from the bottom. This threatens the very survival of the university. A new exercise surveying the South African academic profession, as provided for by the Academic Profession in Knowledge Society (APIKS) international survey of the academic profession currently taking place, appears both timous and promising.

scholarly journals Challenges impeding women into leadership roles in a student-led organization at the South African higher education institution

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 508-518
Author(s):  
Nokwanda Jali ◽  
Sachin Suknunan ◽  
Anrusha Bhana
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
South African ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
The University ◽  
South African Higher Education

The study shows that a patriarchal society where women are still in the minority when it comes to leadership positions is still dominating. A few studies are exploring the role of women in leadership in government and industry, and very little focus is paid on higher education institutions and more especially – from a female leadership perspective. Therefore, this paper aims to determine the factors that hindered female students from attaining leadership positions and simultaneously make recommendations to create more leadership opportunities in a nationally recognized student-led organization known as the Student Representative Council at a large public South African higher education institution – the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The target population was 16 female leaders who served in the University’s Student Representative Council from 2019 to 2020 of which 13 had responded. A qualitative approach was followed and interviews were conducted. The study employed inductive qualitative thematic analysis using NVIVO 12. Findings revealed that the Student Representative Council structure at the university was patriarchal with little commitment to gender equality. Males outnumbered women in leadership roles. Portfolios assigned to women were mainly administrative rather than leadership. Females were subjected to stereotypical behavior. The study recommended ways to promote female student leadership whereby policy and constitution change is required to facilitate gender equality and the implementation of quotas. Women should be empowered to enhance their leadership skills via effective leadership development programs specifically designed for females to address the leadership gap between males and females.

scholarly journals "We've been taught to understand that we don't have anything to contribute towards knowledge": Exploring academics' understanding of decolonising curricula in higher education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mlamuli Nkosingphile Hlatshwayo ◽  
Innocentia Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Global South ◽  
Public University ◽  
School Of Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education

Universities in the Global South continue to grapple with the ethical demands of decolonising and transforming the public university and its episteme orientations. In this paper, we contribute to the emerging body of work in the Global South that attempts to make sense of the transformation and decolonisation discourses by exploring academics' understanding of decolonising curricula in South African higher education. Using purposive sampling, we interviewed eight academics from the school of education who teach in a research-intensive university in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We relied on the field theory of Pierre Bourdieu to think through the notion of a research-intensive university being a contested and structuring field constituted of various actors and agents who are struggling to make sense of, and understand the calls for, decolonising and transforming curricula. The findings suggest that, largely, academics understand the decolonising of curricula as a response to the need to tackle and theorise the Eurocentric thought in curricula and to re-centre African epistemic traditions and as well as navigate what they refer to as the confusion, ambiguity, and discomfort of decolonisation. We end this paper with some empirical and theoretical reflections on how exploring academics' understanding of decolonizing curricula is central to the broader project of achieving social justice in the Global South.

University on the Border: Crisis of authority and precarity

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Education System ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
The South ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
The University ◽  
South African Higher Education

The volume explores and thinks through the process of decolonising the South African higher education system by examining #MustFall. The text offers theoretical insights from a historical, contemporary and multidisciplinary lens, while examining the embedded meanings of the university as an institution, idea and set of practices to show the shifts and changes that were inaugurated by #MustFall along with the historicities that define the university both locally and globally. The retro- and prospective insights presented in the book surface the crisis of authority that places the university in a state of precarity, which is framed in the book as the ‘border’. The volume proposes the concept of the ‘border’ (recognising its conceptual and analytical dynamism) as a generative space that can facilitate new imaginaries and articulations of this social institution: the university.

Is isiZulu a ‘problem or a ‘resource’? Engineering students’ perceptions of teaching and learning in a multilingual context

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-149
Author(s):  
Hloniphani Ndebele
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
African Languages ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Perceptions Of Students ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education

Research and praxis in the field teaching and learning in the South African higher education context has been characterised by calls to expand the languages of teaching and learning through the inclusive use of African languages in higher education. Such calls are based on the realisation of the critical role that students’ home language can play in cognitive and linguistic development, among other things, in education. The focus of this paper is to ascertain the perceptions of students about the inclusive use of isiZulu, an African language, as a language of teaching and learning. Data were gathered through a survey which employed a questionnaire  targeting 120 students from a Faculty of Engineering at a South African university of technology. The study found that students’ understanding of the use of isiZulu for teaching and learning conflated issues of language as ‘problem’ and ‘resource’. The study also discovered elements of language ambivalence. The paper argues that helping students to shift their perceptions from a ‘problem’ viewof language to a view of language as a ‘resource’ could enhance their learning. Keywords: African languages; IsiZulu; Teaching and learning; Higher education; South Africa

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