The National Plan for Higher Education in South Africa (NPHE) (2001) identifies access as one of the priorities for the transformation of higher education. Consequently, several structural adjustments, policy shifts and enabling mechanisms have been put in place to enhance the efficiency of universities that will eventual lead to access for success. By focussing on multiple views and perspectives in relation to access, this article explores the extent to which access as a policy initiative has contributed to a radical transformation of the South African higher education system. The article presents an overview of positions and perspectives on access by critically analysing the new funding formula, the restructuring of higher education and policy shifts that foreground output and efficiency as main levers of the transformation of higher education in South Africa. (Contains 3 figures and 8 notes.)