Scenarios for re-imagining the digital landscape of South African organizations
- Authors: Watson, Storm Brandon
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Cyberinfrastructure , Sustainability -- Technological innovations
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/66116 , vital:74356
- Description: The primary objective of this study was to develop and evaluate scenarios for re-imagining the digital landscape of South African organizations. This study aimed to re-imagine the future of South African organizations, focusing on developing a framework for the re-imagination of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to create a generic framework that could be incorporated by other organizations or sectors in South Africa to re-imagine their digital landscapes. The Council of Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa identifies the core functions of HEIs as teaching and learning, research and innovation, and community engagement. For this study, primary data was collected through the analysis of the 2021 annual reports and official websites of the 26 public universities in South Africa, which are known as HEIs. An environmental scan was conducted through content analysis of these sources to identify current trends and key uncertainties affecting the institution's core functions of teaching and learning, research and innovation, as well as community engagement concerning their digital landscape of South African HEIs, with separate scenarios crafted for each function. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, School of Management Sciences, 2024
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2024-04
- Authors: Watson, Storm Brandon
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Cyberinfrastructure , Sustainability -- Technological innovations
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/66116 , vital:74356
- Description: The primary objective of this study was to develop and evaluate scenarios for re-imagining the digital landscape of South African organizations. This study aimed to re-imagine the future of South African organizations, focusing on developing a framework for the re-imagination of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to create a generic framework that could be incorporated by other organizations or sectors in South Africa to re-imagine their digital landscapes. The Council of Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa identifies the core functions of HEIs as teaching and learning, research and innovation, and community engagement. For this study, primary data was collected through the analysis of the 2021 annual reports and official websites of the 26 public universities in South Africa, which are known as HEIs. An environmental scan was conducted through content analysis of these sources to identify current trends and key uncertainties affecting the institution's core functions of teaching and learning, research and innovation, as well as community engagement concerning their digital landscape of South African HEIs, with separate scenarios crafted for each function. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, School of Management Sciences, 2024
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2024-04
Postgraduate student experience and retention at South African public higher education institutions
- Authors: Smith, Carly Kim
- Date: 2023-12
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , College dropouts -- South Africa , Academic achievement -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/66005 , vital:74296
- Description: A country’s economic growth and global competitiveness as a knowledge-based economy can be enhanced by an educated workforce. Therefore, the completion of postgraduate qualifications is of high importance to any country. In South Africa, according to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), it is necessary to improve postgraduate (PG) output and practice skills to promote socioeconomic development. Despite an increase in PG enrolments at public higher education institutions (PHEIs), South Africa reported an increase in PG student dropouts and therefore it is evident that student retention is a challenge. To foster student retention, the interactions between PHEIs and students on their student journeys are important since positive experiences can contribute to the retaining of students. The positive experiences of students depend on different aspects, challenges and dispositions during the student journey. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the variables that influence PG student experience for PG student retention at South African PHEIs. Based on an extensive review of the South African higher education landscape, marketing literature, also in the context of the study, a hypothesised model of the variables possibly influencing PG student experience for PG student retention was proposed. The four independent variables identified were higher education service quality, service design, student engagement and student satisfaction. The hypothesised model presented student experience as the intervening variable and student retention as the dependent variable. This positivistic study followed a deductive approach and a quantitative research methodology. During the empirical investigation, a survey strategy using a self-administered questionnaire collected data from a convenience sample of PG students registered at 15 South African PHEIs. A total of 435 usable questionnaires were returned and analysed statistically. Both descriptive and inferential statistics, including a Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson’s correlations, regression analyses, SEM for mediation as well as t-tests and ANOVAs, were employed in the data analysis. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, School of Management Sciences, 2023 , A country’s economic growth and global competitiveness as a knowledge-based economy can be enhanced by an educated workforce. Therefore, the completion of postgraduate qualifications is of high importance to any country. In South Africa, according to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), it is necessary to improve postgraduate (PG) output and practice skills to promote socioeconomic development. Despite an increase in PG enrolments at public higher education institutions (PHEIs), South Africa reported an increase in PG student dropouts and therefore it is evident that student retention is a challenge. To foster student retention, the interactions between PHEIs and students on their student journeys are important since positive experiences can contribute to the retaining of students. The positive experiences of students depend on different aspects, challenges and dispositions during the student journey. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the variables that influence PG student experience for PG student retention at South African PHEIs. Based on an extensive review of the South African higher education landscape, marketing literature, also in the context of the study, a hypothesised model of the variables possibly influencing PG student experience for PG student retention was proposed. The four independent variables identified were higher education service quality, service design, student engagement and student satisfaction. The hypothesised model presented student experience as the intervening variable and student retention as the dependent variable. This positivistic study followed a deductive approach and a quantitative research methodology. During the empirical investigation, a survey strategy using a self-administered questionnaire collected data from a convenience sample of PG students registered at 15 South African PHEIs. A total of 435 usable questionnaires were returned and analysed statistically. Both descriptive and inferential statistics, including a Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson’s correlations, regression analyses, SEM for mediation as well as t-tests and ANOVAs, were employed in the data analysis. The validity and reliability of the measuring instrument were confirmed. The main empirical results of the regression analyses revealed that statistically significant relationships exist between the independent variables (higher education service quality, service design, student engagement and student satisfaction) and the intervening variable (student experience). A significant relationship was also found between the intervening variable (student experience) and the dependent variable (student retention). Therefore, all the formulated hypotheses were accepted. The SEM analysis revealed that an indirect-only mediation exists, implying that student experience mediates the relationships between the independent variables and student retention. No model modification was required since the goodness-of-fit indices showed that the hypothesised model is a good fit. Finally, the differences in mean scores across biographic and demographic variables revealed significant differences in how males and females perceive both student experience and student retention. In addition, the ANOVAs indicated that research doctorate, course work master’s and honours students (level of education) had different perceptions regarding only student experience. The study contributed on a theoretical level since it added to the body of knowledge on the retention of PG students through student experience within the South African PHEI context. The study also contributed on national innovation, human capital, national budgetary, PHEI budgetary and individual PG student levels. The final contribution of the research was at a practical level through the study’s recommendations and the development of a PHEI student experience for student retention implementation framework. Therefore, should this study’s recommendations and framework be implemented, it may assist to reduce the student dropout at PHEIs and this may positively contribute to South Africa’s socioeconomic development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-12
- Authors: Smith, Carly Kim
- Date: 2023-12
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , College dropouts -- South Africa , Academic achievement -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/66005 , vital:74296
- Description: A country’s economic growth and global competitiveness as a knowledge-based economy can be enhanced by an educated workforce. Therefore, the completion of postgraduate qualifications is of high importance to any country. In South Africa, according to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), it is necessary to improve postgraduate (PG) output and practice skills to promote socioeconomic development. Despite an increase in PG enrolments at public higher education institutions (PHEIs), South Africa reported an increase in PG student dropouts and therefore it is evident that student retention is a challenge. To foster student retention, the interactions between PHEIs and students on their student journeys are important since positive experiences can contribute to the retaining of students. The positive experiences of students depend on different aspects, challenges and dispositions during the student journey. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the variables that influence PG student experience for PG student retention at South African PHEIs. Based on an extensive review of the South African higher education landscape, marketing literature, also in the context of the study, a hypothesised model of the variables possibly influencing PG student experience for PG student retention was proposed. The four independent variables identified were higher education service quality, service design, student engagement and student satisfaction. The hypothesised model presented student experience as the intervening variable and student retention as the dependent variable. This positivistic study followed a deductive approach and a quantitative research methodology. During the empirical investigation, a survey strategy using a self-administered questionnaire collected data from a convenience sample of PG students registered at 15 South African PHEIs. A total of 435 usable questionnaires were returned and analysed statistically. Both descriptive and inferential statistics, including a Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson’s correlations, regression analyses, SEM for mediation as well as t-tests and ANOVAs, were employed in the data analysis. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, School of Management Sciences, 2023 , A country’s economic growth and global competitiveness as a knowledge-based economy can be enhanced by an educated workforce. Therefore, the completion of postgraduate qualifications is of high importance to any country. In South Africa, according to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), it is necessary to improve postgraduate (PG) output and practice skills to promote socioeconomic development. Despite an increase in PG enrolments at public higher education institutions (PHEIs), South Africa reported an increase in PG student dropouts and therefore it is evident that student retention is a challenge. To foster student retention, the interactions between PHEIs and students on their student journeys are important since positive experiences can contribute to the retaining of students. The positive experiences of students depend on different aspects, challenges and dispositions during the student journey. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the variables that influence PG student experience for PG student retention at South African PHEIs. Based on an extensive review of the South African higher education landscape, marketing literature, also in the context of the study, a hypothesised model of the variables possibly influencing PG student experience for PG student retention was proposed. The four independent variables identified were higher education service quality, service design, student engagement and student satisfaction. The hypothesised model presented student experience as the intervening variable and student retention as the dependent variable. This positivistic study followed a deductive approach and a quantitative research methodology. During the empirical investigation, a survey strategy using a self-administered questionnaire collected data from a convenience sample of PG students registered at 15 South African PHEIs. A total of 435 usable questionnaires were returned and analysed statistically. Both descriptive and inferential statistics, including a Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson’s correlations, regression analyses, SEM for mediation as well as t-tests and ANOVAs, were employed in the data analysis. The validity and reliability of the measuring instrument were confirmed. The main empirical results of the regression analyses revealed that statistically significant relationships exist between the independent variables (higher education service quality, service design, student engagement and student satisfaction) and the intervening variable (student experience). A significant relationship was also found between the intervening variable (student experience) and the dependent variable (student retention). Therefore, all the formulated hypotheses were accepted. The SEM analysis revealed that an indirect-only mediation exists, implying that student experience mediates the relationships between the independent variables and student retention. No model modification was required since the goodness-of-fit indices showed that the hypothesised model is a good fit. Finally, the differences in mean scores across biographic and demographic variables revealed significant differences in how males and females perceive both student experience and student retention. In addition, the ANOVAs indicated that research doctorate, course work master’s and honours students (level of education) had different perceptions regarding only student experience. The study contributed on a theoretical level since it added to the body of knowledge on the retention of PG students through student experience within the South African PHEI context. The study also contributed on national innovation, human capital, national budgetary, PHEI budgetary and individual PG student levels. The final contribution of the research was at a practical level through the study’s recommendations and the development of a PHEI student experience for student retention implementation framework. Therefore, should this study’s recommendations and framework be implemented, it may assist to reduce the student dropout at PHEIs and this may positively contribute to South Africa’s socioeconomic development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-12
In marketing, it’s either you have it or you don’t : a study of knowledge and knowers legitimated in the marketing diploma curriculum in South Africa
- Authors: Ncube, Kevin
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Marketing -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Curricula , Marketing -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Vocational qualifications -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/172230 , vital:42178 , 10.21504/10962/172230
- Description: This study was undertaken in the South African higher education system in which the differentiation of institutions still reflects racial inequalities from the country’s history of colonial apartheid. As an educator in an institutional type referred to as Universities of Technology, I had become increasingly concerned about who succeeds, how they succeed, who fails, and who drops out. The South Africa education system broadly suffers from low student retention and high drop out with lower success rates mostly affecting Black students. By the end of apartheid in 1994, Black students had been entering Technikons en masse and were the dominant student group in these institutions which changed designation to Universities of Technology in 2005. Technikons offered programmes with a stronger technological and vocational orientation focusing on qualifications directly linked to the job market. They did not offer postgraduate programmes and today, Universities of Technology still produce little research. These institutions also battle with a far lower throughput rate than Traditional Universities and a higher graduate unemployment rate. This has led to a call for better theorised accounts of applied knowledge to replace unhelpful common-sense understandings. There was thus a call in the literature for studies, such as this one, that focused on the nature of knowledge in a diploma curriculum. Furthermore, the field of Marketing is under-researched. The field of Marketing has been characterised as having a weak theoretical foundation and as appropriating knowledge from other fields without growth of the field per se. In Marketing, importance is placed on the possession of a broad spectrum of general knowledge, rather than specialised accounts of the field. The study sought to examine the following research questions: 1) What kind of knowledge is privileged in the Marketing diploma? 