The role of academic middle managers in the planning and implementation of curriculum change in private higher education institutions in Botswana
- Authors: Rudhumbu, Norman
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Universities and colleges -- Botswana -- Administration Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- Botswana Curriculum planning -- Botswana
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/2979 , vital:28214
- Description: The purpose of the study was to examine the role of academic middle managers (AMMs) in the planning and implementation of curriculum change in private higher education institutions in Botswana. This study employed a mixed methods research approach which utilised a structured questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide to gather data on AMMs‟ role in the planning and implementation of curriculum change in PHEIs in Botswana. SPSS version 21 was used for analysing quantitative data while thematic analysis was used for analysing qualitative data on the role of AMMs in the planning and implementation of curriculum change in PHEIs. The study showed that the role of AMMs in the planning and implementation of curriculum change in PHEIs was too complex and demanding because they spent most of their time on daily administrative routines instead of on core academic activities such as planning and implementing curriculum change in their departments. The AMMs in the PHEIs under study operated more like managers in academic departments than academics in management. As a result the study showed that AMMs faced more challenges than opportunities in their planning and implementation of curriculum change in PHEIs. The major challenges AMMs faced in the planning and implementation of curriculum change were a highly controlled and strict work environment, role conflict, lack of autonomy, role strain and heavy workloads which limited the time AMMs spent on the core business of managing curriculum change in their departments. The study also highlighted some of the strategies albeit a few, which, despite the numerous challenges AMMs faced, are used to try and make the planning and implementation of curriculum change by AMMs was to some extent successful. The study provided insight on the influence of AMMs biographical characteristics as well as the influence of AMM job requirements (such as having a detailed job description and having authority over curriculum matters) on how AMMs enacted their role in curriculum change. Based on the results of the study, a model to assist AMMs in the effective planning and implementation of curriculum change was proposed.
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- Date Issued: 2015
The development and implementation of an evaluation for rural ICT projects in developing countries: an exploration of the Siyakhulu Living Lab, South Africa
- Authors: Pade Khene, Caroline Ileje
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Siyakhula Living Lab Information technology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Communication in economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1138 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002767
- Description: Rural development is a priority for poverty alleviation and development in developing countries, as the majority of the poor live in rural areas. Information and knowledge are key strategic resources for social and economic development as they empower rural communities with the ability to expand their choices through knowing what works best in their communities. Information and communication technologies (ICT) play a significant role in supporting rural development activities through providing supportive development information and creating essential interconnectivities between rural areas and more developed regions. However, rural ICT for development (ICT4D) is still at best a ‘working hypothesis’, faced with barriers and challenges associated with implementation and use in the rural environment; which threaten the success, sustainability or relevance of an ICT intervention. Many key questions remain largely unanswered, with no concrete or credible data to support a wide range of claims concerning the use of ICT for development. The evaluation of rural ICT projects is indispensable as it determines the need, effectiveness, impact, sustainability and extent of the awareness of the contribution such projects or programmes can make in poverty alleviation and development. Even so, existing ICT4D evaluations are confrontedwith shortcomings and challenges which influence the accuracy and reliability of evaluation conclusions. These shortcomings highlight the need to embark on a more comprehensive evaluation approach, sensitive to the rural environment. This research study was aimed at developing a comprehensive rural ICT evaluation framework to assess ICT projects and interventions that work toward supporting poverty eradication in rural communities. A multi-method approach was used to determine the multiple variables and components associated with rural ICT evaluation, and then to determine how these variables interrelate. The approach is founded on programme evaluation, ICT for development evaluation, and information systems evaluation. Firstly, key domains of programme evaluations combined with an exploration of the need and shortcomings of ICT4D evaluation, contributed to the development of a template to analyse existing ICT4D evaluation frameworks and information systems frameworks, based on a selection of criteria. The combined analysis of the two groups of frameworks compares and contrasts key characteristics that form the structure of a comprehensive evaluation. This analysis and a review of programme evaluation enabled the development of a Rural ICT Comprehensive Evaluation Framework (RICT-CEF) that encompasses the key components essential for a comprehensive evaluation of rural ICT projects. The theoretical framework aims to inform ICT intervention to improve and support rural development, through the application of fundamental and interconnected evaluation domains sensitive to the rural environment, throughout the project’s lifecycle. In order to obtain a better understanding and application of the RICT-CEF, a real-life case study investigation of the Siyakhula Living Lab reveals the lessons learned (shortcomings and suitability) from applying a prototype of the framework in a rural environment. The study is characteristically a rich case study, as the investigation occurs at two levels: 1) The actual evaluation of the project to obtain results to improve or guide the project, through applying domains of the RICT-CEF, and 2) Observing and investigating the application of the RICT-CEF framework to learn lessons from its evaluation process in a real-life context. The research study reveals the compatibility of the RICT-CEF framework in a real-life rural ICT intervention case, and builds lessons learned for enhancing the framework and guiding future evaluations in ICT4D. The RICT-CEF can possibly be viewed as a platform for the key domains and processes essential for the evaluation of ICT4D interventions; which can be customised for a variety of ICT projects, such that a comparative assessment of projects can provide measurement and further awareness of the impact of rural ICT in developing countries.
