Following on a series of consultations with scholars and role-players in South African higher education over the past year, STIAS recently expanded its assembly of research themes with the addition of a new long term research project on the University and Society.
Within the context of changing understandings of universities, this project will look to sketch out the past and the future of South African higher education and to translate disruption and discourse into new directions and practice. Inherent to the project is a desire to be forward looking and to engage the next generation of academics in this endeavour.
To take the project forward, an initial Planning Workshop will be held at STIAS on 29 and 30 January 2018.
A prior assumption underpinning this investigation is that institutions of higher learning represent something of value to society. An examination of this assumption can help to articulate some of the points of departure for further research on the different sub-themes of this project.
This Planning Workshop aims to examine this assumption through questions such as: What are these values? Can the value of higher education as a public or private good be determined by economic analysis and what are the limitations of such analyses? What are the outcomes when higher learning is valued intrinsically rather than extrinsically and what relationship should be maintained between higher learning for its own sake and for its measureable material advantages? Is higher learning valued differently by different institutional stakeholders or societal sectors and what should be the balance of power amongst them?
Day one of the Planning Workshop will be devoted to contributions and discussions of the value of higher learning from the perspective of economic analysis. Day two will focus on plans to structure and promote research and reflection on the areas of inquiry or sub-themes in the STIAS project on the University and Society. (Click here to download the program.)
Attendance at the Planning Workshop is by invitation only, and although there is no registration fee, invited delegates are required to register beforehand to expedite logistical arrangements. Further enquiries should be addressed to prof Johann Groenewald on [email protected] as soon as possible, but preferably before 17 January 2018.
Last updated 23 January 2018