Governance in Higher Education in South Africa: A transformation and development perspective

Des Roberts
Regional Director

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     Last modified: August 5, 2006
     Presentation date: 11/02/2006 4:15 PM in NT Portland A
     (View Schedule)

Abstract
Since 1994 the South African government has been involved in numerous activities in the country, trying to rid itself from its unequal past and repositioning the country for the future. This was primarily done through a vision of transformation. The major challenges to Higher Education institutions are "to address past inequalities and to transform the higher education system to serve a new social order, to meet pressing national needs, and to respond to new realities and opportunities" (White Paper: 1.1). The transformation agenda is articulated in documents such as the Education White Paper 3: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education (1997). This was followed by the National Plan for Higher Education (2001) with a focus on development and addressing the current needs of the South African Communities, labour and the future needs of the country.

This article analyses the National Plan expectations and reviews how the Higher Education landscape has changed over the last 3 years. Three comprehensive, merged institutions are used to compare the pre-merger and post merger outcomes in terms of the National Plan (2001) desired outcomes.