While African universities retain their core function as primary
institutions for advancement of knowledge, they have undergone
fundamental changes in this regard. These changes have been triggered
by a multiplicity of factors, including the need to address past
economic and social imbalances, higher education expansion alongside
demographic and economic growth concerns, and student throughput and
success with the realization that greater participation has not meant
greater equity. Constraining these changes is largely the failure to
recognize the encroachment of the profit motive into the academy, or a
shift from a public good knowledge/learning regime to a neo-liberal
knowledge/learning regime. Neo-liberalism, with its emphasis on the
economic and market function of the university, rather than the social
function, is increasingly destabilizing higher education particularly
in the domain of knowledge, making it increasingly unresponsive to
local social and cultural needs. Corporate organizational practices,
commodification and commercialization of knowledge, dictated by market
ethics, dominate university practices in Africa with negative impact
on professional values, norms and beliefs. Under such circumstances,
African humanist progressive virtues (e.g. social solidarity,
compassion, positive human relations and citizenship), democratic
principles (equity and social justice) and the commitment to
decolonization ideals guided by altruism and common good, are under
serious threat. The book goes a long way in unraveling how African
universities can respond to these challenges at the levels of
institutional management, academic scholarship, the structure of
knowledge production and distribution, institutional culture, policy
and curriculum.
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Volume 2 – Re-Imagining the Terrain
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9789463008457
Publisert
2018
Utgiver
Vendor
SensePublishers
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter