Abstract
D.Ed. (Teaching Studies)
Institutions of higher education in South Africa are being affected by widening access
to students since the eighties. Student numbers have risen dramatically Since then and the
composition of the student population has also been altered considerably with, for
example, the enrolment of black students in historically white universities as well as the
enrolment of white students in historically black universities becoming a trend (Wade,
Hodgkinson, Smith and Arfield, 1994:12; Saunders, 1992: 67; Education reporter, 1996:1;
Taylor, 1992:36).
Pressure for the expansion of post-secondary education is inherent in the development of
modem society and is seen as a global trend, which means that South Africa is part of this
expansion (Trow, 1987:289; Hinchcliffe, 1987:1; Aamodt & Arnesen, 1995:65;
Fransman, 1995:173; Kirkwood, 1996: 41).This expansion in student numbers is often
without a proportionate increase in the funding resources available . The situation, with
regard to South Africa, was predicted by, amongst others, Booysen (1990: 1), who
maintains that South Africa faces many challenges in ,the field of education because of
the expected removal of the disparities in the provision of education amongst the various
race groups. The historical and political circumstances in this respect are seen as factors
aggravating the complexity of such a challenge. A simple case of numbers seeking higher
education would be a serious misconception leading, for example, to the
misunderstanding which prompted ministerial action a few years ago through which an
injunction of zero growth on ten out of the fifteen residential universities in South Africa
was decreed. A different approach to dealing with numbers seeking admission at higher
education institutions was seen a few years before the Government of National Unity was
in place. It is, noticeable that since 1986 there has been an urge to change higher
education admission practices in South Africa