Drawing on the South African case, this book looks at shifts in higher education around the world in the last two decades. In South Africa, calls for transformation have been heard in the university since the last days of apartheid. Similar claims for quality higher education to be made available to all have been made across the African continent. In spite of this, inequalities remain and many would argue that these have been exacerbated during the Covid pandemic. Understanding Higher Education responds to these calls by arguing for a social account of teaching and learning by contesting dominant understandings of students as 'decontextualised learners' premised on the idea that the university is a meritocracy.

School Leadership for Democratic Education in South Africa explores the democratization and modernization of education in South Africa, analyzing the state of school leadership in South African schools from the time of the new democratic education dispensation in 1994 to the present day. The book maps out what the future of education in South Africa could look like and explores the most conducive educational environments for change in South African schools.

"This unique and timely book focuses on research conducted into the experiences of students from rural backgrounds in South Africa; foregrounding decolonial perspectives on their negotiation of access and transitions to higher education. This book highlights not only the challenges of coming from a rural background against the historical backdrop of apartheid and ongoing colonialism, but also shows the immense assets that students from rural areas bring into higher education."

Around the world, higher education is faced with a fundamental question: what is the basis for our claim of societal legitimacy? In this book, the authors go beyond the classical response regarding teaching, research and community engagement. Instead, the editor puts forward the proposition that the answer lies in responsiveness, the extent to which universities respond, or fail to respond, to societal challenges. Moreover, because of its intractable legacy issues and crisis of inequality, the question regarding the societal legitimacy of universities is particularly clearly manifested in South Africa, one of the most unequal countries in the world.

This book establishes community engagement and service-learning as pathways to advancing human development and common good. Using the human development and capability approach as normative frameworks, with South Africa as a frame of reference, the author investigates the theoretical contributions and ultimate benefits of university-community partnerships.

"Drawing on over fifty years of on-the-ground experience, Fred M. Hayward's Transforming Higher Education in Asia and Africa analyzes change processes in higher education in eight Asian and African countries. The twelve cases range from the push to upgrade and transform higher education in Afghanistan in the midst of a war to the successful struggle against apartheid in South African institutions as well as thwarted efforts in Sierra Leone and Madagascar."

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) lies at the heart of global, regional and national policy agendas, with the goal of achieving socially and environmentally just development through the provision of inclusive, equitable quality education for all. Realising this potential on the African continent, however, calls for radical transformation of policy and practice.