Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Published by HSRC Press Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa www.hsrcpress.ac.za © 2006 Human Sciences Research Council First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. ISBN 0-7969-2155-5 Copy-editing by Laurie Rose-Innes Typeset by Simon van Gend Cover design by Flame Design Print management by comPress Distributed in Africa by Blue Weaver PO Box 30370, Tokai, Cape Town, 7966, South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 21 701 4477 Fax: +27 (0) 21 701 7302 email: orders@blueweaver.co.za www.oneworldbooks.com Distributed in Europe and the United Kingdom by Eurospan Distribution Services (EDS) 3 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8LU, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 7240 0856 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7379 0609 email: orders@edspubs.co.uk www.eurospangroup.com/bookstore Distributed in North America by Independent Publishers Group (IPG) Order Department, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610, USA Call toll-free: (800) 888 4741 All other enquiries: +1 (312) 337 0747 Fax: +1 (312) 337 5985 email: frontdesk@ipgbook.com www.ipgbook.com Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Contents Tables and figures iv Preface v Acronyms and abbreviations viii 1 Introduction 1 Mokubung Nkomo and Derrick Swartz 2 The repositioning of two South African universities 15 Botshabelo Maja, Andile Gwabeni and Phuti A Mokwele 3 Constructing a conceptual framework for HBUs in a developmental paradigm 47 Catherine A Odora Hoppers 4 Turfloop: where an idea was expressed, hijacked and redeemed 65 Abram L Mawasha 5 Fort Hare in its local context: a historical view 85 Seán Morrow 6 Intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial developments at the University of the North 104 Patrick FitzGerald 7 New pathways to sustainability: African universities in a globalising world 127 Derrick Swartz Contributors 167 Index 170 Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za W I T HIN THE REALM O F P O S S I BILIT Y iv Tables and figures Tables Table 6.1 Fee waivers for students, 2001–2003 118 Table 6.2 Undergraduate and postgraduate enrolment, 1998–2003 118 Table 6.3 Characteristics of Mode 1 and Mode 2 knowledge production 121 Table 6.4 UNIN’s new academic architecture 123 Figures Figure 2.1 Sectors of the Limpopo economy and their contributions to GGP 18 Figure 2.2 Major occupation groups in the UNIN catchment area 19 Figure 2.3 Sectors of the Eastern Cape economy and their contributions to GGP 22 Figure 2.4 Breakdown of employment by sector 23 Figure 2.5 Student participation rate at UNIN, 1994–2002 27 Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za v Preface A great risk was undertaken when the idea of doing this book was hatched. The idea was conceived at a time when there was a raging debate over the land about whether the historically disadvantaged institutions (HDIs) were viable or added intellectual value. (Never mind that the supposed intellectual value added by historically advantaged institutions was suspect at least to black people, even though they desired to be admitted to these institutions in recognition of their rich resource endowments bequeathed by the apartheid regime.) Both protagonists and antagonists in the debate took strong fundamentalist positions. Protagonists held these institutions inviolate, as custodians of the struggle for democracy and nurseries of some of the leading personalities in black society. Their view is represented by the following: The [historically black universities or HBUs] located as they are in the very midst of the underdevelopment and poverty of the African Rural Community have their development mandate very clear before us … to play a direct role in helping to eliminate underdevelopment and poverty of this largest proportion of the African population in the country. 1 On the other hand, antagonists charged financial ineptitude and, in extreme cases, that these institutions were devoid of intellectual currency. Their exasperation led to a pronouncement by the vice-chancellor of a historically advantaged institution that ‘the crisis in the higher education system can be overcome by closing all historically black universities’. 2 The protagonists represent a deep yearning for rediscovery and transformation, a deep desire to give expression to the post-colonial/post-apartheid rise of the subaltern, while the antagonists reflect a buoyant self-satisfaction, seemingly inattentive to the development imperatives of present-day South Africa. These passions yield more heat than light. Nonetheless, the fact that, in the contemporary reality of an unfolding democratic culture, these institutional archetypes are not fixed but increasingly fluid, metamorphic, and even contradictory or dialectical, deserves mention. And therein lies the potential Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za W I T HIN THE REALM O F P O S S I BILIT Y vi reach of immense possibilities for transforming institutions with purposeful delivery capacity within their inherited spatial realms and beyond. Inspiring the research that informs this book was the idea that a more dispassionate but sensitive analysis of at least two universities from the HBU fraternity, with a focus on possible ways to infuse some moderation among the excesses of the combatants, could shed at least some light in the interests of all. We wish to stress that, at this point, the emphasis of the study is on the spatial location of the two institutions (even though rurality has been overtaken by a creeping peri-urban and, most recently, urban reality, especially in the case of the University of Fort Hare with its inheritance of the East London campus as a result of the merger process) rather than their racial identity, although this remains a stubborn imprint. Initial dialogue about conducting the research took place around 2000 in discussions between the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET). Shortly thereafter, active support was given by Derrick Swartz at the University of Fort Hare, who saw merit in a dispassionate probe, and the contagion quickly spread to Patrick FitzGerald, who had been appointed Administrator of the University of the North. Gerry Salole of the Ford