Apartheid and university education, 1948 - 1970

[摘要] This thesis examines Government university policy between 1948 and 1970.University education was already segregated and discriminatory in 1948 and untilthe mid 1950s, Nationalists disagreed about plans for university education. Theirdiscussions about the development of apartheid university policies helped clarifygeneral apartheid principles,Apartheid university education was based on the principle that university educationwas not universal but should serve a particular ethnic community. Divideduniversity education was entrenched through the Extension of UniversityEducation and Fort Hare Transfer Acts of 1959, which were primarily produced bythe Native Affairs Department. The ethnically segregated, state-controlleduniversity colleges they created provided different, inferior educationalopportunities to the state-aided, more autonomous, universities.The 'open' universities complied with the compulsory closure of enrolment toblack students. The University of Natal was less co-operative, but also ultimatelycomplied. Enrolment at ethnic university colleges was not compulsory, but therewere few alternatives. Enrolments at black institutions rose, despite continuedopposition to ethnically-defined institutions.In the 1960s Nationalists promoted Afrikaans enrolments and facilities forAfrikaans students. The establishment the University of Port Elizabeth and theRand Afrikaans University was only considered once the economic boom of the1960s made this feasible.The Government spent more money on university education generally, resulting inhuge increases in enrolments and institutional capacity. Spending on Afrikaansstudents was most generous. The black university colleges were expensive, butGovernment spending on black university education, in proportion to the blackpopulation, remained low. African school funds were depleted to pay for theAfrican university colleges. The divided university system produced far more whitegraduates, in a wider range of disciplines, than black graduates. South Africanuniversities were isolated internationally and the development of an indigenousintellectual culture and research capacity was hindered, especially at the Afrikaans mediumand black institutions.Politically, Nationalist university policy was counterproductive. It failed to buildwhite South Africanism, and the university colleges nurtured Black Consciousness.From tine late 1960s the police increasingly acted against students at the black andEnglish-medium institutions. In 1970 the black university colleges were grantedautonomy from Unisa,Keywords:South Africa, apartheid, National Party, policy, education, university, students,Saso, Nusas

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand