Academic freedom and institutional autonomy in higher education in South Africa: Whereto after decades of discourse and rhetoric?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20853/39-4-7600Keywords:
academic freedom, discourse, higher education, institutional autonomy, university, rhetoricAbstract
Academic freedom (AF) and institutional autonomy (IA) are critical factors for higher education institutions (HEIs) to be able to carry out their core functions effectively, and make the desired societal impact. However, they are also highly contested notions that, since time immemorial, have been the subjects of critical discourses worldwide. This article presents a synthesis of the key issues that stand out from decades of discourse and rhetoric on AF and IA in South Africa. It also illuminates on the roles played by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in facilitating the discourse, and in providing platforms for deepening the discourse. Furthermore, it poses the question about where to go with issues pertaining to AF and IA after decades of discourse and rhetoric. In exploring the answer to this question, the article posits that the more reasonable route to take after decades of discourse and rhetoric is that of conducting research to acquire empirical insights into the issues raised, and subsequently work towards finding ways and means of addressing them in order to advance, entrench and safeguard AF and IA for the benefit of the sector and all its constituencies. The CHE has decided to take the latter route and, therefore, it has conceptualised and developed a research programme for this purpose. Two research projects that are part of the programme are already underway, with more to follow in the years to come.
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References
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Aberbach, J. D. and T. Christensen. 2018. “Academic autonomy and freedom under pressure: severely limited, or alive and kicking?”. Public Organisation Review 18(2018): 487 – 506.
Altbach, P. G. 2007. Tradition and Transition: The International Imperative in Higher Education. Leiden: Brill.
Assie-Lumumba, N. 2005. Higher Education in Africa: Crises, Reforms and Transformation. Dakar: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).
Baatjes, I. G. 2005. “Neoliberal fatalism and the corporatisation of higher education in South Africa”. Quarterly Review of Education and Training in South Africa 12(1): 25 – 33.
Beinart, J. D., I. G. Thomas, E. Kahn, R. Lee, and D. Welsh. 1974. The Open Universities of South Africa And Academic Freedom 1957 – 1974: A Review. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Academic Freedom Committee, and University of the Witwatersrand Academic Committee.
Bergan, S., T. Gallagher, and L. Harkavy. 2020. Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and the Future of Democracy. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.
Centlivres, A. and R. Feetham. 1957. The Open Universities of South Africa: A Statement of a Conference of Senior Scholars from the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Cape Town. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand Press.
CHE see Council on Higher Education
Council on Higher Education. 2004. South African Higher Education in the First Decade of Democracy. Pretoria: CHE.
Council on Higher Education. 2008. Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability in South African Higher Education. Pretoria: CHE.
Council on Higher Education. 2022. Inquiry into the Remuneration of University Vice-Chancellors and Senior Executive Managers in South Africa. Unpublished Report to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.
Council on Higher Education. 2024. Report on the Proceedings of the Higher Education Conference on Deepening the Discourse on Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability in South African Higher Education. 28 February to 1 March 2024, Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, Johannesburg.
Council on Higher Education. 2025. “Senate’s stewardship of the academic project in higher education”. Briefly Speaking 33. Pretoria: CHE.
Crabtree, D. 2002. Academic Freedom. Gutenberg: McKenzie Study Centre.
Deem, R. and K. Brehony. 2005. “Management as ideology: the case of ‘new managerialism’ in higher education”. Oxford Review of Education 31(2): 217 - 235.
DoE see Department of Education.
Department of Education. 1997. Education White Paper 3: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education. Pretoria: Government Printers.
DHET see Department of Higher Education and Training.
Department of Higher Education and Training. 2014. Regulations for Reporting by Public Higher Education Institutions in South Africa. Pretoria: DHET.
Divala, J. J. K. 2006. “Conditional autonomy and responsible action: A response to Yusef Waghid and Martin Hall”. South African Journal of Higher Education 20(3): 21 – 24.
Divala, J. J. K. 2008. Is a Liberal Conception of University Autonomy Relevant to Higher Education in Africa? Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy of Education Thesis, Stellenbosch University.
Dlamini, C. R. M. 1996. University Autonomy and Academic Freedom in South Africa. Unpublished Doctor of Laws Thesis, University of South Africa.
Du Toit, A. 2013. “Losing the academic plot? The CHE and the debate on academic autonomy and public accountability”. Kagisano 8(2013): 28 – 56.
Du Toit, A. 2000. “Revisiting academic freedom in post-apartheid South Africa: current issues and challenges”. Pretexts 9(2000): 91 – 104.
Fengu, M. 2023. “Bedevilled by democracy – Fort Hare VC decries erosion of university autonomy, academic freedom”. Daily Maverick, 24 August 2023.
Habib, A., S. Morrow, and K. Bentley. 2005. “Academic freedom, institutional autonomy and the corporatised university in contemporary South Africa”. Social Dynamics 34(2): 140 – 155.
