| Abstract: | The racial and gender composition of faculty at historically White South African universities does not reflect the distribution of Blacks and women in the larger society. While historically White universities have invested some effort to diversify the racial composition of their students, they have not shown similar enthusiasm for faculty recruitment and employment programmes. This article examines policies and programmes at the University of Cape Town, an English-language university, and the University of Stellenbosch, an Afrikaans-language university, that have been implemented to diversify the racial composition of their faculty. The article specifically assesses two case studies, the Equal Opportunity Employment Policy at the University of Cape Town, and the Staff Broadening Policy at the University of Stellenbosch, to determine their underlying assumptions, their overall objectives, and their effectiveness in recruiting and retaining Black academics. The article concludes with an examination of affirmative action and its relevance in addressing the vestiges of past discrimination in the South African higher education sector. This concluding discussion draws on US literature on affirmative action and insights that may be drawn from the US experience. |
