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The recent and on-going student protests have thrown into sharp relief issues of access, transformation and the quality and relevance of curriculum and pedagogy in the higher education environment in South Africa. The ECP project, once heralded as a systemic attempt to advance transformation in the higher education sector, has not been exempt from scrutiny and interrogation. The HELTASA/ICED conference in November presents a unique opportunity for the broader ECP community to reflect on whether its founding values and principles still have currency. Especially in light of the ongoing debates and calls for introspection and the need to shift away from business as usual.

The Foundation SIG will host a special dialogue session on 24 November 2016 at the HELTASA/ICED conference. This session will the facilitated by Dr Sarah Henkeman and will seek to engage ECP lecturers, researchers and administrators around the value of our espoused values, principles and ethos that frame the ECP policy, and that in turn underpin much of our institutional work. The session will foreground dialogue as a means of addressing some of the following questions:

  1. What are the common understanding(s) of the values, principles and practices associated with ECP generally/broadly?
  2. How relevant are these values given current/ongoing student protests in university sector? Should these change/how should they change?

A key outcome for the session will be the articulation of pragmatic and localised responses.

  • Date: 24 November 2016 (Day 2 of Conference)
  • Time: 14:45 – 15:45 (Foundation SIG slot)
  • Venue: TBC (Check the conference programme)
  • Hosted by: Lynn Coleman & Dylan Cromhout (SIG Conveners)

Brief Profile of Sarah Henkeman

sarah_henkeman
Before, during and after the end of apartheid Dr Sarah Henkeman has worked in the Human Rights, Public Interest and Conflict Resolution sectors in South Africa and internationally. She is a practitioner/scholar who currently practices and conducts research in the areas of restorative justice, conflict analysis, conflict resolution and peacebuilding with universities and civil society organisations.