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As a former apartheid appendage, contemporary South African universities face a multiplicity of challenges as they try to engage with the imperatives of a more democratic and global society. One of the key challenges in this process is the legacy of a racially differentiated university sector which has contributed to an ambiguous and inconsistent understanding of the idea and role of a South African university. More determined thinking about this idea and how it is conceptualised is therefore required for substantive progress in this sector. This book thus rises to this challenge and provides an examination of the idea of the university in contemporary South Africa. A conceptual analysis is used to both frame this examination as well as to present an alternate understanding of the role and identity of a university in contemporary South Africa. Although the key focus of this book is South Africa, the implications of this examination and the scope of application of this reconceptualisation is broad enough to transcend both geographical and chronological boundaries.

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Dr Pillay co-ordinates the Masters Programs in the Faculty of Education at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. She lectures a Coursework Masters in Curriculum Policy, Development and Management. Dr Pillay´s areas of interest are: Higher Education, Higher Education Policy, Social Justice and Curriculum studies.

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