The Response of South Africa’s Policy Landscape to Global and Local Trends - The Case of a Rural-Based University

Pravina  Pillay; Thayabaran  Pillay

doi:10.6000/1929-4409.2020.09.45

Authors

Pravina Pillay Department of Arts and Languages Education, Faculty of Education, University of Zululand, South Africa
Thayabaran Pillay Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Zululand, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2020.09.45

Keywords:

Globalisation, Local Trends, Internationalisation

Abstract

Globalisation is a highly contested term and has become a site for tension. Whilst globalisation in the context of Higher Education must be lauded for giving students and scholars access to work on a global platform, it has also reinforced inequalities that are already prevalent and has even created new ones. The negative impact of globalisation is evident most explicitly in developing countries such as South Africa and in smaller institutions of Higher Learning such as the University of Zululand. To compound the already precarious situation, one finds that in addition to accommodating elements of globalisation, institutions of Higher Learning have to also accommodate local trends such as the Africanisation of Education. Whilst globalisation has swept across the world and has impacted almost every sphere of life, the foci of this paper is on how policies in Higher Education, with special reference to the University of Zululand, have responded to global trends and local needs. This is a qualitative study. The methodology used is document analysis. This study interrogates the Language and Research policies of the University of Zululand to illuminate on how the aforementioned institution responds to global and local needs. The main finding of the study is that institutions of Higher Learning, in crafting their policy documents, are incorporating globalisation and are finding innovative ways of embracing local trends at the same time.

References

Altbach, PG (2004) Globalisation and the University: Myths and Realities in an Unequal World. Tertiary Education and Management, 10(1): 3-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2004.9967114 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2004.9967114

Botha, MM (2007) Africanising the Curriculum: An exploratory Study. South African Journal of Higher Education, 21 (2), pp. 202-216. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v21i2.25630 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v21i2.25630

Brand, G (2003) Imagining a Multilingual Academy: Rethinking Lnguage in Higher Education, South African Journal of Higher Education, 17 (3): 26 -35. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v17i3.25401 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v17i3.25401

Clark, J & Newman, J (1997) The Managerial State: Power, Politics and Ideology in the Re-making of Social Welfare. London: Sage.

Coetzee, SA (1999) ’n Blik op die Afrikanisering van Universiteite, South African Journal of Education, 19 (2): 130-139.

Crystal, D (1997) English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Deem, R (1998) New ‘Managerialism’and Higher Education: The Management of Performance Cultures in Universities in the United Kingdom. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 8 (10):47-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/0962021980020014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0962021980020014

De Wit, H (2002). Internationalization of Higher Education in the United States and Europe. Westport: Greenwood.

Dill, DD & Soo, M (2005) Academic Quality, League Tables, and Public Policy: A Cross-national Analysis of University Ranking Systems, Higher Education, 49: 495-533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-004-1746-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-004-1746-8

Divala, JM & Waghid, Y (2009) On Learning and Cosmopolitanism in Higher Education. South African Journal of Higher Education, 23(6): 1191–1203. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v23i5.48803 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v23i5.48803

Ek, A, Ideland, M, Jönsson, S & Malmberg, C (2013) The Tension between Marketisation and Academisation in Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, 38(9), 1305-1318. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.619656 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.619656

Ellis, JHP (2005) Towards an Internationalization Policy for South Africa: Global, National and Institutional imperatives. In: Internationalisation of Higher Education: A Policy Framework. Proceedings of the 1st Colloquium, eds. N. Jooste and E. Naude. University of Port Elizabeth, Summerstrand Campus, 26 27 August 2004. The Office for International Education of the University of Port Elizabeth.

Giroux, H (2002) Neoliberalism, Corporate Culture and the Promise of Higher Education: The University as a Democratic Public Sphere, Harvard Educational Review, 72(4), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.72.4.0515nr62324n71p1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.72.4.0515nr62324n71p1

Halsey, HH (1992) Decline of Donnish Dominion. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Hoppers, CAO (2002) Indigenous Knowledge and the Integration of Knowledge Systems: Towards a Philosophy of Articulation. Claremont: New Africa Books.