2) How does the positioning of actors in the field of Marketing education impact on the choice and structure of knowledge privileged in the curriculum? The study was undertaken mainly through the use of interviews to explore academics’ perspectives on what is valued in the Marketing curriculum. Thirty-one academics from 11 institutions participated in the study. I also analysed course guides and other documentation related to the curriculum. The study analysed the organising of knowledge in the Marketing curriculum. To do this, the study drew on Legitimation Code Theory and in particular the tools of Specialisation and Semantics. These tools allowed the analysis of data to establish the basis on which it is specialised from other fields and the extent to which the field is contextually or conceptually coherent. The data demonstrated that academics who lecture in Marketing entered Marketing education from a diverse range of disciplines. The data also confirmed, in line with the literature, that the field of Marketing draws from multiple disciplines and fields for the purposes of serving the world of work. In Bernsteinian terms the nature of the Marketing curriculum is identified as a ‘region’. However, the data also demonstrated that the field of Marketing serves a heterogenous world of work characterised by constant changes which do not seem to allow a stable development of the field. The field of Marketing was thus portrayed as a region tending towards a generic, raising questions about the reliability of its knowledge base. The nature of generics often leads to an openness which is associated with instability, a weaker autonomy, and an inability to differentiate the field from others with further implications that knowledge in the curriculum is likely to be unsettled. One of the key findings was that while there was significant focus on knowledge, this was not the main basis on which success is achieved. Despite the ample evidence of knowledge in the Marketing curriculum, there was little agreement as to what constituted that knowledge, the actual nature of that knowledge was not settled, broadly agreed upon, nor particularly complex, drawing as it did on ‘everyday’ understandings of the world. The data revealed that there was little evidence that the knowledge was particularly specialised nor that it allowed for cumulative acquisition of ‘powerful knowledge’. Rather, the knowledges in the field of Marketing were characterised by a horizontal knowledge structure consisting of a set of languages acquired separately. The knowledges were based on different and sometimes even contradictory assumptions and thus presented few opportunities to integrate previous theories to build a more powerful knowledge structure. The knowledges tended to be context specific as opposed to being abstract or conceptual. There are social justice implications for fields in which the acquirer is only afforded context specific knowledges and as such has to acquire an endless series of low-level knowledges. They are not given access to powerful knowledge characterised by induction into a system of meaning which enables a more meaningful engagement with the complex world and thinking the not yet thought. In such instances, the education arguably does not provide access to the kind of specialised knowledge which allows for powerful meaning making in the world. The study calls for a strengthening of the epistemic spine of the Marketing diploma to provide access to more abstract, principled knowledge. A major finding was that most of the lecturers’ responses focused on the need for being a particular kind of knower to be successful in Marketing. The kind of person valued in Marketing was portrayed as possessing a particular personality and natural talent which were rarely seen as dependent on the knowledge acquired during the diploma, but rather on the dispositions that students brought. The respondents also mostly raised concerns that most of the students enrolled in Marketing did not to have the requisite ‘Marketing personalities’. Students were expected to be from a particular social class intimated through reference to their backgrounds, the schools they went to, their access to technologies, and the geographical regions they came from. They were expected to bring a particular language competency. Social class and language were arguably also used as coded reference to racial category, and this was more explicitly indicated by some respondents. The dominance of the knower in the data revealed that in Marketing, “you either have it or you don’t” indicating a strong view that Marketers are born with the necessary inherent characteristics of “confidence and people-skills” or belong to the social group that develops them. The implications were that if you do not have it, there is nothing one can do to get . This particular finding raises serious social justice issues on access and success in Marketing. If there is nothing that can be done to develop these characteristics, allowing such people into Marketing is setting them up for failure. On the other hand, denying access based on birth and social grouping raises concerns of the justice in the societies we live in. The study calls for an explicit engagement with the assumptions about the knower’s dispositions. While it was consistently evident that such dispositions were key to the specialisation of the field, the assumption that students either had these dispositions or lacked them is a social injustice and raises a number of unanswerable and painful questions given the racially differentiated success rates. The study concludes by calling for academics to explicitly curriculate for the target dispositions so that students are exposed to the value of these dispositions and given opportunities to engage with them.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Ncube, Kevin
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Marketing -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Curricula , Marketing -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Vocational qualifications -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/172230 , vital:42178 , 10.21504/10962/172230
- Description: This study was undertaken in the South African higher education system in which the differentiation of institutions still reflects racial inequalities from the country’s history of colonial apartheid. As an educator in an institutional type referred to as Universities of Technology, I had become increasingly concerned about who succeeds, how they succeed, who fails, and who drops out. The South Africa education system broadly suffers from low student retention and high drop out with lower success rates mostly affecting Black students. By the end of apartheid in 1994, Black students had been entering Technikons en masse and were the dominant student group in these institutions which changed designation to Universities of Technology in 2005. Technikons offered programmes with a stronger technological and vocational orientation focusing on qualifications directly linked to the job market. They did not offer postgraduate programmes and today, Universities of Technology still produce little research. These institutions also battle with a far lower throughput rate than Traditional Universities and a higher graduate unemployment rate. This has led to a call for better theorised accounts of applied knowledge to replace unhelpful common-sense understandings. There was thus a call in the literature for studies, such as this one, that focused on the nature of knowledge in a diploma curriculum. Furthermore, the field of Marketing is under-researched. The field of Marketing has been characterised as having a weak theoretical foundation and as appropriating knowledge from other fields without growth of the field per se. In Marketing, importance is placed on the possession of a broad spectrum of general knowledge, rather than specialised accounts of the field. The study sought to examine the following research questions: 1) What kind of knowledge is privileged in the Marketing diploma? 2) How does the positioning of actors in the field of Marketing education impact on the choice and structure of knowledge privileged in the curriculum? The study was undertaken mainly through the use of interviews to explore academics’ perspectives on what is valued in the Marketing curriculum. Thirty-one academics from 11 institutions participated in the study. I also analysed course guides and other documentation related to the curriculum. The study analysed the organising of knowledge in the Marketing curriculum. To do this, the study drew on Legitimation Code Theory and in particular the tools of Specialisation and Semantics. These tools allowed the analysis of data to establish the basis on which it is specialised from other fields and the extent to which the field is contextually or conceptually coherent. The data demonstrated that academics who lecture in Marketing entered Marketing education from a diverse range of disciplines. The data also confirmed, in line with the literature, that the field of Marketing draws from multiple disciplines and fields for the purposes of serving the world of work. In Bernsteinian terms the nature of the Marketing curriculum is identified as a ‘region’. However, the data also demonstrated that the field of Marketing serves a heterogenous world of work characterised by constant changes which do not seem to allow a stable development of the field. The field of Marketing was thus portrayed as a region tending towards a generic, raising questions about the reliability of its knowledge base. The nature of generics often leads to an openness which is associated with instability, a weaker autonomy, and an inability to differentiate the field from others with further implications that knowledge in the curriculum is likely to be unsettled. One of the key findings was that while there was significant focus on knowledge, this was not the main basis on which success is achieved. Despite the ample evidence of knowledge in the Marketing curriculum, there was little agreement as to what constituted that knowledge, the actual nature of that knowledge was not settled, broadly agreed upon, nor particularly complex, drawing as it did on ‘everyday’ understandings of the world. The data revealed that there was little evidence that the knowledge was particularly specialised nor that it allowed for cumulative acquisition of ‘powerful knowledge’. Rather, the knowledges in the field of Marketing were characterised by a horizontal knowledge structure consisting of a set of languages acquired separately. The knowledges were based on different and sometimes even contradictory assumptions and thus presented few opportunities to integrate previous theories to build a more powerful knowledge structure. The knowledges tended to be context specific as opposed to being abstract or conceptual. There are social justice implications for fields in which the acquirer is only afforded context specific knowledges and as such has to acquire an endless series of low-level knowledges. They are not given access to powerful knowledge characterised by induction into a system of meaning which enables a more meaningful engagement with the complex world and thinking the not yet thought. In such instances, the education arguably does not provide access to the kind of specialised knowledge which allows for powerful meaning making in the world. The study calls for a strengthening of the epistemic spine of the Marketing diploma to provide access to more abstract, principled knowledge. A major finding was that most of the lecturers’ responses focused on the need for being a particular kind of knower to be successful in Marketing. The kind of person valued in Marketing was portrayed as possessing a particular personality and natural talent which were rarely seen as dependent on the knowledge acquired during the diploma, but rather on the dispositions that students brought. The respondents also mostly raised concerns that most of the students enrolled in Marketing did not to have the requisite ‘Marketing personalities’. Students were expected to be from a particular social class intimated through reference to their backgrounds, the schools they went to, their access to technologies, and the geographical regions they came from. They were expected to bring a particular language competency. Social class and language were arguably also used as coded reference to racial category, and this was more explicitly indicated by some respondents. The dominance of the knower in the data revealed that in Marketing, “you either have it or you don’t” indicating a strong view that Marketers are born with the necessary inherent characteristics of “confidence and people-skills” or belong to the social group that develops them. The implications were that if you do not have it, there is nothing one can do to get . This particular finding raises serious social justice issues on access and success in Marketing. If there is nothing that can be done to develop these characteristics, allowing such people into Marketing is setting them up for failure. On the other hand, denying access based on birth and social grouping raises concerns of the justice in the societies we live in. The study calls for an explicit engagement with the assumptions about the knower’s dispositions. While it was consistently evident that such dispositions were key to the specialisation of the field, the assumption that students either had these dispositions or lacked them is a social injustice and raises a number of unanswerable and painful questions given the racially differentiated success rates. The study concludes by calling for academics to explicitly curriculate for the target dispositions so that students are exposed to the value of these dispositions and given opportunities to engage with them.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
Mapping the transition from a traditional university into an entrepreneurial university
- Authors: Naidoo, Tharusha
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Management , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Academic-industrial cooperation , Entrepreneurship , Business and education -- South Africa , Research -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/172214 , vital:42177
- Description: The study aims to map the transition of a traditional university into an entrepreneurial university. The concept of the entrepreneurial university has been established as a game changer in the development and innovation spheres at higher education institutions worldwide. In the year 2002, the South African Higher Education sector embarked on a modelling and redefining journey which gave birth to the National Plan for Higher Education. The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education has undertaken work done on the entrepreneurial university which gave rise to the mapping that breeds ground towards policy. This study sought to investigate whether there is a conducive environment at Rhodes University, with an entrepreneurial climate to develop institutional capabilities and build new networks. The research highlights the current direction of Rhodes University and elaborates on the potential for the transition towards an entrepreneurial university. An overview of the entrepreneurial university was provided through an analysis of literature, which dominated in the more developed countries compared to South Africa. The researcher adopted a qualitative research study to capture the direct experiences of the individuals that are in the institution. A questionnaire was designed using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Guiding Framework and the direct perceptions of academics from the university were documented. The objectives were firstly, to explore elements of leadership and governance that enhance transformation of Higher Education Institution from a traditional university towards an entrepreneurial university. Secondly, to investigate internal resources that enhance Organisational Capacity with specific reference to people and incentives. Lastly, to determine how Teaching and Learning strengthen entrepreneurship development. The interviews revealed that the challenges faced by the institution were closely linked to those recognized by existing literature. What was interesting to note, limited funding and support were regarded as the most significant problems, closely followed by unskilled people and lack of infrastructure. It is suggested that cultivating and nurturing an entrepreneurial culture is of paramount importance together with the creation of a policy framework. Furthermore, the study concluded with practical recommendations proposed to management regarding the three strategic lenses. The research also illustrated that Rhodes University may not be viewed as being entrepreneurial but certainly has pockets of entrepreneurship and innovative activities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Naidoo, Tharusha
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Management , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Academic-industrial cooperation , Entrepreneurship , Business and education -- South Africa , Research -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/172214 , vital:42177
- Description: The study aims to map the transition of a traditional university into an entrepreneurial university. The concept of the entrepreneurial university has been established as a game changer in the development and innovation spheres at higher education institutions worldwide. In the year 2002, the South African Higher Education sector embarked on a modelling and redefining journey which gave birth to the National Plan for Higher Education. The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education has undertaken work done on the entrepreneurial university which gave rise to the mapping that breeds ground towards policy. This study sought to investigate whether there is a conducive environment at Rhodes University, with an entrepreneurial climate to develop institutional capabilities and build new networks. The research highlights the current direction of Rhodes University and elaborates on the potential for the transition towards an entrepreneurial university. An overview of the entrepreneurial university was provided through an analysis of literature, which dominated in the more developed countries compared to South Africa. The researcher adopted a qualitative research study to capture the direct experiences of the individuals that are in the institution. A questionnaire was designed using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Guiding Framework and the direct perceptions of academics from the university were documented. The objectives were firstly, to explore elements of leadership and governance that enhance transformation of Higher Education Institution from a traditional university towards an entrepreneurial university. Secondly, to investigate internal resources that enhance Organisational Capacity with specific reference to people and incentives. Lastly, to determine how Teaching and Learning strengthen entrepreneurship development. The interviews revealed that the challenges faced by the institution were closely linked to those recognized by existing literature. What was interesting to note, limited funding and support were regarded as the most significant problems, closely followed by unskilled people and lack of infrastructure. It is suggested that cultivating and nurturing an entrepreneurial culture is of paramount importance together with the creation of a policy framework. Furthermore, the study concluded with practical recommendations proposed to management regarding the three strategic lenses. The research also illustrated that Rhodes University may not be viewed as being entrepreneurial but certainly has pockets of entrepreneurship and innovative activities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
A Ranking Framework for Higher Education Institutions in South Africa
- Authors: Kanyutu, Teresia Watiri
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/48246 , vital:40746
