Challenges Facing Higher Education in South Africa: A Change from Apartheid Education to Democratic Education.

One of challenges facing higher education in South Africa since 1994 as outlined in the White Paper is "to redress past inequalities and to transform the higher education system to serve a new social order, to meet pressing national needs, and to respond to new realities and opportunities."(White Paper,3;1). Access to higher education and education in general has been a problem particularly for African people. This is important to understand the present challenges facing higher education as South Africa enjoys its second decade of democracy. In order to meet these challenges, the post-apartheid government enacted new policies to redress past inequalities in higher education. This article analyzed how new policies have transformed and democratized the higher education system and what challenges it still faces. Whether higher education institutions are ready to meet these challenges remains to be seen. The article, despite new policy initiatives, assumes higher education continues to face a number of challenges ranging from transformation, redress and equity, to having an inclusive curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]