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Journal articles on the topic 'South African higher education context'
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Ajani, Oluwatoyin A., and Bongani T. Gamede. "Decolonising Teacher Education Curriculum in South African Higher Education." International Journal of Higher Education 10, no. 5 (2021): 121. http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v10n5p121.
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Calls for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa gained prominence after the #Rhodesmustfall, #Feesmustfall and series of 2015-2016 students’ protests in South African higher institutions. Visible in the demands of the students during these protests was the need for the decolonisation of higher education curriculum to ensure reflection of diverse realities in South Africa. This led to various conferences in different parts of the Republic. However, while some scholars are clamouring for the need for decolonisation, others consider the desire for decoloniality and glocalization. Thus, the subject of decolonisation remains a debate in South African society. Meanwhile, decolonisation is still very much crucial. Seemingly, in the words of Steve Biko, decolonization should begin from the mind. Hence, this discursive study explores how pre-service teachers’ minds can be decolonised for realities in transforming South African higher education. The study adopts Critical Race Theory as a lens for this phenomenon. South African higher education curriculum has predominantly been Eurocentric and epistemic, reflecting Western dominance in post-apartheid South Africa. The study argues why and how South African higher education institutions can place teacher education at the centre of learning experiences, for students to adapt and maximize the realities in their contexts, and for responsive lived experiences. Thus, adding voices to a curriculum that promotes total rethink, reflections and reconstruction of students' minds in integrating the existing Eurocentrism and epistemic knowledge with African philosophy in higher education institutions.
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Makondo, Livingstone, and Otlina Makondo. "The Interplay between South African Higher Education Context and Academic Development." Anthropologist 17, no. 2 (2014): 301–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2014.11891438.
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Kessi, Shose. "Community social psychologies for decoloniality: an African perspective on epistemic justice in higher education." South African Journal of Psychology 47, no. 4 (2017): 506–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0081246317737917.
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The decolonisation of higher education in South Africa is closely linked to questions of knowledge production. The epistemic violence of the colonial encounter has put into question the possibilities and modes of doing research in marginalised communities. In this article, I argue that praxis in community social psychology can lead to more relevant and just research methods, especially when rooted in liberation thinking. In the South African and African context, this requires an engagement with the particularities of Blackness and the Black experience. Drawing on examples of participatory action research projects with young Africans using Photovoice methods, and the establishment of the Black Academic Caucus at the University of Cape Town, the article shows the links between praxis and epistemic justice as exercised within the cultural practices of the university, and between researchers and participants from marginalised communities.
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Whiston, Thomas G. "The Higher Educational and Industrial Challenges Facing South Africa." Industry and Higher Education 9, no. 2 (1995): 105–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095042229500900206.
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South Africa, following the dismantling of Apartheid, now faces enormous educational, industrial and economic challenges. Simultaneously it must address gargantuan social and infrastructural problems, attend to the most urgent basic needs while also encouraging significant economic growth. The author has recently completed an extensive survey and analysis of the South African higher education challenge within the context of the critical, social, industrial and environmental dilemmas which must be ameliorated. In this article, he provides an overview of the problems to be faced and suggests a national policy agenda to address those challenges and dilemmas. In one sense the South African ‘dilemma’ is a microcosm of the global ‘North–South’ divide.
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Morreira, Shannon. "Steps Towards Decolonial Higher Education in Southern Africa? Epistemic Disobedience in the Humanities." Journal of Asian and African Studies 52, no. 3 (2015): 287–301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021909615577499.
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In South African universities, a particular epistemic hierarchy exists within which African knowledge and resources are under-valued. This paper examines humanities courses that include content that deliberately aims to interrupt the existing knowledge hierarchies, through a qualitative analysis of spaces where African knowledge is granted importance. The paper provides a snapshot of the potentials for change in South African higher education today, and of the ways in which theories of Africa, for Africa, and about Africa, are being generated and taught.
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Ngqakayi‐Motaung, Nomsa. "Public and private higher education in South Africa in the context of the African renaissance." International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity 1, no. 1 (2006): 91–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18186870608529708.
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Ndebele, Hloniphani. "Is isiZulu a ‘problem or a ‘resource’? Engineering students’ perceptions of teaching and learning in a multilingual context." Journal for Language Teaching 54, no. 1 (2021): 123–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jlt.v54i1.2.
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Research and praxis in the field teaching and learning in the South African higher education context has been characterised by calls to expand the languages of teaching and learning through the inclusive use of African languages in higher education. Such calls are based on the realisation of the critical role that students’ home language can play in cognitive and linguistic development, among other things, in education. The focus of this paper is to ascertain the perceptions of students about the inclusive use of isiZulu, an African language, as a language of teaching and learning. Data were gathered through a survey which employed a questionnaire targeting 120 students from a Faculty of Engineering at a South African university of technology. The study found that students’ understanding of the use of isiZulu for teaching and learning conflated issues of language as ‘problem’ and ‘resource’. The study also discovered elements of language ambivalence. The paper argues that helping students to shift their perceptions from a ‘problem’ viewof language to a view of language as a ‘resource’ could enhance their learning.
