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While universities have been lauded as sanctuaries of peace where students and staff pursue educational goals, there has been a marked increase in the victimisation of students by staff members who have been known to hound students for sexual favours. This increase in unethical conduct continues regardless of "sound" policies regulating university student and staff relationships. Against this background, this study sought to explore the factors shaping the pervasive practice of transactional sex between staff and students at a university in rural South Africa. Underpinned by the sexual exchange theory, the study utilised an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. The findings categorised into four key themes—academic reasons, impunity and power dynamics, financial constraints, and peer pressure and influence—highlight the entrenched nature of this practice within the university setting. The study recommended implementing and enforcing strict policies with clear consequences for perpetrators and establishing confidential reporting systems and dedicated support units for victims.

There has been a recent upsurge in debates about the role and potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in transforming traditional learning environments globally, and more recently, these discussions have expanded to include developing countries. While proponents of AI praise it as a new normal that educators must embrace or risk falling behind, sceptics caution that AI poses significant risks to academic endeavours, often citing ethical dilemmas and widely reported misuse of these technologies. This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to explore student and staff perspectives on AI in teaching and learning. Data were collected from 375 students and 187 staff via a quantitative questionnaire, as well as from 30 students and 18 staff through follow-up semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that although students and staff largely agreed on AI's potential to transform university teaching, learning, and research, there were significant differences regarding feedback enhancement, personalisation of learning, critical thinking, and the efficiency and accuracy of data analysis in research. The study recommends that stakeholders engage in ongoing dialogue, research, and professional development to navigate the opportunities and challenges presented by AI in education.

There have been multiple contributions to the decolonisation agenda in Africa since the onset of calls to decolonise education under the auspices of the #RhodesMustFall protests in South Africa. Nevertheless, these efforts have not resulted in the realisation of a truly decolonised higher education. The present study was built on the premise that decolonising higher education requires a deep analysis of how the perpetuation of academic ancestral worship has been used to maintain the dominance of Western epistemologies at the expense of indigenous peoples. Although closely related, this study conceptualised curriculum violence as how the curriculum reinforces imbalances in knowledge production systems while academic ancestral worship is understood as the veneration of Western academic traditions and scholarships over indigenous knowledge and scholars. To effectively argue for an Afrocentric position on ending these pervasive forms of colonialism in education, the researchers used a literature review methodology, which entailed meticulously searching for published literature using keywords. The study’s findings highlight the need to commit to social justice and equity to liberate and transform higher education in Africa using a model that advocates for Afrocentric knowledge creation, validation, and dissemination. This study also raises awareness of curriculum violence and academic ancestral worship. It further increases understanding of their impact on marginalised communities to inform policy and decision-making in educational institutions and lead to the implementation of more inclusive and equitable curricula and practices.

A growing body of work suggests that junior researchers in universities are often confronted by an unfathomable pressure to conduct research and get published in order to scale up the academic ladder. These pressures are often loaded with little to no regard for the welfare of the junior academics and no concern for the career paths to be taken. Against this background, this study explored the negative consequences associated with the pressure to publish from the unique perspective of junior academics at a rural university in South Africa. The study was underpinned by a qualitative research approach which enabled the utilisation of qualitative interviews with twelve junior academics from four faculties at the university. The findings demonstrated the often-salient bullying and abuse of junior academics that happens under the guise of mentorship from their senior colleagues. The study also revealed the cost at which the pressure to perform comes, namely the cost to mental well-being, the temptation to publish in predator journals, the rise of unethical publishing, and the sacrifice of quality research. Based on these findings, the study recommended that more considered efforts be made to secure the welfare of emerging academics and that more concerted efforts be instituted in universities to guard against the rise of academic bullying at the hands of senior academics.

A growing body of work suggests that junior researchers in universities are often confronted by pressure to conduct research and get published in order to move up the academic ladder. These pressures are often loaded with little to no regard for the welfare of the junior academics and no concern for the career paths they wish to take. Against this background, this study explored the negative consequences associated with the pressure to publish from the unique perspective of junior academics at a rural university in South Africa. The study was underpinned by a qualitative research approach which enabled the utilisation of qualitative interviews with twelve junior academics from four faculties at the university. The findings demonstrated the often-salient bullying and abuse of junior academics that happens under the guise of mentorship from their senior colleagues. The study also revealed the cost at which the pressure to perform comes, namely the cost to mental well-being, the temptation to publish in predatory journals, the rise of unethical publishing, and the sacrifice of quality research. Based on these findings, the study recommended that more considered efforts be made to secure the welfare of emerging academics and that more concerted efforts be instituted in universities to guard against the rise of academic bullying at the hands of senior academics.

