Student and staff insights on curriculum co-creation as a pathway to Africanisation and sustainable development in higher education

Curriculum co-creation has emerged as a transformative response to Eurocentric dominance in South African higher education, yet its role in Africanisation within Universities of Technology remains empirically underexplored. This qualitative, critical-paradigm study examined staff and student insights at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) on co-creation as a pathway to Africanisation and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 and 10. Data were collected from three focus groups that included 10 staff, 8 undergraduate students, and were analysed thematically using Freire’s critical-conscientisation framework. Findings revealed four themes: curriculum disconnect and epistemic alienation; institutional bureaucracy and academic resistance; the centrality of student voice and agency; and language as a contested terrain. Community engagement also emerged as vital to co-creation and the documentation of indigenous knowledge. Co-creation provides a meaningful pathway to Africanisation when treated as a decolonial imperative rather than a pedagogical option. Institutionalising co-creation, integrating African knowledge systems, adopting multilingual pedagogies, and allocating adequate resources are essential to advance a socially responsive curriculum focused on quality education and reduced inequalities. Contribution: This study bridges the gap between curriculum co-creation and Africanisation within the unique context of a South African University of Technology. By centring the situated voices of staff and students at DUT, it reframes co-creation as a decolonial tool. The research argues that redistributing epistemic power is essential to dismantling Eurocentric academic structures and validating African ways of knowing.