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- Date Issued: 2010
A public-private partnership model for the improvemnet of local economic development in South African metropolitan government
- Authors: Binza, Mzikayise Shakespeare
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Economic development -- South Africa , Public-private sector cooperation -- South Africa , South Africa -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:8159 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/923 , Economic development -- South Africa , Public-private sector cooperation -- South Africa , South Africa -- Economic conditions
- Description: The post-apartheid developmental state of South Africa had a challenge of turning around an economy that was on deficit which it inherited in 1994, to a positive growth that will be sustainable and shared. The process followed in creating a sustainable economic development was first establishing a constitutional democratic government which was constituted in terms of the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, as three equal spheres of government, viz: the national, provincial and local spheres of government. Initiatives on innovative economic development become a reconstruction programme not only of the national and provincial spheres of government, but also of the local sphere of government which is closest to the people it governs and deliver municipal goods and services to. For an example, section 152 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, provides that the local sphere of government which is constituted by 283 wall-to-wall municipalities must “improve social and economic development” of the people. Out of the 283 municipalities, 6 are metropolitan municipalities, and are the: City of Cape Town, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Ethekwini, and Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. This research project is limited to the City of Cape Town (CCT) and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipalities (NMBM). In the second process, a number of legislations and policies providing for external mechanisms to be used to improve local economic development (LED) in an inclusive, shared and equitable manner were introduced. Policies that were introduced by the democratic government and serve as policy directive for economic development are: the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) of 1994; the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) of 1996; and the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) of 2006. The relevant legislations to the local sphere of government which were introduced and provided for the appropriate mechanism for enabling sustainable growth of local economies by developmental local government in partnerships with other stakeholders such as private sector and civil society movements are: the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000); Municipal Service Policy of 2000; Guidelines on Municipal Service Partnerships of 2006-2010; and the National Framework for Local Economic Development in South Africa (NFLED) of 2006-2010. The above xviii legislations provide the following external mechanisms to improve local economic development in municipal areas, viz: public-private partnerships; public-public partnerships, and public-community partnerships. This research project is about the first external mechanism which is the public-private partnerships (PPPs) to enable municipalities to improve local economies that provide for job creations and employment for the local inhabitants. According to the National Treasury Regulation 16 (2004:1), PPP means a “commercial transaction between an institution, for example a metropolitan government, and a private party in terms of which: 1. The private party either performs an institutional function on behalf of the institution [in this regard a metropolitan government] for a specified or indefinite period or acquires the use of a state property for its own commercial purposes for a specified or indefinite period. 2. The private party receives a benefit for performing the function or by utilising state property, either by way of compensation from a revenue fund, or by charges or fees collected by the private party from users or customers of a service provided for them; or a combination of such compensation and such fees”. The first goal of this research project is to develop the most appropriate public-private partnership model for South African metropolitan government with special reference to the City of Cape Town (CCT) and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) in enabling and guiding them to improve and sustain local economic development (LED) in their respective areas of jurisdiction. The application of public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a policy strategy to achieve local economic development (LED) in CCT and NMBM was investigated, in order to determine whether these activities can be improved. Followed is the development of a conceptual framework for optimal PPP implementation in order to improve local economic development in the CCT and NMBM and other metropolitan and municipal areas in South Africa. A more appropriate PPP model called the Participatory Development Systems Model (PDSM) has been constructed for this purpose from a number of sources and proven good practices both locally in South Africa and internationally. The PDSM model uses the strategic prioritisation and management by a municipality of the integrated development of physical, economic, human and social capital in its region in a more participatory way, as a point of departure for PPPs. The PDSM model for PPPs also emphasises consistent systematic assessment of these strategies against the strategic LED goals of the municipality concerned in order to ensure that lessons are learnt from these experiences and used to refine or revise future LED and PPP strategies accordingly. This thesis makes an original contribution to the existing body of knowledge about the promotion of LED through PPPs in metropolitan municipalities in South Africa and elsewhere, by conceptualising PPPs in a clear and coherent way as an integrated dimension of strategic management processes in municipalities that need to be implemented in a more participatory way in order to achieve the overall strategic goal of sustainable LED.
