Most university and technikon students do not support the Cabinet-endorsed tertiary mergers as the chief means of restructuring higher education.
This is the conclusion of a survey detailed in the latest edition of the Quarterly Review of Education and Training in South Africa (QRE), published by the Education Policy Unit (EPU) at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Student protests and resistance could spread across the country if the government fails both to hear student voices and win student support, the QRE warns.
In the debate over the future of higher education, “there is a vacuum instead of a choir of students’ voices”, notes EPU senior researcher Moretsele Chakane, who edits this edition of the QRE.
Minister of Education Kader Asmal announced in May that the Cabinet had approved fundamental restructuring proposals. Mergers would be the chief instrument whereby the country’s 21 universities would be reduced to 11 institutions and the 15 technikons to six.
But many students doubt that the proposals will help to achieve the government’s policy goals, such as equity and increased access to higher education. Statements from and interviews with 26 students’ representative councils (SRCs) — 72% of the SRCs — form the basis of the QRE’s survey. Of these, 12 support the proposals, 12 do not, one is undecided, and one is split into two camps.
Of the 12 SRCs that express support, seven are at universities the proposals retain as separate institutions and five are at institutions earmarked for mergers. Eleven of the 12 supporters are at historically white institutions, the survey notes. Only one of the 12 SRCs that oppose the proposals, the University of Fort Hare, is at an institution that will remain separate.
“Even though at this level of analysis there seems to be a balance between those who support and those who do not support the approved proposals,” Chakane says, “this picture will change significantly if the remaining SRCs do submit their statements.”
Only two of these SRCs “are likely to indicate support”. The rest “are not … A number of them are historically black institutions and are either merging or being incorporated into other institutions”. With remaining SRCs factored in, “the ratio of support to lack of support will change to 14:20”.
The QRE details each SRC’s response to the proposals for its institution. The main reasons for support are: keeping institutions separate, opportunities to expand, transformation initiatives before the proposals, and rationalisation of academic programmes.
Students who oppose the proposals point to flaws, especially the lack of student representation, in developing the proposals. They also believe that mergers will lower standards; see no logic in the belief that mergers will solve problems of equity and access; and fear an increase in financial burdens, particularly fees.
“It is interesting that students perceive the present government as non-listeners even when they raise their voices.” This should be “a concern” not only to the education department “but also to the government as a whole because this perception has a potential danger for the country … If [people] feel they are not listened to, [they might] resort to disruptive and sometimes illegal means to get their voices heard.”
Some SRC concerns about mergers are justified, Chakane concludes.
“Mergers do not necessarily lead to racial and gender equity, efficiency [or] less expenditure, and students seem to be excluded from the process.”
But there is also now “a need for students and their leadership to prove their worth in the merger process. As majority stakeholders, we still have to see their active role and participation in determining the future of their institutions.”