Radical openness as a prerequisite for student-centredness: A South African perspective

Abstract

Higher education in South Africa must work with the current realities of student protests and the challenges from the digital age to reshape and revolutionise its future, or it will become obsolete. Student-centredness forms the first major pillar of the triangle of effective education. Zooming in on student-centredness, the focus is on self-directed and lifelong education. However, to enable this, openness and access to higher education must be addressed. Openness as a major developing value of society demands radical experiments in the education sector to change what is wrong but also to go beyond dealing with the current crisis in higher education. The term ‘open’ must mean just that. Design Thinking is used to illuminate radical openness as a proposed prerequisite for student-centredness. Both positive and negative results of implementing radical openness in higher education are noted.