- Description: In the past 16 years, the use of League Tables and Rankings (LTRs) as a tool to rank or measure the performance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has grown in popularity. As a global practice, LTR outcomes are influencing how policies are developed and implemented within the Higher Education (HE) sector. Studies indicate that based on individual information requirements, HE stakeholders are using LTRs to compare HEIs with each other and make informed comparisons and decisions. University directors use LTRs as a basis for institutional strategic planning, reputation building and policy making, while students use LTRs to compare HEIs and make university of choice decisions. Further studies confirm that governments use LTRs for national higher education policy making, university funding, foreign partnerships and resource allocation. Globally and at a national level, the higher education sector has witnessed policy and structural changes, many of which are due to the increase in the use of international rankings and league tables. Despite the opportunities presented by participating in the production of and using LTRs, the ranking practice is contentious. Amongst the issues disputed by the HE stakeholders are the methodologies and criteria used in the production and publication of LTRs. Higher education experts argue that LTRs tend to favour institutional research output and ignore the teaching and learning function of HEIs. As a result, the ranking criteria differ across the higher education ranking institutions and their publication outcomes, which causes skepticism across the HE sector. Research indicates that these ranking criteria are often discussed from the standpoint of governments, the higher education management and the ranking institutions producing these LTR publications. The opinions of the students on the suitable ranking criteria used by ranking institutions lack. This study aims to address that gap. This study investigates the applicable criteria for ranking HEIs in South Africa, from the perspective of students. Building on the existing ranking criteria for three global and popular ranking institutions namely, Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THEWUR) and Quacquarelli Symonds World University Ranking (QSWUR), the study poses the question; “What framework can be used to rank HEIs in South Africa, from a student’s perspective?” The study argues that although some HEIs in South Africa have in the past and most recently appeared in the global LTRs, the current choice of ranking criteria fails to consider the perspectives of the students, who are major consumers of LTRs and important stakeholders in the HE sector. A positivistic research method was used, based on a review of literature on the current ranking criteria for the selected global ranking institutions. An empirical study was conducted amongst students in a South African Comprehensive University. An online survey was distributed through convenient and snowball sampling, where the students were requested to participate in the survey and share the questionnaire link with others. Eight hundred and eighty six (886) responses were received and used for the data analyses of this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Kanyutu, Teresia Watiri
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/48246 , vital:40746
- Description: In the past 16 years, the use of League Tables and Rankings (LTRs) as a tool to rank or measure the performance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has grown in popularity. As a global practice, LTR outcomes are influencing how policies are developed and implemented within the Higher Education (HE) sector. Studies indicate that based on individual information requirements, HE stakeholders are using LTRs to compare HEIs with each other and make informed comparisons and decisions. University directors use LTRs as a basis for institutional strategic planning, reputation building and policy making, while students use LTRs to compare HEIs and make university of choice decisions. Further studies confirm that governments use LTRs for national higher education policy making, university funding, foreign partnerships and resource allocation. Globally and at a national level, the higher education sector has witnessed policy and structural changes, many of which are due to the increase in the use of international rankings and league tables. Despite the opportunities presented by participating in the production of and using LTRs, the ranking practice is contentious. Amongst the issues disputed by the HE stakeholders are the methodologies and criteria used in the production and publication of LTRs. Higher education experts argue that LTRs tend to favour institutional research output and ignore the teaching and learning function of HEIs. As a result, the ranking criteria differ across the higher education ranking institutions and their publication outcomes, which causes skepticism across the HE sector. Research indicates that these ranking criteria are often discussed from the standpoint of governments, the higher education management and the ranking institutions producing these LTR publications. The opinions of the students on the suitable ranking criteria used by ranking institutions lack. This study aims to address that gap. This study investigates the applicable criteria for ranking HEIs in South Africa, from the perspective of students. Building on the existing ranking criteria for three global and popular ranking institutions namely, Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THEWUR) and Quacquarelli Symonds World University Ranking (QSWUR), the study poses the question; “What framework can be used to rank HEIs in South Africa, from a student’s perspective?” The study argues that although some HEIs in South Africa have in the past and most recently appeared in the global LTRs, the current choice of ranking criteria fails to consider the perspectives of the students, who are major consumers of LTRs and important stakeholders in the HE sector. A positivistic research method was used, based on a review of literature on the current ranking criteria for the selected global ranking institutions. An empirical study was conducted amongst students in a South African Comprehensive University. An online survey was distributed through convenient and snowball sampling, where the students were requested to participate in the survey and share the questionnaire link with others. Eight hundred and eighty six (886) responses were received and used for the data analyses of this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Conceptualisations of and responses to plagiarism in the South African higher education system
- Mphahlele, Martha Matee (Amanda)
- Authors: Mphahlele, Martha Matee (Amanda)
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Plagiarism , Plagiarism -- Prevention -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Moral and ethical aspects , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Cheating (Education) -- South Africa , College students -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa , College discipline -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162642 , vital:40963
- Description: Violations of academic integrity are a cause for concern in universities around the world and plagiarism is one of the most significant examples of these academic integrity issues with which universities are grappling . The approach taken to managing plagiarism depends to a large extent on the understanding of the phenomenon within institutions. This study investigated how plagiarism is conceptualised and responded to in the South African Higher Education system and how this impacts on teaching and learning. Data was collected from 25 out of the 26 South African public universities; the missing university had just been established and did not yet have policies or processes in place. The data was primarily in the form of documents known in these institutions as ‘plagiarism policies’, along with a wealth of other related policies and reports. This was supplemented by interviews as a means of verifying the document analysis with seven plagiarism committee members from across the three institutional types in South Africa, namely: traditional universities, comprehensive universities, and universities of technology. Using Bhaskar’s (2008) critical realism as a metatheory and Archer’s (1995) social realism as both a substantive theory and analytical framework, the experiences and events of plagiarism management were critically examined. Critical realism consider s these experiences and events at the level of the e mpirical and the actual , in order to identify the mechanisms at the l evel of the r eal from which these emerge. Social realism argues that when undertaking such an analysis in the social world, this entails identifying the emergent properties of both the parts (structure and culture) and people (agents). Therefore, the data was analysed using Archer’s analytical dualism to identify structural, cultural and agential mechanisms shaping the understanding of plagiarism and the practices associated with managing the phenomenon. The study found that dominant in the sector was an un derstanding of plagiarism as always being an intentional act, with implications for teaching and learning practices, which then focused on identifying and punishing incidents of plagiarism in student writing. A legal discourse was found to permeate the universities’ plagiarism management systems, such that most procedures replicated the legal framework. This was seen to undermine the identity of universities as teaching and learning spaces and of students as novice members of the disciplinary fields. The study further highlighted that due to plagiarism being perceived as an intentional act, punishment in almost all universities is prioritised as the key means of attending to plagiarism in the se institutions. This emerged as a structural constraint to students’ acquisition of academic writing norms. Such understandings and approaches were seen to be complementary to the risk-aversion of many institutions in a globalised era of university rankings. As increased bureaucracy has been put in place to attend to incidents of plagiarism, including obligatory reporting thereof, an unintentional consequence emerged, where it was at times simpler for academics to ignore incidences of plagiarism than to act on them. Turnitin was frequently referred to across the data as the preferred text - matching tool, but Turnitin together with other text-matching tools , was often used in a way that complemented the understanding of plagiarism as always being an intentional act. The stu dy found that text - matching software was largely misunderstood to be plagiarism software, where the similarity index was perceived to be a measure of plagiarism. This led to an understanding that students needed to paraphrase texts in order to avoid detect ion by the program me, and this may inadvertently encourage plagiarism , as students are taught to write towards the software. The research found that in those instances where educational responses to plagiarism were in place, they often demonstrated a lack of understanding of academic literacies development and the extent to which norms of knowledge production are disciplinary specific. Most (but not all) of the data about educational responses focused on add-on workshops and the signing of a declaration form, indicating that the student has not plagiarised. The workshops were seen to emphasise technical skills, such as the punctuation norms of referencing, and were often offered in a generic format by people outside of the target disciplines. These workshops were found to ignore the connection between the technical skills of referencing and the norms of knowledge construction, with a potential deleterious effect on the development of authorial identity. Finally, the data showed a few instances where particular institutions acknowledged that plagiarism occurs along a continuum, where on one side is intentional plagiarism associated with cheating and requiring punishment, and on the other side is unintentional plagiarism, which is understood to require an educational response , and was seen to emerge from either a lack of understanding of academic literacy norms , or from negligence. Literacy development with regard to taking on the norms of knowledge-making in the academy was seen to be a complex and lengthy process that was fundamental to educational endeavours of facilitating epistemological access, while cases of negligence were seen to be mainly caused by technical oversight rather than a lack of access to the relevant knowledge production norms. The study concludes by arguing that cases of intentional plagiarism require quick and appropriate punishment, but that there also needs to be an institution-wide understanding that unintentional plagiarism often emerges from students failing to access the specific knowledge-making norms of the discipline. There is thus a need for academics to be aware of the complexities related to taking on literacy practices, and who also understand the role of feedback in this process. But it ought not to be assumed that academics would have such insights simply by virtue of their expertise in the discipline. These academics need to have carefully constructed staff development support, as they take on such pedagogical approaches. The study argues that the dominant conceptualisation of plagiarism in the domain of culture as an intentional act and the complementary policies and processes in the domain of structure as focusing on detecting and punishing incidents of plagiarism, fail to address plagiarism in appropriate educational ways.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mphahlele, Martha Matee (Amanda)
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Plagiarism , Plagiarism -- Prevention -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Moral and ethical aspects , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Cheating (Education) -- South Africa , College students -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa , College discipline -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162642 , vital:40963
- Description: Violations of academic integrity are a cause for concern in universities around the world and plagiarism is one of the most significant examples of these academic integrity issues with which universities are grappling . The approach taken to managing plagiarism depends to a large extent on the understanding of the phenomenon within institutions. This study investigated how plagiarism is conceptualised and responded to in the South African Higher Education system and how this impacts on teaching and learning. Data was collected from 25 out of the 26 South African public universities; the missing university had just been established and did not yet have policies or processes in place. The data was primarily in the form of documents known in these institutions as ‘plagiarism policies’, along with a wealth of other related policies and reports. This was supplemented by interviews as a means of verifying the document analysis with seven plagiarism committee members from across the three institutional types in South Africa, namely: traditional universities, comprehensive universities, and universities of technology. Using Bhaskar’s (2008) critical realism as a metatheory and Archer’s (1995) social realism as both a substantive theory and analytical framework, the experiences and events of plagiarism management were critically examined. Critical realism consider s these experiences and events at the level of the e mpirical and the actual , in order to identify the mechanisms at the l evel of the r eal from which these emerge. Social realism argues that when undertaking such an analysis in the social world, this entails identifying the emergent properties of both the parts (structure and culture) and people (agents). Therefore, the data was analysed using Archer’s analytical dualism to identify structural, cultural and agential mechanisms shaping the understanding of plagiarism and the practices associated with managing the phenomenon. The study found that dominant in the sector was an un derstanding of plagiarism as always being an intentional act, with implications for teaching and learning practices, which then focused on identifying and punishing incidents of plagiarism in student writing. A legal discourse was found to permeate the universities’ plagiarism management systems, such that most procedures replicated the legal framework. This was seen to undermine the identity of universities as teaching and learning spaces and of students as novice members of the disciplinary fields. The study further highlighted that due to plagiarism being perceived as an intentional act, punishment in almost all universities is prioritised as the key means of attending to plagiarism in the se institutions. This emerged as a structural constraint to students’ acquisition of academic writing norms. Such understandings and approaches were seen to be complementary to the risk-aversion of many institutions in a globalised era of university rankings. As increased bureaucracy has been put in place to attend to incidents of plagiarism, including obligatory reporting thereof, an unintentional consequence emerged, where it was at times simpler for academics to ignore incidences of plagiarism than to act on them. Turnitin was frequently referred to across the data as the preferred text - matching tool, but Turnitin together with other text-matching tools , was often used in a way that complemented the understanding of plagiarism as always being an intentional act. The stu dy found that text - matching software was largely misunderstood to be plagiarism software, where the similarity index was perceived to be a measure of plagiarism. This led to an understanding that students needed to paraphrase texts in order to avoid detect ion by the program me, and this may inadvertently encourage plagiarism , as students are taught to write towards the software. The research found that in those instances where educational responses to plagiarism were in place, they often demonstrated a lack of understanding of academic literacies development and the extent to which norms of knowledge production are disciplinary specific. Most (but not all) of the data about educational responses focused on add-on workshops and the signing of a declaration form, indicating that the student has not plagiarised. The workshops were seen to emphasise technical skills, such as the punctuation norms of referencing, and were often offered in a generic format by people outside of the target disciplines. These workshops were found to ignore the connection between the technical skills of referencing and the norms of knowledge construction, with a potential deleterious effect on the development of authorial identity. Finally, the data showed a few instances where particular institutions acknowledged that plagiarism occurs along a continuum, where on one side is intentional plagiarism associated with cheating and requiring punishment, and on the other side is unintentional plagiarism, which is understood to require an educational response , and was seen to emerge from either a lack of understanding of academic literacy norms , or from negligence. Literacy development with regard to taking on the norms of knowledge-making in the academy was seen to be a complex and lengthy process that was fundamental to educational endeavours of facilitating epistemological access, while cases of negligence were seen to be mainly caused by technical oversight rather than a lack of access to the relevant knowledge production norms. The study concludes by arguing that cases of intentional plagiarism require quick and appropriate punishment, but that there also needs to be an institution-wide understanding that unintentional plagiarism often emerges from students failing to access the specific knowledge-making norms of the discipline. There is thus a need for academics to be aware of the complexities related to taking on literacy practices, and who also understand the role of feedback in this process. But it ought not to be assumed that academics would have such insights simply by virtue of their expertise in the discipline. These academics need to have carefully constructed staff development support, as they take on such pedagogical approaches. The study argues that the dominant conceptualisation of plagiarism in the domain of culture as an intentional act and the complementary policies and processes in the domain of structure as focusing on detecting and punishing incidents of plagiarism, fail to address plagiarism in appropriate educational ways.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Rhodes University students’ experiences of living as students on National'Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding
- Authors: Mgwili, Thab’sile
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: National Student Financial Aid Scheme (South Africa) , Rhodes University -- Students -- Finance , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Finance -- South Africa , Student aid -- South Africa , Welfare state -- South Africa , Student financial aid administration -- South Africa , Student financial aid administration -- South Africa -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147961 , vital:38697
