"Drastic action is being taken to ensure South Africa does not run short of academics, says Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande". (Mail & Guardian online,15 OCT 2014)
South African universities and technikons have a lot of work to do before they can be considered truly transformed, according to a study by the University of KwaZulu-Natal presented to Parliament this week. (City Press 27 October 2013)
An infographic on the Department of Higher Education and Training's (DHET) report on how South African universities fare when it comes to producing and publishing research [CityPress, 24 August 2014].
"The dominant institutional "ideologies", everyday practices at universities, still have to undergo the social changes experienced by state institutions. In South "Africa the state has changed, at least in the composition of its personnel, yet civil society, the sphere where higher education institutions find themselves, has some ways to go".
This newspaper article points out how the higher education and training department is desperate to root out the distrust its new transformation oversight committee has triggered. [22 April 2013]
Gwebs Qonde, Director General of the Department of Higher Education and Training responds to a number of critical articles and opinion pieces on the topic of transformation at universities [Mail & Guardian Online, 1 February 2013].
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will investigate a reported racist attack on black students at the University of the Free State (UFS). It is concerning that South Africa is still grappling with intolerance and hatred among racial groups. (City Press 22 February 2014)
The first study of the field diagnoses a major crisis that threatens its survival. Declining student enrolments in the humanities and the post-1994 government’s heavy prioritising of science and technology disciplines are major causes of a crisis in the humanities that threatens their survival in South Africa. This emerges from the first-ever study of the field in this country, the Academy of Science of South Africa said. (Mail & Guardian 6 Aug 2011)
This newspaper article discusses how the team charged with gleaning what afflicts the social sciences is all set to forge ahead on its newly charted course. [7 June 2013]
This article argues that freedom must prevail or the humanities will be at the mercy of political nationalism. The author reasons that mouse-clicking on "decolonising the humanities" is not the same as "hitting the panic button of academic freedom" [10 May 2013]
