South African (SA) higher education policy is replete with the rhetoric of graduate attributes directly linked to socio-economic transformation. Since 1994, post-apartheid government pronouncements have assumed that policy can be translated by universities to produce graduates with a (constantly shifting) set of 21st century attributes. Through the lens of social justice, we critically review SA policy discourse and instruments to unravel the ramifications for universities. Using Barnett’s (2000, 2006) framework on 'supercomplexity' in higher education, the paper considers what curricula can and cannot achieve. Graduate attribute (GA) discourse in SA is deconstructed through a careful distillation of the literature on resilience. We use the GA resilience (which gained momentum in COVID-19) as an example to counter the state’s instrumentalist view of higher education. A more nuanced, realistic approach to the purpose of the university than that expounded in state policy is needed. The paper explores SA contexts which retain apartheid-defined realities which taint and determine the present, and an indeterminate future. Drawing on data, consideration is given to the personal and socio-economic contexts and histories of students and the role of the university in a post-democratic SA. The universities’ face a Sisyphean challenge resulting from the state’s imperatives to address the multiple ambiguities and competing demands facing SA in the context of fiscal constraints. We demonstrate that state policy assumes that universities have ‘magic formulae’, expressed in curricula, which mimic factory production. Our research unveils the flaws in government policy, which result in perversities and performativity in SA higher education.

Authors:
Kirti Menon, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Gloria Castrillon, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Gloria Castrillon is the Director of the Centre responsible for quality assurance, and a Research Associate (University of Johannesburg). She has a keen interest in higher education policy and practice and talks a lot (not only about this) :-)

Connect on Linkedin
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gloria-castrillon-phd-wits-882413b

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gloria-Castrillon

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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