7 -  The Other Side of the Story: The Costs of Being a Public Good Academic

Mthobisi Ndaba

doi:10.57054/jhea.v20i2.2729

Issue

Vol. 20 No. 2 (2022): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on Conceptualising and Researching the Public Good Role of Universities in Africa

Issue Published : November 28, 2022

7 - The Other Side of the Story: The Costs of Being a Public Good Academic

https://doi.org/10.57054/jhea.v20i2.2729

Mthobisi Ndaba

Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Vol. 20 No. 2 (2022): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on Conceptualising and Researching the Public Good Role of Universities in Africa
Article Published : November 28, 2022

Abstract

This article argues that the relationship between higher education and the public good should be understood not only from a macro-level point of view, in terms of how higher education systems and institutions contribute to the public good. It should also be understood from a micro-level point of view. Drawing on a qualitative study of the role of academics in higher education’s contribution to the public good, this article demonstrates that micro-level- focused research allows for a deeper and richer insight into the intricacies of this relationship. It does this from the vantage point of the costs of being a public good academic, as recounted by fifteen academics from two universities in South Africa. The perceptions of these academics indicate that the costs of producing public good at universities in South Africa are more than just the financial costs covered by student fees, government subsidies and donor funding. They include relational, psychological and career-related costs, as well as those related to personal resources and identity contingencies, which academics must deal with in advancing the public good. This article concludes that further micro-level-focused research can uncover more nuanced aspects of the complex relationship between higher education and the public good.

Keywords

academics higher education public good South Africa

Ndaba, M. (2022). 7 - The Other Side of the Story: The Costs of Being a Public Good Academic. Journal of Higher Education in Africa, 20(2), 137–157. https://doi.org/10.57054/jhea.v20i2.2729

