Some strides during the past 30 years, but challenges remain

As 30 years of democracy commemorations continue before South Africans go to the polls again on 29 May, the head of the Council on Higher Education (CHE), Dr Whitfield Green, says the country’s tertiary education sector has undergone “massive surgery” from apartheid to a system serving all citizens.

Green is the chief executive officer of the CHE, an independent statutory body established in May 1998 to advise the minister responsible for higher education on policy matters and promote quality assurance in higher education.

The 1997 Higher Education Act was the bedrock for the overhaul, setting the tone for changes in funding, student access and success, research and postgraduate studies, staffing, private higher education, articulation, and the internationalisation of higher education.

While considerable progress has been made in developing policies that sought to dismantle apartheid in higher education, especially regarding the promotion of access and equity, Green says much more must be done to implement these policies.

South Africa’s democracy turned 30 on 27 April, the day on which all citizens could vote for the first time in 1994.

Funding model

Green told University World News that the factors thwarting the effective implementation of policies include resource shortages, insufficient institutional capacities for leading and managing change, inertia caused by remnants of systemic coloniality and apartheid, and the country’s predominantly reactive, rather than proactive policy development process. Attention must be given to addressing these constraints.

He believes the new higher education funding framework has more merits than demerits. In nominal terms, the public higher education sector has received increased funding.

However, Green says this funding is not adequate because of rising levels of inflation, a steadily growing demand for higher education and the relatively poor economic performance of the economy, which is resulting in many families struggling to make ends meet and, thus, not being able to pay for the rising costs of higher education; and, more recently, the need to redirect resources to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Novel models of funding need to be explored, as financial resources are the lifeblood of any effective and efficient higher education sector.

He says much has been achieved in levelling the funding landscape in the country, particularly in funding the public higher education system.

Postgraduate and private education

Green says South Africa has made significant strides in research development and postgraduate studies. Regarding research activities and outputs, as well as enrolments in and graduation from postgraduate study programmes, South Africa now compares favourably with other countries with economies of the same or similar size and shape.

“As we advance, attention needs to be focused on staff capacity and professional as well as academic development and on increasing the number of black, women, and disabled staff in senior management and leadership levels of public higher education institutions.

There has been steady growth in the number of private higher education institutions and students enrolled in those institutions.

“Student number growth is higher in the private higher education sector than in the public higher education sector,” added Green.

Gender

But when it comes to gender in higher education, 30 years into democracy, continuing disparities urgently need to be addressed, say Brightness Mangolothi, the executive director of Higher Education Resource Services-South Africa (HERS-SA), and Grace Khunou, the chairperson of the Transformation Managers’ Forum, also driving transformation at UNISA (the University of South Africa).

“Thirty years is usually considered a significant milestone. More often than not, it suggests maturity and certainty about how things should be done. It is, therefore, disheartening that our reflection on how we are doing on the gender question since 1994 illustrates continuing gender disparities,” they wrote in a joint response to questions by University World News.

Thus, Mangolothi and Khunou note that, as in other sectors of society, since 1994, there have been only 20 women vice-chancellors (see list below).

The University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal) was the first to appoint a female vice-chancellor – Professor Brenda Gourley – in 1994, followed by the University of Cape Town (UCT) that appointed Dr Mamphela Ramphele as its first black female vice-chancellor in 1996.

The majority of South Africa’s universities have not appointed female vice-chancellors.

Those that had one woman vice-chancellor have not necessarily replaced them with female vice-chancellors, except the University of Zululand, which has had three women at the helm: Professors Rachel Gumbi, Fikile Mazibuko and, currently, Xoliswa Mtose, serving her second term.

Three of the six current South African female vice-chancellors are serving their second terms, and three are in their first terms. In 2023, there were seven female vice-chancellors for the first time. This was short-lived as UCT vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng stepped down before the end of her second term.

“Currently, we have 20 male vice-chancellors, a scenario that has been the case since 1994. Research shows that universities were created for men by men, and this is still largely true.”

Mangolothi and Khunou say the gender disparity is not only visible at the level of vice-chancellors but also in the representation on other structures, including who is part of the university senate, who makes up the professoriate, who holds NRF ratings, PhD holders and who chairs university councils.

“These disparities are especially troubling when we use an intersectional lens – we find that fewer and fewer of these roles are held by black women who, when they do, are vilified,” they wrote.

They argue that, 30 years after democracy, the call is louder for universities to strive for an inclusive workplace.

Women VCs since democracy

HERS-SA has mapped the appointment of women as vice-chancellors at South African universities since 1994.

• 1994: Professor Brenda Gourley was appointed as the vice-chancellor of the University of Natal, now the University of KwaZulu-Natal, following the merger of the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville in 2004. She was the first female post-apartheid vice-chancellor.

• 1996: Dr Mamphela Ramphele became the first black woman vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town.

• 1998: Professor Connie Mogale-Mokadi was the first female vice-chancellor at the Technikon Witwatersrand, which merged with the Rand Afrikaans University to form the University of Johannesburg in 2005 and incorporated the Soweto campus of Vista University. Also in 1998, Professor Mapule Ramashala served as the vice-chancellor of the University of Durban-Westville (now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal) from 1998 to 2002.

• 2001: Professor Norma Reid-Birley was appointed as the first female vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand. She stepped down in 2003. Also in 2001, Professor Ngoato Takalo was appointed as the first woman vice-chancellor at the University of North-West, which merged with the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education to become North-West University in 2004.

• 2003: Professor Mapule Ramashala served as the vice-chancellor of the Medical University of South Africa (Medunsa, later renamed Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University). In 2003 Professor Rachel Gumbi became the University of Zululand’s first female vice-chancellor.

• 2006: Professor Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga became the first women to head the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

• 2008: Professor Irene Moutlana was appointed as the first woman vice-chancellor at Vaal University of Technology. She retired after two terms.

• 2009: The University of Pretoria appointed Professor Cheryl de la Rey as its vice-chancellor. After nine years at the helm, she became the vice-chancellor of the University of Canterbury post New Zealand.

• 2010: Professor Fikile Mazibuko became the University of Zululand’s second black female rector and vice-chancellor.

• 2012: Professor Nthabiseng Ogude was appointed the first female vice-chancellor at the Tshwane University of Technology and stepped down in 2014.

• 2015: Professor Thoko Mayekiso was appointed as the first vice-chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga, which was established after the end of apartheid, making her the first woman to steer a South African university from its inception. Her contract has been renewed for a second term.

• 2016: Professor Xoliswa Mtose was appointed as the third women vice-chancellor at the University of Zululand and her term was renewed.

• 2017: Professor Sibongile Muthwa was appointed the first woman vice-chancellor at Nelson Mandela University and is currently serving her second term.

• 2018: Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng became the second black woman vice-chancellor at UCT. Her contract was renewed for a second term, but she stepped down in 2023.

• 2020: Professor Puleng LenkaBula was appointed as the first female vice-chancellor in the 148 years UNISA had existed. Also in 2020, Walter Sisulu University appointed Professor Rushiella Songca as its first female vice-chancellor.

• 2022: The Central University of Technology appointed Professor Pamela Dube as its first female vice-chancellor.

This is the second article in a series about the development of South Africa’s higher education system since 1994.