Institutional Culture as Keyword

Institutional culture has become a buzzword in recent discussions of higher education in South Africa. Indeed, as references to it proliferate, there is a growing sense that institutional culture may well be the key to the successful transformation of higher education in South Africa. Or – to frame the matter as forcefully as do many recent analysts – it is simply the massive fact and bulk of institutional culture that may be the main obstacle in the way of the successful transformation of South Africa’s higher education system. So it is that casual reference to institutional culture features in ministerial announcements and the Mission Statements of leading universities; that it is becoming increasingly the focal point of research surveys, articles, and dissertations; and that institutional culture is used to explain or explain away phenomena as different (or as related) as marking and manslaughter.