The discourses of neoliberalism and global market competition dominate social and economic agendas at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In particular, global competition and new managerialism have underpinned the recent emphases on accountability and administrative efficiency, and there has been a permeation of contemporary business…

The story of Brown is compelling. Blacks and Whites alike understood that the Jim Crow system of "separate but equal" was a convenient fiction. There was no actual effort to ensure that Whites and Blacks were provided the same services. Invariably, the White schools had higher funding, better buildings, newer supplies and so on. Indeed,…

Research on student responses to Critical Pedagogy frequently highlights their opposition to transformational agendas. This paper focuses on student opposition at a predominantly 'white' South African university to materials that represent the apartheid past. Engaging with the imperatives of transformation characterizing post-apartheid Higher…

Quality assurance is an important subject in modern universities. After discussing several theoretical aspects of quality and quality assurance, the authors conclude that the care taken by heads of academic departments or directors of academic schools in the process of quality assurance may be regarded as one of the key elements of ensuring good…

The 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and, of course, the hotly contested U.S. presidential election were just two of the events that dominated the headlines in 2004. Throughout the year, colleges and universities, as well as other educational institutions across the country, commemorated the Supreme Court's landmark case by…

This article is based on a doctoral study of educational change in the School of Education (SOE) of the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. It is an exploration of "a moment in time" that bore witness to institutional and human transformation in South African higher education. This transformation involved a development from…

In this article, the author discusses how the matter of civil rights, and in particular the treatment of black people at the hands of white people, was conveyed to him most powerfully by three men of Harvard. The first was his high school headmaster, Herbert W. Smith, who introduced their class to the horrors of apartheid through the writings of…

Since the transition to democracy in 1994, South African education has witnessed remarkable changes. Teacher training, like all other elements of the national education system, is part of an evolving post-apartheid educational landscape. This paper describes important forces of change that have helped to shape the education landscape in South…

Despite desegregation, and educational policies calling for increased inclusivity in higher education, students in South Africa generally continue to have homogenous social and learning experiences. This article reports on a collaborative student learning community across three disciplines at two universities. The e-learning project aimed to…

State of the South 2004 is the fifth edition in North Carolina Manpower Development Corporation MDC's State of the South series, which examines the region's economic and demographic landscape and how Southerners are faring within it. This edition considers the region through the lens of public education, 50 years after the Supreme Court?s Brown…

The United States Supreme Court has had a significant role in the exploration and definition of affirmative action in this country. No more so than in the recent decisions related to the University of Michigan admissions cases. This article will explore the historical role of the U.S. Supreme Court and the decisions that this entity has made in…

This study provides a framework for studying socio-cultural issues that impact on how knowledge, ideas and values are transmitted and developed. Since racial domination in South Africa was produced through power relations, it is important to investigate discourses through which black South African distance education learners make meaning of their…

In South Africa there is widespread recognition amongst university educators that the new outcomes-based education (OBE) system can prevent instrumental thinking, particularly in view of OBE's agenda to encourage critical learning. However, what these educators do not necessarily take into account is that many students are not always ready to deal…

Trends suggest that business practices and private sector ideas and values are increasingly permeating public funded higher education institutions world-wide. The impact of business practices and values on higher education policy and practice is discernible in the growing dominance of global privatisation, quasi-marketisation and new managerialism…

This case study of the transformation of teacher education in post-apartheid South Africa is a reflection on the pressures and priorities that characterise curriculum design and development in a society undergoing rapid change. It focusses on the varied sources behind the process of curriculum transformation, indicating how an historically…