Lecturers' perspectives on the relevance of the university curriculum to the Africanisation ideals in post-apartheid: a case of rural South African Universities

Abstract

The need to Africanise university education in Africa started before South Africa (SA) got her independence and has been received with mixed feelings. Lecturers acknowledge the measures that have been taken by some African countries in an attempt to decolonise, Africanise and internationalise the university curriculum. The pace SA moved with towards the transformation was slow until the university students started protesting demanding free decolonised higher education. The efforts by government to address the challenge was premised on the acknowledgement of challenges threatening higher education in SA. Literature attests that some institutions of higher learning in SA are beginning to experience a paradigm shift from the colonised to the decolonised curriculum in terms of the curriculum design and implementation (content, methodologies (pedagogies), research, language and policy to be adopted) to bring about the much-desired change. This study acknowledges the need for education to be reflective of the society and times in which it is offered and therefore, explored the perceptions of university lecturers regarding the relevance of the university curriculum to the Africanisation ideals in the post-colonial era. It raised questions related to what makes knowledge, knowledge; and what makes knowledge relevant. The study was informed by the constructivist theory. The study adopted a qualitative approach and a case study design. Convenient and purposive sampling techniques were used to choose the rural university and thirty participants. Data was derived from interviews. Thematic frames were used to present and analyse data. The study found that the current curriculum was not relevant to Africanisation ideals, not addressing the society’s needs and not speaking to the job market hence having many unemployed university graduates. It further established that some academics were caught up in a dilemma not knowing how to migrate from the old system to Africanisation and fear that the system may re-colonise itself. The paper concludes that the university curriculum should be redesigned in order to address the Africanisation ideals and society’s needs and lecturers need to be workshopped and debate on the relevance of the Africanised curriculum. The study recommends the need to change the curriculum and organise seminars and workshops to help university lecturers unpack and demystify the perceptions surrounding the relevance of the university curriculum.