Editorial: Redefining and reconfiguring the idea of a university: Towards an African university of conscience, humanness and wonder
Abstract
Against the backdrop of an Africanisation imperative, universities in Africa seem to continuously redefine and reconfigure in search of social alignment, identity and relevance. It is for this reason that compelling processes, such as decolonisation, transformation and other higher education reform initiatives, are underscored by the primary imperative of pursuing social meaning and relevance. In post-colonial Africa, the imperative of Africanisation of the university has, though necessary, remained a contested topical discourse. This conceptual article seeks to contribute to the debate by drawing upon notions of conscience, humanness and wonder as possible anchors for the Africanisation of the university on the continent.
Downloads
References
Alemu, Sintayehu K. 2018. “The meaning, idea and history of university/higher education in Africa: A brief literature review.” FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education 4(3): 210–227. https://www.google.com/search?q=Alemu%2C+S.K.+2018.+The+meaning%2C+idea+and+history+of+university%2Fhigher+education+in+Africa%3.
Ali, V., K. Hunt, and T. V. Frank. 2018. “Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as ‘Shithole’ countries.” NBC News. nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-reffered-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946.
Assiè-Lumumba, N’Dri T. 2006. “Higher education in Africa: Crises, reforms and transformation.” CODESRIA Working Paper Series. Dakar: Codesria. https://codesria.org/IMG/pdf/Ndri_lumumba.pdf.
Barnes, Teresa. 2007. “Politics of the mind and body: Gender and institutional culture in African universities.” Feminist Africa: Rethinking universities 8: 8–25. Cape Town: African Gender Institute. http://www.agi.ac.za/agi/feminist-africa/08.
Boidin, Capucine, James Cohen, and Ramon Grosfoguel. 2012. “Introduction: From university to pluriversity: A decolonial approach to the present crisis of Western universities.” Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-knowledge X(1): 1–6. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Introduction%3A-From-University-to-Pluriversity%3A-A-to-Boidin-Cohen/ddc47fc1ee2f935c5aac6f526e1842e443b30981.
Council on Higher Education. 2016. South African higher education reviewed: Two decades of democracy. Pretoria: CHE. https://www.academia.edu/32279151/HIGHER_EDUCATION_ REVIEWED_Two_Decades_Of_Democracy_South_African.
Dladla, Ndumiso. 2017. “Towards an African critical philosophy of race: Ubuntu as Philo-praxis of liberation.” Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions 6(1): 39–68.
Horsthemke, Kai. 2008. “The idea of the African university in the twenty-first century: Some reflections on Afrocentricism and Afroscepticism.” South African Journal of Higher Education 20(4): 449–467. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajhe/article/view/25676.
Hwang, Yoon-Suk. 2017. “What is the cause of graduates’ unemployment? Focus on individual concerns and perspectives.” Journal of Educational Issues 21(3): 1–10. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1150519.pdf.
Kamola, Isaac. 2014. “The African university as ‘Global’ university.” PS Political Science and Politics 47(3): 604–607. https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40130020.
Kaphagawani, Didier N. and Jeanette G. Malherbe. 1998. “Epistemology and tradition in Africa.” In The African philosophy reader, edited by P. H. Coetzee and A. P. Roux, 86–98. New York: Routledge. https://philpapers.org/rec/KAPAE-3.
Kumalo, Siseko. H. 2018. “Explicating abjection – Historically white universities creating natives of nowhere?” Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning 6(1): 1–17. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/cristal/article/view/178925.
Maassen, Peter, Zacharias Andreadakis, Magnus Gulbrandsen, and Bjorn Stensaker. 2019. “Growing focus on the universities’ third mission: The place of universities in society.” In The place of universities in society, edited by Peter Maassen, Zacharias Andreadakis, Magnus Gulbrandsen, and Bjorn Stensaker. Hamburg: Global University Leaders Council. https://www.guc-hamburg.de/press/study-place-of-universities.pdf.
Macupe, Bongekile. 2021. “Minister shows her ignorance with ‘educated men don’t rape’ remarks.” Mail & Guardian. https://mg.co.za/education/2021-02-21-motshekga-ignorance-educated-dont-rape-remarks/.
Mazrui, Ali A. 1975. “The African university as a multinational corporation: Problems of penetration and dependency.” Harvard Educational Review 45(2): 191–212. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ122037.
Motsaathebe, Gilbert. 2019. “The rhetoric of decolonisation in higher education in Africa: Muse, prescription and prognosis.” African Journal of Rhetoric (11): 36–63. https://www.uj.ac.za/contact/Pages/Prof-Gilbert-Motsaathebe.aspx.
Nayak, Srila. 2012. “Two narratives of Modernism in ‘Heart of Darkness’.” Conradiana 44(1): 29–49.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. 2013. “Perhaps decoloniality is the answer? Critical reflections on development from a decolonial epistemic perspective.” Africanus 43(2): 1–12. https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC142701.
Nweke, Victor C. A. 2018. “African logic: A complimentary reflection on the condition for the existence and non-existence.” Flush: Journal of Philosophy and Religion 6(1): 49–73.
Olaniran, Sunday O. and Chinaza Uleanya. 2021. “The effects of Covid-19 on international students in South Africa.” International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change 15(4): 41–55.
Prinsloo, Paul. 2010. “Some reflections on the Africanisation of higher education curricula: A South African case study.” Africanus 40(1): 19–31. https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC22688.
Ramose, Mogobe. 2005. “The African university in the twenty first century.” South African Higher Education (Special Issue): 1187–1188. https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/EJC37217.
Thiam, Cheikh. 2014. “Negritude, Eurocentricism, and African Agency: For an Africentered renaissance of Leopold Sedar Senghor’s Philosophy.” The French Review 88(1): 149–163.
Van Klinken, Adrian. 2020. “Studying religion in the pluriversity: Decolonial perspectives.” Religion 50(1): 148–155. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0048721X.2019.1681108.
Waghid, Yusef. 2001. “Globalization and higher education restructuring in South Africa: Is democracry under threat?” Journal of Education Policy 16(5): 455‒464.
Waghid, Yusef. 2008. “The public role of the university reconsidered.” Perspectives in Education 26(1): 19–25. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/pie/article/view/76423.
Waghid, Yusef. 2009. “Universities and public goods: In defence of democratic deliberation, compassionate imagining and cosmopolitan justice.” In Higher Education in South Africa, edited by E. Bitzer, 71‒83. Stellenbosch: SUN Press.
Waghid, Yusef. 2024. Philosophical, educational, and moral openings in doctoral pursuits and supervision: Promoting the values of wonder, wander, and whisper in African higher education. London: Routledge.
Copyright (c) 2024 SAJHE Administrator

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