Student mental health focus: Restoring student wellbeing after protests

 Prof Teboho Moja of New York University writes the following about the newly produced 'Student Affairs manual' called Restoring wellbeing after student protests: Lessons from #FeesMustFall and its aftermath:

"The manual ... is a first of its kind and aims at opening a debate on student activism, student wellbeing and their preparation for participation in civil society, and on the role that student affairs and student development plays in this respect. It can serve as a resource for student affairs and services professionals in the field. Although the manual uses narratives from the past as its context, it also provides suggestions on how to remedy the damage caused to students’ wellbeing and provides guidance on how similar situations may be prevented in the future. In the bigger picture, some of the narratives and discussion points in the manual are a call to rethink and reform the values, policies and practices of Student Affairs and Services in South Africa and beyond, calling for both restorative and open-minded approaches to students’ political engagement and wellbeing." 

The manual is freely available to download here and the team of researchers and students involved in creating the knowledge for the manual are glad to provide workshops with Student Affairs practitioners and student leaders on student protesting, governance and student wellbeing. 

Student Activism and the Pandemic: A Global Round-Up

In a first ever collaboration with the amazing Didem Türkoğlu of Kadir Has University in Turkey, I just published the short article: Student Activism and the Pandemic: A Global Round-Up in International Higher Education. Our research shows how student protesting developed over the pandemic years and considers trends and latest developments.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to far-reaching changes in higher education globally, yet student activism continued to be a force to be reckoned with. Key concerns and commitments remained student funding; equality, social justice, and antidiscrimination; political freedoms and democracy; and gender equality. The single biggest cause of protests was, however, the pandemic itself. Recent additions to the protest agenda include climate change, academic freedom, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The article is available at academia and here.

It is a follow up article on the global round-up I published with Phil Altbach in the 2020 Spring Issue termed "Another Student Revolution?" also published in IHE. At the time I wrote the following blog entry: Are-we-witnessing-student-revolution?

Aftermath Exhibition gets a shout-out from UCT communication

eNCA covers Aftermath exhibition

eNCA - eNews Channel Africa - hosts the "Aftermath" exhibition in an  excellent segment indicating the important message from former student activists. The footage was taken and interview conducted during the exhibition's display at the University of Cape Town in May.

It was aired on 4th and 5th May 2022. 

The YouTube clip is available here.  

https://youtu.be/YT07EB0ydUY

Cape Argues features "Aftermath" exhibition hosted at UCT

UCT reflects on #FeesMustFall through exhibition

The student-led protest commenced on October 12, 2015, and saw over 600 people arrested, and over R800 million in infrastructural damages. Picture: Wandile Kasibe/Supplied by Siyasanga Ndwayi

 https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/uct-reflects-on-feesmustfall-through-exhibition-bc0cdbf4-58b0-407f-a4f1-76d2d65442bb 

Cape Town - Student leaders active in the #FeesMustFall movement have reflected on the violence experienced during the protests and how this has impacted their well-being, through a photographic exhibition. The UCT Department of Student Affairs in partnership with the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) is exhibiting “Aftermath: Violence and wellbeing in the context of the student movement”, from May 3 -5, 2022, at the Molly Blackburn foyer, UCT Upper Campus.

The student-led protest commenced on October 12, 2015, and saw over 600 people arrested, and over R800 million in infrastructural damages. Protests also led to no tuition increases in 2016, as a result.

The HSRC research team held photovoice workshops with student leaders and activists on five university campuses which experienced high levels of violence during the 2015/16 #FeesMustFall protests.

Over a hundred images and related captions and narratives were gathered during the workshops, with the exhibition comprising 34 of the images taken and/ or supplied by the student leaders.

Human Science Research Council research director Dr Thierry Luescher said the photovoice methodology is an action research method that uses photos taken by the student participants to help them articulate difficult experiences such as violence and how they have regained a sense of wellbeing.

“The exhibition's purpose is not to ascribe fault or ask who shot the first bullet or who threw the first stone but what the experience of being a witness, perpetrator, or victim of violence means to students in its aftermath and the wellbeing effects that this has,” Dr Luescher said.

Co-Principal Investigator from the University of Venda Dr Keamo Morwe said after the #FeesMustFall protests, the ongoing mental health challenges of former student activists and students in general became prevalent.

Curated by Carl Collison, the exhibition comprises nine themes: protest and violence, oppressive spaces, fear, escape, defying patriarchy, safe spaces, well-being, unity and trauma.

