20 January 2022

Written by: Dr Joseph Sekhampu - COO, Milpark Education

The pandemic has forced many higher educational institutions in South Africa, which are largely accredited to offer either full-contact or distance learning programmes, to pivot learning on online delivery platforms. As we look forward to 2022 and beyond, the big question in many corridors relates to the extent to which the sector should plan for a return to campus – whether fully, or in some hybrid format. This is more challenging in South Africa, as many institutions are seeing rising student debts, inadequate information technology infrastructure, a possible reduction in government funding and general concerns about affordability and access.

Traditionally stronger institutions encountered fewer challenges in the rapid transition to online learning than their historically disadvantaged counterparts, who faced significant cost pressures due to competing priorities in under-resourced environments. The private higher educational sector is not immune to these challenges, and is likely to see the potential for mergers, with many seeking opportunities to diversify their revenue sources, and reconsidering their primary delivery modes, while simultaneously attempting to reduce operating costs.

What will this mean for academia? The proposition is to imagine a learning environment where remote and face-to-face learning are blended to deliver the highest quality teaching and learning, in alignment with the country’s economic reality. It is an opportune moment for decisionmakers to embrace the possibility of using physical and virtual spaces to address the country’s educational needs. The idea is to optimise choices in delivery methods and use digital technologies to allow for innovation in teaching and learning.