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- Date Issued: 2009
The role of discourse in the constitution of radiographic knowledge: a critical realist account
- Authors: Wright, Jennifer Lynne
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa English language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa Language and education Discourse analysis Radiography -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1320 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003953
- Description: The ways in which knowledge is constituted in Higher Education in South Africa today needs to take into account the historical diversity of learners’ academic and literacy competencies. The thesis begins by considering the ways in which, historically, many learners in Higher Education have been under prepared for the challenges of studying complex disciplines through the medium of English, which is often their second or third additional language. It also considers the sometimes inappropriate response of Higher Education to the plight of these learners and the present and potential role of language specialists working in collaboration with disciplinary specialists to support these learners. In this ethnographic research, I use an ontological metatheory, critical realism, as my analytical lens. Critical realism is an appropriate analytical lens for exploring and gaining insight into the possible causal mechanisms that generate the stratified and often inscrutable nature of social reality, including the role of language and discourse in education. I employ a case study design to explore the role of discourse in lecturers and clinical radiographers’ constitution of the knowledge of entry level Radiography learners at the Groote Schuur campus of Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Taking discourse as my unit of analysis, I develop a model of knowledge constitution based on a Hallidayan framework (1978). This model comprises two contexts of culture (Higher Education and Health Care) within which are embedded two contexts of situation (the university classroom and a clinical radiography workplace). In these contexts, I focus on how lecturers and clinical radiographers constitute radiographic knowledge through the field, tenor and mode of their discourse. My research sheds light on learners’ construal of various aspects of this process of knowledge constitution, and I consider implications for Radiography teaching and learning. I conclude that, because of the dual contexts in which the learners’ knowledge is constituted, literacy requirements in the two contexts are quite different. For this reason, learners may often be unmotivated to enhance their literacies, particularly in reading and writing; yet, in the interests of the future growth of the profession, the latter will be required of them as practitioners who conduct research and publish. I argue that the real empowerment of Radiography learners thus lies in their lecturers’ agency: there is a need for them to implement certain practices that will shape the learners’ identity, not only as clinical practitioners, but as researchers and writers. In doing this, they will ensure that the learners’ potential is realised and they have the capacity to make meaningful contributions to the growth of the future radiography profession.
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- Date Issued: 2008
Synthesis and electrocatalytic properties of polymerizable metallophthalocyanines
- Authors: Obirai, Joseph Chinye
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Phthalocyanines Electrochemistry
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4447 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007733
- Description: The syntheses, spectral and electrochemical characterization of new family electropolymerizable pyrrole, thiophene and mercaptopyrimidin substituted metallophthalocyanine (MPc) complexes are described. Tetraamino substituted chromium and manganese phthalocyanine complexes were also synthesized and characterized. The spectral and electrochemical results are comparable to literature reports. The complexes formed stable films when deposited on electrode surfaces. The MPc films were formed by electropolymerization, drop-dry method and self-assembling. Nickel hydroxide-like electrodes were formed by electrotransformation of nickel-tetra-4- (pyrrol-1-yl)phenoxy phthalocyanine polymer films to the corresponding PcNi-O-NiPc modified electrodes in alkaline solution. The thiophene, mercaptopyrimidine functionalized MPcs and amino group containing complexes formed good self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold electrode. The electrode modification processes were reproducible. The conductivities of the electrode were dependent on the surface concentrations of the complexes as a function of electropolymerization scan numbers. The electrodes showed good catalytic responses toward L-cysteine, nitrite, nitric oxide (NO), glycine, phenol and its derivative and oxygen. The results also suggest that the presence of thio groups on the ring substituents lowers the oxidation potential of Lcysteine more compared to literature values. The stability of the amperometric responses toward the various analytes is used to diagnose the applicability of the materials for electroanalytical purposes. The limits of detection for L-cysteine, nitrite, NO and glycine were in the range of ~10⁻⁷ to 10⁻⁵ mol dm⁻³.
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- Date Issued: 2005
Vein structure in relation to phloem loading in selected Ranunculaceae, Apocynaceae and Asclepiadaceae of the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Buswell, Alison Mary
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Ranunculaceae Apocynaceae Asclepiadaceae Phloem Plants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4243 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007277
- Description: The relationship between leaf architecture, vein anatomy and phloem ultrastructure, and that of possible routes from mesophyll cells to phloem and potential phloem loading method was investigated using species adapted to the southern African climate. The research was based on the hypothesis of Gamaiei and Van Bel, using nothern hemisphere species only (Gamalei 1985a, b, 1989, 1991, VanBeletal. 1988, Van Bel 1992, 1994, 1996, Van Bel & Gamalei 1991, 1992, Gamalei et al. 1992, 1994, 1996, Van Bel 1992a-c, 1993a, b, 1996). The thesis commenced with a survey ofleafarchitecture of the Ranunculaceae, Apocynaceae and Asclepiadaceae. Anatomical and ultrastructural studies followed. Leaf architecture was described according to Hickey (1973). Within the Ranuncuiaceae, leaf architecture was found to be marginally actinodromous. Venation pattern consisted of a widely spaced reticulum of delicate veins, especially in Ranunculus. Leaf architecture of the Apocynaceae was described as pinnate, camptodromous and brochidodromous. The Asclepiadaceae showed less uniformity in terms of leaf architecture, being pinnate and camptodromous, with mostly brochidodromous and, unexpectedly, eucamptodromous patterns of secondary venation. A predominantly common leaf architecture supported the move to amalgamate the two families. As the less advanced eucamptodromous arrangement could represent a more primitive branch of this huge family, the phylogenetic classification of the new amalgamated family is eagerly awaited for discussion. Allocation of vein order allowed comparisons between species and families to be drawn. Reticulum density and vein order anatomy was used to indicate potential routes from mesophyll to phloem. A definite contrast was obvious between the loose arrangement of mesophyll and veins in the mesic Ranunculus, and the close mesophyll and dense venation of the xeric apocynate and asclepiad species, and was related to habitat. Ultrastructural characteristics of companion cells, together with plasmodesmatal abundance, were considered especially important for the determination of minor vein configuration. Descriptions of plasmodesmatal distribution did not consider functional status. In this thesis, vein structure and ultrastructure were considered in relation to phloem loading, not as a demonstration thereof. All three families were designated minor vein configuration type 2a. Two interesting examples that did not adhere to the familial norm, viz. few plasmodesmata and normal companion cells, occurred in the Asclepiadaceae. Secamone alpinii had abundant aggregated plasmodesmata, forming a potential symplasmic continuum from mesophyll to companion cells. The question of plasmodesmatal functionality remained open. Ceropegia carnosa showed folding of the companion cell membrane, but no accompanying wall ingrowths. The folds were suggested to increase surface area for apoplasmic phloem loading in the noted absence of plasmodesmata. Loading routes and methods suggested were based on anatomical and ultrastructural evidence only. Whilst these results were supported by published data for other species of these families, the prediction of the Gamalei and Van Bel hypothesis did not hold true. The relatively primitive Ranunculaceae were expected to have the least advanced type 1 minor vein configuration, with abundance plasmodesmata providing a symplasmic phloem loading pathway. The relatively advanced Apocynaceae and Asc1epiadaceae were predicted to have the most progressive minor vein configuration, type 2b, with specialised transfer cells to maximise apoplasrnic uptake. As families with type 2a minor vein configurations, the Ranunculaceae were more advanced than expected and the Apocynaceae and Asc1epiadaceae less so.