Foundation believed in the idea and authorised the disbursement of funds to make it happen; the support is greatly appreciated and we hope this book will do justice to that act of faith and commitment. An advisory committee was established in order to give guidance to the project, especially in its early days. The committee consisted of Derrick Swartz, Patrick FitzGerald, Joe Teffo, Catherine Odora Hoppers, Wim Hoppers, Peter Maleta, Tembile Kulati, Bulumbo Nelani, Botshabelo Maja and Mokubung Nkomo. We are greatly indebted to the collective guidance and wisdom of these individuals. A joint research team was also established; led by Botshabelo Maja, it consisted of Andile Gwabeni and Siyabonga Gwabeni of the University of Fort Hare, Asaph Ndlovu, Sekgothe Makgoatsana and Phuti Mokwele of the University of the North, and Catherine Odora Hoppers and Jane Kabaki, who were commissioned to address identified areas in the research. More Chakane and Brutus Malada were drawn in at critical points to assist in information retrieval and consolidation exercises. Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za P R E FA C E vii At various times, Barbara English and Richard Jewison gave attention to the technical and harmonisation aspects of the manuscript in a most friendly and efficient manner. Thanks also go to the HSRC Press staff for the interest and forbearance they displayed in the editing and production process. While eternally grateful to the insightful and practical inputs of these individuals, they, most assuredly, do not assume responsibility for errors and omissions that may inadvertently have been committed. Those, regrettably, remain the editors’ sole and lonely responsibility. Mokubung Nkomo April 2006 Notes 1 Vilakazi H (2002) A new policy on higher education. Paper in response to Minister Kader Asmal’s proposals on mergers and the transformation of institutions of higher education. 2 Quoted in University of Durban-Westville (UDW) Working Group (2000) HDIs: Development institutions of the future. Paper presented at the Association of Vice- Chancellors of Historically-disadvantaged Tertiary Institutions in South Africa (ASAHDI) Conference on higher education: Imperatives of equity and redress, at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, 19–20 October. Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za W I T HIN THE REALM O F P O S S I BILIT Y viii Acronyms and abbreviations ARDRI Agricultural and Rural Development Research Institute BASA Black Academic Staff Association BTC Broad Transformation Committee GGP Gross Geographical Product HBU historically black university HDI historically disadvantaged institution HEI higher education institution HSRC Human Sciences Research Council IAG Interim Advisory Group ICT information and communications technology ISRDS Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy IT information technology Medunsa Medical University of Southern Africa NP National Party NPHE National Plan for Higher Education R&D research and development RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme SADC Southern African Development Community SASO South African Students Organisation SMMEs small, medium and micro enterprises SRC Students’ Representative Council TELP Tertiary Education Linkages Project UFH University of Fort Hare UNIN University of the North Unisa University of South Africa Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za 1 Introduction Mokubung Nkomo and Derrick Swartz So we have a fractured inheritance … and the question we face is: what do we do with it? One possible answer is that we should transform historically-black institutions from the educational dumping grounds that Verwoerd designed them to be, and make them bastions of the new democratic excellence. This is not a vision entirely without merit. Whatever the intentions of the apartheid rulers, the fact is that individual students and professors – black and white – made, and continue to make, valuable contributions from these venues that were intended as dumping grounds. Their contributions cannot simply be discarded. 1 Recently, a vice-chancellor of a rural-based, historically disadvantaged institution made the following rather remarkable observation: One thing that has struck me is that our institution, which has been in existence for over half a century, has produced some of the most outstanding leaders in politics, business, culture and so on. Many of the leaders were South Africans and some came from as far as Kenya. Yet, when you look at the immediate environment of the university you would hardly notice its impact, except in a limited sense. While we can and should take pride in its remarkable achievements, despite all odds placed before it by apartheid, it seems shameful, indeed unacceptable, that we have made limited impact on our immediate surrounds. Something must be done about this. 2 The question of ‘engagement’, of how universities (and, broadly, higher education) relate their core mission (teaching, research and ‘public service’) to society (civil, economic, cultural, political and so on), has become quite topical 1 Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za W I T HIN THE REALM O F P O S S I BILIT Y 2 in the post-apartheid period. Although university linkages, however defined, have been a feature of most South African universities even during the pre- democracy days, very little has been written either conceptually or empirically on this, specifically in respect to post-apartheid university ‘engagement’ challenges. This question of how the university defines and relates itself to its environment has become a particularly vital consideration for historically disadvantaged universities in the post-1990 period as they grapple with new conditions within a rapidly changing higher education sector. This book examines the way two such institutions, the University of Fort Hare (UFH) and the University of the North (UNIN), have defined and expressed the new politics of ‘engagement’, their attempts to ‘reinvent’ themselves in order to achieve new meaning in a post-apartheid democracy, their new vision and mission orientations and ‘development’ strategies, as well as the forms of engagement they have sought, and their underlying assumptions. In the case of both UFH and UNIN, institutional change was the result of internal