Swartz, R, Ivancheva, M orcid.org/0000-0003-4066-4074, Czerniewicz, L et al. (1 more author) (2019) Between a rock and a hard place: Dilemmas regarding the purpose of public universities in South Africa. Higher Education, 77 (4). pp. 567-583. ISSN 0018-1560
Abstract
This paper examines the idea of ‘core business’ in contemporary South African public universities. South Africa’s public higher education system has global ambitions, but is also highly internally stratified. Drawing on new data from interviews with higher education leaders and government policymakers across a number of South African institutions, we show that while the rhetoric of ‘core business’ of the university has been adopted by higher education leaders, the question of what constitutes the purpose of the university, in South Africa and arguably beyond, is subject to ongoing debate and negotiation. The multiplicity of conflicting but coexisting narratives about what universities should do in South African society—producing excellent research, preparing a labour force, or addressing societal inequalities—exposes a persisting tension surrounding the purpose of a public university. And while this tension has historical origins, we show that responses to addressing these various roles of the institution are not developed organically and in a neutral context. They emerge under conflicts over limited state funding and attendant and opportune market pressure put on public universities in times of crisis, that shape profoundly their framing and outcomes, and the future of the universities.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2018. Corrected publication 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
Keywords: | South Africa; Core business; Public universities; Purpose of higher education |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Education (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ESRC ES/P002102/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 15 Jun 2018 11:08 |
Last Modified: | 29 Apr 2019 09:18 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Nature |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s10734-018-0291-9 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:131965 |
Commentary/Response Threads
- Swartz, R, Ivancheva, M, Czerniewicz, L and Morris, NP Between a rock and a hard place: Dilemmas regarding the purpose of public universities in South Africa. (deposited 15 Jun 2018 11:08) [Currently Displayed]
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