- Description: This study explores Rhodes University students’ experiences of living as students on National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding. The Marxist theoretical framework critique of neoliberalism and welfare systems is used. The Marxist theory is the main theory that underpins the study. Eighteen participants were involved in an in-depth interview process. Out of 18 participants, one is a staff member at Rhodes University Financial Aid Office. The key findings of this research revealed the unfavorable circumstances of students on NSFAS at Rhodes University. Secondly, it was discovered that students shared similar sentiments as NSFAS and DHET: They recognize the major areas that need to be addressed by NSFAS. Thirdly, NSFAS had to some extent made a positive contribution to the higher education sector. Suggestions have been made on how my study may be improved to yield even better results.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mgwili, Thab’sile
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: National Student Financial Aid Scheme (South Africa) , Rhodes University -- Students -- Finance , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Finance -- South Africa , Student aid -- South Africa , Welfare state -- South Africa , Student financial aid administration -- South Africa , Student financial aid administration -- South Africa -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147961 , vital:38697
- Description: This study explores Rhodes University students’ experiences of living as students on National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding. The Marxist theoretical framework critique of neoliberalism and welfare systems is used. The Marxist theory is the main theory that underpins the study. Eighteen participants were involved in an in-depth interview process. Out of 18 participants, one is a staff member at Rhodes University Financial Aid Office. The key findings of this research revealed the unfavorable circumstances of students on NSFAS at Rhodes University. Secondly, it was discovered that students shared similar sentiments as NSFAS and DHET: They recognize the major areas that need to be addressed by NSFAS. Thirdly, NSFAS had to some extent made a positive contribution to the higher education sector. Suggestions have been made on how my study may be improved to yield even better results.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The effects of education on economic growth and global competitiveness: a statistical approach
- Mbatha, Erica Isabel Tavares Da Silva
- Authors: Mbatha, Erica Isabel Tavares Da Silva
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Economic development -- Effect of education on -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Educational attainment -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147558 , vital:38649
- Description: This thesis investigates whether there is a relationship between education, economic growth and global competitiveness and whether there is a relationship between South Africa’s current throughput rates in institutions of higher education, and its economic growth and global competitiveness. Economic growth is defined as a country’s ability to improve the life of its average citizen based on the strength of its economy. As such, it is increasingly important for a country to assess the factors that contribute to the improvement of their economy, which will ultimately result in its economic growth. Global competitiveness is an indication of how countries are able to provide for their people internally, as well as participate in the international market. To this end, economic growth and global competitiveness are two proxies that can be used to demonstrate the economic wellbeing of a country. Considering that prosperity under economic growth and global competitiveness of a country are driven by its people, one of the aims of this thesis was to investigate whether there is a relationship between education and economic growth and global competitiveness. Considering the recent demand in free education in South Africa, it is also important to understand whether there is a relationship between South Africa’s current throughput rates at higher education institutions and its economic growth and global competitiveness. Bearing in mind the political past which has led to inequality in the country, it is important to understand which types of education contribute to the economy and which types need to be further supported in order to increase the country’s economic productivity. Therefore, an additional aim of the thesis was to determine the relationship between South Africa’s current throughput rates in institutions of higher education, and its economic growth and global competitiveness. To address the aforementioned aims, data were collected from various open access online repositories. All the data were collated and numerous general linear models were constructed and tested to determine the different relationships as per the two aims. The results reveal that secondary school education had the highest impact on economic growth and global competitiveness on a global scale. This could be attributed to the fact that secondary school graduates tend to make up the largest part of the general workforce and as such, would make up a substantial proportion of the economy. Regarding South Africa, the only significant relationships were between green cluster universities (universities that focus on both research and technical training) and global competitiveness. Overall average throughput rates in all academic institutions were low; this could indicate that perhaps there are issues within the higher education system itself that need to be addressed in order to increase the throughput rate. From a managerial perspective, the results of this research stress the importance for the government to further investigate this area of study, as the call for free education becomes more prominent. The low throughput rates seem to suggest that the government is spending substantial amounts of money on students who do not always complete their studies. More research needs to be done to assess the root of the problem in South Africa’s tertiary education system, in order to ensure that this aspect increases its positive contribution towards the country’s economic growth and global competitiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mbatha, Erica Isabel Tavares Da Silva
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Economic development -- Effect of education on -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Educational attainment -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147558 , vital:38649
- Description: This thesis investigates whether there is a relationship between education, economic growth and global competitiveness and whether there is a relationship between South Africa’s current throughput rates in institutions of higher education, and its economic growth and global competitiveness. Economic growth is defined as a country’s ability to improve the life of its average citizen based on the strength of its economy. As such, it is increasingly important for a country to assess the factors that contribute to the improvement of their economy, which will ultimately result in its economic growth. Global competitiveness is an indication of how countries are able to provide for their people internally, as well as participate in the international market. To this end, economic growth and global competitiveness are two proxies that can be used to demonstrate the economic wellbeing of a country. Considering that prosperity under economic growth and global competitiveness of a country are driven by its people, one of the aims of this thesis was to investigate whether there is a relationship between education and economic growth and global competitiveness. Considering the recent demand in free education in South Africa, it is also important to understand whether there is a relationship between South Africa’s current throughput rates at higher education institutions and its economic growth and global competitiveness. Bearing in mind the political past which has led to inequality in the country, it is important to understand which types of education contribute to the economy and which types need to be further supported in order to increase the country’s economic productivity. Therefore, an additional aim of the thesis was to determine the relationship between South Africa’s current throughput rates in institutions of higher education, and its economic growth and global competitiveness. To address the aforementioned aims, data were collected from various open access online repositories. All the data were collated and numerous general linear models were constructed and tested to determine the different relationships as per the two aims. The results reveal that secondary school education had the highest impact on economic growth and global competitiveness on a global scale. This could be attributed to the fact that secondary school graduates tend to make up the largest part of the general workforce and as such, would make up a substantial proportion of the economy. Regarding South Africa, the only significant relationships were between green cluster universities (universities that focus on both research and technical training) and global competitiveness. Overall average throughput rates in all academic institutions were low; this could indicate that perhaps there are issues within the higher education system itself that need to be addressed in order to increase the throughput rate. From a managerial perspective, the results of this research stress the importance for the government to further investigate this area of study, as the call for free education becomes more prominent. The low throughput rates seem to suggest that the government is spending substantial amounts of money on students who do not always complete their studies. More research needs to be done to assess the root of the problem in South Africa’s tertiary education system, in order to ensure that this aspect increases its positive contribution towards the country’s economic growth and global competitiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Graduate attributes: A comparison between public and private higher education commerce students in South Africa
- Bissig, Abigail https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8316-629X
- Authors: Bissig, Abigail https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8316-629X
- Date: 2020-01
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Private universities and colleges
- Language: English
- Type: Masters theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/19683 , vital:43166
- Description: In order to handle the capacity shortfall of state-funded universities in developing economies, governments with limited public resources often establish systems and regulations that enable private organisations to provide equivalent qualifications. As such, South Africa (SA) has seen a large growth in the number of registered private higher education institutions (HEIs) offering alternatives to students who are seeking higher education qualifications but do not meet public universities admission criteria. The emergence of private HEIs has resulted in a different type of learning environment. These institutions provide smaller classes than their public counterparts and a faculty which often consists of both part-time and full-time retired public HEIs lecturers and industry experts, in an environment that is more practical, and less research focused. Due to the substantial differences between the public and private higher education sector mandate, the educational quality produced by private HEIs is often a contentious subject among academics. Employer perspectives are that most graduates do not have the necessary work-ready skills to successfully integrate into the workforce. While various studies have attempted to define and measure graduate employability, limited research differentiates between public and private HEI graduates, and even fewer studies compare the level of graduate employability between these two sectors. In an attempt to determine whether any statistically significant differences exist between the graduate attributes of public and private higher education commerce students in SA, this study makes use of the Graduate Skills and Attributes Scale (GSAS). The GSAS clusters eight graduate skills and behaviours into the three holistic, overarching attitudinal domains of personal and intellectual development. These eight graduate attributes include interactive skills, problem-solving and decision-making skills, continuous learning orientation, enterprising skills, presenting and applying information skills, goal-directed behaviour, ethical and responsible behaviour, and analytical thinking skills. Using a quantitative approach, questionnaires were distributed to a total of 416 respondents, consisting of 351 public and 65 private higher education commerce students within SA. The sample consisted of students enrolled in their final year of study, through either a public university or registered private HEI situated within SA, completing a Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) accredited NQF 7 Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) degree through contact mode of study. After the data collection, independent samples t-tests were used to compare the graduate attributes of the two sectors. The study concludes that higher levels of interactive skills and continuous learning orientation were present among students attending private HEIs, while the remaining six graduate attributes indicated no significant differences between the two sectors. The results of this study provide valuable information to HEIs, students, industry and government, as it measures and compares the level of graduate quality produced by public and private HEIs within SA. , Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-01
- Authors: Bissig, Abigail https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8316-629X
- Date: 2020-01
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Private universities and colleges
- Language: English
- Type: Masters theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/19683 , vital:43166
- Description: In order to handle the capacity shortfall of state-funded universities in developing economies, governments with limited public resources often establish systems and regulations that enable private organisations to provide equivalent qualifications. As such, South Africa (SA) has seen a large growth in the number of registered private higher education institutions (HEIs) offering alternatives to students who are seeking higher education qualifications but do not meet public universities admission criteria. The emergence of private HEIs has resulted in a different type of learning environment. These institutions provide smaller classes than their public counterparts and a faculty which often consists of both part-time and full-time retired public HEIs lecturers and industry experts, in an environment that is more practical, and less research focused. Due to the substantial differences between the public and private higher education sector mandate, the educational quality produced by private HEIs is often a contentious subject among academics. Employer perspectives are that most graduates do not have the necessary work-ready skills to successfully integrate into the workforce. While various studies have attempted to define and measure graduate employability, limited research differentiates between public and private HEI graduates, and even fewer studies compare the level of graduate employability between these two sectors. In an attempt to determine whether any statistically significant differences exist between the graduate attributes of public and private higher education commerce students in SA, this study makes use of the Graduate Skills and Attributes Scale (GSAS). The GSAS clusters eight graduate skills and behaviours into the three holistic, overarching attitudinal domains of personal and intellectual development. These eight graduate attributes include interactive skills, problem-solving and decision-making skills, continuous learning orientation, enterprising skills, presenting and applying information skills, goal-directed behaviour, ethical and responsible behaviour, and analytical thinking skills. Using a quantitative approach, questionnaires were distributed to a total of 416 respondents, consisting of 351 public and 65 private higher education commerce students within SA. The sample consisted of students enrolled in their final year of study, through either a public university or registered private HEI situated within SA, completing a Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) accredited NQF 7 Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) degree through contact mode of study. After the data collection, independent samples t-tests were used to compare the graduate attributes of the two sectors. The study concludes that higher levels of interactive skills and continuous learning orientation were present among students attending private HEIs, while the remaining six graduate attributes indicated no significant differences between the two sectors. The results of this study provide valuable information to HEIs, students, industry and government, as it measures and compares the level of graduate quality produced by public and private HEIs within SA. , Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-01
Part-time Bachelor of Education students’ cognitive shutdown in research methods and statistics in one institution in Eswatini: Towards a framework for epistemological access
- Authors: Mukarombwa, Percy
- Date: 2019-02
- Subjects: Research -- Methodology , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education -- Research -- Methodology
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21689 , vital:51742
- Description: The study was on part-time Bachelor of Education students’ cognitive shutdown in Research Methods and Statistics. It had a view to develop a framework for Epistemological Access. The thesis argued that cognitive shutdown and epistemological access in Research Methods and Statistics can be understood better by looking at the ‘knowledge’ and the ‘knower’ and the relationship between these two. Informed by concepts selected from the Threshold Concepts Theory, Legitimation Code Theory and Self-directed Learning Theory, it developed a conceptual framework for making sense of B.Ed. students’ epistemological access challenges, such as cognitive shutdown, inaccessibility and lack of interest in the course. The study was informed by Post-positivism, and the research approach adopted was a mixed method, with a sequential explanatory mixed method research design. Thirty (30) part-time B. Ed. students were the population and the sample as well, meaning all took part in the study. Two lecturers who teach Research Methods and Statistics (RM & S) also constituted the population and sample. The questionnaire and the interview tools were used to collect data. Data from the questionnaire were presented in tables, bar graphs, pie-charts and doughnuts and analyzed in percentages. That from the interview schedule was presented in descriptions and narratives (themes), and analyzed by thematic analysis. The major findings of the study were as follows: Being a part-time student affected performance. Age does not affect the students’ performance in RM & S. Splitting RM & S makes it easier for the students to understand the various concepts. Students enjoyed Statistics more. RM & S is one of the difficult courses. Time was a major factor influencing the performance of the students. Lecturers do not vary their teaching strategies. Mathematics phobia affected the performance of students. Lack of a base in RM & S from previous studies affected students’ performance. Mathematics phobia affected performance. RM & S knowledge typologies comprised the following specialization codes: Everyday knowledge, Content discipline, General academic knowledge and Scientific Literature. There are code matches and code clashes in terms of the course outline and there are more code clashes than matches. Conclusions reached were: The module is very difficult to some students. Most students prefer an examination on each component, that is, RM, & S, separately. Splitting RM & S makes it easier for the students to understand the various concepts. Being a part-time student affected performance in RM & S. Mathematics phobia as well as lack of a base in RM & S from previous studies affected the performance of the students. There are difficult concepts noted by both staff and students as troublesome knowledge. These affected the performance of the students. From the analysis of the RM & S course outline using the LCT, it was further concluded that there are aspects which constitute everyday knowledge, which are content discipline, general academic knowledge and scientific literacy as knowledge typologies. A further analysis of the B.Ed. course outline using the LCT came up with code matches and code clashes, and the RM &S curriculum has more code clashes than code matches. Recommendations were that the module should be split into RM & S and taught separately. Lecturers should device ways to make sure that troublesome concepts do not affect the performance of the learners. Lecturers should vary their teaching methods to cater for all the different types of part-time B. Ed. students. Mechanisms to demystify that Mathematics is a difficult subject should be employed to curb the phobia. Time should be made available for effective delivery of instruction, as lack of such results in students not understanding the discipline. Finally, educators should understand the knowledge typologies making up RM & S curriculum and that the curriculum has both code lashes and code matches. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, 2019
