South African Universities in Transition: Causes and Potential Impacts of the 2015 Student Protests

• In Event: 315 - Open Refereed Roundtables Session. B. Table 01 Shared and Contested Spaces
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 11. Collective Action

Abstract

In 2015, South Africa’s university students participated in massive, prolonged, nationwide demonstrations in unprecedented numbers. Though students gathered under disparate banners and hashtags and divided over tactics, questions of fairness in and access to tertiary education underlay all of their demands. Protests grew so large and were so sustained that activists appeared to win a provisional victory at year’s end when President Jacob Zuma joined several university presidents in promising to cancel planned tuition increases for the next academic year. But deeper questions about who is able to attend a South African university and under what conditions remain. This paper explores that causes and potential impacts of the 2015 protests and sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the continuing post-apartheid transition in South African universities. An immediate follow-up paper will explore the literature educational access in South Africa's tertiary education sector.

Authors

• Ronald Nerio, CUNY Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

• Maria Biskup, CUNY