Page 17 - Transformation Indaba Report

so much at the Senate level. He suggested that SRCs have
Transformed senaTes
an obligation to understand the classroom situation better.
A prominent structure of interest is that of Senates. The Senate
is a big university structure. Soudien and colleagues found that insTiTuTional forums
Senates had not transformed significantly since 2002 and that
Prof Soudien felt that the operations of some Institutional
CHE identified three types of Senates: traditional, managerial,
Forums (established in the 1990s) could be best described
and democratic. Only one institution in the period reviewed
as “compliance with the Act”. Forums may receive policies,
was found to give specific attention to “how to flatten decision-
plans and reports from various offices on matters of transfor-
making, especially academic decision-making”. The demo-
mation, such as employment equity and student equity (for
graphic representation problem is well-reflected in a descrip-
example, enrolment plans); reports on senior appointments;
tion of VUT’s Senate, where the Senate was typically predom-
reports of complaints and incidents of discrimination on
inantly male, mostly white, and dominated by Profs and Drs.
campus and how these have been resolved. The Forums will
The composition of the Senate […] shows that it is male- either merely take note of these or, more rarely, express an
dominated, with male members making up 64% of the total opinion on them for the benefit of Council. Typically, their most
membership. A deeper analysis of the composition shows important item in a year is senior management appointments.
that 49% of members are professors, 29% hold a doctorate, He found several Institutional Forums to be sadly non-func-
and 22% have other titles. Male professors and doctors make tional, concentrating their attention on university management
up 57% of the total, whilst female professors (only 8%) and appointments. Prof Soudien suggests the sector explore the
doctors account for only 20% of the total. This might be Institutional Forum as a potential site of democracy, a flattened
symptomatic of a preponderance of a masculine-oriented and open structure where people can speak to each other on
perspective in Senate narratives and decision-making. It also equal terms. Institutional Forums need to be developed further
suggests a broader institutional challenge alluding to a need and exploited much more, especially as Senates deal
for a firmer commitment to transformation. essentially with the intellectual project.
TransformaTion acTivism and The sTudenT
The universiTy as a democracy
movemenT
An issue of concern for Transformation is how to constitute
a university as a democracy. Prof Soudien believes that it is Prof Soudien remarked that governance implications reported
not an uncomplicated issue, and it’s also not adequate to use by the universities in the aftermath of the 2015/16 protests
the general sociology of society. There are numerous issues, tended to be positive. Some universities have improved
but foremost, Soudien feels an under-researched question their approach to engaging with students by holding regular
requiring future attention is that of what happens in univer- meetings with student leaders beyond the SRC and outside
sities at the classroom level. Many universities have elected formal structures and establishing rapid response teams and
class representatives who have a relationship with lecturers. task teams to address conflictual matters (such as exclusions)
He believes the “stuff” of what a university is all about is best expeditiously. The effects of the protests and students
explored and investigated at that grassroots level and not have forced HE institutions to review their policies.

2. General features of the HE Experience (slide)

• Universities were employing various kinds of pro-equity interventions to increase the number of black and female
academic staff while also seeking to maintain an acceptable balance between permanent and contract staff appoint-
ments and containing their salary bill.
• The expansion of the student body and massification of black higher education has been a great achievement, but
some institutions and campuses continue to be shaped by the historical racial demographics of their student cohorts.
• The equity challenge in student enrolments increasingly relates to class equity, given the improvements in racial
equity (although the gross enrolment ratio remains highly unequal) and gender equity, which has surpassed the
demographic ratio in the wider society. The inclusion of increasing numbers of poor and working-class students in
higher education has created challenges for all universities.

NelsoN MaNdela UNiversity • traNsforMatioN iNdaba • 2022 11