Jay, D & Parker, P (1998) The New Higher Education. Issues and Directions for the Post Binary Unity. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Jowi, JO (2012) African Universities in the Global Knowledge Economy: The good and Ugly of Internationalization, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 22 (1): 153–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841241.2012.705799 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08841241.2012.705799

Knight, J (2004) Internationalization Remodelled: Definition, Approaches, and Rationales. Journal of Studies in International Education, 8 (1): 5 - 31. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315303260832 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315303260832

Laurillard, D (2000) New Techniques, Students and the Curriculum. In Higher Education Re-Formed. Ed. P. Scott. London: Falmer Press.

Lebakeng, T, Manthiba, P, & Dalindjebo, N. (2006) Epistemide, Institutional Cultures and the Imperatives for Africanisation of Universities, Alternation, 13(1) :70-87.

Le Grange, L (2014) Currere’s Active Force and the Africanisation of the University Curriculum, South African Journal of Education, 28 (4): 1283–1294.

Lynch, K (2006) Neo-liberalism and Marketisation: The Implications for Higher Education, European Educational Research Journal, 5 (1) Number 1: 1-17. https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2006.5.1.1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2006.5.1.1

Lynch, K & Moran, M (2006) Markets, Schools and the Convertibility of Economic Capital: The Complex Dynamics of Class Choice, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 27(2): 221 -235. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425690600556362 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01425690600556362

Makgoba, M & Seepe, S (2004) Knowledge and Identity: An African Vision of Higher Education Transformation. In. Towards an African Identity of Higher Education, ed. S.Seepe. Pretoria: Vista University Media.

McKay, J. (1995) From Collegial academy to corporate Enterprise and the Changing Cultures of Universities. In The Changing Universities. Ed. By T. Schutter. Buckingham: Society of Research into Higher Education

Moulder, J (1995) Universities and “Africanisation”. South African Journal of Higher Education, 9: 7-8.

Mtukela, G (2004) Organisational Transformation and Equity in Higher Education, Unpublished paper.

Neale-Shutte, M & Fourie, J (2006) Challenges to Internationalisation in African Higher Education, South African Journal of Higher Education, 20 (1): 122-146. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v20i1.25562 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v20i1.25562

Ntshoe, I (2002) National Plan for Higher Education in South Africa: A Programme for Equity and Redress or Globalised Competition and Managerialism. South African Journal of Higher Education, 16 (2):7-10. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v16i2.25236 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v16i2.25236

Ntshoe, I, Higgs, P, Higgs, LG & Wolhuter CC (2008) The Changing Academic Profession in Higher Education and New managerialism and Corporatism in South Africa, South African Journal of Higher Education, 22 (2):391-403. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v22i2.25793 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v22i2.25793

Pandor, N (2005) Address at the closing of the 11th conference of the Association of African Universities, Cape Town, 25 February 2005.

Seepe, S (2000) Higher Education and Africanisation. Perspectives in Education, 18 (3): 52 71.

Suttner, R (2006) Talking to the Ancestors: National Heritage, the Freedom Charter and Nation-building in South Africa in 2005, Development Southern Africa, 23(1):3-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/03768350600556570 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03768350600556570

Tooley, J (2000) Reclaiming Education. London: Cassell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0270.00244

University of Zululand (2017) Policy and Procedures on Language, VC P4:1-13.

University of Zululand (2017) Policy for Developing Research and Innovation, RI P32: 2-37.

Warner, D & Palfreyman, D (1996) Higher Education Management: The Key Elements. Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education.

Zeleza, PT (2005) Transnational Education and African Universities. In: Cross Border Provision and the Future of Higher Education in Africa: Papers and Program. 11th AAU General Conference, 21 25 February 2005, Cape Town, South Africa. Association of African Universities in collaboration with the University of Cape Town.