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019-02
- Authors: Mukarombwa, Percy
- Date: 2019-02
- Subjects: Research -- Methodology , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education -- Research -- Methodology
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21689 , vital:51742
- Description: The study was on part-time Bachelor of Education students’ cognitive shutdown in Research Methods and Statistics. It had a view to develop a framework for Epistemological Access. The thesis argued that cognitive shutdown and epistemological access in Research Methods and Statistics can be understood better by looking at the ‘knowledge’ and the ‘knower’ and the relationship between these two. Informed by concepts selected from the Threshold Concepts Theory, Legitimation Code Theory and Self-directed Learning Theory, it developed a conceptual framework for making sense of B.Ed. students’ epistemological access challenges, such as cognitive shutdown, inaccessibility and lack of interest in the course. The study was informed by Post-positivism, and the research approach adopted was a mixed method, with a sequential explanatory mixed method research design. Thirty (30) part-time B. Ed. students were the population and the sample as well, meaning all took part in the study. Two lecturers who teach Research Methods and Statistics (RM & S) also constituted the population and sample. The questionnaire and the interview tools were used to collect data. Data from the questionnaire were presented in tables, bar graphs, pie-charts and doughnuts and analyzed in percentages. That from the interview schedule was presented in descriptions and narratives (themes), and analyzed by thematic analysis. The major findings of the study were as follows: Being a part-time student affected performance. Age does not affect the students’ performance in RM & S. Splitting RM & S makes it easier for the students to understand the various concepts. Students enjoyed Statistics more. RM & S is one of the difficult courses. Time was a major factor influencing the performance of the students. Lecturers do not vary their teaching strategies. Mathematics phobia affected the performance of students. Lack of a base in RM & S from previous studies affected students’ performance. Mathematics phobia affected performance. RM & S knowledge typologies comprised the following specialization codes: Everyday knowledge, Content discipline, General academic knowledge and Scientific Literature. There are code matches and code clashes in terms of the course outline and there are more code clashes than matches. Conclusions reached were: The module is very difficult to some students. Most students prefer an examination on each component, that is, RM, & S, separately. Splitting RM & S makes it easier for the students to understand the various concepts. Being a part-time student affected performance in RM & S. Mathematics phobia as well as lack of a base in RM & S from previous studies affected the performance of the students. There are difficult concepts noted by both staff and students as troublesome knowledge. These affected the performance of the students. From the analysis of the RM & S course outline using the LCT, it was further concluded that there are aspects which constitute everyday knowledge, which are content discipline, general academic knowledge and scientific literacy as knowledge typologies. A further analysis of the B.Ed. course outline using the LCT came up with code matches and code clashes, and the RM &S curriculum has more code clashes than code matches. Recommendations were that the module should be split into RM & S and taught separately. Lecturers should device ways to make sure that troublesome concepts do not affect the performance of the learners. Lecturers should vary their teaching methods to cater for all the different types of part-time B. Ed. students. Mechanisms to demystify that Mathematics is a difficult subject should be employed to curb the phobia. Time should be made available for effective delivery of instruction, as lack of such results in students not understanding the discipline. Finally, educators should understand the knowledge typologies making up RM & S curriculum and that the curriculum has both code lashes and code matches. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, 2019
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019-02
A social realist account of constraints and enablements navigated by South African students during the four year professional accounting programme at Rhodes University, South Africa
- Authors: Myers, Lyndrianne Peta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Students , Accounting -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Finance -- South Africa , Higher education and state -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93800 , vital:30946
- Description: This dissertation is an analysis of the enablements and constraints navigated by 43 students from different academic years within the Department of Accounting, Rhodes University, in their pursuit of obtaining the postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (DipAcc) qualification. Passing this diploma year entitles students to become Trainee Accountants, which is one of the requirements for their ultimate goal of becoming a chartered accountant. In the course of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews conducted for this study, students from across the four years of the professional degree programme, shared what had helped or hindered them on their journeys to and through Rhodes University, and within the Department of Accounting at this university. Focus group discussions were then held with academics from the department, where the student participants’ experiences were shared. The responses of the members of the focus groups confirmed many of the student participants’ experiences as did interviews with representatives from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). These representatives also spoke about students’ experiences at other campuses. To determine how localised the student participants’ experiences were, selected individuals from a number of other Departments or Schools of Accounting at SAICA-accredited institutions in South Africa were also interviewed. SAICA representatives also discussed the ‘pervasive skills’ which trainee accountants are expected to acquire. The perspectives from these different groups, have provided validation of the student research participants’ experiences. Critical Realism and Social Realism were used as theoretical underpinnings while Social Realism, Bernstein’s Pedagogic Device, Legitimation Code Theory and New Literacies Theory were used as explanatory theories. Using these theories, the participants’ experiences were analysed and could be understood in a different way. This dissertation reveals how this unequal privileging of individuals as a result of the existing structures is perpetuated at university level. It is the poorer students from under-resourced schools who generally struggle with the language and the practices and ways of being required for success at university. Student participants’ experiences of constraint and enablement arose primarily in the areas of the finances required for tuition and living expenses while at university; having English as a language of learning; and difficulties experienced with taking advantage of the learning opportunities within the department. Research participants also spoke about their experiences of transformation in terms of both student protests, and a mentoring programme which assisted them in gaining access to the practises and ways of being required for the discipline. In so doing they were inducted into the discipline’s community of practice. This dissertation has assisted in providing an understanding of what has helped and what has hindered students at Rhodes University, on their journeys towards obtaining the Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting qualification. It has also provided insight into the mechanisms which lie behind these experiences. This study will provide practitioners and policy-makers with the opportunity to be better informed about students’ struggles, to contemplate their interactions with students and to identify, remove or reduce unnecessarily burdensome hurdles. Equally and perhaps more importantly, this study and the work which emerges as a result of this research, will provide students with tools to assist them in their academic journeys, to manage essential hurdles, and to eliminate or avoid unnecessary hurdles.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Myers, Lyndrianne Peta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Students , Accounting -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Finance -- South Africa , Higher education and state -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93800 , vital:30946
- Description: This dissertation is an analysis of the enablements and constraints navigated by 43 students from different academic years within the Department of Accounting, Rhodes University, in their pursuit of obtaining the postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (DipAcc) qualification. Passing this diploma year entitles students to become Trainee Accountants, which is one of the requirements for their ultimate goal of becoming a chartered accountant. In the course of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews conducted for this study, students from across the four years of the professional degree programme, shared what had helped or hindered them on their journeys to and through Rhodes University, and within the Department of Accounting at this university. Focus group discussions were then held with academics from the department, where the student participants’ experiences were shared. The responses of the members of the focus groups confirmed many of the student participants’ experiences as did interviews with representatives from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). These representatives also spoke about students’ experiences at other campuses. To determine how localised the student participants’ experiences were, selected individuals from a number of other Departments or Schools of Accounting at SAICA-accredited institutions in South Africa were also interviewed. SAICA representatives also discussed the ‘pervasive skills’ which trainee accountants are expected to acquire. The perspectives from these different groups, have provided validation of the student research participants’ experiences. Critical Realism and Social Realism were used as theoretical underpinnings while Social Realism, Bernstein’s Pedagogic Device, Legitimation Code Theory and New Literacies Theory were used as explanatory theories. Using these theories, the participants’ experiences were analysed and could be understood in a different way. This dissertation reveals how this unequal privileging of individuals as a result of the existing structures is perpetuated at university level. It is the poorer students from under-resourced schools who generally struggle with the language and the practices and ways of being required for success at university. Student participants’ experiences of constraint and enablement arose primarily in the areas of the finances required for tuition and living expenses while at university; having English as a language of learning; and difficulties experienced with taking advantage of the learning opportunities within the department. Research participants also spoke about their experiences of transformation in terms of both student protests, and a mentoring programme which assisted them in gaining access to the practises and ways of being required for the discipline. In so doing they were inducted into the discipline’s community of practice. This dissertation has assisted in providing an understanding of what has helped and what has hindered students at Rhodes University, on their journeys towards obtaining the Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting qualification. It has also provided insight into the mechanisms which lie behind these experiences. This study will provide practitioners and policy-makers with the opportunity to be better informed about students’ struggles, to contemplate their interactions with students and to identify, remove or reduce unnecessarily burdensome hurdles. Equally and perhaps more importantly, this study and the work which emerges as a result of this research, will provide students with tools to assist them in their academic journeys, to manage essential hurdles, and to eliminate or avoid unnecessary hurdles.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Conditions constraining and enabling research production in Historically Black Universities in South Africa
- Authors: Muthama, Evelyn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Universities and colleges, Black -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- Research -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- History , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- History , Discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131527 , vital:36591
- Description: The South African higher education system has a highly uneven landscape emerging from its apartheid past. Institutions remain categorised along racial lines within categories known as ‘Historically Black’ and ‘Historically White’ institutions, or alternatively ‘Historically Disadvantaged’ and ‘Historically Advantaged’ universities. Alongside such categorisations, universities fall within three types, which arose from the restructuring of the higher education landscape post-apartheid through a series of mergers: traditional universities, comprehensive universities, and universities of technology. This study which is part of a larger National Research Foundation-funded project looking at institutional differentiation in South Africa, sought to investigate the conditions enabling and constraining production of research in the Historically Black Universities (HBUs). By providing clarity as to the nature of truth and the concept of knowledge underpinning study, Critical Realism ensures that the study moves beyond the experiences and events captured in the data to the identification of causal mechanisms. Archer’s theory of Social Realism is used alongside Critical Realism, both as a meta-theory to provide an account of the social world and as a more substantive theory in the analysis of data. Social Realism entails understanding that the social world emerges in a complex interplay of powers in the domains of structure, culture and agency. Identifying the powers in each of these domains that enabled or constrained research development meant moving beyond suggesting simple causal relationships to ensure that I identified the complexities of the interplay of mechanisms. Data was collected from all seven institutions designated by the Department of Higher Education and Training as HBUs, by online survey, in depth interviews with academics and heads of research, and through the collection of a range of national and institutional documentation. Using analytical dualism, I endeavoured to identify some of the enablements and constraints at play. There were a number of areas of strength in research in the HBUs. There has also been a significant increase in research output over the last decade; however, the study also identified a number of mechanisms that constrained research productivity. The study found that while there were a number of mechanisms that appeared to have causal tendencies across all the institutions, there were a number of very specific institutional differences. There was very little consistency in understanding of the purpose of research as being key to what universities and academics do. The implication of this incoherence in the domain of culture (i.e. beliefs and discourses in Archer’s terms) is that various interventions in the structural domain intended to foster increased research output often had unintended consequences. Unless there are explicit discussions about how and why research is valuable to the institution and to the country there is unlikely to be sustained growth in output. In particular, the data analysis raises concerns about an instrumentalist understanding of research output in the domain of culture. This in part emerged from the lack of a historical culture of research and was found to be complimentary to managerialist discourses. Another key mechanism identified in the analysis was the use of direct incentives to drive research productivity. Such initiatives seemed to be complementary to a more instrumentalist understanding of the purpose of research and thereby to potentially constrain the likelihood of sustained research growth. While many of the participants were in favour of the use of research incentives, it was also evident that this was often problematic because it steered academics towards salami slicing, and other practices focused on quantity as opposed to quality research. Predatory publications, in particular, have emerged as a problem whereby the research does not get read or cited and so it fails to contribute to knowledge dissemination. Another constraint to research production was related to the increased casualisation of academic staff, which has exacerbated difficulties in attracting and retaining staff especially in rural areas. In South Africa, 56% of academics in universities are now hired on a contract basis which constrained the nurturing of an academic identity and the extent of commitment to the university and its particular academic project. In the HBUs, these employment conditions were exacerbated by increased teaching loads as a result of increased number of students (undergraduates and postgraduates) that have not been matched with similar increases in academic staff. There was a nascent discourse of social justice that focused on research as a core driver of knowledge production in some of the HBUs. This is potentially an area of strength for the HBUs especially emerging from their rural position as there was a complementary culture of social concerns. There was evidence that the nexus between research and community engagement could be a strong means of both strengthening institutional identity and increasing research productivity. But unless the nexus is clearly articulated, a systematic process of support is unlikely to emerge. Given the extent to which the rural positioning of HBUs has been acknowledged to constrain research engagement, this finding has a number of positive implications.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Muthama, Evelyn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Universities and colleges, Black -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- Research -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- History , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- History , Discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131527 , vital:36591
