School of Education
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Item Universities trailing behind: Unquestioned epistemological foundations constraining the transition to online instructional delivery and learning(2020) Dlamini, R.; Ndzinisa, N.Universities across South Africa have positioned learning management systems (LMS) as central to remote teaching and learning in response to COVID-19. This fundamentally challenges traditional teaching and learning practices where lecturers typically have close personal contact with students. Our argument is underpinned by critical discourse analysis and social constructivist pedagogy to gain deeper insights into the dimensions of LMS pedagogical affordances and the notion of equitable access to tertiary education in the midst of COVID-19 and the subsequent education and economic depression. Conducting a social constructivist pedagogy inspired analytical argumentative evaluation, we interrogate how digital technologies and platforms challenge the status quo and then argue on the systemic deficits of placing LMS at the centre of the transition in the hope of automatically cultivating an equitable learning environment to enable ubiquitous learning. Our analysis highlights potential contradictions in universities’ reliance on lecturers’ ingenuity without developing enabling structures supporting digital pedagogies at grassroots. This is to ensure inclusivity and avoid creating systemic inequalities that affect individual students’ experiences.Item Corporatisation of universities deepens inequalities by ignoring social injustices and restricting access to higher education(Copyright © 2021 South African Journal of Higher Education Hosted by Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service since 2016, 2018) Dlamini, R.There has been an unprecedented demand for equitable access to post-secondary education post 1994, perhaps because of the change in policies broadening participation of black people in traditional universities in South Africa. The dramatic increase of people of colour attending institutions of higher learning coincided with shrinking government subsidies, which led to universities redesigning their identity according to corporate culture. Thus, they turned to double digit fee increases and persistent long-term outsourcing of services to overcome the problem of funding insecurities. However, it is not clear how corporatization of institutions of higher education enables equitable access and efficient delivery of higher education to the majority of blacks who were previously disadvantaged by apartheid policies. The primary objective of this article is to conduct a meta-synthesis of a systematically retrieved sample of empirical academic literature to present an argument on the systemic deficits in corporatization of higher education and the corporate identity which distort the ideal university. The PRISMA statement is followed to ensure transparent and complete synthesis of the literature reviewed to maintain the integrity of individual studies. Thereafter, the article presents a detailed account of how corporatization of universities deepens inequalities; ignores social injustices and restricts access to higher education. In addition, the article makes a claim that corporatization of universities impairs the academic quality and freedom of the university as well as portrays education as “private good” for self-actualization.Item Corporatisation of universities deepens inequalities by ignoring social injustices and restricting access to higher education(Stellenbosch University, 2019) Dlamini, R.There has been an unprecedented demand for equitable access to post-secondary education post 1994, perhaps because of the change in policies broadening participation of black people in traditional universities in South Africa. The dramatic increase of people of colour attending institutions of higher learning coincided with shrinking government subsidies, which led to universities redesigning their identity according to corporate culture. Thus, they turned to double digit fee increases and persistent long-term outsourcing of services to overcome the problem of funding insecurities. However, it is not clear how corporatization of institutions of higher education enables equitable access and efficient delivery of higher education to the majority of blacks who were previously disadvantaged by apartheid policies. The primary objective of this article is to conduct a meta-synthesis of a systematically retrieved sample of empirical academic literature to present an argument on the systemic deficits in corporatization of higher education and the corporate identity which distort the ideal university. The PRISMA statement is followed to ensure transparent and complete synthesis of the literature reviewed to maintain the integrity of individual studies. Thereafter, the article presents a detailed account of how corporatization of universities deepens inequalities; ignores social injustices and restricts access to higher education. In addition, the article makes a claim that corporatization of universities impairs the academic quality and freedom of the university as well as portrays education as “private good” for self-actualization.