2nd National Higher Education Conference

The second USAf Higher Education Conference in 2021 was a collaborative effort between USAf and the Council on Higher Education (CHE), from 06 to 08 October, under the theme, The Engaged University. It explored how the 26 public universities were engaging with local, national and global society and the economy. The event also examined how engagement shapes the relationship between universities and society; how that relationship impacts the knowledge project and, ultimately, how knowledge derived from research responds to and resolves societal challenges. 

Deliberations explored The Engaged University through the lenses of a) international speakers who, among other perspectives, explored Reimagining University Engagement within the Context of a Responsive, Responsible, and Transformative University; Universities as Anchor Institutions and others. They also explored The Engaged University through the lenses of b) USAf’s the five strategy groups and the sub-themes they deemed to be of priority importance. That is why the Conference Report reports on what transpired in the various plenary sessions as well as what was deliberated on in the strategy groups’ various breakaway sessions.  

In keeping with the strategy groups’ core focus areas, the conference looked into numerous sub-themes including Sustainable University Funding in an Unequal Society; Research Integrity and Impact; The Engaged University and Transformation; The Engaged University and Teaching & Learning, Decolonisation and Scholarship as well as Universities, The New Technology Moment.

A consensus emerged that the upending of our system by the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall student actions, and by CoViD-19 in the latter years, must lead to new imaginations and a re-think of our higher education system. We heard from our international delegates that South Africa’s higher education challenges are also evident in the global higher education enterprise. We also heard during all strategy groups’ report-backs that we need to evolve the knowledge project of our system by immersing our students in the theory-practice nexus, if we’re to equip them adequately for the future world of work. 

Furthermore, the conference strongly recommended strengthening collaborations within and outside the system, in our pursuit of building the social ownership of universities.  The one thing that universities might do well to consider is to build the notion of a Responsive University onto The Engaged University. As the title of Professor Chris Brink’s 2021 book suggests, it is not enough to be engaged — it is as important to respond decisively to society’s grand challenges.