South African Students Call to Decolonize Science: Implications for International Standards, Curriculum Development and Public Administration Education.

The decolonialisation of the higher education curriculum and free higher education were two of the burning issues during student protests that erupted across universities in South Africa at the end of 2015. Although the president announced free higher education in December 2017, the country can scarcely afford it, with many universities already feeling financial constraints. The call for decolonialisation of the curriculum by students (which was viewed negatively by the public) refers specifically to books, theories and learning content that still predominantly reflect the thoughts of Western colonial powers. Students required a bigger focus on indigenous (African) knowledge to be incorporated into the South African curriculum. This, however, is the opposite of current international trends, where curricula are developed to meet international or even global standards that are set by international accreditation agencies in Public Administration, such as the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs ...