Higher education post‑apartheid: Insights from South Africa

Abstract

The implications of apartheid and decolonisation in higher education continue to be at the centre of critical debates in South Africa. Researchers of higher education continue to grapple with complex issues regarding curriculum, quality assessment, student development, as well as other aspects of teaching and learning. The need to understand the variety of perspectives that exist in the context of teaching and learning and not least challenges faced is still higher on researchers’ agenda. In Understanding Higher Education: Alternative Perspectives, Chrissie Boughey and Sioux McKenna provide critical insights into the changes that occurred within South African higher education over the past 20 years. The book problematises higher education issues in South Africa whilst acknowledging the contextual realities of the Global South. Boughey and McKenna essentially examine teaching and learning in South Africa and ask what changes occurred from the higher education reforms implemented post-apartheid. The book draws upon the structural developments in teaching and learning across universities and demonstrates how colonialism and apartheid afected access to knowledge. Its purpose is to inform the readers about the implications of globalisation and neoliberalism by refecting on how this interplay enabled and constrained participation in higher education.