Hall, M. 2006. “Academic freedom and the university: fifty years of debate”. South African Journal of Higher Education 20(3): 8 – 16.
Hasan, M. and N. Ahasan. “Academic Freedom in Bangladesh”. In In University Autonomy Decline: Causes, Responses and Implications for Academic Freedom, ed. K. R. Lyer, I. Saliba, and J. Spannagel. London: Routledge.
Hogan, B. E. and L. D. Trotter. 2013. “Academic freedom in Canadian higher education: Universities, colleges, and institutes were not created equal”. Canadian Journal of Higher Education 34(2): 68 – 84.
Jansen, J. D. 2005. “Accounting for autonomy”. South African Journal of Higher Education 19(2): 214 – 228.
Jaspers, K. 1965. The Idea of a University. Peter-Owen Ltd: London.
Karran, T. 2007. “Academic freedom in Europe: A preliminary comparative analysis”. Higher Education Policy 20: 289 – 313.
Klikauer, T. 2015. “What is managerialism?” Critical Sociology 41(7-8): 1103-1119.
Krüger, R. 2013. “The genesis and scope of academic freedom in South African Constitution”. Kagisano 8(2013): 5 – 27.
Lange, L. 2013. “Academic freedom: revisiting the debate”. Kagisano 8(2013): 57 – 75.
Lange, L. and T. Luescher-Mamashela. 2016. “Governance”. In South African Higher Education Reviewed: Two Decades of Democracy. Pretoria: Council on Higher Education.
Lojdva, K. 2016. “The end of academic freedom in the era of neoliberalism”. Pedogogieka Orientace 26(4): 605 – 630.
Lyer, K. R., I. Saliba, and J. Spannagel. “University autonomy and academic freedom”. In University Autonomy Decline: Causes, Responses and Implications for Academic Freedom, ed. K. R. Lyer, I. Saliba, and J. Spannagel. London: Routledge.
Lynch, K. and M. Ivancheva. 2015. “Academic freedom and the commercialisation of universities: A critical analysis”. Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics 15(1): 71 – 85.
Matei, L. and J. Iwinska. 2018. “Institutional autonomy and academic freedom in the European Higher Education Area”. European Higher Education area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies 2018: 345 – 368.
Maupane, M. 2019. Governance in Higher Education, Universities under Administration and Infrastructure Development at New Universities. Cape Town: Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG).
Merrett, C. 2006. “The expropriation of intellectual capital and the political economy of international academic publishing”. Critical Arts 20(1): 96 - 111.
MoE see Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education. 2004. A New Funding Framework: How Government Grants are Located to Public Higher Education Institutions. Pretoria: Government Printers.
National Commission on Higher Education. 1996. “An overview of a new policy framework for higher education”. http://www.llnw.creamermedia.co.za/articles/attachments/04394_highereducationtransformatio.pdf.
Olsen, J. P. 2009. “Democratic government, institutional autonomy and the dynamics of change”. West European Politics 32(3): 4399 – 465.
Perkin, H. 2007. “History of universities”. In International Handbook of Higher Education, ed. J. J. F. Forest, and P. G. Altbach. Dordrecht: Springer Publication.
Prozesky, H. F. van Schalkwyk. 2024. “The profile of postdoctoral research fellows in South Africa: Trends over the past two decades”. South African Journal of Science 120(1-2): 1-8.
Republic of South Africa. 1997. The Higher Education Act No. 1017 of 1997, as amended. Pretoria: Government Printers.
Shore, C. and M. Taitz. 2019. “Who ‘owns’ the university? Institutional autonomy and academic freedom in an age of knowledge capitalism”. Globalisation, Societies and Education 10(2): 201 – 219.
Shozi-Nxumalo, T. and S. P. C. Onwuegbuchulam. 2024. “Reassessing the relationship between political parties and student political structures in light of academic freedom and institutional autonomy”. Presentation at the Higher Education Conference on Deepening the Discourse on Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability in South African Higher Education. 28 February to 1 March 2024, Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, Johannesburg.
Soudien, C. 2010. “Grasping the nettle? South African higher education and its transformation imperatives”. South African Journal of Higher Education 24(6): 881 – 896.
Tabensky, P. A. 2013. “Against the discourse of academic freedom”. Kagisano 8(2013): 76 – 87.
Taylor, F. W. 1911. The Principles of Scientific Management. New York: Cornell University Library.
Van Pletzen, J. H. 2015. The Implications of Current Legislative Changes for Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy of South African Higher Education Institutions. Unpublished Master of Arts in Higher Education Thesis, University of the Free State.
Vokhobzhonovna, X. S. 2023. “The evolution of the concept of academic freedom in higher education institutions”. American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Research 3(12): 365 – 370.
