Expanding Opportunity through Intentional Equity: Transforming Higher Education in South Africa to Benefit All

Abstract

Seventeen years after the transition from a racially divided higher education system, which was designed to uphold white privilege and black subordination, apartheid continues to rear its ugly head. There is inadequate response to the changing face of South African universities; persistent inequality in the representation of women and black people in the academe, especially in senior management positions; and enduring covert racism in the academe through obsession with black students’ perceived deficits. The purpose of this article is to review the present postapartheid higher education framework and suggest an agenda that will work towards the expansion of access, retention and success that benefits all students regardless of their family background – specifically the development of strategies to overcome overemphasis on the student deficits, rather increase the recognition of their strengths as a basis of building the next generation of academics.