 Keywords: African languages; IsiZulu; Teaching and learning; Higher education; South Africa
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Cherrington, Avivit M. "Research as hope-intervention: Mobilising hope in a South African higher education context." South African Journal of Education 38, no. 4 (2018): 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.15700/saje.v38n4a1706.
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Brink, Roelien, Martie Mearns, and Tanya Du Plessis. "MANAGING INFORMATION FOR WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS." Mousaion: South African Journal of Information Studies 32, no. 3 (2016): 13–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/0027-2639/1666.
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Higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa require teaching and learning to include work-integrated learning (WIL) within specific learning offerings. The different learning options provided by various faculties have unique and diverse procedures which justify different WIL approaches at HEIs. A lack of structure regarding the information management (IM) for WIL across departments results in different processes being followed, which can impact negatively on the optimal utilisation of WIL. Frameworks for IM for WIL, however, have been developed at international HEIs. Using a qualitative approach and phenomenological research design and working with these frameworks as well as the Theory of Motivated Information Management, the researchers collected data using semi-structured individual interviews and group discussions from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the Northwestern University (NWU) in Illinois, United States (US). This article presents the findings of an IM framework from these two US universities. After research was conducted at a South African university, a conceptual framework was developed for the IM for WIL based on the framework from the international universities that may be implemented at HEIs in South Africa. With time this framework could betested in a number of settings that could lead to the development of a model for IM for WIL in the South African context. The article, however, reports on the findings of the two international universities only and the conceptual framework requires further testing and validation before it can be published.
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Du Toit, Nina (HG). "Designing a Model for Facilitating the Inclusion of Higher Education International Students with Disabilities in South Africa." Social Inclusion 6, no. 4 (2018): 168–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/si.v6i4.1666.
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Higher education in South Africa is regulated by several policies, and the obligation of increased access and participation of persons with disabilities into higher education is recognized in legislation (Department of Education, 1997; Department of Higher Education and Training, 2013). However, research indicates that the proportion of students with disabilities in higher education and in study programmes abroad is still very low worldwide (Fazekas, 2017; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2011). Study opportunities for these students in higher education institutions abroad, including South Africa, should therefore be increased to provide equal access and experience in an inclusive higher education environment. This study explores possible reasons for the low engagement of South African students with disabilities in international mobility programmes and the function of key role-players in supporting international students with disabilities studying in South Africa (incoming students) and South African students with disabilities studying abroad (outgoing students). This study also explores the ways by which the exchange process could be facilitated more effectively within the context of an inclusive higher education environment. Data on the support services offered to these students was obtained by means of questionnaires sent to the International Relations Offices and Disability Rights Units at higher education institutions in South Africa. The study culminated in the design of a model which specifies the roles of the various role-players in supporting international students with disabilities during their pre-departure, study and return phases.
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Otu, Monica, and Zamambo Mkhize. "Understanding black African student attrition in the context of transformation in South African Higher Education institutions." Journal of African Foreign Affairs 5, no. 1 (2018): 149–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.31920/2056-5658/2018/v5n1a8.
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Trowler, Vicki, Robert Allan, and Rukhsana Din. "The Mystery of the Missing Men." Boyhood Studies 12, no. 2 (2019): 51–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/bhs.2019.120204.
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There is something of a moral panic about the relative paucity of men in higher education in many countries. Closer examination shows that it is often men from subordinate groups in their contexts, such as working-class men (in the UK context) or African men (in the South African context) who are most underrepresented. This article draws on research in Scotland, South Africa and England to examine the experiences of young men positioned as “nontraditional” in their localized HE contexts who do attend university. Our studies found their experience of “belong-ing” to be mediated by their underrepresentation, as well as constructions of masculinity at system/context or at individual/group level. Understanding the latter can help ameliorate the effects of the former.
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Majee, Upenyu S. "Beyond the Local–Global Binaries of Higher Education Internationalization in Post-apartheid South Africa." Journal of Studies in International Education 24, no. 1 (2019): 131–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1028315319889869.
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The article critiques the tendency in the field of international education to theorize internationalization around the impacts of and policy responses to globalization in local contexts. The central argument of the article is that South Africa’s history and development prospects are so intricately bound up with those of its neighbors in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region that it would be misleading for the country to be talked about in just national/local and global terms. To develop this argument on South Africa’s roles and situation in a regionally interconnected context, I draw on insights from an institutional ethnography of a top-rated, historically White South African public university. While local–global discourses were institutionalized nationally and institutionally through policies for transformation and internationalization, the conspicuous absence of formal institutional structures for regionalization shows the limitations of local–global or global north–south dichotomies in analyzing structures that operate both above and below the level of the nation-state.