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References

Altbach, P. G., 2013, Advancing the national and global knowledge economy: the role of research universities in developing countries, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 316–330.
Ayala‐López, S., 2018, Foreigners and Inclusion in Academia. Hypatia, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 325–342.
Ashwin, P. and Case, J., 2018, Higher Education Pathways: South African Undergraduate Education and the Public Good, Cape Town: African Minds.
Badat, S., 2009, The Role of Higher Education in Society, Cape Town: HERS‐SA Academy.
Bloom, D., Canning, D., and Chan, K., 2006, Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa, Washington DC: The World Bank.
Calhoun, C., 2006, The University and the Public Good, Thesis Eleven, pp. 7–43.
Cloete, N., Bailey, T., Pillay, P., Bunting, I. and Maassen, P., 2011, Universities and Economic Development in Africa, Cape Town: Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET).
Cloete, N., Maassen, P., and Bailey, T., 2015, Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education, Cape Town: African Minds.
Collini, S., 2012, hat are Universities for? London, UK: Penguin.
Creswell, J. W., 2014, Research design : qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches 4th ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
De Vos, A. S., Strydom, H., Founche, C. B. and Delpot, C. S., 2011, Research at Grass Roots: For the Soical Sciences and Human Servicea Professions, Cape Town: Van Schaik.
Dominguez-Whitehead, Y., 2015, Students’ Food Acquisition Struggles in the Context of South Africa: The Fundamentals of Student Development, Journal of College Student Development, pp. 292–308.
Harry, T. T., Dodd, N. M., and Chinyamurindi, W. T., 2017, Using narratives to un- derstand the motivational factors and experience of being a self-initiated academic expatriate in South Africa, SA Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 1, No. 2.
Jeranji, T., 2019, People’s Post, 16 February, https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Local/Peoples-Post/lecturers-dig-dip-to-help-students-20190415
Jonathan, R., 2001, Higher education transformation and the public good. Kagisano Higher Education Discussion Series, 1(1), 28-63.Kerr, P. and Luescher, T., 2018, Students’ Experiences of University Life Beyond the Curriculum, in Ashwin, P. and Case, J., Higher Education Pathways: South African Undergraduate Education and the Public Good, Cape Town: African Minds, pp. 216–231).
King, N., and Horrocks, C., 2010, Interviews in Qualitative Research, London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Khunou, G., Phaswana, E. D., Khoza-Shangase, K., and Canham, H., eds., 2019, Black Academic Voices: The South African Experience, Johannesburg: HSRC Press.
Leibowitz, B., 2012, Introduction: Reflections on education and the public good, in Leibowitz, B., ed., Higher Education for the Public Good: Views from the South, Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA, pp. xvii–xxvii.
Marginson, S., 2011, Higher Education and Public Good, Higher Education Quar- terly, Vol. 65, No. 4, pp. 411–433.
Marginson, S., 2012, The Problem of Public Good(s), Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne.
Masehela, L., 2018, The Rising Challenge of University Access for Students From Low-income Families, in Ashwin, P. and Case, J., Higher Education Pathways: South African Undergraduate Education and the Public Good, Cape Town: African Minds, pp. 165–176.
Monette, D. R., Sullivan, T. J., De Jong, C. R., and Hilton, T. P., 2014, Applied Social Science Research: A Tool for Human Services, USA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.
Muberekwa, E., and Nkomo, T., 2016, Exploring the Perceptions of Wits Academic Women About Women Empowerment and the Changing Roles of Women in 21st-Century South Africa, SAGE Open, Vol. 6, No. 4.
Nixon, J., 2011, Higher Education and the Public Good: Imagining the University, London, UK: Continuum.
Ntshoe, I., Higgs, P., Higgs, G. L. and Wolhuter, C. C., 2008, The changing academic profession in higher education and new managerialism and corporatism in South Africa, South African Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 391–403.
Okech, A., 2020, African feminist epistemic communities and decoloniality, Critical African Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 313–329.
Pusser, B., 2006, Reconsidering Higher Education and the Public Good: The role of Public Spheres, in Tierney, W. G., ed., Governance and the Public Good Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, pp. 11–28.
Ramohai, J., 2019, A black woman’s perspective on understanding transformation and diversity in South African higher education, Transformation in Higher Education, Vol. 4.
Rudolph, M., Kroll, F., Muchesa, E., Manderson, A., Berry, M. and Richard, N., 2018, Food Insecurity and Coping Strategies amongst Students at University of Witwatersrand, Journal of Food Security, pp. 20–25.
Sharma, R., 2015, Role of Universities in Development of Civil Society and Social Transformation, Vienna: International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
Shober, D., 2014, Women in Higher Education in South Africa, in Demos, V., Berheide, C. W. and Segal, M. T., eds., Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 19, pp. 315–332.
Singh, M., 2001, Re-inserting ‘public good’ into higher education transformation, Kagisano Higher Education Discussion Series, Vol. 1, pp. 8–18.
Singh, M., 2011, The Place of Social Justice in Higher Education and Social Change Discourses, A Journal of Comparative and International Education, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 481–494.
Ssentongo, J. S., 2020, ‘Which journal is that?’ Politics of academic promotion in Uganda and the predicament of African publication outlets, Critical African Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 283–301.
Steele, C., 2010, Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Tilak, J. B., 2008, Higher education: a public good or a commodity for trade? Prospects , Vol. 38, pp. 449–466.
Unterhalter, E., Allais, S., Howell, C., Adu-Yeboah, C., Fongwa, S., Ibrahim, J., Oketch, M., Posholi, L., and Selepe, C., 2019, Higher education, inequalities and the public good: Perspectives from four African countries, London, UK: University College London. http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.30962.66248
Van den Berg, L., 2015, Food insecurity among students at the University of the Free State, South Africa, South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition , pp. 160–169 .
Waghid, Y., 2009, Universities and public goods: In defence of democratic delibera- tion,compassionate imagining and cosmopolitan justice, in Bitzer E., ed., Higher Education in South Africa – A scholarly look behind the scenes, Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA, pp. 71–84.
Walker, M., 2006, Higher Education Pedagogies (1st ed.), Maidenhead: Open Uni- versity Press .
Walker, M., 2012, Universities, professional capabilities and contributions to the public good in South Africa, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 819–838.
Walker, M., 2015, Universities as a Public Good, in McGrath, S. and Gu, Q., eds, Routledge International Handbook on Education and Development, London, UK and New York: Routledge, pp. 313–324.
Walker, M., and McLean, M., 2010, Making lives go better: University education and ‘professional capabilities’, South African Journal of Higher Education, pp. 847–869.
Walker, M., and McLean, M., 2015, Professionals and Public-Good Capabilities, Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 2310–7103.
Williams, G., 2016, Higher education: Public good or private commodity? London Review of Education, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 131–142.

