(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Groener, Zelda
Widespread national higher education student protests against proposed fee increases and
demands for free higher education in South Africa that arose towards the end of 2015 drew
international attention to disadvantaged students’ socio-economic conditions and the barriers
that deter access to higher education. Adults’ experiences of socio-economic barriers to accessing
post-school education are similar. Drawing on theoretical frameworks and secondary data, I
conceptualise a distributive justice perspective on access for disadvantaged black adults premised
on the relationships between interrelated equality rights and socio-economic rights, principles of
social and economic justice, and redistributive policies.