Digitisation not panacea for varsity space

Any talk about scaling up digitalisation of higher education as a solution to the large demand for access to the university must fiercely confront the structural challenges that are deeply concerning

- Mlamuli Hlatshwayo

Futile exercise: The writer argues that even if higher education were to digitalise their systems, it would still not help contain the influx of first year students at the too few institutions, including 26 universities.

(Photo: Supplied)

A few days ago, I participated in a televised discussion focusing on the role that digitisation could play in responding to the massive demand for access to higher education in South Africa.

Joined by Universities South Africa (USAf) CEO Dr Pethiwe Matutu and doctoral candidate Busisiwe Sibizo, we broadly agreed that the ever-increasing matric numbers could not be adequately accommodated by the 26 public universities, 50 technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges and the nine public community education and training (CET) colleges.

This seems like stating the obvious, doesn't it? A matter of grave concern is the lack of clear solutions to addressing the problem. There is no point in arguing that South African universities shouldn't digitalise; they are.

Every day, staff and students use learning management systems (LMS) such as Moodle, Blackboard, Zoom, Teams and others for teaching and learning.

Many universities have exclusively online programmes and qualifications, with virtual classrooms and assessments. Some students even prefer e-books and online articles as opposed to those of us who enjoy sitting at the library with a good book in hand.

Furthermore, some of our universities have sophisticated and technologically advanced online applications and apps to track student enrolments, staffing needs, employee workload allocations, leave, grants, performance targets and areas of improvement.