The Verdict on Higher Education: A conversation with Professor Eugene Cloete

The "Higher Education on Trial" summit, held on March 24, 2026, utilised a courtroom metaphor to discuss the sector's relevance and capacity for transformation. It was a joint initiative by the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) and the Western Cape Government (WCG), to address a key concern: the ability of higher education institutions to evolve at the pace the future demands.

Cape Chamber spoke to Cape Higher Education Consortium chief executive Professor Eugene Cloete

1. The summit concluded that higher education is currently "on trial" because it hasn't evolved its excellence at the pace the future demands. In practical terms for the Western Cape, what does an "urgent redesign" look like compared to the traditional transformation we have seen in the past?

In practical terms, an "urgent redesign" for the Western Cape moves beyond the traditional transformation approach—which often focused on incremental policy fine-tuning, pilot projects that rarely scaled, and dialogue without structural change. The summit explicitly found that the system currently "protects its form more fiercely than its purpose." Therefore, redesign means relinquishing outdated institutional forms to better serve the core purpose of education.

According to the 2026–2030 Transformation Framework, this redesign looks like:

• Curriculum Agility: Moving away from slow, multi-year accreditation cycles toward faster, modular, and interdisciplinary curriculum renewal.
• Workload Restructuring: Redesigning the academic labour model to recognise invisible labour (mentoring, emotional support) and alleviate structural burnout, rather than just demanding more output.
• Ecosystem Articulation: Dismantling the silos between universities, TVET colleges, and industry to create seamless, stackable pathways for students, addressing the fragmented "two-sector problem."
• Governance Reform: Shifting from a compliance-heavy, risk-averse bureaucracy to an enabling governance structure that fosters innovation rather than stifling it.

2. One of the primary systemic charges mentioned is "curriculum negligence," where graduates are technically qualified but underprepared for real-world complexity. How will the new 2026–2030 Transformation Framework ensure that foundational skills like AI fluency and entrepreneurship are integrated into every degree?

The framework addresses "curriculum negligence" by shifting the educational focus from mere credential accumulation to capability building. To ensure foundational skills are integrated, the framework prioritises:

• Industry Co-Design: Moving industry from an advisory role to an active co-design role in curriculum development, ensuring that what is taught aligns with current labour-market realities.
• Mandatory Fluency: Treating AI, digital fluency, sustainability, and entrepreneurship as foundational core competencies across all disciplines, rather than peripheral electives.
• Interdisciplinary Integration: Breaking down rigid disciplinary boundaries so students learn to solve unbounded, complex problems—a skill that AI cannot replicate.
• Agile Revision Cycles: Implementing faster content revision processes so that curricula can adapt to technological shifts in real-time, rather than lagging years behind industry standards.

3. With the summit describing the AI revolution as larger than the Industrial Revolution, yet only 25% of lecturers currently using generative AI, there is a clear gap. What steps are being taken to move institutions from "policing" AI misconduct toward using it to redesign learning and assessment?

The summit identified that the primary barrier to AI integration is not technological infrastructure, but academic design and institutional confidence. To bridge this gap, the framework outlines several steps:

• Assessment Redesign: Shifting assessments away from testing information recall (which AI can easily do) toward evaluating interpretation, application, critique, and human judgment.
• Staff Capability and Literacy: Investing heavily in AI literacy for academic staff, ensuring they understand how to use AI as a pedagogical tool and a brainstorming partner, rather than viewing it solely as a threat to academic integrity.
• Personalised Learning: Utilising AI to enable personalised learning at scale, including early diagnostic interventions to identify and support struggling students.
• Ethical Governance: Establishing clear, ethical frameworks for AI use that guide students and staff in responsible integration, moving the institutional posture from reactive policing to strategic, human-centred adoption.

4. The summit called for universities to move beyond their "institutional walls" and foster deeper engagement with SMEs and provincial development priorities. How can the Cape Chamber and its members better partner with institutions to ensure knowledge production is linked to local economic needs?

The concept of the "Connected University" demands that higher education actively entangles itself with regional challenges. The Cape Chamber and its members can foster this by:

• Active Curriculum Co-Creation: Partnering with universities and TVET colleges to co-design curricula and micro-credentials, ensuring graduates possess the specific capabilities local businesses and SMEs require.
• Place-Based Innovation: Collaborating on applied research and innovation projects that directly address provincial development priorities, rather than focusing solely on abstract, internationalised research metrics.
• Work-Integrated Learning: Expanding opportunities for service learning, internships, and real-world problem-solving within local businesses, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application.
• Continuous Feedback Loops: Establishing structured, ongoing dialogues between industry leaders and academic governance bodies to ensure the educational ecosystem remains responsive to the shifting economic landscape of the Western Cape.

5. There was significant discussion regarding "credential inflation" and the need for micro-credentials and lifelong learning. How will the Western Cape lead in creating more modular, "stackable" qualifications that allow employees to upskill without committing to a full multi-year degree?

The Western Cape aims to combat credential inflation by diversifying how value and learning are recognised. The framework proposes leading this shift by:

• Developing Micro-Credentials: Creating short, targeted, and quality-assured learning modules that address immediate skills gaps in the workforce.
• Stackable Architecture: Designing these micro-credentials so they can be "stacked" or accumulated over time, eventually building toward a formal qualification if the learner chooses.
• Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Strengthening and streamlining RPL processes so that skills acquired in the workplace are formally recognised within the academic system.
• Lifelong Learning Integration: Shifting the institutional mindset from a "train once, work for decades" model to one that accommodates adult and returning learners who need to continuously reskill and upskill throughout their careers.