Preparing for talent: Towards transformed indigenous African language disciplines at South African universities

Abstract

This study investigated the challenges facing higher education institutions in South Africa in retaining and recruiting talent, especially in the discipline of indigenous African languages. A survey was conducted among a number of academics of nine universities in South Africa. Of the potential respondents of 50, 34 or 68% returned the questionnaires. The study first investigated the post-levels of respondents before measuring their age and the length of service. The effects of the generation gap as revealed by the responses, formed the independent variable. A clear indication of the generation gap could be observed with regard to two specific factors: post-levels and length of service. The post-levels of the total number of respondents support the claim that universities neglect young talent. The generation gap shows that African language departments are steered by aging staff members. The long service periods of current staff members indicate that human resource managers at universities have put a stop to staffing their African language departments. Some strategies could be adopted by higher education institutions in addressing the shortage of talent in indigenous African language disciplines.