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Awuzie, Bankole, and Fidelis Emuze. "Promoting sustainable development implementation in higher education." International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 18, no. 7 (2017): 1176–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijshe-09-2016-0167.
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Purpose This study aims to review the zeal exhibited by universities in South Africa towards aligning institutional mandates of teaching, learning, research and community engagement to the sustainable development (SD) agenda. The implementation of the SD agenda across higher education institutions (HEIs) continues to draw attention from the wider society. This is because HEIs are increasingly being looked up to for leadership in this regard. However, although several studies are quick to identify various factors which have driven the adoption of sustainable practices in HEIs, the paucity of studies seeking to identify the drivers for SD implementation remains glaring. This is particularly so in developing countries like South Africa. Design/methodology/approach To confirm the exploratory data from desktop study on public university engagement with sustainability in South Africa, a single case study was conducted in the Central University of Technology (CUT). The single case study design adopted semi-structured interviews and document reviews as data collection techniques. Purposive snowballing sampling technique was strictly adhered to in the selection of interviewees. Interviewees were selected on the basis of their roles in the implementation of the CUT’s sustainability agenda. Findings Data emanating from these interviews were analysed thematically using qualitative content analysis. Although a plethora of drivers were identified, there appeared to be a consensus between most of the interviewees that the quest for cost reduction remained the most significant driver for the viable implementation of the sustainability agenda at CUT. Research limitations/implications It is expected that findings from this study would provide a platform for the development of effective implementation strategies in South African HEIs. Also, the findings contribute to filing the extant gap observed concerning implementation and drivers for engendering SD implementation in HEIs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. Practical implications By highlighting the drivers for SD implementation, this study contributes to the development of a more receptive social ontology among various stakeholders in an HEI towards the agenda, particularly within the SSA context where there is low level of awareness and buy-in by these stakeholders. Originality/value This study makes an original contribution to the research base of SD in HEIs and implementation.
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Tandlich, Roman, Nosiphiwe P. Ngqwala, Aileen Boshoff, et al. "Challenges and Curriculum Transformation in the Higher Education Sector in South Africa: A Case Study in WASH to Improve the Training of Pharmacists." Acta Educationis Generalis 8, no. 1 (2018): 3–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/atd-2018-0001.
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AbstractIntroduction: South Africa is a member state of the “BRICS” bloc (BRICS2017.org, 2017) and the G20 group of the 20 nations/economic blocs, which between them account for the majority of the world’s trade and economic activity. It faces many developmental challenges which are mirrored in its higher education sector. In this article, the authors seek to provide an overview of the challenges that South African higher education faces in the achievement of the developmental goals of the country. The focus of this paper is a case study in WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) to improve context-specific responses that trains pharmacists on knowledge and skills.Methods: The study was performed as a combination of calculations and a literature review to obtain the background or current status of the higher education sector and developmental planning in South Africa. For this, data were extracted from the Statistics South Africa reports, relevant professional articles on South African higher education sector and results of postgraduate research. Workshop results which were obtained as a collaboration between a public and a private higher education institution and results of postgraduate research were used as the paradigm for transformation and decolonisation of the curriculum for a professional degree in South Africa.Results and discussion: Challenges exist in the South African tertiary education sector and the graduation rate currently stands at 65.1% of the target set by the National Development Plan. Around 58.1% of all students do not complete their university/post-secondary education, which could provide a partial explanation for the skills shortage in South Africa. Decolonisation and transformation of the tertiary education curriculum are major topics in the discourse on higher education in South Africa. The authors propose that one way to achieve this would be inclusion of research results and group activities in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene as a topic for possible and partial transformation of the Bachelor of Pharmacy curriculum.Conclusions: The current article summarises some of topics and challenges that drive the current discourse, developmental and curriculum debate in higher education in South Africa. Student access and through put at tertiary institutions need to be improved and the curriculum needs to be transformed.
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Liebenberg, Hanlie, Yuraisha Chetty, and Paul Prinsloo. "Student access to and skills in using technology in an open and distance learning context." International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning 13, no. 4 (2012): 250. http://dx.doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v13i4.1303.
