This book was written with the purpose of analyzing the challenges faced by the post-apartheid government in South Africa with regard to reform of higher education. It covers the apartheid context of higher education, resistance to the system and its ultimate demise, democratic processes in post-apartheid reform agenda and how this agenda was emptied of its radical content as a result of global and local pressures. Highlighted are key constraints in the reform process, including the compromise pact agreed upon between the apartheid government and the ruling African National Congress, the rapidly globalizing environment underpinned by neoliberal principles within which South Africa's transition took place, shifts in macro-economic policies of government towards neo-liberal policy, the inheritance of the bureaucracy and the inexperience of new government officials. These are presented in a narrative style that combines the author's experience, the voices of key players involved and important data from a range of documentary sources. This is the first single authored book in post-apartheid South African that has systematically looked at higher education reform.

Higher education systems around the world are undergoing fundamental change and reform due to external pressures—including internationalization of higher education, increased international competition for students, less reliance on public funding, and calls to create greater access opportunities for citizens. How are higher education systems evolving structurally as a result of these and other pressures? In light of these changes, how can higher education be a positive force for democratizing societies? This book examines the emerging trends taking place in higher education systems around the world, focusing on the most salient political and social forces that underlie these trends. Each chapter provides a case study of a country, exploring its cultural and political history, the political and social developments that have affected its higher education system, and the result of these changes on the higher education system. In a fast-changing, knowledge-intensive, democratic society, Democratizing Higher Education explores how higher education systems can be developed to provide access, affordability, participation, and quality life-long learning for all.

A fresh and bold argument for revamping our standards of “merit” and a clear blueprint for creating collaborative education models that strengthen our democracy rather than privileging individual elites Standing on the foundations of America’s promise of equal opportunity, our universities purport to serve as engines of social mobility and practitioners of democracy. But as acclaimed scholar and pioneering civil rights advocate Lani Guinier argues, the merit systems that dictate the admissions practices of these institutions are functioning to select and privilege elite individuals rather than create learning communities geared to advance democratic societies. Having studied and taught at schools such as Harvard University, Yale Law School, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Guinier has spent years examining the experiences of ethnic minorities and of women at the nation’s top institutions of higher education, and here she lays bare the practices that impede the stated missions of these schools. Goaded on by a contemporary culture that establishes value through ranking and sorting, universities assess applicants using the vocabulary of private, highly individualized merit. As a result of private merit standards and ever-increasing tuitions, our colleges and universities increasingly are failing in their mission to provide educational opportunity and to prepare students for productive and engaged citizenship. To reclaim higher education as a cornerstone of democracy, Guinier argues that institutions of higher learning must focus on admitting and educating a class of students who will be critical thinkers, active citizens, and publicly spirited leaders. Guinier presents a plan for considering “democratic merit,” a system that measures the success of higher education not by the personal qualities of the students who enter but by the work and service performed by the graduates who leave. Guinier goes on to offer vivid examples of communities that have developed effective learning strategies based not on an individual’s “merit” but on the collaborative strength of a group, learning and working together, supporting members, and evolving into powerful collectives. Examples are taken from across the country and include a wide range of approaches, each innovative and effective. Guinier argues for reformation, not only of the very premises of admissions practices but of the shape of higher education itself.

Higher education systems around the world are undergoing fundamental change and reform due to external pressures—including internationalization of higher education, increased international competition for students, less reliance on public funding, and calls to create greater access opportunities for citizens. How are higher education systems evolving structurally as a result of these and other pressures? In light of these changes, how can higher education be a positive force for democratizing societies? This book examines the emerging trends taking place in higher education systems around the world, focusing on the most salient political and social forces that underlie these trends. Each chapter provides a case study of a country, exploring its cultural and political history, the political and social developments that have affected its higher education system, and the result of these changes on the higher education system. In a fast-changing, knowledge-intensive, democratic society, Democratizing Higher Education explores how higher education systems can be developed to provide access, affordability, participation, and quality life-long learning for all.

"This book of contributed chapters is for educators who want to improve their understanding of the role higher education can play in developing students who are actively engaged in democratic processes and civic engagement opportunities"--

This book gathers selected high-quality research papers presented at the Sixth International Congress on Information and Communication Technology, held at Brunel University, London, on February 25–26, 2021. It discusses emerging topics pertaining to information and communication technology (ICT) for managerial applications, e-governance, e-agriculture, e-education and computing technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT) and e-mining. Written by respected experts and researchers working on ICT, the book offers a valuable asset for young researchers involved in advanced studies. The book is presented in four volumes.

In spite of the increasing attention attributed to the rise in prominence of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, few studies have looked at the ways in which broader social expectations with respect to the role of higher education across the BRICS have changed, or not, in recent years. Our point of departure is that, contrary to the conventional wisdom focusing on functionalistic perspectives, higher education systems are not just designed by governments to fulfill certain functions, but have a tendency for evolving in a rather unpredictable fashion as a result of the complex interplay between a number of internal and external factors. In reality, national higher education systems develop and change according to a complex process that encompasses the expectations of governmental agencies, markets, the aspirations of the population for the benefits of education, the specific institutional traditions and cultures of higher education institutions, and, increasingly so, the interests and strategies of the private firms entering and offering services in the higher education market. This basically means that it is of outmost importance to move away from conceiving of "universities" or "higher education" as single, monolithic actors or sector. One way of doing this is by investigating a selected number of distinct, but nonetheless interrelated factors or drivers, which, taken together, help determine the nature and scope of the social compact between higher education (its core actors and institutions) and society at large (government, industry, local communities, professional associations).

Explores the relationship between knowledge in higher education and social justice.

This book is a multi-disciplinary exploration of the intersection, relationship, and connection between higher education, economic development, and gender in post-Apartheid South Africa. In just twenty years, South Africa has rewritten its constitution, restructured its macroeconomic growth and development policies, restructured its higher education system, and made a commitment to provide opportunity for all its citizens, specifically those who have historically been marginalized, women and blacks. Eynon weaves together these unique perspectives to illustrate how these multiple domains map onto women and the critical role they play in the present and future of the country. Gender equality and women’s empowerment and education were considered key drivers to South Africa’s transformation.