and external pressures: on the one hand, a rising tide of political pressure from students, academics and alumni pressing for these two institutions to find a new meaning and role in a post-apartheid South Africa; on the other hand, a contradictory combination of changes in higher education policy, and structural changes in the higher education market that began to exert themselves on the political economy of institutions. It is hoped that one contribution this project can offer is a conceptual outline of some key tenets that could assist other similar institutions to identify new points of departure for developing strategies for social responsiveness, survival and innovation in the current national context. Around the mid-1990s, South Africa’s first democratic government adopted a series of higher education policy reforms that significantly altered the terrain of higher education provision, bringing with it a new and less favourable funding regime, increased competition over students, and growing demands for greater institutional ‘responsiveness’. Firstly, although the absolute level of investment in public higher education increased during the first ten years of democracy, in real terms subsidy levels have declined and, increasingly, have been pegged to performance on student numbers, throughput, programme mix and research output. Secondly, abolition of racial restrictions on access after 1994 meant, in effect, an ‘opening up’ of the market for students – a move that led to larger numbers of black, particularly black middle-class, Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za [...]... in the west to the border of Lesotho and up to the north of the former Transkei bordering on KwaZulu-Natal However, the existence of the Universities of Port Elizabeth and Rhodes might suggest a longer-term catchment area that mainly focuses on the north and east of the province In particular, the areas of the former Ciskei and Transkei bantustans, the poorer parts of the province, provide many of the. .. consist mainly of general agencies, of which there are 51 The total number of employed in the province in 2003 was 789 942, which is growing at the rate of 9.2 per cent per annum However, the growth in employment 19 WITHIN THE REALm OF POSSIBILITy Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za opportunities has not been able to match the growth of new entrants (Bhorat 2004) So there is a high level of joblessness,... Bantu Education had the final say in all important matters affecting the running of the university Another Broederbonder, Professor JL Boshoff, became the first rector of UNIN as a university The academic and administrative structures of governance remained virtually the same The perception of the students and black staff, as well as that of the informed black general public, regarding the university was... most industrious metropole on the continent Thus, the province is placed at the centre of the vortex of developing regional, national and international markets The province is one of the poorest yet most populous of all the provinces in South Africa.2 Approximately 12 per cent of South Africa’s population live there, of which 97.2 per cent are black About 89 per cent of the total 16 T H E R E P O S... embraced and expressed within overall development strategies and plans, perhaps suggesting that these are not seen by institutional actors as necessarily in conflict The specific accounts of the experiences of UFH and UNIN (see Chapter 2) indicate different modes of accommodation of each of these imperatives, which are seen as extensions of the core missions of the universities Nonetheless, these accounts... transform the structural dynamics of the economy as a 7 WITHIN THE REALm OF POSSIBILITy whole Within their very limited sphere of influence, universities can begin to contribute to building up the critical social and community capital necessary for new social forces to emerge Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Rural-based universities can also derive their legitimacy, if they need any, from the notion of. .. organisational forms Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za In the context of the developmental state in which the newly democratised South Africa finds itself, the role of universities has become important The role of UNIN and UFH in terms of the government’s ISRDS is critical to defining their role in relation to the communities they serve The objectives of the ISRDS include encouraging rural development that... any other form of discrimination (White 1997) Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za In August 1994, the BTC (then the Broad Institutional Forum) held a strategic planning workshop at makgobaskloof This historic workshop led to the emergence of conditions for the creation of a shared vision on campus, in the context of which the mission of the university could be collectively developed as part of strategic... only recently become part of their institutional definition In Chapter 5, Seán morrow gives a lucid historiographical account of the origins and development of UFH from the citadels of early colonialism, through the dark apartheid years, the brief homelands period and the awakenings of democracy The chapter vividly traces the university’s relationship with its local context from the very early days when... Africa The rector was Professor EF Potgieter, a leading Broederbond (a secret society of Afrikaner Nationalists) member Students organised against the administration as part of the wider struggles of the time In 1970, UNIN started operating as the University of the North It had five faculties: Economics and Administration, Arts, Education, mathematics and Natural Sciences, and Theology The minister of . among the excesses of the combatants, could shed at least some light in the interests of all. We wish to stress that, at this point, the emphasis of the study is on the spatial location of the. different modes of accommodation of each of these imperatives, which are seen as extensions of the core missions of the universities. Nonetheless, these accounts also show forms of engagement. it consisted of Andile Gwabeni and Siyabonga Gwabeni of the University of Fort Hare, Asaph Ndlovu, Sekgothe Makgoatsana and Phuti Mokwele of the University of the North, and Catherine Odora