Minister of Higher Education, Dr Nzimande, releases Free Education for the Poor Reportt

The Ministry has released the Free Higher Education for th Poor Report of 2012. It is available from the Department's website here. #FeesMustFall

SA Minister of Higher Education withheld 2012 'free varsity' report | News | National | M&G

Free university education for the SA poor and much expanded financial support for the working class are possible, found a 2012 commissioned report. However, the treasury turned it down.... and consequently Nzimande withheld 'free varsity' report | News | National | M&G

Hand-over of Student Memorandum to UFS Rectorate

The University of the Free State top management received on Tuesday, 27 October, the memorandum of student demands.

This is what it contains:








27 October 2015 - University of the Free State

Memorandum to: Rectorate

ACCESS AND STUDENT SUPPORT

Academic Support

Superior Scholarship is the core value of the University. We, as the students of the University, pride ourselves in academic excellence and hold that students must be supported to excell academically in all our seven faculties, more especially students with extramural activities.

We demand:

• Extension of library hours to 24/7
• The implementation of flexible academic support programes.
• The review of academic advising in all faculties. We need consistent and credible academic advising as a fundamental academic support base programme.
• The introduction of effective skills development programmes within various courses in order to prepare students beyound university.
• The scrapping of names and surnames on tests and assignments. For assessment purposes, a student’s student number should suffice.
• Uniform Test Policies in all faculties. As responsible academies, students must be given the free option of writing test threes without the need to get a doctor’s sick note as a means of escaping first tests.
• UFS101 must be free and optional. Its purpose is still not clear.
• The Medical Faculty to be centralised and give more access to black students.
• Conducive lecturing environments and classes should not be cluttered without the exclusion of any students.
• An extension of the computer labs.

Financial Support
The majority of our registered students come from very poor backgrounds and continue to struggle financially to keep themselves within the system of Higher Education. Most of these students end up dropping out/being deregistered due to this financial burden. There is a need for the University to provide financial support for its students. We hold that the right to education cannot be only reserved for those who can afford.

We demand:

• Registration should be once-off and free for needy students.
• There should be no deregistration of students who qualify, on academic merits, to continue with their studies.
• Historical debts and outstanding fees should not be used as a means to disqaulify students from re-registering.
• Printing study records through the university must be free.
• Study records of students with outstanding fees must be made accessable to those students. Students must be able to monitor and measure their own academic performance and success. This will also provide students with an opportunity of applying for possible bursaries and sponsorships.
• Reduction of residence prices.
• 10% Reduction of exorbitant prices at the Student Centre, especially FoodZone and Treats.
• Budget transparency of all sectors of the university.
• The reduction of study material on campus.

Student Entrepreneurship
The University must offer support programmes to develop and promote student entrepreneurship. These programmes must aim to promote social responsibility through entrepreneurship.

We demand that:

• Students have a permanent business hub at the bridge to offer/sell their different services/goods to other students and  staff.
• Students be allowed to register as vendors and the University to support and use student services.

Health Support
The burden of high fees that is placed on students in order to attain and make use of health services is of concern. Also noted is the insufficient number of psychologists available. This is a fundamental problem mainly because students are told to wait in line and deal with their depressive states and emotions.

We demand:

• The employment of more (effective) psychologists.
• To have access to affordable health support services from the University. An alternative to the current status quo, is for the university to establish a health clinic, free of charge, through which:
• Postgrad Medicine students can use the platform to gain experience and accreditation for their work.
• The use of Government doctors.

ACADEMIC STAFF

As the students, we are very concerned about the quality and diversity of our academic staff employed by the University.

We demand:

• The employment of competent academic staff who inspire confidence in students through their lecturer-student relations and interactions and driven towards advancing academic excellence.
• Minimum requirement for junior lectures must be a Masters Degree and this must be applied consistently.
• The employment of more black staff in top academic and management positions of the University.
• Review of the academic curriculum.
• The screening of all academic staff's qualifications and thorough assessment of their appropriateness and relevance to the various curricula that exist in all seven faculties.
• Staff members found guilty of any form of discrimination must be dismissed with immediate effect.

FREE INTERNET

Internet as an essential tool of learning and academic support service, must always be made available to the students at no cost or limit. The current capping of internet is not sufficient as a research and academic support service.

We demand:

• Free access to unlimited WiFi. We suggest that the Eduroam model be looked into, as it is understood, we are under their wireless network services.

RESIDENCE LIFE

Holiday Accommodation
Our on-campus residences largely accommodate students who stay far from home, most of them are often expected to continue with their tests directly after the holidays. The inconvenience caused by moving in and out of residences, especially during short holidays, is of great concern.

We demand:

• Students to carry the right to stay in their respective residences during short holidays without carrying additional costs.
• Safe (lockable) storage spaces to be provided for students during long holidays.

Placement Policy
In support of the human project as one of the core values of the University, we call for an intergrated campus that will demonstrate in everyday practice the value of human togetherness across our social divides.

We demand:

• Implementation of a blind and consistent placement system (random placement) of prospective students. First year students must be placed in accordance with diversity targets of our residences and cannot be allowed to move from one residence to another, as this slows and hinders diversity and transformation.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

Security
It has become apparent that safety and security, on and off campus, are not at a desirable standard. Firstly, the issue regarding the competency of the security guards employed by the University.