UNESCO see the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. 1997. Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel. Paris: UNESCO.
Waghid, Y., S. Berhout, D. Taylor, and J. De Klerk. 2005. “In defence of institutional autonomy and academic freedom: contesting state regulation in higher education”. South African Journal of Higher Education 19(6): 1177 – 1195.
Waghid, Y. 2006. “Academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and responsible action: A response to Martin Hall”. South African Journal of Higher Education 20(3): 17 – 20.
World University Service. 1988. The Lima Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of Institutions of Higher Education. Geneva: World University Service.
Aberbach, J. D. and T. Christensen. 2018. “Academic autonomy and freedom under pressure: severely limited, or alive and kicking?”. Public Organisation Review 18(2018): 487 – 506.
Altbach, P. G. 2007. Tradition and Transition: The International Imperative in Higher Education. Leiden: Brill.
Assie-Lumumba, N. 2005. Higher Education in Africa: Crises, Reforms and Transformation. Dakar: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).
Baatjes, I. G. 2005. “Neoliberal fatalism and the corporatisation of higher education in South Africa”. Quarterly Review of Education and Training in South Africa 12(1): 25 – 33.
Beinart, J. D., I. G. Thomas, E. Kahn, R. Lee, and D. Welsh. 1974. The Open Universities of South Africa And Academic Freedom 1957 – 1974: A Review. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Academic Freedom Committee, and University of the Witwatersrand Academic Committee.
Bergan, S., T. Gallagher, and L. Harkavy. 2020. Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and the Future of Democracy. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.
Centlivres, A. and R. Feetham. 1957. The Open Universities of South Africa: A Statement of a Conference of Senior Scholars from the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Cape Town. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand Press.
CHE see Council on Higher Education
Council on Higher Education. 2004. South African Higher Education in the First Decade of Democracy. Pretoria: CHE.
Council on Higher Education. 2008. Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability in South African Higher Education. Pretoria: CHE.
Council on Higher Education. 2022. Inquiry into the Remuneration of University Vice-Chancellors and Senior Executive Managers in South Africa. Unpublished Report to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.
Council on Higher Education. 2024. Report on the Proceedings of the Higher Education Conference on Deepening the Discourse on Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability in South African Higher Education. 28 February to 1 March 2024, Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, Johannesburg.
Council on Higher Education. 2025. “Senate’s stewardship of the academic project in higher education”. Briefly Speaking 33. Pretoria: CHE.
Crabtree, D. 2002. Academic Freedom. Gutenberg: McKenzie Study Centre.
Deem, R. and K. Brehony. 2005. “Management as ideology: the case of ‘new managerialism’ in higher education”. Oxford Review of Education 31(2): 217 - 235.
DoE see Department of Education.
Department of Education. 1997. Education White Paper 3: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education. Pretoria: Government Printers.
DHET see Department of Higher Education and Training.
Department of Higher Education and Training. 2014. Regulations for Reporting by Public Higher Education Institutions in South Africa. Pretoria: DHET.
Divala, J. J. K. 2006. “Conditional autonomy and responsible action: A response to Yusef Waghid and Martin Hall”. South African Journal of Higher Education 20(3): 21 – 24.
Divala, J. J. K. 2008. Is a Liberal Conception of University Autonomy Relevant to Higher Education in Africa? Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy of Education Thesis, Stellenbosch University.
Dlamini, C. R. M. 1996. University Autonomy and Academic Freedom in South Africa. Unpublished Doctor of Laws Thesis, University of South Africa.
Du Toit, A. 2013. “Losing the academic plot? The CHE and the debate on academic autonomy and public accountability”. Kagisano 8(2013): 28 – 56.
Du Toit, A. 2000. “Revisiting academic freedom in post-apartheid South Africa: current issues and challenges”. Pretexts 9(2000): 91 – 104.
Fengu, M. 2023. “Bedevilled by democracy – Fort Hare VC decries erosion of university autonomy, academic freedom”. Daily Maverick, 24 August 2023.
Habib, A., S. Morrow, and K. Bentley. 2005. “Academic freedom, institutional autonomy and the corporatised university in contemporary South Africa”. Social Dynamics 34(2): 140 – 155.
Hall, M. 2006. “Academic freedom and the university: fifty years of debate”. South African Journal of Higher Education 20(3): 8 – 16.
Hasan, M. and N. Ahasan. “Academic Freedom in Bangladesh”. In In University Autonomy Decline: Causes, Responses and Implications for Academic Freedom, ed. K. R. Lyer, I. Saliba, and J. Spannagel. London: Routledge.
Hogan, B. E. and L. D. Trotter. 2013. “Academic freedom in Canadian higher education: Universities, colleges, and institutes were not created equal”. Canadian Journal of Higher Education 34(2): 68 – 84.
Jansen, J. D. 2005. “Accounting for autonomy”. South African Journal of Higher Education 19(2): 214 – 228.
