A Study On The Transformation Of The University Of Cape Town Since South African Student Protests 2015-2016

Education has become the main domain to rebuild the country and promote social justice and unity as apartheid came to an end in South Africa.As the highest educational institution of each country,universities are an important place to train decision-makers,knowledge producers and leaders of different sectors,which has great potential in consolidating democracy and social justice,as well as promoting economic growth and development.Despite the improved enrollment rate,participation rate,opportunities,equity,and quality,there are vulnerable groups that remain in disadvantaged situations in higher education institutions in South Africa.In2015,the largest student protest since the establishment of the new democratic government broke out in colleges and universities across South Africa.During the2015-2016 student protests,South African college students declared their dissatisfaction with the speed of transformation in higher education,and requested free education and decoloniality in universities.The University of Cape Town was a historically elite white university in South Africa.Its personnel structure,knowledge system,curriculum content,pedagogy,and language of instruction are deeply influenced by colonialism and racism,exclusion and discrimination are not uncommon on campus,which white students and faculty had suffered a lot.Thus,the student protests firstly erupt at the University of Cape Town in 2015,which also play an important role in the student movements that followed.Based on the 4Rs social justice theory of Novili and others,this study takes the University of Cape Town as the research object and analyzes its education transformations about decoloniality since the 2015-2016 student protests.The method of literature research,comparative analysis,and case study are used.The first chapter is the background of the transformation of the University of Cape Town,analyzes the crisis faced by the University of Cape Town higher education in South Africa before the 2015-2016 student protests.Chapter two describes students’ demands for universities in the protests.Chapter three summarizes and analyzes the changes taken by the University of Cape Town in response to student demands from the four dimensions of redistribution,recognition,representation and reconciliation of the 4Rs social justice theory.Chapter four summarizes the achievements of the transformation at the University of Cape Town and its implications for exploring social justice issues.In conclusion,the University of Cape Town has made some achievements in improving the status of disadvantaged groups in universities,developing multi-partner cooperative relations and combating different discrimination by formulating a series of strategic plans and goals,and taking related measures,such as the provision of basic resources,the construction of an equal and inclusive campus environment,the balance of power distribution among different ethnic groups,the establishment of positive relationships between different identity groups.This case provide a model for other universities in South Africa and other post-apartheid countries to explore educational transformation and social justice.Nevertheless,it fails to reach the root of the conflict transforming the higher education system and the deep-rooted structural inequalities in South African society.Affected by the COVID-19 and digital divide,the transformation of the University of Cape Town still has a long way to go.