Introduction: Reflections on higher education and the public good
Date
2012
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SUN MeDIA
Abstract
There is always a potential contribution that higher education can make to the public good. In the twenty-first century specific concerns that require our attention are sustainability and global warming, human mobility and migration and peculiarly contemporary diseases such as AIDS. These can be seen as contemporary manifestations of protean and oft-recurring social and natural ills such as war and conflict, food insecurity and religious and ideological rivalries – phenomena to which higher education
applies its collective mind and know-how. The greater the technological advances we make, for example in health provision and communications technology, the greater the frustration that we cannot do more to make the world a better place. Despite the enormous potential of higher education as
an institution to contribute to the public good, it does not deliver on this potential, as Saleem Badat, the vice chancellor of Rhodes University, observes: Higher education holds the promise of contributing to social justice, development and democratic citizenship. Yet, this promise often remains unrealised
and universities, instead, frequently continue to be a powerful mechanism of social exclusion and injustice. (2010:6).
Description
CITATION: Leibowitz, B. 2012. Introduction: Reflections on higher education and the public good, in B. Leibowitz (ed.). Higher Education for the Public Good: Views from the South. Stellenbosch: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA. xvii-xxvii. doi:10.18820/9781928357056/00.
The original publication is available from AFRICAN SUNMeDIA - www.sun-e-shop.co.za
The original publication is available from AFRICAN SUNMeDIA - www.sun-e-shop.co.za
Keywords
Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa, Common good -- South Africa, Citizenship -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa, Universities and colleges -- Curricula -- South Africa, Social problems -- South Africa -- Citizen participation
Citation
Leibowitz, B. 2012. Introduction: Reflections on higher education and the public good, in B. Leibowitz (ed.). Higher Education for the Public Good: Views from the South. Stellenbosch: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA. xvii-xxvii. doi:10.18820/9781928357056/00.