References

Altbach, P. G., 2013, Advancing the national and global knowledge economy: the role of research universities in developing countries, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 316–330.

Ayala‐López, S., 2018, Foreigners and Inclusion in Academia. Hypatia, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 325–342.

Ashwin, P. and Case, J., 2018, Higher Education Pathways: South African Undergraduate Education and the Public Good, Cape Town: African Minds.

Badat, S., 2009, The Role of Higher Education in Society, Cape Town: HERS‐SA Academy.

Bloom, D., Canning, D., and Chan, K., 2006, Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa, Washington DC: The World Bank.

Calhoun, C., 2006, The University and the Public Good, Thesis Eleven, pp. 7–43.

Cloete, N., Bailey, T., Pillay, P., Bunting, I. and Maassen, P., 2011, Universities and Economic Development in Africa, Cape Town: Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET).

Cloete, N., Maassen, P., and Bailey, T., 2015, Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education, Cape Town: African Minds.

Collini, S., 2012, hat are Universities for? London, UK: Penguin.

Creswell, J. W., 2014, Research design : qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches 4th ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

De Vos, A. S., Strydom, H., Founche, C. B. and Delpot, C. S., 2011, Research at Grass Roots: For the Soical Sciences and Human Servicea Professions, Cape Town: Van Schaik.

Dominguez-Whitehead, Y., 2015, Students’ Food Acquisition Struggles in the Context of South Africa: The Fundamentals of Student Development, Journal of College Student Development, pp. 292–308.

Harry, T. T., Dodd, N. M., and Chinyamurindi, W. T., 2017, Using narratives to un- derstand the motivational factors and experience of being a self-initiated academic expatriate in South Africa, SA Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 1, No. 2.

Jeranji, T., 2019, People’s Post, 16 February, https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Local/Peoples-Post/lecturers-dig-dip-to-help-students-20190415

Jonathan, R., 2001, Higher education transformation and the public good. Kagisano Higher Education Discussion Series, 1(1), 28-63.Kerr, P. and Luescher, T., 2018, Students’ Experiences of University Life Beyond the Curriculum, in Ashwin, P. and Case, J., Higher Education Pathways: South African Undergraduate Education and the Public Good, Cape Town: African Minds, pp. 216–231).

King, N., and Horrocks, C., 2010, Interviews in Qualitative Research, London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Khunou, G., Phaswana, E. D., Khoza-Shangase, K., and Canham, H., eds., 2019, Black Academic Voices: The South African Experience, Johannesburg: HSRC Press.

Leibowitz, B., 2012, Introduction: Reflections on education and the public good, in Leibowitz, B., ed., Higher Education for the Public Good: Views from the South, Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA, pp. xvii–xxvii.

Marginson, S., 2011, Higher Education and Public Good, Higher Education Quar- terly, Vol. 65, No. 4, pp. 411–433.

Marginson, S., 2012, The Problem of Public Good(s), Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne.

Masehela, L., 2018, The Rising Challenge of University Access for Students From Low-income Families, in Ashwin, P. and Case, J., Higher Education Pathways: South African Undergraduate Education and the Public Good, Cape Town: African Minds, pp. 165–176.

