"Khanya College--A Historical Case Study: 1981-1994" analyzes a black tertiary-level alternative education institution in South Africa. Founded in 1986 by the South African Committee of Higher Education (SACHED), Khanya College addresses the limitations of the apartheid educational system by providing black students who have shown academic potential with bridging (remedial) classes so that they can gain access to and succeed at university.
The study describes the effects of apartheid legislation on black education. It offers an overview of the 1980's education crisis which resulted in the Alternative and People's Education Movements and discusses the need for and concept of Khanya College during its planning years(1981-1985), the pilot phase (1986-1988), and the pre and post independence years from SACHED (1989-1994). The evaluation specifically looks at the governance, purpose of the college, university agreements, students, student aid, plans, courses, community projects and influence on universities. It depicts Khanya student results at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), and the community college debate that took place in the country in the early 1990s.
The analysis relies on archival documents from Khanya College, secondary sources, and interviews with former and present staff and students. It also works with data obtained from Wits' Academic Information and Systems Unit office to depict Khanya student performance at the university.
The study finds that there existed a need for Khanya College in the 1980s in the format under which SACHED established it. However, with the universities being in a better position to offer bridging classes, Khanya will have to expand its offering in the 1990s to cater to other groups as well. These would include: high school students preparing for the matriculation exam for the first or second time, returning adult students, the unemployed, and high school drop outs. In addition to its academic bridging courses, it could offer vocational training, literacy and numeracy courses, and computer and accounting skills to an expanded constituency.
