Why did you decide to study Sociology?
'My parents were both deeply committed to social justice and non-racialism. Coming from this background I wanted to understand the origins of apartheid and the process of social change.'
How did you experience the transition period from Apartheid to one-man-one-vote democracy?
'We had spent at least 20 years working towards and preparing for democracy at the University of Cape Town and even then it came faster than we had imagined possible. This process was a major determinant of both the content of my work (new admission criteria and programmes to facilitate a more diverse student body, student financial support, non-racial student housing, employment equity, etc.), and its context (repression of staff and students; court cases against government; protests, police and teargas on campus; academic and cultural boycotts, etc.).'
What was your role on the National Commission on Higher Education?
'When the ANC won the first elections in 1994 they did not have a higher education policy. President Mandela appointed 13 of us to help develop this. I chaired the task group responsible for policy proposals on key aspects of the new system including access, programmes, institutional types, planning, quality and research. It was an incredible challenge and I learnt an enormous amount. The majority of our proposals were accepted but implementation has proved to be a complex and lengthy process.'
Why did you decide to come to the Netherlands?
'I didn't really decide to come to the Netherlands - I chose to come to CHEPS. When the commission ended I didn't want to go back to my university where I had worked for 20 years. I decided to spend some time at a higher education policy centre and selected CHEPS as I assessed it to be the best in the world.'
What is your role at CHEPS?
'My responsibilities are project development and acquisition, co-ordination of our training and consultancy portfolio, and project leadership in a number of major projects. In broad terms we are talking about projects worth about 1 million euro a year.'
What do the projects in South Africa and Mozambique entail?
'Let me give two examples of projects there: in Mozambique we are helping the new Ministry of Higher Education to design and implement a co-ordinated national higher education system. In South Africa we havebeen working with the Technikon Northern Gauteng (a "Hogeschool" situated in a township near Pretoria) since 1997 on organisational restructuring, strategic and financial planning and management capacity development.'
What are the differences and similarities between what you do in Southern Africa and your work in Eastern Europe?
'We are working with all 10 pre-accession countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Like in Southern Africa all these countries went through a fundamental socio-economic and political transition in the late 1980s/early 1990s. So although the contexts are different, many of the challenges - creating a new system and transforming institutions - are similar. The major difference in our work is that in Eastern Europe we are exploring policy alternatives with senior representatives of the Ministry and Universities rather than working as consultants directly for the Ministry or universities. Our impact is therefore less direct, but we think still as effective.'
What do you find most rewarding in your work?
'The diversity of my work in terms of content, countries and challenges. Working in a truly international centre that is at the cutting edge of higher education policy and of comparative, inter-disciplinary and networked approaches to it. Working in a strongly coherent team of 25 people that is highly productive, enjoys work and has an enormous amount of fun. And on a different note, living here with the family in the forest on the Reelaan - while Cape Town is one of the world's most beautiful cities, campus life at the UT has many attractions that one doesn't expect in Europe's most densely populated country!'
Dineke van Aalst
Since the fire Jon File has been working at home. Fortunately his new office will be ready soon.