We demand:

• to have competent and skilled guards, equipped with the necessary skills to protect students from violence and effectively response to calls of crime around campus. Visibility alone, without the necessary skills and tools of policing, is not enough.

Shuttle Service
Commuter students continue to struggle with transport services to get to or from the campus. This has imposed a very serious threat of danger as most often they have to walk long distances to get to campus or walk late at night from classes or libraries.

We demand:

• An availability of a sustainable shuttle service funded from the campus levy that off-campus students are already paying without knowing exactly what they are paying for.
• An availability of a shuttle service for nursing students.

INSTITUTIONAL SYMBOLS

Institutional symbols give a particular identity to the institution and further makes a representation of certain values depending on reasons why certain statutes, like the one of CR Swart was erected. The values of our country have changed significantly since 1996, through the then enacted Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, South African society is premised on the values of democracy, freedom and equality.

We demand:

• To have inclusive institutional symbols that reflects our current South African society.
• The removal of the statutes of CR SWART and STEYN before the end of the year.
• The renaming of the Law Faculty and most buildings which still give the idea that the institution is  an exclusively “white Afrikaner” institution.

INSOURCING OF WORKERS

We can no longer watch the exploitation of our own mothers and fathers prevailing within the institution.  Subjected to difficult working conditions, they are still paid peanuts and cannot sustain their own families.

We demand:

• The University to cut-off its relationship with outsoucers, as continue enslave workers. The university must incource workers and employ them in conducive working environments with a minimum salary of R 4 000.00, maximum wage calculated according to their living expenses.
• The cleaning staff are awarded the same benefits that other staff members are receiving.

STUDENT COMMUNITIES

• We demand that the university must have an LGBTQIA Centre that is separated from the Health and Wellness Centre. 
• We demand for policies of the university to be reviewed so that they can be inclusive to the LGBTQIA community. 
• Furthermore, we demand that all venues of the university be accessible to those with special needs. 
• We demand that each and every residence must have a disability unit.

LANGUAGE POLICY

• We demand for the policy review to run at an expedient and transparent fashion. 
• Furthermore, we demand for more polls to be made available and such polls should be stationed at public areas; the Student Centre, the Main Building and the Taxi Rank. We do not agree to one privatised venue.

NSFAS

• We demand that the compilation of NSFAS documents submitted by students for NSFAS application be submitted once upon such application. It is degrading for students to constantly prove to the university that they are poor and cannot afford.

Kind regards,
Student Representative Council

Government freezes fees as student protests mount - University World News

Government freezes fees as student protests mount - University World News

Call for Papers Journal of Higher Education in Africa (JHEA) Special Issue

Call for Papers:
Journal of Higher Education in Africa 

Special Issue: ‘Scholars on the Move: Reclaiming the African Diaspora to support African Higher Education’. (March, 2016)

Guest Editors: Patrício V. LANGA, University of the Western Cape, South Africa and Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique
Ibrahim O. OANDA, Council for the Development of Social Sciences Research in Africa, CODESRIA
Samuel N. FONGWA, University of the Free State, South Africa

Special Issue Editor: Patrício V. Langa

Two distinguished keynote addresses: Prof. Tade Akin Aina, Executive Director, PASGR
Prof. Emmanuel Akyeampong, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Under its newly launched African Diaspora to Support African Universities program, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to invite interested African scholars in the diaspora and African-based scholars to submit empirical and conceptual papers for a Special Issue on partnerships and collaborations between scholars in the diaspora and African-based scholars and institutions. The issue seeks to highlight topics related to the theory, practice and experiences of African scholars in the diaspora and African-based institutions.
The call for papers is a follow-up from a Research Partnership Network Methodological Workshop in Nairobi, 14th -16th October 2015, which was organised under CODESRIA’s diaspora support initiative. The workshop in Nairobi brought together African scholars in the diaspora and those based on the continent. While all the participants acknowledged that the workshop was an enriching experience, CODESRIA decided to extend the discussion through a special issue in the African Journal of Higher Education in Africa.
The aim of the special issue is to undertake a critical, reflective appraisal of the multidimensional forms of engagement, power dynamics, and the challenges of collaborations between African scholars in the diaspora and African-based scholars and institutions. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• The interchange – initiatives, forms of collaboration, degree of co-operation, tensions, complementariness - between African scholars in the diaspora and African universities or African-based scholars; 
• The experiences of academic mobility programs involving those in the African diaspora and African-based scholars; 
• The benefits and drawbacks of such collaborations and partnerships; 
• The patterns and dimensions of ‘brain drain’, ‘brain gain’ and ‘brain circulation’ for the development of African higher education and the continent; 
• The issues of supervision and co-supervision of students in a context of academic exchange between African scholars in the diaspora and African universities or African-based scholars; 
• Use of information technology to enhance the collaboration between African scholars in the diaspora and African universities; 
• Experiences of joint publications or other forms of research dissemination and collaborative initiatives, etc. 

Interested authors are to submit a 6000 to 7000 word text, including references, by 31 January 2016 for consideration. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by February 2016 and will be given additional time to revise their contributions in the light of editorial comments. All ‘accepted’ papers will then be sent for external peer review, according to JHEA’s standard operating procedures and regulations.
The special issue is to be published during the first semester of 2016. Manuscripts should be submitted as word documents to: Email: patricio.langa@gmail.com sam4ngwa50@gmail.com

#FeesHaveFallen

I got back to South Africa on Thursday, 22 October, after 10 days of absence during which a tense situation in higher education had become the biggest student protest wave democratic South Africa has seen in its 21 years of existence. 

