School of Higher Education Studies

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Browsing School of Higher Education Studies by Subject "Academic freedom"

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    The implications of current legislative changes for academic freedom and institutional autonomy of South African higher education institutions
    (University of the Free State, 2015-07) Van Pletzen, Johanna Helena; Fourie-Malherbe, M.; Holtzhausen, S. M.
    English: Traditionally HEIs have been places dedicated to the search for the truth, where the truth can be pursued without fear of retribution or interference and where academics can decide what and how they teach and research. This is the essence of academic freedom, one of the principles of HE, but also a prerequisite for well-functioning HEIs and a well-functioning HE system. Equally important is the institutional autonomy of HEIs, because without institutional autonomy, academic freedom cannot exist. In unequivocal terms, should HEIs fail to have autonomy when executing their core functions, the academic freedom of individual academics will be influenced. Both academic freedom and institutional autonomy are inextricably linked to the relationship between HEIs and government. The nature of the relationship between the government and HEIs is gleaned from legislative and other regulatory documents, and directly impacts on the academic freedom and institutional autonomy of HEIs. Given the importance of academic freedom and institutional autonomy for HEIs, the questions raised by scholars and HEI managers alike regarding the 2012 Higher Education and Training Laws Amendment Act are significant. These critics maintain that the Amendment Act impinges on the academic freedom and institutional autonomy of HEIs. This qualitative research study, framed within the interpretivist paradigm, was undertaken primarily to research what the real or potential implications of the Amendment Act are for the academic freedom and institutional autonomy of HEIs. The following research methods were applied in this study, namely: (a) Aliterature reviewof the the relationship between the government and HEIs, the principles of academic freedomand institutional autonomy, and the relationship between these principles, was performed, (b) Bacchi’s evaluative policy analysis “what’s the problem represented to be?” approach was applied to the Amendment Act,and (c) Semi-structured interviewswere conducted with information-rich participants (two senior officials and one senior academic staff member) of the three participating HEIs.Theseparticipating HEIs were selected by applying the classification system of high, medium and low research producing HEIs (one HEI from each category), while the participants were selected because of their intimate knowledge ofHElegislation and policy and its implications for HEIs, and to secure a wide range of representativeness. The aim of the semi-structured interviews was to determine the perceptions of the participants regarding whether the relevant provisions of the Amendment Act haveany potential or real implications for the academic freedom and institutional autonomy of HEIs. The data obtained from the semi-structured interviews were coded, with the application of the thematic approach. On completion of all these processes, namely, the literature review, policy analysis of the Amendment Act and the findings of the perception study, the results were integrated and the conclusion was reached that the Amendment Act does impinge on the academic freedom and institutionalautonomy of HEIs, with the consequence that the effective functioning of SA HEIsand the SAHE system isat risk. One of the recommendations that emanate from this study includes that the principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy should be critically engaged with by HEIs, in order to establish a new definition of academic freedom and institutional autonomy appropriate for the post 1994 period.