5 - Vying for Legitimacy: Academic vs. Corporate Culture

Abstract

Following the general trend already existing in the Western world, state universities in South Africa, in seeking other sources of income and in meeting policy demands for transformation, have embraced the corporate model as the most efficient system of organising education today, thus opening the door to activities and processes such as commercialisation, applied and contract research, and the development of stronger links with external stakeholders. This paper questions the legitimacy of the commodification of intellectual enquiry. Do financial or ideological considerations justify the adoption of a corporate system in education? Can cost efficiency, which is global in nature and which is accelerating social change, legitimise corporate practices in the university in South Africa without affecting a) its character as a public institution, and b) the role of each individual member? The author argues that claims for legitimacy of the present form of rationalisation of the university serve to institutionalise corporate power in educational institutions, making it ap- pear valid and acceptable. Complex though the term may be, however, the generic meaning of ‘legitimacy’ refers to ‘rights’: the right to claim, the right to question whether correct procedures have been followed, and, ultimately, the right to assess whether a policy or a system serves the good of all concerned. In this sense, in determining the notion of the ‘right thing to do’, any discourse on legitimacy, by taking into account a wide diversity of viewpoints, will deal primarily with values and the recognition of human aspirations.