By Adele Thomas. Academic journal articles are the lifeblood of many researchers. These articles bring exposure, prestige, and money for individual academics and their institutions. More...

By Hartmut Winkler. Universities around the world have become stressed business enterprises. Funding considerations now dominate institutional strategy. This commercialisation is often driven by falling government subsidies and funding pressures. More...

By Subethra Pather. The #feesmustfall student movement in South Africa has garnered a great deal of popular support. It has its critics, too. More...

By Joleen Steyn Kotze. If one tracks South African student activities in 2015 it becomes apparent that a new politics is bubbling below the surface of academic life. This first emerged with the #RhodesMustFall and #OpenStellenbosch protests, followed more recently by #FeesMustFall. More...

By Biniam Bedasso. Inequality has a profound impact on people’s ability to accumulate skills and knowledge. The protests that rocked South Africa’s universities suggest in October 2015 suggest that the impact of inequality on the distribution of educational opportunities may have deepened so much that it now affects social cohesion. More...

By Kershree Padayachee. In the years after South Africa became a democracy, the country’s universities began a tough process of change. They worked to improve access for students across the board of race and gender. More...

By Nimi Hoffmann, Sioux McKenna and Temwa Moyo. A new piece of draft legislation could give South Africa’s higher education minister increased power over the country’s universities. More...

By Savo Heleta. It is no secret that South Africa views itself as somehow “outside” the African continent. The country’s National Development Plan, a roadmap for the next 15 years, concedes that even the country’s policy makers lack knowledge about the continent. They also, the plan’s authors say, “tend to have a weak grasp of African geopolitics”. More...

By Sioux McKenna. What makes a great teacher? Globally, university teaching is often dismissed by academics as being secondary to research. But, for the 2015 winners of South Africa’s National Excellence in Teaching and Learning Awards, teaching comes first. More...

By Craig Blewett. There are two revolutions happening in South Africa’s universities. One is very public and hard to ignore. In 2015 the country saw the emergence of energetic, organised student movements demanding wholesale changes in the sector. More...