I had followed the developments on News24, the Mail&Guardian, and other online news sites, as well as on social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. My own Facebook site began to fill up with video clips, pictures and stories from the #FeesMustFall student protests. 

Meanwhile, I was at an international conference in Moscow, Russia, that focused on researching and improving the student experience of higher education. I was there with some of the top global experts on student politics like Dr Manja Klemencic, on student engagement research like Dr Igor Chirikov and Dr John Douglass, and international higher education like Dr Maria Yudkevich and Prof Isak Froumin. 

As we were discussing Post-Soviet higher education challenges, student research, surveys and other methodologies, etc, the student body in South Africa decided to make history and take the untenable fee situation, the exploitation of outsourced workers, issues of institutional cultures, academic staff, student and curriculum transformation and related matters of social justice onto the streets. 

Only two weeks before that I was with Nazeema Mohamed, Dr Birgit Schreiber, Chief Mabizela (DHET), Dr Sibusiso Chalufu, Paul Kgobe (CEPD) and others, with the leadership of the South African Union of Students and the leadership of the Student Representative Councils of most south African public universities in four days of training workshops organised by the CEPD at Wits University and the University of the Western Cape. Moreover, shortly before that I was part of a team which for a weekend worked with the University of the Free State SRCs on the Bloemfontein Campus, to develop their co-operative governance and leadership skills. What a turn of events! Well, at Wits the signs of confrontation were surely there: When the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Mr Buti Manamela, gave his keynote, he was tackled very brusquely by the Wits SRC and other leaders in the workshop - for disrespecting them in so many ways (i.e. being late, being badly prepared, ridiculing them) -  to the extent of being very much embarrassed. It was a difficult workshop but also one that really showed that this student leadership will not be undermined.

In the meantime #FeesMustFall has become #FeesHaveFallen and the Presidency - after a meeting on Friday, 23 October, with Vice-Chancellors, Ministers, Presidents of SRCs and other stakeholders - announced a 0% fee increase for 2016. Fees have not really fallen - just that there is no increment. The National Financial Aid Fund is not yet operating properly; the debate on free higher education is not resolved; whatever mad registration and upfront payments are being requested by universities, we don't know how they will be implemented. In other words, after swot weeks and exams, in January/February 2016 we will see a well-rested angry student body faced with impossible upfront payments, insufficient financial aid, inadequate and limited residence space, financial exclusions and academic exclusions, and believe me, there will be fire. Now 2016 is an election year and we all know what that means in SA when it comes to civil unrest. If you want the ANC government to do anything, this is the time. 

I don't condone violence; I abhor it, along with the destruction of public and private property. I also and in no lesser terms absolutely condemn and abhor the dehumanising structural violence that continues to be commonplace in this country - the unemployment, inequality, and poverty, and the obscene levels of wealth, conspicuous consumption and degrading attitudes of the rich towards the poor. It is shocking how readily accepted this is in South African society and how the economic and political elite is shamefully passing the buck time after time. This, I submit, is certainly many times more dehumanising than a few tires burnt and a few classes missed. Please, correct me if I am wrong, but have  we not fought against financial exclusion for 20 years and more? When if not now? When are we going to have a new deal? A fair deal?

For now, please join me to stand with our youth who are raising legitimate issues, and hope for a resolution of the current crisis beyond 0%, #RhodesHasFallen and #FeesHaveFallen, to a new deal that will move us forward to equality and social justice.

#FeesMustFall - Statement from academic staff in South Africa

Statement to Vice-Chancellors, Minister of Higher Education & Training, Blade Nzimande, and the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene.

We the undersigned, as academics in South African institutions of higher education, we stand with students in their fight for the democratisation of our universities. The current student protests that have erupted across the country are historic. They demonstrate a younger generation willing to take up the struggle against inequality, and to insist on the principle of education for all. Our students are leading the national debate on education, and we insist that they deserve our respect and attention.
We have witnessed students act with extraordinary discipline, tactical skill and moral purpose. This commitment and self-control has gone unseen by many university managers, government leaders and the media who have misrepresented students as uninformed, irresponsible or irrational. Protesting students have faced and overcome potentially divisive tensions within their ranks, and have shown maturity in their intellectual arguments and political interventions. Above all, they have required us to confront a grievous national problem: the persistent exclusion of those who are black and poor from higher education, and from the opportunities that higher education makes possible.

We strongly object to the manner in which university managements have criminalised student protest. We strongly object to the continued use of repressive force to harm and intimidate students and to belittle their demands and experiences. Any viable leadership of higher education should be listening to and amplifying student voices. Instead we are in the midst of a leadership crisis where Vice-Chancellors and government ministers pass the buck back and forth and no-one is willing to take responsibility for changing the untenable conditions of higher education. Current student protest is a direct consequence of the manner in which university governance has underestimated proper consultation and work with students and other constituencies of our universities.

