Colloquium 1
Date: 25 June 2012
Topic: Neoliberal Common Sense and the Challenge to
South African Universities
Presenter: Professor Carlos Alberto Torres, School of
Graduate Education & Information Studies,
University of California, Los Angeles
This colloquium turned
the spotlight on neoliberal
globalisation and academic
capitalism. Torres argued
that “neoliberalism has utterly
failed as a viable model of
economic development,
yet the politics of culture
associated with neoliberalism
is still in force, becoming the
new common sense shaping the role of government and education.
This ‘common sense’ has become an ideology playing a major role
in constructing hegemony as moral and intellectual leadership in
contemporary societies. Neoliberal globalisation, predicated on
the dominance of the market over the state and on deregulatory
models of governance, has deeply affected the university in the
context of ‘academic capitalism’.” Does this assessment hold true
for South African higher education and what are the associated
challenges and implications for transformation?
Colloquium 2
Southern African Research Colloquium (UTLO, UKZN Research
Office and IAKS Department)
Date: 23 November, 2012
Topic: Methodologies and Epistemologies for Integrating
Indigenous African Knowledge Systems (IAKS)
Southern African academic and research institutions are
increasingly designing initiatives to integrate Indigenous African
Knowledge Systems (IAKS) into research, teaching and community
engagement in line with regional and continental aspirations of
an African-led globalisation. These initiatives are also driven by
the need to make higher education more relevant to the socioeconomic
developmental challenges of a continent, characterised
by poverty and social inequalities. The achievement of these goals
requires a critical interrogation of the relevance and appropriateness
of existing methodologies, epistemologies, knowledge production,
teaching, learning and community engagement in higher education.
To bring these debates into the spotlight, the University of
KwaZulu-Natal, in collaboration with the National IKS Office
(Department of Science and Technology), the New Partnership
for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), South African Qualification
Authority (SAQA) and Institute for African Renaissance Studies,
will host a Southern African Regional colloquium focusing, among
others on the following sub-themes:
- Integrating IKS in Higher Education Research, Teaching
and Learning;
- The Impact of Culture and Language on Research, Teaching
and Learning;
- The Role of African Intellectuals in the Indigenisation of
Higher Education;
- Technologies and IKS Research, Teaching; and
- Research and Teaching into Higher Education.