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- Date Issued: 2001
An analysis of the effects of marriage, divorce and death on the child maintenance obligation in South African law with some comparative perspectives
- Authors: Clark, Brigitte
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Child support -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Divorce -- South Africa Marriage -- South Africa Death
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3669 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003184
- Description: This thesis analyses the law of child maintenance in South Africa with particular reference to the effects of marriage, death and divorce on such an obligation. In the introductory section, the types of South African family are demographically and statistically sketched, from a socio-legal perspective with some reliance on interdisciplinary research to assess the prevalence of the AID/HIV epidemic in South Africa, and the effects of poverty and ageing on the incidence of marriage and death. In the second part of the thesis, the parental child maintenance obligation is analysed in the common law context. The effects of serial marriage and arificial conception are also analysed with regard to their effect on the concept of biological parent. The nature and definition of parenthood is examined and the diverse and fluid nature of parenthood in South African society is stressed, particularly in relation to children's welfare. One of the aims of the thesis is to indicate how parenthood refers to a fluid set of social practices which are both biologically and culturally situated and thus have a complex effect on the maintenance obligation. The procedural problems of enforcement are also analysed in the light of recent amendments to the law in terms of the Maintenance Act 99 of 1998 (not yet in force) and some further proposals for reform in this area are proposed. The third part of the thesis examines the state obligation to maintain children, especially in the light of the state's commitments to children in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act (l08 of 1996) and its international commitments in terms of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which was ratified by the South African government on 16 June 1995. In the fourth part of the thesis, there is some comparative analysis, firstly, of the procedural law reforms proposed in Namibia as a result of detailed research done there. Secondly, alternative methods of assessing and enforcing child maintenance obligations in Australia and England are examined and briefly assessed in relation to their possible implementation and efficacy in a South African context. Finally, the thesis concludes with an overall synopsis of the position in this country and some proposals for reform in the light of the international and constitutional commitments of the state.
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- Date Issued: 2000
The piano sonatas of Muzio Clementi: an investigation into compositional aspects with special emphasis on developments in form and style
- Authors: Radloff, T E K
- Date: 1987
- Subjects: Clementi, Muzio, 1752-1832 -- Sonatas, Piano
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2653 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002319
- Description: This thesis follows on a number of studies all of which deal with selected schools of composition important in the development of the piano sonata. Muzio Clementi was one of the leading contemporaries of such great masters as Haydn. Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, all of whom contributed greatly to the repertoire of piano sonatas. During his lifetime his reputation equalled that of his contemporaries and many of his sonatas were greatly admired by the young Beethoven. Clementi was born in Rome but spent the largest part of his Ii in London where he established himself as a multi-faceted musician, being engaged in many different fields connected with music: composer, teacher, performer, publisher and manufacturer of pianos. His sonatas form the most important part of his total creative output. While the earli works still follow principles typical of the middle classical period, his later sonatas belong to a different era and foreshadow the coming of romanticism. This thesis is devoted to a detailed survey of the changes that affect the form of the various movements. It shows the gradual change from tile simple compositional methods of the early works to the inherent logical process that characterises the sonatas of the later years The first part of the thesis culminates in findings that prove Clementi IS individuality and show that his enquiring spirit makes him an innovator of the first rank. The second major part of the thesis deals with the stylistic changes that take place within the various periods of Clementiis creative life. It summarises the main ingredients of his early music, critically evaluates the importance of various pianistic devices that play a leading role in works of the middle periods and finally shows the successful blending of inherited and new techniques in the last sonatas. The concluding section details the major points of the preceding investigations and presents a picture of Clementi's personality as it emerges through the medium of his solo keyboard sonatas.
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- Date Issued: 1987