Students are insisting that a frank national debate be opened on both the funding and orientation of higher education. We reiterate the urgency of this debate, and call on our Vice-Chancellors, the Department of Higher Education and Training and National Treasury to understand that creative alternatives are now both urgent and essential. We cannot continue as usual. We are no longer in a moment in which we can quibble over percentages. We watch, year on year, as public funding of higher education is diminished, effectively turning our universities into semi-private institutions. We can no longer in good faith call them public universities, as student fees escalate, along with student debt, as workers are outsourced to private companies, large bonuses are paid to senior administrators, and academic life is increasingly corporatised.

South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. It is no longer tenable that the burden of balancing the university ledger be placed on the backs of the poorest students and the worst-paid workers who have the least capacity to bear it. The current system of funding students is dysfunctional and ineffective. Unequal access to higher education can only be addressed in one way: to make our universities fully publicly funded by government. We argue that the value of democratic, independent universities to the public good cannot be underestimated and that radical solutions to the funding crisis, such as a national wealth tax, are necessary.

We salute our students in their principled call for fully-funded transformative education, we call for a radical reinvestment in public universities by all who manage, work and study in them, and we commit ourselves and our work to the creation of a society in which all can thrive.

Kelly Gillespie (Wits), Prishani Naidoo (Wits), Zimitri Erasmus (Wits), Danai Mupotsa (Wits), Joel Quirk (Wits), Lerato Makate (Wits), Ahmed Veriava (Wits), Mehita Iqani (Wits), Nicky Falkof (Wits), David Dickenson (Wits), Tshepo Moloi (Wits), Fiona Horne (Wits), Anne Heffernan (Wits), Peace Kiguwa (Wits), Antje Schuhmann (Wits), Mwenya Kabwe (Wits), Arianna Lissoni (Wits), Cheryl Chamberlain (Wits), Becky Walker (Wits), Bettina Malcomess (Wits), Cathi Albertyn (Wits), Bridget Kenny (Wits), Mzikazi Nduna (wits), Stacey Sommerdyk (Wits), Noor Nieftagodien (Wits), David Hornsby (Wits), Pumla Gqola (Wits), Hylton White (Wits), Jill Bradbury (Wits), Sharad Chari (Wits), Shireen Hassim (Wits), Mpho Matsipa (Wits), Julia Hornberger (Wits), Ingrid Palmary (Wits), Rejane Williams (Wits), Edmarie Pretoria (Wits), Makhaola Ndebele (Wits), Lorena Nunez Carrasco (Wits), Melanie Samson (Wits), Srila Roy (Wits), Stefania Merlo (Wits), Sara Nieuwoudt (Wits), Garth Stevens (Wits), Jean Pierre Misago (Wits), Dineo Skosana (Wits), Warren Nebe (Wits), Avril Joffe (Wits), Timothy Wright (Wits), Marie Huchzermeyer (Wits), Jo Veary (Wits), Polo Moji (Wits), Mucha Musemwa (Wits), Maria Suriano (Wits), Dorothee Kreutzfeldt (Wits), Franziska Rueedi (Wits), Zen Marie (Wits), Catherine Duncan (Wits), Emma Coleman (Wits), Amanda Williamson (Wits), Lindelwa Dalamba (Wits), Justine Wintjes (Wits), Ray Kekwaletswe (Wits), Mikatekiso Kubayi (Wits), Joni Barnard (Wits), Elizaveta Fouksman (Wits), Haseenah Ebrahim (Wits), Hugo Canham (Wits), Margot Rubin (Wits), Mzikazi Nduna (Wits), Malose Langa (Wits), Nkululeko Nkomo (Wits), Neil Klug (Wits), Antonio Lentoor (Wits), Ruby Patel (Wits), Bheki Ndlovu (Wits), Juan Orrantia (Wits), Gina Snyman (Wits), Julian Brown (Wits), Colette Gordon (Wits), Elizabeth Picarra (Wits), Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon (Wits), Naadira Patel (Wits), Ismail Munshi (Wits), Shireen Ally (Wits), Eric Worby (Wits), Nicolas Pons-Vignon (Wits), Zaheera Jinnah (Wits), Antonio Lenton (Wits), Charne Lavery (Wits), Aly Karam (Wits), Heather Thompson (Wits), Stacey Vorster (Wits), Alex Wafer (Wits), Stephen Louw (Wits), Nkululeko Nkomo (Wits), Brett Bowman (Wits), Tommaso Milani (Wits), David Andrew (Wits), Laurel Baldwin-Ragaven (Wits), Pamila Gupta (Wits), Anywynne Kern (Wits), Kezia Lewins (Wits), Thea de Gruchy (Wits), Simon