IN THE higher education crisis, so many perceptions, opinions and reactions are bouncing about and clashing with one another that we are getting nowhere.Clearly, there is no simple solution but cabinet ministers, university heads, lecturers, students, union members, parents and the rest of society urgently need to come together to try to find common ground.It would require some to leave their fixed positions and egos at the door and work in the best interests of our universities and country. To achieve this, we have to draw on SA’s most skilled mediators, of whom there are many, to try to bring everyone to a workable resolution.We do not have time on our side. The process is so fractured right now that certain quarters believe the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (Batna) is for universities to close for a period, double up on security or get tough on dissenting voices and return to business as usual; or that the state must just cough up because education should be free for...
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