While higher education is crucial for the development of ideals and skills necessary for democratic societies to take root and prosper, higher education institutions’ missions have been tested during this time of uncertainty. The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the instabilities and disparities in global higher education by exacerbating profound social fractures and long-standing structural imbalances. As such, the study examined how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected rural higher education institutions in building a sustainable and democratic future. It also examined students and staffs’ perspectives on how these higher education institutions responded to the Covid-19 pandemic in building a resilient, inclusive and democratic culture. Informed by an interpretivist paradigm, the study utilised a qualitative research approach and a case study design. Data were collected at two rural universities from university managers, lecturers and students using interviews. The study’s findings revealed that while the Covid-19 pandemic represents a time of survival of the fittest, which also strengthened democratic tenets and revolutionised the higher education sector, the pandemic has revealed pre-existing institutional issues and vulnerabilities in rural higher education institutions. Research findings also revealed that the pandemic has also spotlighted the poor and the most vulnerable in society as rural HEIs endeavoured to build resilience, and an inclusive and democratic culture to stay sturdy in the face of the ‘new normal’ and emerge stronger from the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the study’s findings, it was concluded that building a resilient, inclusive and democratic culture at HEIs could generate success for higher education institutions by influencing students’ career opportunities and employment readiness, amongst many others. We recommend that HEIs consider focusing more on equity and inclusion; reinforce capacities for risk management at all levels of the system; strong leadership and coordination; and enhance consultation and communication mechanisms.

With the operationalisation of lockdowns and restrictions on public gatherings, education systems across the entire globe were confronted with an urgent need to reconsider alternative forms of teaching, learning and assessment. Some institutions in developing countries were especially hard-hit by the shift owing to inadequacies in training and infrastructure because unlike their more developed counterparts who had already made inroads into adopting online technologies, some institutions in the developing world had no such technologies in place. As such, the shift to online learning was rushed and somewhat a “learning on the job” experience for students and educators. While remote online teaching, learning and assessment are novel experiences for many higher education institutions, developing countries are incessantly presented with many challenges, particularly when safeguarding academic integrity. Invigilated assessments, which are often considered more secure, are not an option given the current situation, thus detecting any cheating would be significantly challenging. As a result, this study examined assessment security in the digital domain and critically evaluated the practices to safeguard academic integrity in developing countries across three Southern African universities, including associated challenges. Underpinned by the pragmatist paradigm, the study employed a mixed-methods research approach that utilised in-depth qualitative and quantitative data from university managers, lecturers and students to investigate how academic integrity is safeguarded in the advent of online learning. Our findings revealed that although the transition to online learning and assessment was abrupt, higher education institutions have generated creative strategies to secure and ensure the continuity of learning and assessment. Such strategies include administering several versions of the same examination, as well as the use of “text-matching” software to detect the originality of work done by students. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that to guarantee the authenticity of online assessment, institutions must ensure that assessment practices relate to real-world needs and the context in which students can apply acquired knowledge.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses unparalleled challenges to education systems around the world, all of which have devastating effects. While these effects have been troubling in developing and developed countries, rural education systems in developing countries have particularly been most susceptible to collapse. The unique context of rural universities makes it difficult to implement approaches similar to those implemented in the developed world and/or more urban-based institutions. Underpinned by Von Bertalanffy’s Systems Theory, which argues that organisations are composed of systems that have goals to achieve, this paper thus sought to explore the coping mechanisms instituted at a rural South African university in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. It further sought to establish how the university has managed to cope with the challenges that are unique to rural universities as exacerbated by the onset of the pandemic. Underpinned by a post-positivist paradigm, the study employed a mixed methods approach through which data was collected using online questionnaires and interviews. The findings of the study revealed that although the institution had put some measures in place to ensure that the university is efficiently managed in the context of COVID-19 stringencies, university stakeholders are still faced with insurmountable challenges that range from campus safety, cancellation and postponement of examinations, as well as weakened research and international collaborations. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that South African institutions and the government need to invest more on safety infrastructural facilities that will ensure that rural university stakeholders are safe. Furthermore, there is a need for technical infrastructural facilities that enable the shift from conventional assessment, teaching and learning approaches to a more blended educational model.