The human spirit as a necessary condition for higher education: a risk assessment
Abstract
Risk management can either protect or endanger higher education institutions (HEIs) in
South Africa. A crucial determining factor is how the core risks for these institutions are
identified and mitigated. This article contributes to the continuing discourse on both risk
management and managerialism in higher education. The thesis for this article is that
the presence of a caring human spirit within HEIs is a necessary condition for them to
fulfil their reason for existence. The purpose of this article is thus to reflect on the risk of
HEIs not being able to fulfil their fundamental reason for existence due to the
smothering or absence of a caring human spirit in these institutions. A reading of official
and scholarly texts has shown that HEIs’ primary reason for existence is embedded risk,
namely a concern with the new or the unknown and by implication a critical curiosity
about an uncertain future. The presence of a caring human spirit is not only a necessary
condition for fulfilling the reason for the existence of an HEI, but also a crucial risk
category currently absent from the standard list of institutional risk categories. Risk
assessment reveals that the absence or smothering of a caring human spirit in HEIs poses
a high to very high risk for their survival.