Jaspers, K. 1965. The Idea of a University. Peter-Owen Ltd: London.
Karran, T. 2007. “Academic freedom in Europe: A preliminary comparative analysis”. Higher Education Policy 20: 289 – 313.
Klikauer, T. 2015. “What is managerialism?” Critical Sociology 41(7-8): 1103-1119.
Krüger, R. 2013. “The genesis and scope of academic freedom in South African Constitution”. Kagisano 8(2013): 5 – 27.
Lange, L. 2013. “Academic freedom: revisiting the debate”. Kagisano 8(2013): 57 – 75.
Lange, L. and T. Luescher-Mamashela. 2016. “Governance”. In South African Higher Education Reviewed: Two Decades of Democracy. Pretoria: Council on Higher Education.
Lojdva, K. 2016. “The end of academic freedom in the era of neoliberalism”. Pedogogieka Orientace 26(4): 605 – 630.
Lyer, K. R., I. Saliba, and J. Spannagel. “University autonomy and academic freedom”. In University Autonomy Decline: Causes, Responses and Implications for Academic Freedom, ed. K. R. Lyer, I. Saliba, and J. Spannagel. London: Routledge.
Lynch, K. and M. Ivancheva. 2015. “Academic freedom and the commercialisation of universities: A critical analysis”. Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics 15(1): 71 – 85.
Matei, L. and J. Iwinska. 2018. “Institutional autonomy and academic freedom in the European Higher Education Area”. European Higher Education area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies 2018: 345 – 368.
Maupane, M. 2019. Governance in Higher Education, Universities under Administration and Infrastructure Development at New Universities. Cape Town: Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG).
Merrett, C. 2006. “The expropriation of intellectual capital and the political economy of international academic publishing”. Critical Arts 20(1): 96 - 111.
MoE see Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education. 2004. A New Funding Framework: How Government Grants are Located to Public Higher Education Institutions. Pretoria: Government Printers.
National Commission on Higher Education. 1996. “An overview of a new policy framework for higher education”. http://www.llnw.creamermedia.co.za/articles/attachments/04394_highereducationtransformatio.pdf.
Olsen, J. P. 2009. “Democratic government, institutional autonomy and the dynamics of change”. West European Politics 32(3): 4399 – 465.
Perkin, H. 2007. “History of universities”. In International Handbook of Higher Education, ed. J. J. F. Forest, and P. G. Altbach. Dordrecht: Springer Publication.
Prozesky, H. F. van Schalkwyk. 2024. “The profile of postdoctoral research fellows in South Africa: Trends over the past two decades”. South African Journal of Science 120(1-2): 1-8.
Republic of South Africa. 1997. The Higher Education Act No. 1017 of 1997, as amended. Pretoria: Government Printers.
Shore, C. and M. Taitz. 2019. “Who ‘owns’ the university? Institutional autonomy and academic freedom in an age of knowledge capitalism”. Globalisation, Societies and Education 10(2): 201 – 219.
Shozi-Nxumalo, T. and S. P. C. Onwuegbuchulam. 2024. “Reassessing the relationship between political parties and student political structures in light of academic freedom and institutional autonomy”. Presentation at the Higher Education Conference on Deepening the Discourse on Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability in South African Higher Education. 28 February to 1 March 2024, Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, Johannesburg.
Soudien, C. 2010. “Grasping the nettle? South African higher education and its transformation imperatives”. South African Journal of Higher Education 24(6): 881 – 896.
Tabensky, P. A. 2013. “Against the discourse of academic freedom”. Kagisano 8(2013): 76 – 87.
Taylor, F. W. 1911. The Principles of Scientific Management. New York: Cornell University Library.
Van Pletzen, J. H. 2015. The Implications of Current Legislative Changes for Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy of South African Higher Education Institutions. Unpublished Master of Arts in Higher Education Thesis, University of the Free State.
Vokhobzhonovna, X. S. 2023. “The evolution of the concept of academic freedom in higher education institutions”. American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Research 3(12): 365 – 370.
UNESCO see the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. 1997. Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel. Paris: UNESCO.
Waghid, Y., S. Berhout, D. Taylor, and J. De Klerk. 2005. “In defence of institutional autonomy and academic freedom: contesting state regulation in higher education”. South African Journal of Higher Education 19(6): 1177 – 1195.
Waghid, Y. 2006. “Academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and responsible action: A response to Martin Hall”. South African Journal of Higher Education 20(3): 17 – 20.
World University Service. 1988. The Lima Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of Institutions of Higher Education. Geneva: World University Service.
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Published
2025-08-23
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Saidi, A. 2025. “Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy in Higher Education in South Africa: Whereto After Decades of Discourse and Rhetoric?”. South African Journal of Higher Education 39 (4):1-21. https://doi.org/10.20853/39-4-7600.
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