An exploration of what it means to be an academic citizen of 2020 in a South African University

1. What it means to be an academic
citizen of 2020 :
a South African perspective
RITA NDAGIRE KIZITO
Director, Centre for Learning, Teaching & Development
University of the Witwatersrand
Phone: (+27) 11 717 1481
Email: Rita.Kizito@wits.ac.za
Website: https://www.wits.ac.za/cltd/
ECAD Workshop: Exploring the Academic Role
within the Wits Context
Wits Club
27 February 2020

2. South African Higher Education at a glance
• 26 public universities with nearly one million
students
• 700 000 students are registered at the more than 50
higher education training colleges (TVET colleges –
Technical vocational education training).
• 90 000 students can be found at various private
institutions.
• University enrolment has increased from about 500
000 in 1994.
• Enrolment at the colleges has increased from around
200 000 in 2000.
• The vast majority of students are now Africans.
• Ratio of Higher education enrolments: Population is
very low.
• The government plans to increase university
enrolment to 1.5 million by 2030.

3. Main challenges
 Sharp rise in student numbers
with racial disparities
 14% of African students enrolled HE education
 57% of white students enrolled in HE
 Black and female students are under-
represented in science, engineering and
technology, business and commerce
programmes.
 White males dominate postgraduate
 Financing
 Existing loan scheme (National Student
Financial Aid Scheme) covers only a few
students
 Poor access and very high
dropout rates
 Under 50 percent of undergraduate
students have managed to graduate five
years after entry
…for students
…for staff
 Demographic profile of academic
staff does not mirror changed
profile of students
 Leading scholars are ageing
 Inadequate postgraduate pipeline
 Too long to achieve A-rate
 average time taken for an early research to
achieve an A-rating is 28 years
o Academics not trained to teach
Elling N Tjønneland(2017)
Phetiwe Matutu (2019)

4. Challenges facing South African higher
education are linked to the wider
challenges facing South Africa:
1 poor economic growth
2 high youth unemployment

5. What does it mean to be an
academic citizen of 2020 in a
University ?
where “ Academic citizenship “refers to the duties, responsibilities or
virtues of an academic (Macfarlane, 2007).

6. Profiles of Senior Lecturers & Lecturers in South
African Higher Education
https://www.usaf.ac.za/why-emerging-researchers-need-to-be-
supported/
Why emergent researchers need to be supported . Source:

7. New Teaching & Learning landscape
( Technological advancements)
Royal Society & British Academy (2018)

8. New Teaching & Learning landscape
( Influences from society & industry)
 Producing “ job-ready”
students
 Dictates (& partnerships) from
industry
 Provision of more authentic
and meaningful “real work”
learning experiences
 while maintaining the
“academic rigour”
Moore et al, 2017
Rowe et al, 2017
Xia et al, 2015

9. A Legacy of social and economic inequalities and
exclusions – requiring “TRANSFORMATION”
No real agreement around what a transformed institution or a
transformed curriculum should look like
Two approaches to transformation ( Crain Soudien, 2010)
 representivity approach with a focus on groups (racial, gender,
class but also in the “programme mixes” ( transformation is
about redress )
 ideological – dominant academic discourses and institutional
cultures ( transformation is about re-thinking education and
disrupting the status quo)

10. What does it mean to be an
academic citizen of 2020 in a South
African University ?

11. o Agility, adaptable and open to thinking
outside the box
o Brave enough to use your academic
voices to respond to change
o Ability to collaborate, partner &
network
o willingness and readiness to be open
and vulnerable to different voices and
narratives……..are we willing to ask
ourselves “what is the status of our
susceptibility to histories we do not live,
to stories that disturb one’s sense of
cohesiveness?” Britzman(2000,p.35)
…as an educator/
university teacher

13. Website: https://www.wits.ac.za/cltd/

14. References
Britzman, D. P. (2000). Teacher education in the confusion of our times. Journal of teacher education, 51(3), 200-
205.
Economics, F. (2018). The impact of artificial intelligence on work: an evidence review prepared for the Royal Society
and the British Academy.
Matutu, P (2019) The importance of Supporting Emerging Researchers : The NRF Perspective, Symposium on the
Developing the capacity of ECR, 18 March, 2019
Macfarlane, B. (2007). Defining and rewarding academic citizenship: The implications for university promotions
policy. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 29(3), 261-273.
Moore, T., & Morton, J. (2017). The myth of job readiness? Written communication, employability, and the ‘skills
gap’in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 42(3), 591-609
Rowe, A. D., & Zegwaard, K. E. (2017). Developing graduate employability skills and attributes: Curriculum
enhancement through work-integrated learning.
Soudien, C. (2010). The reconstitution of privilege: Integration in former white schools in South Africa. Journal of
Social Issues, 66(2), 352-366.
Tjønneland, E. N. (2017). Crisis at South Africa’s universities–what are the implications for future cooperation with
Norway?. CMI Brief.
Xia, J., Caulfield, C., & Ferns, S. (2015). Work-integrated learning: linking research and teaching for a win-win
situation. Studies in Higher Education, 40(9), 1560-1572.

15. Thank you