van Schalkwyk (Wits), Andrew MacDonald (Wits), Hannah Dawson (Wits), Elhadi Adam (Wits), Antonio Lentoor (Wits), Dinesh Balliah (Wits), Makhosazana Xaba (Wits), Cherae Halley (Wits), Caryn Green (Wits), Sibongile Bhebhe (Wits), Tamara Guhrs (Wits), Kathy Barolsky (Wits), Natasha Mazonde (Wits), Ella Kotze (Wits), Heather Schiff (Wits), Moses Rasekele (Wits), Brett Pyper (Wits), Tshego Khutsoane (Wits), Tarryn Lee (Wits), Megan Godsell (Wits), Brian Boshoff (Wits), Refiloe Lepere (Wits), Monique Hill (Wits), Rafaela Denhill (Wits), Ariane Janse van Rensburg (Wits), Sian Palmer (Wits), Petro Janse Van Vuuren (Wits), Hamish Neill (Wits), Munyaradzi Chatikobo, (Wits), Evans Mathibe (Wits), Grant Olwage (Wits), Limpho Kou (Wits), Sarah Woodward (Wits), Jessica Denyschen (Wits), Rachel Ceasar (Wits), Antje Schuhmann (Wits), Charley Lewis (Wits), Rangoato Hlasane (Wits), Jeff Handmaker (Wits), Donato Somma (Wits), Jessica S. Ruthven (Wits), Daria Trentini (Wits), Christopher Letcher (Wits), David Wilkins (Wits), Matthew Evans (Wits), Victoria Hume (Wits), Achille Mbembe (Wits), Bronwyn Law-Viljoen (Wits), Nereida Ripero-Muniz (Wits), Jonathan Crossley (Wits), Kirsten Dörmann (Wits), Mary Carman (Wits), Benita De Robillard (Wits), Ashraf Coovadia (Wits), Nqobile Malaza (Wits), Costanza La Mantia (Wits), Emma Monama (Wits), Innocentia Mhlambi (Wits), Fiona Baine (Wits), Luke Buckland (Wits), Sarah Emily Duff (Wits), Chris Thurman (Wits), Gilad Isaacs (Wits), Alberto Arribas (Wits), Alvaro Veliz-Osorio (Wits), Sarah Nuttall (Wits), Susann Huschke (Wits), Ruari-Santiago McBride (Wits), Gaelene Kramers (Wits), Hanli Geyser (Wits), Anitra Nettleton (Wits), Kenneth Kaplan (Wits), Alexandra Parker (Wits), Petro Janse van Vuuren (Wits), Elsje Bonthuys (Wits), Laetitia Rispel (Wits), Sarah Chiumbu (HSRC/Wits), Salim Vally (UJ), Claire Ceruti (UJ), Brendon Barnes (UJ), Naiefa Rashied (UJ), Robyn Cook (UJ), Carin Runciman (UJ), Sikhumbuzo Mngadi (UJ), Lauren Graham (UJ), Chana Teeger (UJ), Pragna Rugunanan (UJ), Judith Fessehaie (UJ), Anna Hedlund (UJ), Linda Chisholm (UJ), Natasha Erlank (UJ), Mathaba Machodi (UJ), Pier Paolo Frassinelli (UJ), Mohamed Belaid (UJ), Dirk Postma (UJ), Kim Baldry (UJ), Estelle Prinsloo (UJ), Zoheb Khan (UJ), Lauren Basson (UJ), Thea De Wet (UJ), Boikanyo Moloto (UJ), Carina van Rooyen (UJ), Bridget Grogan (UJ), Colin Chasi (UJ), Tessa Hochfeld (UJ), Thabo Tsehloane (UJ), Ayesha Omar (UJ), Britt Baatjes (UJ), Zoheb Khan (UJ), Brenden Gray (UJ), Koni Benson (UCT), Carla Tsampiras (UCT), Michael Coombes (UCT), Kosheek Sewchurran (UCT), Martha Evans (UCT), Ermien van Pletzen (UCT), Glenda Daniels (Wits), Yaliwe Clarke (UCT), Floretta Boonzaier (UCT), Maanda Mulaudzi (UCT), Jane Bennett (UCT), Kathryn Stinson (UCT), Chris Ouma (UCT), Mbongiseni Buthelezi (UCT), Lesley Green (UCT), Kate Angier (UCT), Fiona Ross (UCT), Shose Kessi (UCT), Shaheen Mowla (UCT), Lance van Sittert (UCT), Lucia Thesen (UCT), Caroline Skinner (UCT), Elena Moore (UCT), Sarah Crawford-Browne (UCT), Pippin Anderson (UCT), Susan Malcolm-Smith (UCT), Mohamed Adhikari (UCT), Marion Stevens (UCT), Marion Walton (UCT), Mathilde van der Merwe (UCT), Catherine Ward (UCT), Aninka Claassens (UCT), Kate Abney (UCT), Henrik Ernstson (UCT), Loretta Feris (UCT), Visseho Adjiwanou (UCT), Jacques Rousseau (UCT), Tanja Bosch (UCT), Meg Samuelson (UCT), Kristen Daskilewicz (UCT), Talia Meer (UCT), Alex Muller (UCT), Bianca Tame (UCT), Nico Fischer (UCT), Asanda Benya (UCT), Xolelwa Kashe-Katiya (UCT), Zethu Matebeni (UCT), Ana Deumert (UCT), Linda Cooper (UCT), Marguerite Schneider (UCT), Neil Overy (UCT), Victoria Collis-Buthelezi (UCT), Zwelethu Jolobe (UCT), Clare Verbeek (UCT), Sean Field (UCT), Wendy Burgers (UCT), Grant McNulty (UCT), Melanie Alperstein (UCT), Asanda Benya (UCT), Dr Joanne Hardman (UCT), Salma Ismail (UCT), Shamil Jeppe (UCT), Hussein Suleman (UCT), Sandra Young (UCT), Khwezi Mkhize (UCT), Zarina Patel (UCT), Herman Wasserman (UCT), Roshan Galvaan (UCT), Indresan Govender (UCT), Liesl Peters (UCT), Tom Moultrie (UCT), Nomusa Makhubu (UCT), Muazzam Jacobs (UCT), Kelly Moult (UCT), Xolela Mangcu (UCT), Mariette Momberg (UCT), Khosi Kubeka (UCT), Hedley Twidle (UCT), Alexia Smit (UCT), Tracy Craig (UCT), Erica Breuer (UCT), Collet Dandara (UCT), Mantoa Rose Smouse (UCT), Rajend Mesthrie (UCT), Carolyn McKinney (UCT), Debbie Kaminer (UCT), Kurt April (UCT) , Claire Benit-Gbaffou (UCT), Liza Rose Cirolia (UCT), Divine Fuh (UCT), Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk (UCT), Liza Rose Cirolia (UCT), Pieter Levecque (UCT), Owen Crankshaw (UCT), Tania Katzschner (UCT), Pieter Levecque (UCT), Justine Burns (UCT), Shannon Morreira (UCT), B Camminga (UCT), Tom Scriba (UCT), Lauren Paremoer (UCT), Jenni Case (UCT), Rajen Govender (UCT), Jumani Clarke (UCT), Alison Swartz (UCT), Nick Shepherd (UCT), Femke Brandt (UCT), Helen MacDonald (UCT), Andrew Nash (UCT), Despina Learmonth (UCT), Bianca Tame (UCT) , Asanda Benya (UCT), Wahbie Long (UCT), David Jacobs (UCT), Sara Matchett (UCT), Barbara Boswell (UCT), Waheeda Amien (UCT), Jonathan Shock (UCT), Riashna Sithaldeen (UCT), Sue Parnell (UCT), Thandi Davies (UCT), Rachel Wynberg (UCT), Maria Keet (UCT), Stefanie Röhrs (UCT), Mariola Kirova (UCT), Katharine Hall (UCT), David Maralack (UCT), Harsha Kathard (UCT), Dirk Lang (UCT), Alan Cliff (UCT)Roisin Kelly-Laubscher (UCT), Stephen Inggs (UCT), Kieran Reid (UCT), Sheetal Silal (UCT), Kehinde Awodele (UCT), Sumaiyah Docrat (UCT), Bernard Dubbeld (U Stellenbosch), Kylie Thomas (U Stellenbosch), Ronelle Carolissen U SStellenbosch), Bonga Chiliza (U Stellenbosch), António Tomás (U Stellenbosch), Lieketseng Ned (U Stellenbosch), Sandra Swart (U Stellenbosch), Joanna Wheeler (U Stellenbosch), Rob Pattman (U Stellenbosch), Grace Musila (U Stellenbosch), Gabeba Baderoon (U Stellenbosch), Thomas Cousins (U Stellenbosch), Steven Robins (U Stellenbosch), Jantjie Xaba (U Stellenbosch), Rose Richards (U Stellenbosch), Daniel Roux (U Stellenbosch), Kira Erwin (DUT), Nicky Germond Muller (DUT), Sultan Khan (UKZN), Moraig Peden (UKZN), Kerry Frizelle (UKZN), Ayanda Khala-Phiri (UKZN), Jane Quin (UKZN) , Fiona Jackson (UKZN), Anne Harley (UKZN), Christopher Gevers (UKZN), Grahame Hayes (UKZN), Patrick Bond (UKZN), Lubna Nadvi (UZKN), David Fraser Brown (UKZN), Pumelela Nqelenga (UKZN), Peter Rule (UKZN), Pumelela Nqelenga (UKZN), Tamantha Hammerschlag (UKZN), Myer Taub (U Pretoria), Irma du Plessis (U Pretoria), Malehoko Tshoaedi (U Pretoria), Johann Meylahn (U Pretoria), Vuyani Vellem (U Pretoria), Nisa Paleker (U Pretoria), Akinola Akintayo (U Pretoria), Cas Wepener (U Pretoria), Ulrike Kistner (U Pretoria)Corrine Knowles (Rhodes), Pedro Tabensky (Rhodes), Natalie Donaldson (Rhodes), Alette Schoon (Rhodes), Sally Matthews (Rhodes), Detlev Krige (U Pretoria), Brian Ramadiro (Fort Hare), Hugh Macmillan (UWC), Melanie Judge (UWC), Ciraj Rasool (UWC), Patricia Hayes (UWC), Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie (UWC), Heike Becker (UWC), Fairuz Mullagee (UWC), Paolo Israel (UWC), Shirley Brooks (UWC), Tamara Shefer (UWC), Vivienne Bozalek (UWC), Heidi Grunebaum (UWC), Catherine Kell (UWC), Priscilla Boshoff (Rhodes), Sioux Mckenna (Rhodes), Peter du Toit (Rhodes), Rod Amner (Rhodes), Nosipho Mngomezulu (Rhodes), Ruth Simbao (Rhodes), Anthea Garman (Rhodes), Nyx McLean (Rhodes), Alexandra Sutherland (Rhodes), Shepi Mati (Rhodes), Anna Christensen (Rhodes), Nick Hamer (Rhodes), David Fryer (Rhodes), Deborah Seddon (Rhodes), Niki Cattaneo (Rhodes), Susanne Vetter (Rhodes), Vashna Jagarnath (Rhodes), Richard Pithouse (Rhodes), Brian Garman (Rhodes), Ed de la Rey (Rhodes), Simon Pamphilon (Rhodes), Lucien van der Walt (Rhodes), Nicole Ulrich (Rhodes), Thierry Luescher (U Free State), Neil Roos (U Free State), Nomboniso Gasa (independent scholar), Lynn Coleman (CPUT), Alex Noble (CPUT), Lesley Powell (NMMU), Janet Cherry (NMMU), Robin Notshulwana (NMMU), Deidre Geduld (NMMU), Ivor Baatjes (NMMU), Sonya Leurquain-Steyn (NMMU), Kiran Odhav (North West), Theresa Edlmann (UNISA), Nicholas Southey (UNISA), Pat Gibbs (UNISA), Raymond Suttner (UNISA), Aslam Fataar (SAERA) , Lesley Wood (SAERA), Carol Bertram (SAERA), Labby Ramrathan (SAERA), Volker Wedekind (SAERA), Azeem Badroodien (SAERA).

