Chapter 2 - Founding and Development of the Southern African Association For Counselling and Development in Higher Education

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The development of Student Counselling and Development (SCD) in higher education (HE) in Southern Africa over the past 60 years is inextricably bound up with the development of its own professional organisation. This organisation has consistently provided a dynamic forum for vigorous debate in the process of establishing a professional platform for SCD and for its growth as a discipline with unique Southern African characteristics. Discussion of SCD as a profession and growing discipline is returned to in the following chapter. First, attention is given to the establishment of the professional organisation.

Initially established as the Society for University Student Counselling in Southern Africa in 1978, the organisation's evolution has necessitated two name changes. The first was in 1980 when technikons were admitted as members and university was dropped from the name. It then became the Society for Student Counselling in Southern Africa (SSCSA), the name by which it has been known for most of its existence. The second name change was in 2007 when it became the Southern African Association for Counselling and Development in Higher Education (SAACDHE). This was triggered by the reconfiguration of SCD within institutions after a number of HE mergers. Structurally, the SCD profession was no longer placed only in organisational units including SCD in their nomenclature. A variety of new structures had appeared which provided SCD under new umbrellas. These structures and their SCD service providers, who continued to find a professional home in the SSCSA, needed to be accommodated through certain constitutional changes which included a name change. Throughout this chapter preference will be given to the new name.

The time period covered in this chapter is 30 years. This is the life span of SAACDHE, which celebrated its 30th year of existence on 28 November 2008. This period represents half the 60-year life span of SCD since its introduction into HE in Southern Africa in 1948. Reflection on the evolution of SAACDHE as the professional home of SCD over this period shows that fundamental changes have taken place. The descriptions that follow reflect these changes. As discussed in Chapter 1, the philosophical lenses through which the descriptions of these changes are offered in the present chapter remain in accordance with the currently expressed philosophical and value bases of SAACDHE and of SCD in Southern Africa.