The teaching of Islam is often limited to its religious practice. How Christians, Jews and Muslims borrowed freely from each other in the realm of art, music, and literature is seldom discussed.
2017 promises to be another tough year as South African universities head into the uncertain terrain of further addressing and healing the divisions that have been exposed.
A lot was expected from the South African finance minister’s 2016 medium term budget which came amid an unfolding economic crisis including the higher education funding gap.
Some students argue wrongly that the ANC has betrayed the promise of free higher education made in the Freedom Charter. The governing party’s populism is also to blame for the confusion.
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan announced that government expenditure on higher education and specifically universities will be the fastest growing expenditure items on the budget.
A new clause being embedded in a number of university contracts attempts to restrict academics from speaking freely in public debate about issues that are outside their area of research.