TRANSFORMATION: THE CHANGING CONTEXT OF ACADEMIA IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

The transformatory paradigm of post-apartheid South Africa hasleft few of the country's institutions free of critical scrutiny.Higher education has been no exception. As elsewhere in Africaunder new post-colonial governments, South African universitieshave a relatively high profile on the agenda of change. Thisinterest has been spurred not only by the ANC government's awarenessof its large share in the funding of universities but also becauseof the political imperatives engendered by the disaffectionagainst the historically white universities (HWU's) among itsyouth constituency. This article assesses the current interplaybetween universities and their new environment and focuses onthe following issues central to the debate on university transformation:the higher education heritage of apartheid; the impact of thechanging racial profile of students at HWU's; perceptions ofthe role of universities; affirmative action staffing policies;competing claims by universities, the government and the privatesector on scarce black and especially African human resources;the negative implications of the African brain drain from universitieson civil society; and the question of Afrocentrism versus Eurocentrism.Where relevant these issues are examined against the backdropof the African experience. In doing so a number of yet to beresolved problems are highlighted.