AS SOUTH Africa prepares to celebrate 30 years of democracy, Professor Jairam Reddy, one of the architects behind the founding vision of tertiary education in the post-apartheid era, has called for a review of the state of higher education.
Having chaired the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) in 1995, during the tenure of the country’s first democratic minister of education, Professor Sibusiso Bengu, Reddy told University World News that the time was ripe for a new commission.
This commission should swiftly review the state of higher education and propose urgent changes.
Unlike the NCHE, which he chaired for 18 months, Reddy said this should be a shorter exercise – perhaps six months – and involve about five experts on higher education, including one international expert.
The NCHE report’s proposals were used to draft the post-apartheid White Paper on Higher Education, which provided the policy
