Theorising decolonisation, globalisation and internationalisation in higher education

Abstract

The higher education landscape in South Africa is complicated with a rich dose of challenges and opportunities. From apartheid South Africa to democratic South Africa, the higher education system has been dramatically influenced by several isomorphic forces that have led to the current educational call for decolonisation, which scholars in the higher education sector are trying to handle. Amongst these forces are colonialism, globalisation and internationalisation. While the nation has moved passed colonialism, its legacies still hold the higher education sector hostage creating the need for decolonisation. Globalisation has a complicated history dating back centuries. Vincent-Lancrin and Kärkkäinen (2009) argue that globalisation is a comparatively new term used to describe an old process that began with our human ancestors moving out of Africa to spread across the globe. They continue that the term has been used differently by different people owing to its different facets. Marginson and Rhoades confirm this by defining globalisation as meaning ‘becoming global.’ They provide an alternative definition by looking at it as ‘the development of increasingly integrated systems and relations beyond the nation’ (Marginson & Rhoades, 2002, p. 288) . Globalisation, therefore, moves towards making nations become more and more entangled with one another.