Xolela Mangcu, in an article published in the Mail & Guardian in 2015 titled “Why are there so few black professors?”, highlights that there are only 194 black South Africans who are professors out of the country’s total of 4 000, a mere 4% of the total.
Ahead of the budget vote for 2017-2018 of the department of higher education and training, Minister Blade Nzimande expressed concern about the scarcity of black professors.
Before we answer this question, statistical proof that the universities have been producing black people with doctoral degrees is available in the higher education management information systems data.The genesis of the question “Where do all the black South Africans with PhDs go to?” can be found in the colonial and apartheid legislation on education and the universities.
This is a myth and is used as a pretext to keep black academics out of the universities. Let me reflect on my own academic career experience to dismiss this myth: I studied for my BA, honours, MA degrees and HDE at the former University of Natal, Durban campus. I was certain I wanted to be a teacher and a university professor. I have a doctoral degree, I am a publishing academic in accredited journals internationally and I have just completed a postdoctoral fellowship.
This is a research project in progress but, briefly, what it is uncovering is that university education is a battleground. Very little in that combat has changed from the content and context of the “Mafeje Affair” in the late 1960s. Until the universities pre-emptively appoint black PhD-holding South Africans to teach in these institutions, decolonisation will continue to be a theory. The exclusion in the curriculum of the official South African languages and indigenous knowledge systems is a remnant of colonialism and apartheid; there is nothing democratic and liberated about our education in that context and content.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How I was cured of addiction, cancer and HIVThe 'Berlin patient' tells us why he celebrates four birthdays. And why many HIV people don't want to be cured
Read more »
Traditional Courts Bill props up a system spawned by apartheid'The bill [Traditional Courts Bill ] sets up a parallel system of justice for those living in the former homelands, and prohibits them from 'opting out' of chiefs' courts and choosing to use magistrates' courts instead,' writes Anika Claassens.
Read more »
Address corruption at Eskom: Mzansi reacts to electricity price increasePeople questioned why Eskom, after receiving a bail-out of billions, needed to increase electricity prices.
Read more »
Editorial: Why does Julius fear the media?EDITORIAL: The EFF’s behaviour does not just concern individual journalists. The reason this is so important is that there is a broader principle at stake. These form part of an attack on the institution of journalism itself.
Read more »
Why governing Lagos is Nigeria’s ultimate political prize | News | Africa | M&GForget the presidency. Whoever controls Lagos controls Africa’s most important city, making it Nigeria’s ultimate political prize.
Read more »
OPINIONISTA: Justice For All: Why South Africa should invest in legal technologyThere are thousands of tweets and tiny social telegrams spreading the news that burgeoning technology, such as artificial intelligence, will mean the end of lawyers.
Read more »
Sugar mamas, my sweetest taboo: Why I only date older womenThere are words that we use about older women that we just don’t use about their younger counterparts. “Allure”. “Fascination”. And, of course, “experience”.
Read more »
WATCH | 3 Reasons why tweeps love Khanyi Mbau's wisdomKhanyi Mbau has come a long way from being a self-confessed 'gold-digger' and has pearls of wisdom to show for everything she's been through.
Read more »
Why are men so angry?A panel of experts discussed violence and anger directed against and perpetrated by men.
Read more »
Why are men so angry?A panel of experts discussed violence and anger directed against and perpetrated by men.
Read more »