- Description: The South African higher education system has a highly uneven landscape emerging from its apartheid past. Institutions remain categorised along racial lines within categories known as ‘Historically Black’ and ‘Historically White’ institutions, or alternatively ‘Historically Disadvantaged’ and ‘Historically Advantaged’ universities. Alongside such categorisations, universities fall within three types, which arose from the restructuring of the higher education landscape post-apartheid through a series of mergers: traditional universities, comprehensive universities, and universities of technology. This study which is part of a larger National Research Foundation-funded project looking at institutional differentiation in South Africa, sought to investigate the conditions enabling and constraining production of research in the Historically Black Universities (HBUs). By providing clarity as to the nature of truth and the concept of knowledge underpinning study, Critical Realism ensures that the study moves beyond the experiences and events captured in the data to the identification of causal mechanisms. Archer’s theory of Social Realism is used alongside Critical Realism, both as a meta-theory to provide an account of the social world and as a more substantive theory in the analysis of data. Social Realism entails understanding that the social world emerges in a complex interplay of powers in the domains of structure, culture and agency. Identifying the powers in each of these domains that enabled or constrained research development meant moving beyond suggesting simple causal relationships to ensure that I identified the complexities of the interplay of mechanisms. Data was collected from all seven institutions designated by the Department of Higher Education and Training as HBUs, by online survey, in depth interviews with academics and heads of research, and through the collection of a range of national and institutional documentation. Using analytical dualism, I endeavoured to identify some of the enablements and constraints at play. There were a number of areas of strength in research in the HBUs. There has also been a significant increase in research output over the last decade; however, the study also identified a number of mechanisms that constrained research productivity. The study found that while there were a number of mechanisms that appeared to have causal tendencies across all the institutions, there were a number of very specific institutional differences. There was very little consistency in understanding of the purpose of research as being key to what universities and academics do. The implication of this incoherence in the domain of culture (i.e. beliefs and discourses in Archer’s terms) is that various interventions in the structural domain intended to foster increased research output often had unintended consequences. Unless there are explicit discussions about how and why research is valuable to the institution and to the country there is unlikely to be sustained growth in output. In particular, the data analysis raises concerns about an instrumentalist understanding of research output in the domain of culture. This in part emerged from the lack of a historical culture of research and was found to be complimentary to managerialist discourses. Another key mechanism identified in the analysis was the use of direct incentives to drive research productivity. Such initiatives seemed to be complementary to a more instrumentalist understanding of the purpose of research and thereby to potentially constrain the likelihood of sustained research growth. While many of the participants were in favour of the use of research incentives, it was also evident that this was often problematic because it steered academics towards salami slicing, and other practices focused on quantity as opposed to quality research. Predatory publications, in particular, have emerged as a problem whereby the research does not get read or cited and so it fails to contribute to knowledge dissemination. Another constraint to research production was related to the increased casualisation of academic staff, which has exacerbated difficulties in attracting and retaining staff especially in rural areas. In South Africa, 56% of academics in universities are now hired on a contract basis which constrained the nurturing of an academic identity and the extent of commitment to the university and its particular academic project. In the HBUs, these employment conditions were exacerbated by increased teaching loads as a result of increased number of students (undergraduates and postgraduates) that have not been matched with similar increases in academic staff. There was a nascent discourse of social justice that focused on research as a core driver of knowledge production in some of the HBUs. This is potentially an area of strength for the HBUs especially emerging from their rural position as there was a complementary culture of social concerns. There was evidence that the nexus between research and community engagement could be a strong means of both strengthening institutional identity and increasing research productivity. But unless the nexus is clearly articulated, a systematic process of support is unlikely to emerge. Given the extent to which the rural positioning of HBUs has been acknowledged to constrain research engagement, this finding has a number of positive implications.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Sustainability reporting guidelines for higher educational institutions in South Africa
- Authors: Zietsman, Jaco
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Corporation reports Sustainability
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/33384 , vital:32754
- Description: In the higher education sector, a number of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are playing a leading role in promoting sustainable initiatives. Managing these initiatives effectively can be a complex task and requires data and information from multiple sources. HEIs must ensure financial sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability and educational sustainability. HEIs in South Africa are required to produce a sustainability report for the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) on an annual basis. HEIs are not required to use a specific set of guidelines to create a report that complies with the DHET reporting requirements. HEIs face a number of challenges in effectively managing and reporting on sustainability information, such as poor sharing and communication of information and combining information from different sources to form an integrated report. Well-structured guidelines that adheres to institution standards and governmental reporting requirements can effectively streamline the sustainability reporting process. This study investigates the requirements and challenges of effective sustainability reporting for HEIs in South Africa. A set of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 guidelines were reworked to support effective sustainability reporting by South African HEIs. Nelson Mandela University is one such HEI, which is affected by the challenges of managing and reporting on strategic sustainability information. Nelson Mandela University was therefore used as a case study in this research study. An in-depth study was done exploring how prominent international universities apply the GRI guidelines to contribute and generate integrated sustainability reports for their specific HEIs and general reporting needs and requirements. Additionally, an in-depth study of the German integrated reporting guidelines for HEI’s was conducted. Furthermore, a study of the South African DHET reporting requirements was conducted to explore the similarities that exists between the GRI (G4) guidelines and DHET requirements. The guidelines were evaluated by Nelson Mandela University personnel and academics. The final product consists of a set of GRI guidelines that have been adapted to satisfy both GRI and DHET requirements for integrated sustainability reporting for South African HEIs. The contributions from this study are a set of GRI G4 guidelines and examples for integrated sustainability reporting and management for HEIs in South Africa. The set of adapted GRI guidelines for HEIs in South Africa was created with the assistance of the strategic management departments at Nelson Mandela University. The GRI guidelines have been reworded to be specifically applicable to South African HEIs and contain instructions and guidelines on how to generate an integrated sustainability report for a South African HEI.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Zietsman, Jaco
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Corporation reports Sustainability
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/33384 , vital:32754
- Description: In the higher education sector, a number of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are playing a leading role in promoting sustainable initiatives. Managing these initiatives effectively can be a complex task and requires data and information from multiple sources. HEIs must ensure financial sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability and educational sustainability. HEIs in South Africa are required to produce a sustainability report for the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) on an annual basis. HEIs are not required to use a specific set of guidelines to create a report that complies with the DHET reporting requirements. HEIs face a number of challenges in effectively managing and reporting on sustainability information, such as poor sharing and communication of information and combining information from different sources to form an integrated report. Well-structured guidelines that adheres to institution standards and governmental reporting requirements can effectively streamline the sustainability reporting process. This study investigates the requirements and challenges of effective sustainability reporting for HEIs in South Africa. A set of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 guidelines were reworked to support effective sustainability reporting by South African HEIs. Nelson Mandela University is one such HEI, which is affected by the challenges of managing and reporting on strategic sustainability information. Nelson Mandela University was therefore used as a case study in this research study. An in-depth study was done exploring how prominent international universities apply the GRI guidelines to contribute and generate integrated sustainability reports for their specific HEIs and general reporting needs and requirements. Additionally, an in-depth study of the German integrated reporting guidelines for HEI’s was conducted. Furthermore, a study of the South African DHET reporting requirements was conducted to explore the similarities that exists between the GRI (G4) guidelines and DHET requirements. The guidelines were evaluated by Nelson Mandela University personnel and academics. The final product consists of a set of GRI guidelines that have been adapted to satisfy both GRI and DHET requirements for integrated sustainability reporting for South African HEIs. The contributions from this study are a set of GRI G4 guidelines and examples for integrated sustainability reporting and management for HEIs in South Africa. The set of adapted GRI guidelines for HEIs in South Africa was created with the assistance of the strategic management departments at Nelson Mandela University. The GRI guidelines have been reworded to be specifically applicable to South African HEIs and contain instructions and guidelines on how to generate an integrated sustainability report for a South African HEI.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The tertiary education institution of the future towards 2030: scenarios for skills transformation
- Authors: Chikoti, Patrick
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- Administration Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa Education, Higher -- Economic aspects -- South Africa Educational change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37958 , vital:34274
- Description: The research methodology used in this research was comprised of Inayatullah’s Six Pillars of Futures Studies, in which emphasis was placed on scenario planning and the creation of alternative scenarios for the tertiary education institutions in South Africa towards 2030. An environmental scan revealed the drivers of change in the education sector and in the world of work. Deepening of the future of education was done through Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) to facilitate the discerning of issues from various viewpoints in the creation and expansion of transformative stories so as to provide a window into possible futures for skills transformation. The four scenarios for the tertiary education institution of the future, namely “Stairway to Heaven”, “Highway to Hell”, “Bat out of Hell” and “Still Raining” were developed. These scenarios can be used as departure points by tertiary education providers to make strides towards the Global Sustainable Development Education 2030 targets and the attainment of South Africa’s Vision 2030 targets contained in the National Development Plan. Equally important, these scenarios make known what was previously unknown, exploring the possible and impossible, and encouraging new, innovative thinking for decision-makers. The “Stairway to Heaven” scenario supplies a future in which all stakeholders approve of and embrace the mandate of providing relevant skills and job readiness in a fast-changing world, and the benefits are maximised for all involved through co-creation. It is a scenario where industry, tertiary institutions and society have decided that the purpose of education should be lifelong learning for a viable, productive and sustainable world. The desired future of tertiary education is set against a backdrop of public and private sector collaboration, with the aim of turning the nation into an excellent hub for skills transformation. Furthermore, the scenario provides some insight on the vital measures required to embrace the innovation and the appropriate pedagogy. This research was motivated by the need to shine a light on the 21st century learner, rapidly obsoleting skills, no-collar worker, skills of the future, learning futures, and possible predictions about what new jobs may come into existence so that educationists can better prepare for the future. This research offers solutions on how institutions can prepare students for future jobs, especially considering the rapid changes in jobs and the unprecedented demise of certain jobs. The research closes a research gap through creating scenarios that offer various stakeholders in the tertiary education sector different insights and analysis into a number of interpretations of the potential paths that they can follow. The scenario application culminated in the formulation and creation of a “future vision of the tertiary education institution in South Africa towards 2030”, delivering a platform for skills transformation that will deliver adaptable workers, and sustainable and inclusive progress for all South Africans. To bring transformation into the present and design the future that embraces skills transformation, it is invaluable to interrogate the roles and choices that stakeholders of the educational sector make in determining the preferred future. The approach of this research makes it clear that, as the new world of work transpires, policymakers, students, labour, educational leaders, captains of industry and workers must proactively manage the workforce transitions. The focal issue is to discover the appropriate tools that will establish the confidence necessary to create the preferred future for skills transformation in tertiary institutions. This research has laid a platform for co-creation with various stakeholders in an effort to visualise a tertiary institution that contributes to skills development. The vision must accept that the South African jobs and skills historical profile is different from that of industrialised countries. Alternatively, the nation should respond to the double-barrelled challenge of participating in a high skills’ competitive environment on a global scale, as well as a local context that creates low-wage, blue-collar jobs to absorb the large numbers who are unemployed. The challenge is even greater for South Africa, because the economy – if highly service-oriented, with a big informal sector and a quality postgraduate education offering – is supported by a basic education system that is not producing enough critical thinkers who are equipped for university and work life. Thus, the system requires a double transformation to ensure student-centredness and meet the needs of a future worker.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Chikoti, Patrick
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- Administration Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa Education, Higher -- Economic aspects -- South Africa Educational change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37958 , vital:34274
- Description: The research methodology used in this research was comprised of Inayatullah’s Six Pillars of Futures Studies, in which emphasis was placed on scenario planning and the creation of alternative scenarios for the tertiary education institutions in South Africa towards 2030. An environmental scan revealed the drivers of change in the education sector and in the world of work. Deepening of the future of education was done through Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) to facilitate the discerning of issues from various viewpoints in the creation and expansion of transformative stories so as to provide a window into possible futures for skills transformation. The four scenarios for the tertiary education institution of the future, namely “Stairway to Heaven”, “Highway to Hell”, “Bat out of Hell” and “Still Raining” were developed. These scenarios can be used as departure points by tertiary education providers to make strides towards the Global Sustainable Development Education 2030 targets and the attainment of South Africa’s Vision 2030 targets contained in the National Development Plan. Equally important, these scenarios make known what was previously unknown, exploring the possible and impossible, and encouraging new, innovative thinking for decision-makers. The “Stairway to Heaven” scenario supplies a future in which all stakeholders approve of and embrace the mandate of providing relevant skills and job readiness in a fast-changing world, and the benefits are maximised for all involved through co-creation. It is a scenario where industry, tertiary institutions and society have decided that the purpose of education should be lifelong learning for a viable, productive and sustainable world. The desired future of tertiary education is set against a backdrop of public and private sector collaboration, with the aim of turning the nation into an excellent hub for skills transformation. Furthermore, the scenario provides some insight on the vital measures required to embrace the innovation and the appropriate pedagogy. This research was motivated by the need to shine a light on the 21st century learner, rapidly obsoleting skills, no-collar worker, skills of the future, learning futures, and possible predictions about what new jobs may come into existence so that educationists can better prepare for the future. This research offers solutions on how institutions can prepare students for future jobs, especially considering the rapid changes in jobs and the unprecedented demise of certain jobs. The research closes a research gap through creating scenarios that offer various stakeholders in the tertiary education sector different insights and analysis into a number of interpretations of the potential paths that they can follow. The scenario application culminated in the formulation and creation of a “future vision of the tertiary education institution in South Africa towards 2030”, delivering a platform for skills transformation that will deliver adaptable workers, and sustainable and inclusive progress for all South Africans. To bring transformation into the present and design the future that embraces skills transformation, it is invaluable to interrogate the roles and choices that stakeholders of the educational sector make in determining the preferred future. The approach of this research makes it clear that, as the new world of work transpires, policymakers, students, labour, educational leaders, captains of industry and workers must proactively manage the workforce transitions. The focal issue is to discover the appropriate tools that will establish the confidence necessary to create the preferred future for skills transformation in tertiary institutions. This research has laid a platform for co-creation with various stakeholders in an effort to visualise a tertiary institution that contributes to skills development. The vision must accept that the South African jobs and skills historical profile is different from that of industrialised countries. Alternatively, the nation should respond to the double-barrelled challenge of participating in a high skills’ competitive environment on a global scale, as well as a local context that creates low-wage, blue-collar jobs to absorb the large numbers who are unemployed. The challenge is even greater for South Africa, because the economy – if highly service-oriented, with a big informal sector and a quality postgraduate education offering – is supported by a basic education system that is not producing enough critical thinkers who are equipped for university and work life. Thus, the system requires a double transformation to ensure student-centredness and meet the needs of a future worker.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Factors that influence the throughput of engineering students at Nelson Mandela University