At RAHER conference in Moscow

An excellent presentation and discussion on Flagship Universities led by Prof John Douglass of UC Berkeley, with Dr Igor Chirikov (NRU Higher School of Economics, Moscow), Dr Manja Klemencic (Harvard) and Prof Isak Froumin (NRU HSE).

All this while I was supposed to be in Durban, South Africa, to be part of the Group on University Governance, Leadership and Management at the 2nd National Higher Education Summit, called by the Minister of Higher Education and Training.

I hope all who are there are charting a new path for post-Apartheid SA HE, while I am learning about post-Soviet Russian HE, not that the one "post-" is comparable to the other. It appears that the Soviets actually did quite well in establishing and coordinating a massive higher education system that has only been recovering in the last ten years from the after-shock of the disintegration of the USSR.


Well, after the first, pre-conference day, Paul Ashwin (Lancaster), Manja, Hamish Coates (University of Melbourne) and I went with John, his wife, and three colleagues from the HSE to the Bolshoi Theatre, to watch an opera!

That's us, just before the Prima Donna dies :) 

President announces task team to probe student funding - University World News

President announces task team to probe student funding - University World News

Journal of Student Affairs in Africa

The issue "Student Power in African Higher Education" has just been published by the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa. This is one of two main publications of the project 'Student representation in African higher education governance' sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of NY.



The issue features a substantive discussion of student representation in the editorial introduction by Manja Klemencic, James Otieno Jowi and I. It has four country-specific / institution-specific case studies of student politics in Africa covering universities in South-Western Nigeria, the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, student activism in Zimbabwe and in Kenya. It also includes a study on the attitudes of students and student leaders towards democracy at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and University of Botswana.



The journal issue also features its regular sections including two reports of student affairs conferences in Africa as well as a book review of Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education , edited by N. Cloete, T. Bailey and P. Maassen and published in 2015 by African Minds. The book includes a chapter authored by me on student engagement and citizenship competences.

Wits VC, Prof Adam Habib on the recent student activism on South African university campuses

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, Prof Adam Habib, is explaining to himself and sundry, how to try and understand student discontent.

The article starts out well: it is indeed "unacceptable that talented students from poor communities should be denied access to higher education" and "for black students to not feel at home at universities". Then, however, comes the BUT:

Habib argues, BUT the way in which these issues are raised is wrong. It is confrontational; even leading to violence. The better way: there must be " debate ... grounded in the realities of the present". Debate, debate, debate.

And of course, he is throwing the ball back into the court of student leaders by telling them that they have not done their homework: "activists have not taken the lead in thinking through such solutions"; and finally, let's put some insult to it; after all, this is Adam Habib writing, liking the activists to Stalinists and religious fundamentalists, who misappropriate the writings of Fanon and Biko, taking it out of context; and eventually raising even the specter that were "these insiders [to] become dominant within the society, as occurred during the Cultural Revolution in China or under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, it leads to the murder of millions of outsiders." Wow. Talking about discursive violence! Full force, Prof Habib, dealing with the unruly undergrads bazooka-style. Is that the kind of "debating" he proposes?!?

Sometimes methinks we should go back to the Bologna University of old and replace the know-it-all manager-academic Rector who love to display discursive prowess and superiority with a more humble, in-touch Student Rector, accountable and appointed by students. Sometimes, methinks, it would be quite good if our university leadership was forced to stay just for a week per year in one of their university residences, attend first-year orientation and classes, and live on an NSFAS budget. Just so that the "democrats" that Habib implores to take the lead (i.e. himself, of course), actually know where the proverbial Aristotelian shoe pinches....

Here the original article from the Wits VC's blog. An edited version appeared in the Sunday Times on 4 October 2015. And for completeness: the Wits SRC's statement on fee increment 2015/2016, published today on facebook.

The Politics of Transforming and Decolonizing the University

October 4, 2015
(from http://blogs.wits.ac.za/vc/2015/10/04/the-politics-of-transforming-and-decolonizing-the-university/)

South Africa’s universities are confronting an upsurge in student activism. This activism is inspired by two distinct discontents; first, insufficient funding for poor students, and second, the cultural alienation of black students at many of the historically white universities. These discontents, captured under the label of ‘Transformation’ or ‘Decolonization’, are undeniably legitimate. It is unacceptable that talented students from poor communities should be denied access to higher education. Neither is it acceptable for black students to not feel at home at universities. Both challenges need to be urgently addressed by all stakeholders, including university management, academics, students, and government.

