TECHNIKONS AND HIGHER-EDUCATION RESTRUCTURING

The paper examines technikons in South Africa with respect to some of their internal characteristics, and in relation to debates about their place in the system of higher education as a whole, currently being assessed by the new National Commission on Higher Education. Internally it is shown that technikons lag the universities by 1:3 in terms of student enrolments, and nearly half of the 100,000 (in 1991) students were enrolled at the distance learning Technikon RSA. The past decade has seen a shift away from science and technology (S&T) fields of study at technikons, despite their establishment as 'institutes of technology'. African and female students are shown to be especially under-represented in S&T fields; staff are significantly underqualified in comparison with the universities. The profile of technikons poses a number of questions in relation to the restructuring of the higher education system (HES). Issues of national and regional governance of the HES, articulation between universities-technikons-technical colleges, and ways of enhancing S&T fields and establishing staff development programmes are considered.