Free public higher education is possible and necessary. It’s also realistic, if it’s based on thorough research, consultation and students giving back through community service after graduation.
Transforming the curriculum isn’t as simple as replacing some books with others.
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A violent attack on a female student at one of South Africa’s prominent universities was not an isolated incident. It told a universal tale of how patriarchy still rules.
Universities expose students to difference, providing them with a unique opportunity to learn from others.
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If South Africans are to make the radical changes they must to become truly great, the new generation will have to find a way of understanding the country’s past in its profound complexity.
The US and Cuban flags with Havana’s National Capitol Building in the background.
EPA/Michael Reynolds
Cuba’s National Capitol Building has been reclaimed as the seat of the National Assembly 54 years after it was abandoned by the new revolutionary government. There are lessons in this for others.
Every student has their own story and their own concerns. Lecturers need to listen.
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In future, universities will only survive if they can produce knowledge fast and innovate. This will require transformational leadership that gets everyone involved.
Unfortunately ‘free’ public higher education is never actually free.
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If higher education is made “free” for all, the whole society ends up paying more. That’s deeply unjust in already unequal societies, such as those in Africa.
South Africa’s Jacob Zuma is president of the country as well as the African National Congress. He is under pressure on all fronts.
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It is unlikely President Zuma will announce a structural changes in his State of the Nation Address. This, despite education being in dire need of fundamental restructuring and an economy in decline.
Students have been steadfast in their demands of universities and the South African government. But what might the unintended consequences be?
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Many people dismiss the idea of free, quality public university education out of hand. But there are many ways to make it happen - and it all ties back to the idea of education as a public good.
Members of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa, the country’s largest union, march to highlight high unemployment.
Reuters/Rogan Ward
With the local government elections set to take place within the next seven months, it is worth considering what impact the recent upsurge in protests will have on the country’s political future.
A student faces off with a policeman in riot gear. Private security forces on campuses are a show of dominance and control.
EPA/Nic Bothma
The way in which one group of South African student protesters has acted and engaged with university managers shows how valuable a feminist approach to protest can be.
School fee exemptions that are meant to help poor families can actually cause them major problems.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
South Africa’s fee exemption system is at the heart of a deepening divide in the country’s school sector. It’s time for a major relook at how this policy is applied.
South African protesters from across the class divide march against the country’s president.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
The #FeesMustFall and #ZumaMustFall campaigns come from the same place. The rage has its roots in opposition to Zuma’s surrender of national sovereignty through globalising South African capitalism.
Yes, universities need to produce good scientists - but their graduates should be good citizens, too.
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University protests in South Africa have showed that the countries students are hungry for real change. This desire can be harnessed to create a generation of “citizen scholars”.
Chief Director: Tshwane University of Technology – Institute for Economic Research on Innovation; Node Head: DST/NRF SciSTIP CoE; and Professor Extraordinary: Stellenbosch University – Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology., Tshwane University of Technology