A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy.
Johannesburg, 1998 / This thesis examines Government university policy between 1948 and 1970.
University education was already segregated and discriminatory in 1948 and until
the mid 1950s, Nationalists disagreed about plans for university education. Their
discussions about the development of apartheid university policies helped clarify
general apartheid principles,
Apartheid university education was based on the principle that university education
was not universal but should serve a particular ethnic community. Divided
university education was entrenched through the Extension of University
Education and Fort Hare Transfer Acts of 1959, which were primarily produced by
the Native Affairs Department. The ethnically segregated, state-controlled
university colleges they created provided different, inferior educational
opportunities to the state-aided, more autonomous, universities.
The 'open' universities complied with the compulsory closure of enrolment to
black students. The University of Natal was less co-operative, but also ultimately
complied. Enrolment at ethnic university colleges was not compulsory, but there
were few alternatives. Enrolments at black institutions rose, despite continued
opposition to ethnically-defined institutions.
In the 1960s Nationalists promoted Afrikaans enrolments and facilities for
Afrikaans students. The establishment the University of Port Elizabeth and the
Rand Afrikaans University was only considered once the economic boom of the
1960s made this feasible.
The Government spent more money on university education generally, resulting in
huge increases in enrolments and institutional capacity. Spending on Afrikaans
students was most generous. The black university colleges were expensive, but
Government spending on black university education, in proportion to the black
population, remained low. African school funds were depleted to pay for the
African university colleges. The divided university system produced far more white
graduates, in a wider range of disciplines, than black graduates. South African
universities were isolated internationally and the development of an indigenous
intellectual culture and research capacity was hindered, especially at the Afrikaans medium
and black institutions.
Politically, Nationalist university policy was counterproductive. It failed to build
white South Africanism, and the university colleges nurtured Black Consciousness.
From tine late 1960s the police increasingly acted against students at the black and
English-medium institutions. In 1970 the black university colleges were granted
autonomy from Unisa,
Keywords:
South Africa, apartheid, National Party, policy, education, university, students,
Saso, Nusas
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/20610 |
| Date | 15 July 2016 |
| Creators | Beale, Mary Alice |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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