The university as a site for transformation: developing civic-minded graduates at South African institutions through an epistemic shift in institutional culture

Abstract

At least one of the goals of the transformation of universities in South Africa is to develop civic-minded graduates who leave university to become agents of positive social change in broader society. More specifically, universities in South Africa aim to develop graduates who are critical, capable and balanced -graduates who are aware of their social responsibilities in post-apartheid South Africa. In this paper we, first, consider why South African universities should want to promote the development of socially-responsive civic-minded agents. Second, we analyse three plausible suggestions for the transformation of universities into sites that could increase a university's ability to foster civic-minded graduates on its campus: transformation of the university structures and demographics; the implementation of transformative teaching and learning practices; and the implementation of community engagement programmes. While all three of these suggestions are found to be plausible, we argue that in order for universities to become sites for transformation par excellence -sites which foster the development of civicmindedness -universities must embrace an epistemic shift in institutional culture. Education as Change

Transforming the curriculum for the unique challenges faced by South Africa

“…The pedagogy and knowledge conceptions that are advanced in this paper are more likely to produce critical citizens who can productively participate in public life. It is also congruent with the ideas of Paphitis and Kelland (2016) who view that universities should promote civic-minded graduates and Vally (2019) who argues for students who can contribute to the social transformation of society in the face of neo-liberalism and the marketization of the university.…”

“…Identity and citizenship have not been settled, but is in the making in South Africa and it is through the curriculum that schools and universities should contribute in this area. The slow pace of transformation in the South African higher education sector has been alluded to by other scholars (Blignaut 2013;Paphitis and Kelland 2016;Vally 2019).…”

Decolonising the future in the untransformed present in South African higher education

“…The higher education sector rather than construct knowledge with students simply turn the students into consumers who must go outside and reproduce what they have consumed to the rest of the nation (Higgs, 2016). The notion of curriculum as consumption reveals how social values have shifted towards the marketplace, leading to the development of students who are morally bankrupt, and this according to Paphitis and Kelland (2016), is a form of epistemic violence which must be dealt away with if transformation must occur. Decolonising the curriculum by diverging to converge will give South African higher education the opportunity of developing a curriculum, which instils the kind of values and ideals (such as social justice, democracy, tolerance and Ubuntu) the nation desires in the students and the academics, so they can in turn transport this to the rest of the world.…”

Universities and Regional Engagement

“…The activities of educational institutions have been central to improving the quality of life for citizens in communities and societies they serve. Universities, in particular, instigate societal transformation through the quality of its graduates (Paphitis, & Kelland, 2016) as well as through research-based innovations applied to a range of societal challenges such as climate change (Purcell et al, 2019;Hodgson, 2015). This chapter considers the circumstance of the University of the West Indies (the UWI), which operates in the Caribbean and serves as the lead university to the 17 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of this region.…”