But as we pursue Transformation or Decolonization, there needs to be a serious deliberation about the tactics and strategies used, and the parameters of acceptable engagement. This is all the more urgent given what we witnessed at UKZN where there were violent altercations with police, buildings and vehicles were set alight causing millions of rands of damage, and the university had to be closed.

There is no doubt that there is an activist layer within the Transformation or Decolonization movement that believes that violence is a legitimate means of engagement. It is held by some of these activists that because poor people are subject to structural violence in highly unequal societies like South Africa, this somehow gives these activists the right to perpetrate violence in the course of their struggles. Claiming to draw inspiration from Frantz Fanon and Steve Biko, who wrote under the yoke of colonial subjugation, they misappropriate the words and intents of these activist intellectuals to justify violence in the post-colony. Profanity and threats on social media replace reasoned debate. Theatrics replace principled politics. Civil liberties are seen as a ‘bourgeois’ distraction. There is little recognition that lives were lost in the pursuit of these liberties and that they should not be so easily traded for short term political gain.

If structural violence is the target, then the irony is that the victims of this violence are not the ‘colonialist’, but other poor students. The culture of violence is given impetus by the appeasement of some within the university who mistakenly confuse the right to protest with the right to violence and the violations of the rights of others. It is also given credence by the nonsensical application of the notion of the ‘just war’. But war can only be just when all other avenues are closed down. It can never be legitimate in a democratic society, however much the socio-economic outcomes of the democracy are compromised.

Accompanying this culture of violence is a vanguardist politics – a belief that the activist cohort represents an intellectual and political elite who have an advanced state of consciousness. All others are seen to have a false consciousness, a lack of understanding of the needs of the historical moment. This is a very dangerous politics for there is an assumption that the monopoly of truth is held by a minority of insiders. It is a politics that bred the Stalinism of old or the religious fundamentalism of the present. And if not intellectually challenged, it can become pervasive and create a culture within the insiders that justifies their violation of the rights of others. Where these insiders become dominant within the society, as occurred during the Cultural Revolution in China or under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, it leads to the murder of millions of outsiders.

A final lesson that needs to be borne in mind is the necessity of trade-offs. Too often, Transformation activists glibly talk about the compromises of 1994, and some even have the temerity to accuse Mandela of having sold out. But these young activists have not thought through the ahistorical character of their critique. It is too easy to criticize the 1994 pact from the perspective of 2015. Have these critics thought through the alternatives, had the political pact not been entered into? Have they thought through the consequences, had they had to live through a civil war like in Libya or Syria?

This is not to suggest that the pact cannot be criticised. Neither does it mean that the post-apartheid leadership did not make mistakes. The adoption of a neo-liberal program, the enrichment that accompanied black economic empowerment, the crude cadre deployment that led to service delivery failures, the slow pace of university transformation, and many other failures should indeed be criticized. But the criticism must be grounded in the realities of what was possible, and not romanticism about a mythical revolution that was never feasible.

This realism must also inform current choices. Activists have to recognise that we live in a market economy, which constrains our current choices. They also have to recognise that we live in economically challenging times, and that it is unlikely that significantly more resources are going to be directed to the university sector. In the words of Italian communist, Antonio Gramsci, ‘change happens within the limits of the possible’.

This does not mean that we should give up on our ambitions, but we have to think strategically and imaginatively about what is possible. For example, one of the most significant challenges facing universities is student financing. The 2016 budget has allocated R11.5 billion to NSFAS which, as we know, is not enough to cover all who require it. But the total cost of the fees for every student in the system, rich and poor, black and white, is less than R20 billion. If the NSFAS allocation was used as collateral, banks could grant loans and easily cover the fees of all students. Granted these students would then graduate with debt, but this is not very different from what exists now. Such a partnership between the state and banks could resolve the single biggest cause of both uncertainty in student lives and instability in the university sector.

Similarly, many Transformation activists have demanded an end to labour brokering at Universities and the insourcing of all workers. They correctly argue that these employment arrangements lead to the gross exploitation of the most vulnerable. But insourcing would cost of millions of rands. It can only be done with increases in either financial subsidy from the state or student fees. Neither is feasible in the current economic climate. But again, this need not mean that nothing be done. We could, for instance, explore worker cooperatives and giving them preference for university service contracts. But Transformation activists have not taken the lead in thinking through such solutions or working with vulnerable workers in this regard. This is because some have adopted an all or nothing attitude to this legitimate struggle. The net effect is that they have become embroiled in a stalemate on the employment question of vulnerable workers in the universities.

Clearly, there is an urgent need for debate on political strategy within the Transformation and Decolonization movement at universities. This debate needs to be grounded in the realities of the present, even if the goal is an egalitarian vision of the future. Moreover, it must be grounded in a democratic practice that commits to non-violence and respect for the rights of others. Only then will it translate into meaningful structural reform and avoid dissipating the enormous energies that have been mobilised. Ultimately, this will not happen through the diktat of vice-chancellors or policy enunciation, but when democrats in the movement take leadership of the very struggle that they have inspired.

By Adam Habib