The global ranking tournament: A dialectic analysis of higher education in South Africa
Abstract
The unprecedented changes in the university, to homogenizing the principle of identity in association with the dominant class [world-class universities] supports a very limited conception of higher education. The mantras of global rankings have permeated South Africa’s institutions of higher education, yet the rankings’ constructs are subjective, and inadequate in nature. This paper uses aspects of Jurgen Habermas’s ‘Critical Theory of Societal Development’ as its lens to account for the implications of South African universities joining the ‘super-league’ universities. The efforts being made to achieve a kind of iconic status are contradictory to making education a bridge to achieve equality.
Downloads
References
Altbach, P. G. (2012). The globalization of college and university rankings. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 44(1), 26-31.
Altbach, P.G. (2004). Globalization and the university: Myths and realities in an unequal world. In National Education Association (Ed.), The NEA 2005 almanac of higher education (pp. 63-74). Washington, DC: National Education Association.
Badat, S. (2010). The challenges of transformation in higher education and training institutions in South Africa. Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Bitner, M., Ostrom, A. L., & Burkhard, K. A. (2012). Service Blueprinting: Transforming the Student Experience. Educause Review, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012.
Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Coady, T. (2000). Universities and the ideals of inquiry. In T. Coady (Ed.). Why universities matter: A conversation about values, means and directions (pp. 3–25). Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Department of Education (DoE). (2001). The National Plan for Higher Education Online Accessed at: http://www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/misc/higheredu
Department of Education (1997). Education White Paper 3: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education. General Notice 1196 of 1997. Pretoria
Habib, A. (November 27, 2014). Transcending the Past and Reimagining the Future of the South African University. Inaugural Lecture. (Accessed: December 01, 2014).
http://www.wits.ac.za/files/5b4ds_167906001417166876.pdf
Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action (T. McCarthy, Trans. Vol. 2). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Horn, A. S., Hendel, D. D., & Fry, G. W. (2007). Ranking the international dimension of top research universities in the United States. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3-4), 330-358.
Hazelkorn, E. (2013) . World-Class Universities or World Class Systems?: Rankings and Higher Education Policy Choices. In Hazelkorn, E., Wells, P. and M. Marope (eds) Rankings and Accountability in Higher Education: Uses and Misuses.Paris:UNESCO.
Institute for Higher Education Policy – IHEP (2007). College and University Ranking Systems: Global Perspectives and American Challenges. Washington DC.
Knight, J. (2003). Updating the definition of internationalization. International Higher Education, 33, 2-3.
Kotta, L., Case, J., & Luckett, K. (2014). Contradictions in the situational logic of the university: implications for student success. South African Journal of Higher Education, 28(2), 514-532.
Miller, B. (2010). The price of higher education: how rational is British tuition fee policy?. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 32(1), 85-95.
Mohamedbhai, G. (2011). Higher education in Africa: facing the challenges in the 21st century. International Higher Eduation, 63(Fall).
Mok, K. H., & Cheung, A. B. (2011). Global aspirations and strategising for world-class status: new form of politics in higher education governance in Hong Kong. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 33(3), 231-251.
Morrison, T., (2001). How Can Values be Taught in this University. Michigan Quarterly Review, 278.
National Centre for Public Policy and Higher Education (NCPPHE) (2008). Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education, The National Centre for Public Policy and Higher Education, San Jose.
New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations. (2009). Campaigns – Fees. http://www.students.org.nz/index.php?page=fees (Accessed: 17 May 2009).
Ojo, E., & Booth, S. (2009). Internationalisation of higher education in a South African university: A phenomenographic study of students' conceptions. Education As Change, 13(2), 309-323.
Rauhvargers, A. (2011). Global university rankings and their impac. Leadership for World Class Universities Challenges for Developing Countries, (June). European University Association Report on Rankings 2011.
Salmi, J. (2009). The challenge of establishing world-class universities. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
Saravanamuthu, K., & Tinker, T. (2002). The university in the new corporate world. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 13(5), 545-554.
Singh, G. (2002). Educational consumers or educational partners: a critical theory analysis. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 13(5), 681-700.
Wang, L. (2013). Going global: The changing strategy of internationalisation of education in China. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 35, 305-315.
Winter, R. (2009). Academic manager or managed academic? Academic identity schisms in higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 31(2), 121-131.
Xavier, C. A., & Alsagoff, L. (2013). Constructing “world-class” as “global”: a case study of the National University of Singapore. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 12(3), 225-238.
Yang, R. (2003). Globalisation and higher education development: A critical analysis. International Review of Education, 49(3-4), 269-291.
Copyright (c) 2016 Reuben Dlamini
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 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
