Mdepa, Anele2022-09-272022-09-272022Mdepa,A. (2022). Higher education funding crisis and access: Student protests, UWC#FMF, and social movements. Adult education and learning access: Hope in times of crisis in South Africa. pg 107-126978-1-928332-89-3http://hdl.handle.net/10566/7969Inadequate government funding for higher education, a higher education institutional funding crisis, and students’ individual financial crises provoked students in 2015 and 2016 to mobilise themselves to protest against fee increases. Propelled by the #FeesMustFall movement which emerged in 2015, student activists demanded free access to higher education and succeeded in securing increased National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding and a ‘no fee increase’ for 2015 and 2016. The rise of fallist movements such as the #FeesMustFall movement signified new forms of social movements, new ways of mobilisation, and new forms of social movement learning. This chapter focuses on the UWC#FMF movement which emerged at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to protest against the proposed 2015 fee increase prompted by the funding crisis in higher education.enGovernment's policyHigher Education ActSchool Education and Training ActFundingBook chapter