Page 22 - Transformation Indaba Report

Prof Soudien suggested institutions try to find themselves in velopment. Many institutions are in that development focus, a
the matrix in complicated ways. The compliance culture is very focus that is essentially an outward focus. A focus on what kind
evident in institutional reports. People do things because they of graduates we send out into the world and the outside stan-
feel they must, around employment equity and reporting. He dard against which the institution is held. The transformation
has noticed that reporting is uneven and sometimes even poor. focus is one where institutions are much more inward-looking,
University innovation around disciplines, pedagogy, and man- looking at how they deal with the student experience, how
agement does not receive sufficient attention. Instead, the they manage student well-being, and staff development.
discussion is focused on the horizontal axis of equity and de-

…of the 26 institutions in the country 13 of them are in deep internal contestation around transformation and that contestation
is often reflected in the way in which institutions say one thing in their reports but in their actual experience are a whole lot more
divided. The experience is divided and that has a lot to do with the ways in which disciplines, in particular, come to hold institu-
tions in a in a particular grip. you can’t y shift mathematics because there are inflexible rules of what mathematics is all about. that
contestation requires a deep look at how the powers of those disciplines work. So, the institutions are almost inescapably in con-
testation. I leave you there with saying that this contestation takes sharp form in some institutions and in other institutions there’s
an attempt to think about institutionalizing the idea of change, and institutions are doing much better and I think NMU falls into
that particular category, trying to understand itself from inside in deep kinds of ways.”

Assessment of the HE sector(slide)

Positives Negatives
a) Greater student and staff representivity a) Intensification of class inequality
b) Stronger gender agenda – GBV b) Residual whiteness
c) Focus on student well-being c) Institutional inequality
d) Awareness of issues of marginalisation d) Institutional contestation
e) Curriculum and Pedagogy Improvement e) No sector-wide agreement on transformational approach
f) Research shift to social engagement f) NSFAS challenges
g) Persistence of GBV

Lesley proposed a deep engagement around Prof Soudien’s weaknesses, risks, and lacks. She reminded us that we have a
analyses and the transformation frame/matrix. She thanked unique aspiration to be a ‘Mandela’ university and encouraged
him for his helpful contextualisation and his historical and us to look at sociologies. The VC, Prof Muthwa, thanked both
systemic overview. She thanked him for flagging the sector’s Presenters wholeheartedly for delivering powerful analyses.

NelsoN MaNdela UNiversity • traNsforMatioN iNdaba • 2022 16