Theorising institutional change through a historical analysis of higher education in South Africa and a case study of the University of the Free State

Abstract

This study sought to understand higher education change by drawing from the theoretical premises of institutional change. The study relied on an exploration of the bounded context of South African Higher Education. Therein, the case example of the University of the Free State was used to demonstrate the intricacies of higher education institutional processes that significantly cut across various contextual bounds. The design of the study was located within the pragmatic paradigm and drew from its corresponding abductive form of reasoning. This chosen design explored a blend between a historical and case study approach. It also relied on documentary sources for historical analyses. It emerged from the study that higher education institutional change ought to be cognizant of the often conflated institutional/organisational overlap in higher education studies. This recognition was in line with the advancement of a layered institutional change proposition in which the analyses of this study considered three institutional layers. Firstly, the evolutionary perspective was applied to the analysis of the changing socio-political premise of the South African polity and represented the meta-institutional layer of this study. Secondly, the design perspective was applied to the study of the changing policy framework of South African higher education and represented the macro institutional layer. Lastly, the equilibrium perspective was applied to the analysis of the changing institutional processes at the University of the Free State. The University’s context represented the micro-institutional layer of this study. This study analysed the historical institutional change trajectories that linked the evolving socio-political context of the South African polity to the design of South Africa’s higher education policies and to the varying equilibrium positions at the University of the Free State. The study determined that studies in Higher education and change ought to consider a layered institutional approach in which the transitions within higher education establishments are analysed across a network of institutional relationships. Also, the study recommends that historical trajectories are more significant in the analyses of change when considered as departure points, rather than as path-dependent determinants of institutional change processes.