The paper looks closely at student enrolment trends through a case study of South African "race" enrolment data, including some hypotheses about how student social class has influenced these trends. First, data on 1988-1998 enrolments showing a "skewed revolution" in student africanisation are summarised. Then, using 2000-2012 data for the 23 new post-2000 universities and universities of technology, it is argued that the "official" categorisation of these institutions masks new socio-economic inequalities; and a better understanding of the "skewed" and "stalled" africanisation revolution is possible using classification into three proposed new categories based on postgraduate enrolments and staff publications as indices of research-intensivity at each institution: (1) five "upper band" universities; (2) seven "middle band" universities; and (3) eleven "lower band" universities. The paper concludes by distinguishing between 'reformist' and 'radical' national transformation policies in order to identify their impact on these new race- and class-based student inequalities.