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The Illusion of Change: The Unfulfilled Promise of Decolonisation in a South African Private Higher Education Institution

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Title: The Illusion of Change: The Unfulfilled Promise of Decolonisation in a South African Private Higher Education Institution
Language: English
Authors: Prince Leburu (ORCID 0000-0001-8524-6533)
Source: Transformation in Higher Education. 2026 11.
Availability: AOSIS. 15 Oxford Street, Durbanville, Cape Town, 7550 South Africa. Tel: +27-21-975-2602; Fax: +27-21-975-4635; e-mail: publishing@aosis.co.za; Web site: https://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 10
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Decolonization, Higher Education, Private Education, Governance, Curriculum Development, Discourse Analysis, College Curriculum
Geographic Terms: South Africa (Johannesburg)
ISSN: 2415-0991
2519-5638
Abstract: While decolonisation discourse has surged in South African public universities, private higher education institutions (PHEIs) remain a significant, under-researched site of market-driven education. This study aimed to identify the structural and cultural conditions that reproduce coloniality within a large, Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed South African PHEI. Using a qualitative case study design, this research applies a critical realist and critical discourse analysis lens to move beyond surface-level rhetoric. It seeks to identify the deep, unobservable generative mechanisms (profit, governance) that shape the institutional landscape. Findings from interviews with six experienced lecturers show that while they are conceptually fluent in decolonisation, their agency is severely curtailed by a non-negotiable, profit-driven institutional ethos and a rigid, centralised curriculum governance. This combination produces a state of 'colonial morphostasis', an active reproduction of the status quo. The study concludes that meaningful, structural decolonisation is antithetical to the institution's current corporate model. It reveals the mechanisms by which neoliberal and colonial logics merge to reproduce the coloniality of power, knowledge and being. Contribution: This study advances decolonisation debates by providing a rare empirical analysis of the under-explored PHEI sector. It uses a critical realism and social realism framework to offer a causal explanation for why transformation is inhibited, concluding that the institution's core business model is a primary mechanism of colonial reproduction. It proposes 'pathways for bounded agency' as a form of critical micro-resistance for lecturers in similar corporate contexts.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1501406
Database: ERIC
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  Data: AOSIS. 15 Oxford Street, Durbanville, Cape Town, 7550 South Africa. Tel: +27-21-975-2602; Fax: +27-21-975-4635; e-mail: publishing@aosis.co.za; Web site: https://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal
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  Data: While decolonisation discourse has surged in South African public universities, private higher education institutions (PHEIs) remain a significant, under-researched site of market-driven education. This study aimed to identify the structural and cultural conditions that reproduce coloniality within a large, Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed South African PHEI. Using a qualitative case study design, this research applies a critical realist and critical discourse analysis lens to move beyond surface-level rhetoric. It seeks to identify the deep, unobservable generative mechanisms (profit, governance) that shape the institutional landscape. Findings from interviews with six experienced lecturers show that while they are conceptually fluent in decolonisation, their agency is severely curtailed by a non-negotiable, profit-driven institutional ethos and a rigid, centralised curriculum governance. This combination produces a state of 'colonial morphostasis', an active reproduction of the status quo. The study concludes that meaningful, structural decolonisation is antithetical to the institution's current corporate model. It reveals the mechanisms by which neoliberal and colonial logics merge to reproduce the coloniality of power, knowledge and being. Contribution: This study advances decolonisation debates by providing a rare empirical analysis of the under-explored PHEI sector. It uses a critical realism and social realism framework to offer a causal explanation for why transformation is inhibited, concluding that the institution's core business model is a primary mechanism of colonial reproduction. It proposes 'pathways for bounded agency' as a form of critical micro-resistance for lecturers in similar corporate contexts.
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      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
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      – SubjectFull: Decolonization
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      – SubjectFull: Higher Education
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      – SubjectFull: Private Education
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      – SubjectFull: College Curriculum
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      – SubjectFull: South Africa (Johannesburg)
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