Community College Model: Desideratum in the South African Higher Education Landscape

The community college prototype which originated in the United States is spreading worldwide. It has been embraced by many countries because of its characteristics such as opening and equalization of access to tertiary education, especially for sectors of the population hitherto underrepresented at higher education institutions, its value in the democratization of higher education and promotion of democratic society, and because of its exemplary education-employment nexus and education–community nexus.

South Africa is currently in the throes of a fundamental societal reconstruction project, in which education has been assigned a major role to accomplish. In this reconceptualization and redesign of education the community college model – thus far absent from the South African higher education scene – has been frequently mooted, by scholars and in official government documents alike, as being exemplary, for example, Strydom et al. (1995); Creative Associates International Inc. for TEPS, a Project of USAID (1996); and Zuma (1996). These citations all date from the mid-1990s, when the post-1994 education reform project commenced. As far as could be ascertained, this call has since then subsided, and does not occur much in public policy debate or in the scientific literature anymore. The recommendation was definitely never implemented, as the eventual post-1994 restructuring of higher education went in the opposite direction – the institutions approximating the community college model (the South African technikons) have been upgraded to become fully fledged universities.