Cowan, RobinMuller, MoritzKirman, AlanBarnard, Helena2024-02-162024-02-162024-07Cowan, R., Muller, M., Kirman, A. et al. 2024, 'Overcoming a legacy of racial discrimination : competing policy goals in South African academia', Socio-Economic Review, Volume 22, Issue 3, July 2024, Pages 1413–1449, https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwad043.1475-1461 (print)1475-147X (online)10.1093/ser/mwad043http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94692Because discrimination is systemic, efforts to counter it must also be systemic. The South African case is instructive because it is extreme: Apartheid deliberately excluded the majority of the population, Black South Africans, from fully participating in society, but post-Apartheid efforts to achieve transformation have had limited success. This article examines the university system, where transformation involves increasing the size of the system; improving scientific quality and changing the racial composition. This will require more Black South Africans to do PhDs, to select academic careers and to be selected into the top universities. Policy interventions can be developed for each of these elements, but will they be complementary or contradictory? We simulate a calibrated model to address this question. Results reveal direct trade-offs, with different combinations resulting in different benefits. By highlighting the differential gains of different policy combinations, this article can support informed policy-making about a highly complex issue.en© The Author(s) 2023. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.DiscriminationUniversitiesPublic policyLabor market institutionsSocial changeAfricaArticle