South Africa will celebrate 30 years of democracy in 2024. Higher education policy and legislation have steered the development of a post-apartheid public higher education system with approximately 53,000 academic staff and 1.1 million students in 26 public universities. Despite rapid growth and demographic change in the student population, changes in the staffing of the academic profession have been complex and slow. Policy interventions have focused on transformation in staff demographics; equity and inclusion; responsiveness in teaching and research; and social justice. At the same time as the South African system has had to redress the profound inequities of historical education policy, it has also been exposed to and affected by global changes to higher education, particularly the growing effect of neoliberalism on universities and academic work. South African universities have also faced significant political turbulence linked to both local and global movements concerned with the relevance and purpose of university education.

This presentation will provide an overview of key statistics and trends in the academic workforce in post-apartheid South Africa; offer an analysis of the successes and failures of policy in relation to academic staffing in universities; and reflect on a small but growing literature focused on academic staffing. South Africa continues to grapple with the policy challenges of developing meaningful academic career pathways and a strong academy, which may hold policy lessons for higher education systems in other parts of the world.

Further details about the event can be found at https://warwick.ac.uk/global/africa/hepolicyinsouthafricalecture/Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window

Watch the full lecture at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3guw62D6rfULink opens in a new window