Democratizing higher education: Navigating public accountability for equity, inclusivity, and social Justice

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20853/39-4-7502
Keywords: Democratization, Equity, Higher Education, Inclusivity, Public Accountability, Social Justice

Abstract

South Africa’s transformation agenda places increasing emphasis on the democratization of higher education, particularly with regard to institutional accountability and the advancement of equity, inclusivity, and social justice. This article examines how public accountability intersects with the broader goals of democratic reform within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), presenting the University of the Western Cape (UWC) as a case study. Through an analysis of UWC’s Community Engagement Strategy, most notably its Scholarship of Engagement Model and the Scholarship of Engagement for Societal Impact (SoE-SI) framework, the article explores how principles of social justice, inclusion and equity are operationalized in both academic and societal contexts. It further interrogates the layered dynamics of accountability in a transforming HE landscape, where transparent responsiveness to diverse stakeholders must be weighed against institutional autonomy. The article also considers the role of UWC’s SoE-SI Knowledge Management System (KMS) Web Portal in measuring and evaluating the institution’s contribution to societal transformation. Recommendations highlight the importance of sustained transparency, responsiveness, and co-constructed dialogue to strengthen public accountability and embed social justice within institutional practices.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

C. Hart, University of the Western Cape

Community Development, Faculty of Community and Health Sciences

P. Daniels, University of the Western Cape

Community Engagement Unit: Director

P. September-Brown, University of the Western Cape

Community Engagement Unit: Researcher

References

Al-Kurdi, Osama., Ramzi El-Haddadeh, and Tillal Eldabi. 2018. “Knowledge sharing in higher education institutions: A systematic review.” Journal of Enterprise Information Management 31, no. 2: 226–246. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-09-2017-0129

Ambe, Qween N. 2021. “Public accountability model for South African Higher Education Institutions.” PhD diss., University of Johannesburg (South Africa).

Bhagwan, R. 2020. “Towards the institutionalisation of community engagement in higher education in South Africa.” Perspectives in Education 38, no. 2: 36–55. https://doi.org/10.18820/2519593x/pie.v38.i2.03
Bidandi, Fred, Anthony N. Ambe, and Claudia H. Mukong. 2021. “Insights and current debates on community engagement in higher education institutions: Perspectives on the University of the Western Cape.” Sage Open 11, no. 2: 21582440211. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211011467

Boyer, Earnest L. 1996. “The scholarship of engagement.” Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 49 no. 7: 18–33. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3824459

Cherrington, Avivit M., Eileen Scheckle, Mathabo Khau, Naydene De Lange, and Andre Du Plessis. 2018. “What does it mean to be an ‘engaged university’? Reflections from a university and school-community engagement project”. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 14, no. 2: 165–178. https://doi.org/10.1177/1746197918779945

Council on Higher Education (CHE). 2008. Higher Education Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability. Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa: Council on Higher Education (CHE).

Council on Higher Education (CHE). 2016. South African Higher Education reviewed: Two decades of democracy. Report. Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa: Council on Higher Education (CHE).

Council on Higher Education (CHE). 2023. Review of Higher Education in South Africa twenty-five years into democracy. Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa: Council on Higher Education (CHE).

Freire, P. 1970. Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, N., USA: The Continuum International Publishing Group.

Hart, Cornel, Priscilla Daniels, and Pearl September-Brown. 2023. “A model for scholarship of engagement institutionalization and operationalization”. South African Journal of Higher Education 37, no. 1: 224–242. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-high_v37_n1_a13.

Hall, Martin. 2010. “Community engagement in South African higher education.” In Community engagement in South African higher education, Kagisano No. 6, 1–52. Auckland Park, Gauteng, South Africa: Jacana Media.

Kumalo, Siseko H. 2020. “Justice through higher education: Revisiting White Paper 3 of 1997.” Higher Education Quarterly 75, no. 1: 175–188. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12253.

Njiraine, Dorothy. 2019. “Enabling knowledge sharing practices for academic and research in higher education institutions.” Information and Knowledge Management 9, No. 3: 82–89. https://doi.org/10.7176/IKM/9-3-09

Republic of South Africa (RSA), The Presidency, and National Planning Commission (NPC). 2012. “National Development Plan 2030: Our future–make it work” (385–393). Accessed 23 June 2022. https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/ndp-2030-our-future-make-it-workr.pdf.

Republic of South Africa. (2013). Protection of Personal Information Act, Act 4 of 2013. Government Gazette, Vol. 581, No. 37067 (26 November 2013). Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa: Government Printer. https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/ gcis_document/201409/3706726-11act4of2013popi.pdf.

United Nations (UN). 2015. “The United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015.” New York, NY., USA: United Nations. Accessed 23 June 2022. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/summit/.

University of the Western Cape (UWC). 2016. “Institutional Operational Plan (IOP) 2016-2020”. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://ikamva.uwc.ac.za/content/whitepaper.pdf.

University of the Western Cape (UWC). 2023. Framework for the Scholarship of Engagement (SoE) for Societal Impact (SI). A document development within the office of the DVC: Academic. Bellville, Western Cape Province, South Africa: UWC. https://www.soesi.uwc.ac.za/soesiframework.

Zulkifli, Nursyahida, Mohd N. Ismail, Ghazali Osman, and AbdulRauf Ambali. 2022. “An empirical investigation on Integrated Waqf Governance in Malaysian Waqf institutions.” Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal 7, no. 22: 3–8. https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i22.4146
Published
2025-08-23
How to Cite
Hart, C., P. Daniels, and P. September-Brown. 2025. “Democratizing Higher Education: Navigating Public Accountability for Equity, Inclusivity, and Social Justice”. South African Journal of Higher Education 39 (4), 91-107. https://doi.org/10.20853/39-4-7502.
Issue
Vol. 39 No. 4 (2025): Special issue CHE - Higher Education Conference Feb 2024
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2025 Cornel Hart, Priscilla Daniels, Pearl September-Brown

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.

Authors, copyright holders, may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.

A copy of the authors' publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:

  • Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
  • Institutional webpage.
  • Authors Institutional Repository.

The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: This is an electronic version of an article published in SAJHE, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX “XXX", DOI.  Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/SAJHE) may be found.

Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University Institutional Repository  SUNScholar.

Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.

The following license applies:

Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0