“This study sought to investigate whether there is a link between the violence that students experienced during #FeesMustFall and well-being challenges,” Dr Morwe said.

The exhibition is expected to travel to universities across South Africa and neighbouring countries and is available online at South African History Online.

shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za

Thinking about the future of higher education and the African university

In the course of 2021, a team of experienced researchers affiliated to the Human Sciences Research Council as well as several top universities and research organisations in Africa have interviewed 35 thought leaders and asked them to 'reimagine the African university'. 

These thought leaders include current and former university leaders, higher education specialists, student and youth leaders, higher education funders, and leaders of NGOs. The responses received are insightful, fascinating and provocative. On their own, every interview presents a vista onto a horizon not too far away. Among the first matters to be noted is, of course, that there is no single kind of African university; the future of African higher education is precisely in its diversity and differentiation. It is in recognising that a diverse society and economy must provide for a diversity of educational pathways and locally relevant offerings. 

Edited transcripts are being published progressively on the website of the project at the HSRC. 

At the same time, some of the most striking thoughts presented by the interviewed thought leaders are being distilled by UWN journalist and copy editor Mark Paterson and I into articles that are being published weekly in the University World News Africa edition, since February 2022. They are all freely available for further study at the UWN website. 

 The publication schedule for the UWN articles (and transcripts on the HSRC website) is below (and may be subject to change).

	Interviewee	Interviewer	Date of interview	Date of publication
1	Prof Goolam Mohamedbhai	Prof Crain Soudien	17-May-21	14-Feb-22
2	Prof Mogobe Ramose	Prof Catherine Odora Hoppers	21-May-21	21-Feb-22
3	Prof Reitumetse Mabokela	Prof Relebohile Moletsane	10-May-21	1-Mar-22
4	Mr Rekgotsofetse Chikane	Prof Thierry Luescher	20-May-21	6-Mar-22
5	Prof Dzul Razak	Prof Catherine Odora Hoppers	30-Jun-21	16-Mar-22
6	Prof Catherine Odora Hoppers	Prof Crain Soudien	11-Mar-21	23-Mar-22
7	Prof Neil Turok	Prof Crain Soudien	21-Jun-21	28-Mar-22
8	Prof Adam Habib	Prof Crain Soudien	25-May-21	4-Apr-22
9	Prof Madeleine Arnot	Dr Alude Mahali	21-May-21	Apr-22
10	Prof Paul Zeleza	Prof Crain Soudien	1-Jul-21	Apr-22
11	Dr Tade Aina	Dr Alude Mahali	12-May-21	Apr-22
12	Ms Lihle Ngcobozi	Prof David Everatt	8-Jul-21	May-22
13	Prof Saleem Badat	Prof Crain Soudien	12-May-21	May-22
14	Dr Rajesh Tandon	Prof Relebohile Moletsane	3-May-21	May-22
15	Prof Claudia Frittelli	Prof Thierry Luescher	26-May-21	May-22
16	Prof Phil Cotton	Prof Sharlene Swartz	29-Oct-21	Jun-22
17	Prof Peter Materu	Prof Sharlene Swartz	16-Nov-21	Jun-22
18	Prof Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni	Prof Relebohile Moletsane	15-May-21	Jun-22
19	Prof Issa Shivji	Prof Crain Soudien	21-Jun-21	Jun-22
20	Prof Laura Czerniewicz	Mr Krish Chetty	10-May-21	Jun-22
	and many more to come...

Symposium on Transformative Leadership in African Contexts - Zanzibar

As a social researcher it is always invigorating to be in a place where social research meets systematic, structural, institutional and individual change. 

Young Africa needs change; the opportunity to change the odds. Transformative leadership offers a framework to empower change and just solutions through action with an ethical purpose. For the next five days, I am in Zanzibar to participate in the transformative leadership symposium, which includes a panel on reimagining the African university in the 21st century. 

Some early questions and comments: There is a lot of data; but how to move from data to action? How do we overcome the silence on the political discourse and the pushback from political actors? We need to make sure not to loose sight of the large goal and the 'whole'. 

If we don't know what we are aiming for, how will we ever get there? We have to set an 'utopia' for us in order to be able to have a common direction. 

In the picture we see Prof Sharlene Swartz presenting at the first session; Prof Crain Soudien who was chairing the session; Dr James Otieno Jowi from the Education Department of the East African Community, and Ms Rahab Wawuri a MasterCard Foundation Scholar alumni.