- Authors: Joubert, Petrus Jacobus
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Academic achievement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/30496 , vital:30953
- Description: The current throughput rate of engineering students is an enormous concern, especially in light of the current financial pressure on universities and the goal for the education sector in the National Development Plan 2030, which is to increase annual enrolment levels at universities from 950 000 in 2010 to 1,6 million by 2030 (National Planning Commission, 2011). The low throughput rate of engineering students makes engineering qualifications unsustainable. In a scarce skills list, which highlights the importance of the problem that South Africa is facing, five engineering disciplines are in the top 10 scarce skills in South Africa (Scarce skills, 2016) and, therefore, this study only focuses on engineering students’ throughput rate. Regarding the future enrolment goal for 2030, it is important for universities to understand the factors that influence the throughput rate of engineering students, which the universities have control over. This will put the universities in a position to implement interventions to change negative influences on the throughput rate of engineering students into positive ones. This study consists of a literature review, firstly focusing on the factors influencing the student throughput rate internationally. The literature review then focuses on South African factors and lastly discusses three main categories, namely student engagement, the use of technology and the academic environment. The eight variables that are under study are grouped into these three main categories. The primary data, which were collected through the use of a questionnaire in order to have a good understanding of the factors influencing the throughput rate, were reported and analysed. The results of this study revealed the factors that influenced the throughput rate most positively and negatively.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Joubert, Petrus Jacobus
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Academic achievement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/30496 , vital:30953
- Description: The current throughput rate of engineering students is an enormous concern, especially in light of the current financial pressure on universities and the goal for the education sector in the National Development Plan 2030, which is to increase annual enrolment levels at universities from 950 000 in 2010 to 1,6 million by 2030 (National Planning Commission, 2011). The low throughput rate of engineering students makes engineering qualifications unsustainable. In a scarce skills list, which highlights the importance of the problem that South Africa is facing, five engineering disciplines are in the top 10 scarce skills in South Africa (Scarce skills, 2016) and, therefore, this study only focuses on engineering students’ throughput rate. Regarding the future enrolment goal for 2030, it is important for universities to understand the factors that influence the throughput rate of engineering students, which the universities have control over. This will put the universities in a position to implement interventions to change negative influences on the throughput rate of engineering students into positive ones. This study consists of a literature review, firstly focusing on the factors influencing the student throughput rate internationally. The literature review then focuses on South African factors and lastly discusses three main categories, namely student engagement, the use of technology and the academic environment. The eight variables that are under study are grouped into these three main categories. The primary data, which were collected through the use of a questionnaire in order to have a good understanding of the factors influencing the throughput rate, were reported and analysed. The results of this study revealed the factors that influenced the throughput rate most positively and negatively.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Funding higher education and training in South Africa: a comparative study of tax incentive measures, in conjunction with a dedicated tax
- Authors: Holm, Darryn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- Finance , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Tax incentives -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Student aid -- South Africa , Universities and Colleges -- Taxation -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , South Africa. Income Tax Act, 1962
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59445 , vital:27606
- Description: Higher education and training in South Africa in the post-Apartheid era has never been more volatile than it is currently, some two decades into democracy. Despite the many advances and achievements of higher education, the student protests of 2015 and 2016 have given expression to underlying fault-lines, including increasing student expectations and frustrations with regard to access and funding. This research was undertaken to document the underlying historical issues and models pertaining to funding within the higher education and training sector as well as the existing higher education and training taxation policies and incentives enacted in South Africa and selected international jurisdictions. This was done with a view to providing a framework for higher education and training tax policy formation in South Africa to assist in meeting its higher education and training “access and affordability” targets as set out in the National Plan on Higher Education and the Higher Education White Paper, while at the same time not hindering economic growth. A doctrinal research methodology was adopted in this study as it mainly analysed and interpreted legislation and policy documents and therefore the approach was qualitative in nature. An extensive literature survey was done in order to document the various internationally selected legislated higher education and training tax policies and incentives. The literature indicated that there are widespread funding perspectives and initiates, and that international tax policies enacted with the aim of ensuring that higher education and training is more accessible and affordable to the public, is stable and effective in certain jurisdictions. It is submitted that while a higher education dedicated tax may not be sufficiently effective in South Africa, a combination of broad-based tax incentives will help to promote the change to a more affordable and stable higher education funding system, whilst not preventing growth through sustainable development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Holm, Darryn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- Finance , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Tax incentives -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Student aid -- South Africa , Universities and Colleges -- Taxation -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , South Africa. Income Tax Act, 1962
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59445 , vital:27606
- Description: Higher education and training in South Africa in the post-Apartheid era has never been more volatile than it is currently, some two decades into democracy. Despite the many advances and achievements of higher education, the student protests of 2015 and 2016 have given expression to underlying fault-lines, including increasing student expectations and frustrations with regard to access and funding. This research was undertaken to document the underlying historical issues and models pertaining to funding within the higher education and training sector as well as the existing higher education and training taxation policies and incentives enacted in South Africa and selected international jurisdictions. This was done with a view to providing a framework for higher education and training tax policy formation in South Africa to assist in meeting its higher education and training “access and affordability” targets as set out in the National Plan on Higher Education and the Higher Education White Paper, while at the same time not hindering economic growth. A doctrinal research methodology was adopted in this study as it mainly analysed and interpreted legislation and policy documents and therefore the approach was qualitative in nature. An extensive literature survey was done in order to document the various internationally selected legislated higher education and training tax policies and incentives. The literature indicated that there are widespread funding perspectives and initiates, and that international tax policies enacted with the aim of ensuring that higher education and training is more accessible and affordable to the public, is stable and effective in certain jurisdictions. It is submitted that while a higher education dedicated tax may not be sufficiently effective in South Africa, a combination of broad-based tax incentives will help to promote the change to a more affordable and stable higher education funding system, whilst not preventing growth through sustainable development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Knowledge and knowers in Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) Master’s Programmes in South Africa
- Authors: Kajee, Farhana Amod
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa , Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Master of education degree -- South Africa , Knowledge, Theory of , Educational sociology -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa , Legitimation Code Theory (LCT)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60698 , vital:27819
- Description: This dissertation examines the knowledge and knower practices in the Master’s in Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) coursework programmes at South African public universities. This study was prompted by my growing awareness of problems and tensions in the field of ELM generally, and at the level of programme design of the M Ed degree in particular. Many of these had been identified by a national audit of coursework M Eds in ELM (CHE, 2010), and this study sought to find a way of theorising these with a view to improving both course design and teaching. To this end I employed Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) which enables critical engagement with knowledge and knowers in programmes, how they are positioned, and how this positioning may be problematic. Hence my first research question sought to discover and critique what counted as knowledge in these programmes and why, while the second asked how knowers were positioned, and why this had come to be the case. LCT has its roots in the work of Bernstein and Maton, whose preoccupation with curriculum was/is driven by a sense of social justice: if we can understand how and why the curriculum is organised and presented in a particular way, it becomes possible to re-imagine teaching and learning, making it accessible to a broader, more inclusive body of learners. The study also drew on critical realism as an underlabourer. This philosophy provided a nuanced understanding of ontology, encouraging and enabling me, as researcher, to unearth causal mechanisms driving the status quo. Only seven South African universities currently offer the coursework option of a Master’s degree in ELM, compared to thirteen when the audit was conducted in 2010. Six of the universities agreed to take part in the study. Data was gathered through content analysis of the six course outlines and interviews with individual co-ordinators or academics centrally involved in the programmes. Through the development of a translation device I was able to establishing that a knower code was dominant in the programmes. Using this point as my departure, I interrogated the knowledge practices and found that different types of knowledge were being privileged across the programmes, with some having a practical/professional leaning and others a more academic/theoretical orientation. The resultant tension does, I argue, restrict knowledge building and helps to account for the fact that the field is generally considered to be under-theorised. The fact all of these programme are registered with the same national qualifications authority, ostensibly following the same national guidelines for Master’s degrees is worrying. The study attempts to find underlying, historically significant reasons for this unevenness. An analysis of the programmes revealed a leaning towards supportive pedagogical approaches. While all programmes promote a cultivated gaze their purposes are not always the same. While a hegemonic practices potential for opening counts as knowledge, cultivated gaze can enable transformation, it can also encourage that can impede real change and empowerment. The study has the up much needed debate on what is meant by a Master’s in ELM, what and what kinds of knower are envisaged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Kajee, Farhana Amod
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa , Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Master of education degree -- South Africa , Knowledge, Theory of , Educational sociology -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa , Legitimation Code Theory (LCT)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60698 , vital:27819
- Description: This dissertation examines the knowledge and knower practices in the Master’s in Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) coursework programmes at South African public universities. This study was prompted by my growing awareness of problems and tensions in the field of ELM generally, and at the level of programme design of the M Ed degree in particular. Many of these had been identified by a national audit of coursework M Eds in ELM (CHE, 2010), and this study sought to find a way of theorising these with a view to improving both course design and teaching. To this end I employed Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) which enables critical engagement with knowledge and knowers in programmes, how they are positioned, and how this positioning may be problematic. Hence my first research question sought to discover and critique what counted as knowledge in these programmes and why, while the second asked how knowers were positioned, and why this had come to be the case. LCT has its roots in the work of Bernstein and Maton, whose preoccupation with curriculum was/is driven by a sense of social justice: if we can understand how and why the curriculum is organised and presented in a particular way, it becomes possible to re-imagine teaching and learning, making it accessible to a broader, more inclusive body of learners. The study also drew on critical realism as an underlabourer. This philosophy provided a nuanced understanding of ontology, encouraging and enabling me, as researcher, to unearth causal mechanisms driving the status quo. Only seven South African universities currently offer the coursework option of a Master’s degree in ELM, compared to thirteen when the audit was conducted in 2010. Six of the universities agreed to take part in the study. Data was gathered through content analysis of the six course outlines and interviews with individual co-ordinators or academics centrally involved in the programmes. Through the development of a translation device I was able to establishing that a knower code was dominant in the programmes. Using this point as my departure, I interrogated the knowledge practices and found that different types of knowledge were being privileged across the programmes, with some having a practical/professional leaning and others a more academic/theoretical orientation. The resultant tension does, I argue, restrict knowledge building and helps to account for the fact that the field is generally considered to be under-theorised. The fact all of these programme are registered with the same national qualifications authority, ostensibly following the same national guidelines for Master’s degrees is worrying. The study attempts to find underlying, historically significant reasons for this unevenness. An analysis of the programmes revealed a leaning towards supportive pedagogical approaches. While all programmes promote a cultivated gaze their purposes are not always the same. While a hegemonic practices potential for opening counts as knowledge, cultivated gaze can enable transformation, it can also encourage that can impede real change and empowerment. The study has the up much needed debate on what is meant by a Master’s in ELM, what and what kinds of knower are envisaged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Mature South African students’ perceptions of their transition experiences into and from university education
- Authors: Zietsman, Louis Frederick
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Adult college students -- South Africa , Adult education -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Continuing education -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/36126 , vital:33896
- Description: Mature students and their experience of tertiary education is an area of career psychology in which there is currently a lack of research. In particular, little published data related to the transition experience of mature students into and from tertiary education is available internationally and there is even less literature examining these students within the African and South African context. This study contributes to psychology‟s broad body of knowledge as it explores the perceptions of previously employed final year South African students on their transition experience into and from tertiary education. The researcher utilised a qualitative research approach. A non-probability purposive sampling strategy was employed and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five participants. All participants were considered to be mature students in their final year of university study. Interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached. The data obtained was subjected to thematic content analysis using Tesch‟s model. Lincoln and Guba‟s model was used to assess the trustworthiness of the data obtained. The findings revealed several factors influencing mature students‟ entry or re-entry into tertiary education. Participants‟ experience of tertiary education was enriching on both a personal/career level and participants were confident in their abilities. Furthermore, it was found that transition towards a new career starts during their tertiary study and that relying on experiences of their previous job aided them in their transition from tertiary education to new career. Limitations of the study, recommendations for further research and contributions of the research were identified.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Zietsman, Louis Frederick
