The nature of knowledge and organisation: the case of four institutional types in South Africa

The article contributes to the continuing debate on changing roles, functions and goals of higher education in the twenty-first century in general and in South Africa, and how the changes are impacting on the knowledge production and the organisation, planning of learning programmes and the role of academics in the current global economy. I argue that there has been a significant shift from critical inquiry encapsulated in disciplines, towards utilitarianism driven by performativity in higher education. This shift, it is argued, has triggered new thinking about the nature of knowledge and its production in the current global and market economy and in South Africa. I further claim that the shift has shaped the nature of knowledge, the role and goals of higher education, how learning programmes are organised, and the role of academics. The discourses I argue tend to underplay the social responsibility of higher education, the development of disciplines that are central to development and encroach upon the unique role of academics in universities.