Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Abstract

We argue a case for a `revisioning' of the education policy-implementation nexus in the South African higher education sector. It is proposed that the well-meaning idealism expressed in policy pronouncements is necessarily subject to a host of mediations, national and international, which have a mutative effect on the original intent. This understanding of policy, as `policy pragmatism', is used to understand the discourse in current South African higher education, which although very `efficiency' driven, retains considerable access elements. The article describes how the initial policy intention of `unfettered' access transmutes to a pragmatic, cautious and guided right of entry. Thus, while initial policy propositions are contained in policy, they are not as overtly discernible as would be anticipated.