Cape Town University Redesigns Classes for Every Student

When professors at the University of Cape Town looked at why some students struggled, they found something surprising. The problem wasn't the students at all.

It was how they were teaching.

Professor Brandon Collier-Reed shared this breakthrough at the 2026 Times Higher Education World Academic Summit, the first ever held in Africa. His message challenged how universities worldwide think about student success.

For years, UCT noticed gaps between different student groups. Many students arrived speaking English as a second or third language. Others came from schools that couldn't fully prepare them for university-level work. Financial pressures made studying even harder.

The university's 2021 Teaching and Learning Report showed students feeling helpless and alienated. But instead of blaming students, UCT looked in the mirror.

"These are not problems of student deficit," Collier-Reed explained. "They are problems of institutional design."

That reframing changed everything. Professors across all six faculties started rebuilding their courses. They found students were drowning under excessive credit loads and overly complex requirements that didn't support actual learning.

So they simplified. Engineering courses now frame problems as real-world community challenges. Commerce classes replaced narrow memorization tests with reflective essays and group projects that demonstrate practical skills.

The Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking Afrika embeds students directly in communities to solve actual problems. Students learn by doing, not just reading.

UCT also invested in early-alert dashboards that track student performance in real time. The Data Analytics for Student Success program gives professors detailed reports each semester so they can adjust quickly when students need help.

But Collier-Reed emphasized technology alone isn't enough. True access means rethinking what gets taught, in whose language, and how students prove they've learned. It means acknowledging that valuable knowledge comes from many places, not just traditional academic sources.

The changes are already reshaping UCT's future. Their Teaching and Learning Strategy 2030 now explicitly includes entrepreneurial thinking and innovation as core parts of curriculum transformation.

The Ripple Effect

UCT's redesign matters beyond their campus. Universities across the Global South face similar challenges with diverse student bodies and limited resources. By proving that curriculum overload and rigid structures create false achievement gaps, UCT offers a roadmap other institutions can follow.

The approach also challenges wealthier universities to examine their own assumptions. If innovation comes from necessity rather than abundance, every institution should question whether inherited teaching practices truly serve all students equally.

Most importantly, UCT demonstrates that inclusive education isn't about lowering standards. It's about removing artificial barriers so every student can reach their full potential.

South Africa's higher education system was built on exclusion, but UCT is rebuilding it on belonging.