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Adult college students -- South Africa , Adult education -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Continuing education -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/36126 , vital:33896
- Description: Mature students and their experience of tertiary education is an area of career psychology in which there is currently a lack of research. In particular, little published data related to the transition experience of mature students into and from tertiary education is available internationally and there is even less literature examining these students within the African and South African context. This study contributes to psychology‟s broad body of knowledge as it explores the perceptions of previously employed final year South African students on their transition experience into and from tertiary education. The researcher utilised a qualitative research approach. A non-probability purposive sampling strategy was employed and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five participants. All participants were considered to be mature students in their final year of university study. Interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached. The data obtained was subjected to thematic content analysis using Tesch‟s model. Lincoln and Guba‟s model was used to assess the trustworthiness of the data obtained. The findings revealed several factors influencing mature students‟ entry or re-entry into tertiary education. Participants‟ experience of tertiary education was enriching on both a personal/career level and participants were confident in their abilities. Furthermore, it was found that transition towards a new career starts during their tertiary study and that relying on experiences of their previous job aided them in their transition from tertiary education to new career. Limitations of the study, recommendations for further research and contributions of the research were identified.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Pushing the bounds of possibility: South African academics narrate their experiences of having agency to effect transformation
- Authors: Idahosa, Grace Ese-Osa
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Higher education and state -- South Africa , Rhodes University
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5845 , vital:20981
- Description: Over 20 years after the first democratic elections, the institutional cultures and structures of many South African universities remain un-transformed; they are embedded with racist and sexist discourses and attitudes that allow for the marginalisation and exclusion of students and staff (Department of Education 2008; Soudien 2010; van Wyk and Alexander 2010; Akoojee and Nkomo 2007; Hemson and Singh 2010). In order to effect change, research has noted the importance of leadership and staff involvement in the transformation process (Van-Der Westhuizen 2006; Portnoi 2009; Niemann 2010; Viljoen and Rothmann 2002). These studies argue that both leaders and staff members must be interested, and actively involved in, the transformation process. This suggests that the extent to which leaders and individual staff members have agency to effect transformatory practices determines the success of transformation policies. But what motivates this interest in transformation? While a number of studies have focused on the imperative to transform, few studies have focused on the role of individual agency in the transformation process. After all the world and in some ways structural properties are given to us and at the same time ‘actively constituted by us’ (van Manen 1997, XI). Drawing on interviews with academic staff members at one university in South Africa, this study uses a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to understand the nature of having agency to enable transformation drawing on the experiences of academic staff members. In the context of studies on the agency- structure divide and the need for a structural and cultural change in universities in South Africa, the project aimed to find out how transformation happens, when it does happen. I was interested in how individual agents are able to use their agency to ensure transformation amid limiting and rigid structures and cultures in the university. Given the fact that structures are only revealed in human action, the individual experience of transformation at once gives insight into the dominant structures, the social context and how their capacity to act was deployed to enable a change in such structures - at least in their own experience and understanding. This may help our understanding of transformation and what is needed to effect the transformation of deeply embedded apartheid legacies in university structures and cultures. This study aimed to reveal moments at which individuals embedded in what have been identified as rigid structures and cultures perceive themselves as having had the agency to interrupt and transform them despite their rigid nature. The study was interested in what characterises these moments and what individual and institutional contexts make them more or less possible/likely.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Idahosa, Grace Ese-Osa
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Higher education and state -- South Africa , Rhodes University
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5845 , vital:20981
- Description: Over 20 years after the first democratic elections, the institutional cultures and structures of many South African universities remain un-transformed; they are embedded with racist and sexist discourses and attitudes that allow for the marginalisation and exclusion of students and staff (Department of Education 2008; Soudien 2010; van Wyk and Alexander 2010; Akoojee and Nkomo 2007; Hemson and Singh 2010). In order to effect change, research has noted the importance of leadership and staff involvement in the transformation process (Van-Der Westhuizen 2006; Portnoi 2009; Niemann 2010; Viljoen and Rothmann 2002). These studies argue that both leaders and staff members must be interested, and actively involved in, the transformation process. This suggests that the extent to which leaders and individual staff members have agency to effect transformatory practices determines the success of transformation policies. But what motivates this interest in transformation? While a number of studies have focused on the imperative to transform, few studies have focused on the role of individual agency in the transformation process. After all the world and in some ways structural properties are given to us and at the same time ‘actively constituted by us’ (van Manen 1997, XI). Drawing on interviews with academic staff members at one university in South Africa, this study uses a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to understand the nature of having agency to enable transformation drawing on the experiences of academic staff members. In the context of studies on the agency- structure divide and the need for a structural and cultural change in universities in South Africa, the project aimed to find out how transformation happens, when it does happen. I was interested in how individual agents are able to use their agency to ensure transformation amid limiting and rigid structures and cultures in the university. Given the fact that structures are only revealed in human action, the individual experience of transformation at once gives insight into the dominant structures, the social context and how their capacity to act was deployed to enable a change in such structures - at least in their own experience and understanding. This may help our understanding of transformation and what is needed to effect the transformation of deeply embedded apartheid legacies in university structures and cultures. This study aimed to reveal moments at which individuals embedded in what have been identified as rigid structures and cultures perceive themselves as having had the agency to interrupt and transform them despite their rigid nature. The study was interested in what characterises these moments and what individual and institutional contexts make them more or less possible/likely.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Study South Africa
- International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA), Quinlan, Orla
- Authors: International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) , Quinlan, Orla
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education and globalization -- South Africa Student mobility -- Africa International education -- South Africa Education, Higher -- International cooperation , Universities and colleges -- South Africa , Technical Institutes -- South Africa , Vocational guidance -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64853 , vital:28620 , ISBN 9780620769662
- Description: [Editor's Letter]: Welcome to the seventeenth Study SA, compiled as IEASA celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Study SA is the South African publication that provides an overview of South African Higher Education issues and developments. This edition has a special Commemorative section, celebrating 20 years of IEASA, as well as the standard sections found in every issue of Study SA, consisting of Higher Education in Context, Features and Medical Aid and the updated profiles of the 26 public Higher Education Institutions. Universities South Africa, USAF, kindly provided partial funding for this edition of Study SA and we are delighted to include a message from the current CEO Dr Ahmed Bawa, a consistent supporter of internationalisation in Higher Education. We also have a message from the former Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande (2009-2017). A voluntary organisation supported by a small secretariat, IEASA is testament to a group of people who saw the need for an organisation to support the South African Higher Education’s re-entry and engagement with the rest of the world, once it became a democracy in 1994. This edition includes articles by two of the founding members: lEASA’s first President, Dr Roshun Kishun and its first Treasurer, Dr Derek Swemmer. Our sincere thanks to all the committed individuals in South African Higher education, who have kept IEASA going from strength to strength. Thilor Manikam, lEASA’s longest serving staffing member and the Office Manager has provided continuity and institutional memory over the best part of the twenty years. Guided by lEASA’s Constitution, Thilor has ensured that regardless of the change in the Management Council over the years, IEASA operations are impeccably managed and that IEASA has received an unqualified audit every year since its inception. In its history, IEASA has had seven Presidents: Dr Roshun Kishan, Ms Fazela Hanif, Mr David Ferrai, Ms Merle Hodges, Mr Lavern Samuels, Dr Nico Jooste and the current President Leolyn Jackson, whose term will run until the end of 2018, when the current President Elect, Ms Orla Quinlan will serve a two-year term from 2019-2020. IEASA has facilitated the development of a close knit community of practice in South Africa with members drawing on each other’s strengths and skills; inviting each other to our respective institutions to share knowledge, skills and ideas on appropriate internationalisation, within the South African context. More than that, we have become friends and have developed a collective responsibility to present and represent South African Higher Education to the rest of the world. Sadly, we lost three of our very dear colleagues and friends in recent years: Mr Len Mkhize, Mr Jimmy Ellis and Professor Stan Ridge. We pay tribute to the energy and joy they brought to IEASA in all their endeavours. They are missed. Others who have supported IEASA over the years include PWC, who have provided free audit services up to 2017, as a contribution to South Africa’s Higher Education; ABSA and the Medical Aid companies, who have provided sponsorship to IEASA. Finally, its volunteer Management Council, members of which serve two-year terms, with the possibility of being re-elected, and each one of our members who participate in and support IEASA activities and events. IEASA continued its work with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to clarify the visa application procedures, communicate the processes and to request interventions when visa processing is unduly delayed or if there are extenuating circumstances, which require intervention. IEASA and DHA have held one joint workshop with universities in 2016; a second was held following the IEASA 20th conference in August 2017 and an initial meeting called by USAF was held with DHA, HR Directors from universities and IEASA in late 2017. Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) have introduced a new mobile biometric service for campuses who do not have a VFS office in their locality. IEASA will continue to work on behalf of the international students and the rest of the international Higher Education community to improve the clarity of immigration requirements and to help overcome any difficulties faced. An article providing an update on progress is included in this edition. The international landscape has shifted enormously in recent years, where previously unquestioned democratic principles are being contested in some of the world’s most established democracies. lEASA’s 20th Anniversary Conference theme was “Advancing internationalisation: overcoming hostilities and building communities”. While in reflective and celebratory mode about the achievements of the last twenty years during the the Colloquium, the conference attendees switched mode and engaged in robust debates, about the current challenges in Higher Education including economic and financial challenges, xenophobia, the lack of equity in existing partnerships, institutional strategies, opportunities for engaging with partners interested in South African Higher Education. IEASA is cognisant of its responsibility to build capacity for the upcoming professionals in the sector and workshops on themes pertinent to the professionals in International Offices included immigration, partnerships and developing internationalisation strategy. , 17th Edition
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) , Quinlan, Orla
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education and globalization -- South Africa Student mobility -- Africa International education -- South Africa Education, Higher -- International cooperation , Universities and colleges -- South Africa , Technical Institutes -- South Africa , Vocational guidance -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64853 , vital:28620 , ISBN 9780620769662
- Description: [Editor's Letter]: Welcome to the seventeenth Study SA, compiled as IEASA celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Study SA is the South African publication that provides an overview of South African Higher Education issues and developments. This edition has a special Commemorative section, celebrating 20 years of IEASA, as well as the standard sections found in every issue of Study SA, consisting of Higher Education in Context, Features and Medical Aid and the updated profiles of the 26 public Higher Education Institutions. Universities South Africa, USAF, kindly provided partial funding for this edition of Study SA and we are delighted to include a message from the current CEO Dr Ahmed Bawa, a consistent supporter of internationalisation in Higher Education. We also have a message from the former Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande (2009-2017). A voluntary organisation supported by a small secretariat, IEASA is testament to a group of people who saw the need for an organisation to support the South African Higher Education’s re-entry and engagement with the rest of the world, once it became a democracy in 1994. This edition includes articles by two of the founding members: lEASA’s first President, Dr Roshun Kishun and its first Treasurer, Dr Derek Swemmer. Our sincere thanks to all the committed individuals in South African Higher education, who have kept IEASA going from strength to strength. Thilor Manikam, lEASA’s longest serving staffing member and the Office Manager has provided continuity and institutional memory over the best part of the twenty years. Guided by lEASA’s Constitution, Thilor has ensured that regardless of the change in the Management Council over the years, IEASA operations are impeccably managed and that IEASA has received an unqualified audit every year since its inception. In its history, IEASA has had seven Presidents: Dr Roshun Kishan, Ms Fazela Hanif, Mr David Ferrai, Ms Merle Hodges, Mr Lavern Samuels, Dr Nico Jooste and the current President Leolyn Jackson, whose term will run until the end of 2018, when the current President Elect, Ms Orla Quinlan will serve a two-year term from 2019-2020. IEASA has facilitated the development of a close knit community of practice in South Africa with members drawing on each other’s strengths and skills; inviting each other to our respective institutions to share knowledge, skills and ideas on appropriate internationalisation, within the South African context. More than that, we have become friends and have developed a collective responsibility to present and represent South African Higher Education to the rest of the world. Sadly, we lost three of our very dear colleagues and friends in recent years: Mr Len Mkhize, Mr Jimmy Ellis and Professor Stan Ridge. We pay tribute to the energy and joy they brought to IEASA in all their endeavours. They are missed. Others who have supported IEASA over the years include PWC, who have provided free audit services up to 2017, as a contribution to South Africa’s Higher Education; ABSA and the Medical Aid companies, who have provided sponsorship to IEASA. Finally, its volunteer Management Council, members of which serve two-year terms, with the possibility of being re-elected, and each one of our members who participate in and support IEASA activities and events. IEASA continued its work with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to clarify the visa application procedures, communicate the processes and to request interventions when visa processing is unduly delayed or if there are extenuating circumstances, which require intervention. IEASA and DHA have held one joint workshop with universities in 2016; a second was held following the IEASA 20th conference in August 2017 and an initial meeting called by USAF was held with DHA, HR Directors from universities and IEASA in late 2017. Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) have introduced a new mobile biometric service for campuses who do not have a VFS office in their locality. IEASA will continue to work on behalf of the international students and the rest of the international Higher Education community to improve the clarity of immigration requirements and to help overcome any difficulties faced. An article providing an update on progress is included in this edition. The international landscape has shifted enormously in recent years, where previously unquestioned democratic principles are being contested in some of the world’s most established democracies. lEASA’s 20th Anniversary Conference theme was “Advancing internationalisation: overcoming hostilities and building communities”. While in reflective and celebratory mode about the achievements of the last twenty years during the the Colloquium, the conference attendees switched mode and engaged in robust debates, about the current challenges in Higher Education including economic and financial challenges, xenophobia, the lack of equity in existing partnerships, institutional strategies, opportunities for engaging with partners interested in South African Higher Education. IEASA is cognisant of its responsibility to build capacity for the upcoming professionals in the sector and workshops on themes pertinent to the professionals in International Offices included immigration, partnerships and developing internationalisation strategy. , 17th Edition
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017