Monette, D. R., Sullivan, T. J., De Jong, C. R., and Hilton, T. P., 2014, Applied Social Science Research: A Tool for Human Services, USA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.

Muberekwa, E., and Nkomo, T., 2016, Exploring the Perceptions of Wits Academic Women About Women Empowerment and the Changing Roles of Women in 21st-Century South Africa, SAGE Open, Vol. 6, No. 4.

Nixon, J., 2011, Higher Education and the Public Good: Imagining the University, London, UK: Continuum.

Ntshoe, I., Higgs, P., Higgs, G. L. and Wolhuter, C. C., 2008, The changing academic profession in higher education and new managerialism and corporatism in South Africa, South African Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 391–403.

Okech, A., 2020, African feminist epistemic communities and decoloniality, Critical African Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 313–329.

Pusser, B., 2006, Reconsidering Higher Education and the Public Good: The role of Public Spheres, in Tierney, W. G., ed., Governance and the Public Good Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, pp. 11–28.

Ramohai, J., 2019, A black woman’s perspective on understanding transformation and diversity in South African higher education, Transformation in Higher Education, Vol. 4.

Rudolph, M., Kroll, F., Muchesa, E., Manderson, A., Berry, M. and Richard, N., 2018, Food Insecurity and Coping Strategies amongst Students at University of Witwatersrand, Journal of Food Security, pp. 20–25.

Sharma, R., 2015, Role of Universities in Development of Civil Society and Social Transformation, Vienna: International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.

Shober, D., 2014, Women in Higher Education in South Africa, in Demos, V., Berheide, C. W. and Segal, M. T., eds., Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 19, pp. 315–332.

Singh, M., 2001, Re-inserting ‘public good’ into higher education transformation, Kagisano Higher Education Discussion Series, Vol. 1, pp. 8–18.

Singh, M., 2011, The Place of Social Justice in Higher Education and Social Change Discourses, A Journal of Comparative and International Education, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 481–494.

Ssentongo, J. S., 2020, ‘Which journal is that?’ Politics of academic promotion in Uganda and the predicament of African publication outlets, Critical African Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 283–301.

Steele, C., 2010, Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.

Tilak, J. B., 2008, Higher education: a public good or a commodity for trade? Prospects , Vol. 38, pp. 449–466.

Unterhalter, E., Allais, S., Howell, C., Adu-Yeboah, C., Fongwa, S., Ibrahim, J., Oketch, M., Posholi, L., and Selepe, C., 2019, Higher education, inequalities and the public good: Perspectives from four African countries, London, UK: University College London. http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.30962.66248

Van den Berg, L., 2015, Food insecurity among students at the University of the Free State, South Africa, South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition , pp. 160–169 .

Waghid, Y., 2009, Universities and public goods: In defence of democratic delibera- tion,compassionate imagining and cosmopolitan justice, in Bitzer E., ed., Higher Education in South Africa – A scholarly look behind the scenes, Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA, pp. 71–84.

Walker, M., 2006, Higher Education Pedagogies (1st ed.), Maidenhead: Open Uni- versity Press .

Walker, M., 2012, Universities, professional capabilities and contributions to the public good in South Africa, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 819–838.

Walker, M., 2015, Universities as a Public Good, in McGrath, S. and Gu, Q., eds, Routledge International Handbook on Education and Development, London, UK and New York: Routledge, pp. 313–324.

Walker, M., and McLean, M., 2010, Making lives go better: University education and ‘professional capabilities’, South African Journal of Higher Education, pp. 847–869.

Walker, M., and McLean, M., 2015, Professionals and Public-Good Capabilities, Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 2310–7103.

Williams, G., 2016, Higher education: Public good or private commodity? London Review of Education, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 131–142.

Author Biography

Mthobisi Ndaba

Centre For Researching Education and Labour, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: sompisikandaba@gmail.com

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