This article reports on findings pertaining to education scholarship in higher education drawn from a wider study on all education research in South Africa from 1995 to 2006. After briefly outlining pertinent aspects of the wider study, it offers a preliminary and descriptive account of what were found to be primary research themes in higher education studies, including the socio-political implications of higher education transformation, the debate over the "Africanisation" of higher education, the promotion of indigenous knowledges, equity and excellence in higher education policy, increasing participation and access though academic development and the recognition of prior learning, the acquisition of academic literacy, assessment, and accountability and autonomy. (Contains 5 notes.)