Vandeyar, Saloshna2020-03-112020Saloshna Vandeyar (2020): Why decolonising the South African university curriculum will fail, Teaching in Higher Education, 25(7): 783-796, DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1592149.1356-2517 (print)1470-1294 (online)10.1080/13562517.2019.1592149http://hdl.handle.net/2263/73711This paper sets out to explore how academics can become agents of meaningful educational change and social cohesion, by implementing a Pedagogy of Compassion. The education triad comprises the teacher, the learner and the content (curriculum), which unfolds within historical, political, social and educational contexts. Changing one aspect of this triad – the curriculum- without due consideration to the others, will not effect the desired change. In the context of the university, the demographics of the learner has radically changed and a massive drive to decolonise the curriculum has been initiated, but little if any attention has been given to academics who deliver the curriculum. I argue that the Achilles’ heel in the decolonisation of the curriculum project of South African universities is the academic.en© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an electronic version of an article published in Teaching in Higher Education, vol. 25, no. 7, pp. 783-796, 2020. doi : 10.1080/13562517.2019.1592149. Teaching in Higher Education is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.comloi/cthe20.AcademicCurriculumDecolonisationEducational changePedagogy of compassionTeacher beliefsPostprint Article