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<p>Amidst the different challenges facing higher education, and particularly distance education (DE) and open distance learning (ODL), access to information and communication technology (ICT) and students’ abilities to use ICTs are highly contested issues in the South African higher education landscape. While there are various opinions about the scope and definition of the digital divide, increasing empirical evidence questions the uncritical use of the notion of the digital divide in South African and international higher education discourses.</p><p>In the context of the University of South Africa (Unisa) as a mega ODL institution, students’ access to technology and their functional competence are some of the critical issues to consider as Unisa prepares our graduates for an increasingly digital and networked world.</p><p>This paper discusses a descriptive study that investigated students’ access to technology and their capabilities in using technology, within the broader discourse of the “digital divide.” Results support literature that challenges a simplistic understanding of the notion of the “digital divide” and reveal that the nature of access is varied.</p>
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Simangaliso Kumalo, R. "Educating for Social Holiness in Institutions of Higher Education in Africa: Toward an Innovative Afrocentric Curriculum for Methodist Theological Education." Holiness 6, no. 1 (2020): 21–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/holiness-2020-0004.
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Abstract In 2016, South Africa saw student and staff protests calling for the decolonisation of the teaching curriculum in institutions of Higher Education. Although these protests were centred in public universities, the issue of decolonisation also affects private institutions such as seminaries that need to transform curricula from being permeated with Western idealism to being authentically African. This article explores this issue for Methodist theological education. It argues that decolonisation affects not only the content of the teaching curriculum but also matters such as staffing and curriculum development. Its focus is to develop ways of implementing an Afrocentric curriculum in African Methodist seminaries.
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le Roux, Elizabeth. "Publishing South African scholarship in the global academic community." Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science 69, no. 3 (2015): 301–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2015.0033.
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South Africa's academic publishing history has been profoundly influenced by its colonial heritage. This is reflected in the publication of Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society (later, the Royal Society of South Africa) from 1878. Although the Society and journal sought to promote original research about South Africa, it was modelled after the Royal Society in London and formed part of an imperial scientific community. As the local higher education institutions grew more independent and research-focused, local scholarly publishing developed as well, with university presses playing an increasingly important role. The University of South Africa (Unisa) Press started publishing departmental journals in the 1950s, with a focus on journals that ‘speak to the student’, and it is today the only South African university press with an active journals publishing programme. As external funding declined and the country became intellectually isolated in the high apartheid period, the Press managed to attract journals that could no longer be subsidized by learned societies and other universities. More recently, new co-publishing arrangements have brought South African journals back into an international intellectual community. Although some argue that this constitutes a re-colonization of South African knowledge production, it is also an innovative strategy for positioning local research in a global context.
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Janse van Rensburg, J. T., and Roelien Goede. "Promoting career awareness among IT students in a South African context." Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning 10, no. 3 (2020): 541–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/heswbl-09-2019-0110.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present an intervention strategy for promoting career awareness among IT students in a South African context, followed by a reflection thereof based on qualitative data collected from students. Career awareness during study has shown to be a factor in the work-readiness of IT graduates.Design/methodology/approachThe paper suggests an intervention strategy aimed at promoting IT students' career awareness. It provides context of the exit-level higher education (HE) module used to implement the intervention. Career awareness is achieved by industry talks, projects and events. Interpretive data collection and content analysis are used to understand the impact of the intervention from the students' perspective.FindingsRecommendations are made towards productive interventions for raising career awareness among IT students using industry participation in higher education. The proposed intervention comprises of a combination of industry talks, capstone projects and specific events. Students had largely positive reactions and made suggestions for additional interventions they would find beneficial. A hackathon attended proved the most influential where seven out of eight involved students received job offers from one company. Other students became aware of their own employability, limitations and preferred career paths.Originality/valueFindings provide confirmation on existing feasible approaches and also introduces new interventions that may be generalised to other fields of study. The paper not only provides an instructional design for a module to raise career awareness but also reflects on the feedback of the students. The reflection provided by students acts as a point of reference to ensure that the process followed for the intervention is practical within a South African context. The paper highlights the perceived benefits of involving industry in higher education to raise career awareness, factors that may prevent career awareness among IT students and valuable suggestions made by students to further enhance the intervention strategy. An implication of the research is a set of guidelines identified towards bridging the IT theory–practice gap. These guidelines can be used by many educators in similar environments to justify their interventions.
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Visagie, Retha G., and Jeanette Maritz. "Diversifying Business Coaching in a South African Higher Education Context to Facilitate Research Output." International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations: Annual Review 9, no. 3 (2009): 1–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.18848/1447-9532/cgp/v09i03/39737.
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Kamsteeg, Frans, and Harry Wels. "Breaking white silences in South African-Dutch collaboration in higher education." Journal of Organizational Ethnography 6, no. 1 (2017): 26–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/joe-01-2017-0001.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show the complex positionality and the complexity that comes with the study of whiteness in South African higher education by Dutch, white academics. This complexity stems from the long-standing relationship between Dutch universities, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA) in particular, with their South African counterparts, which predominantly supported apartheid with reference to a shared religious (Protestant) background. Design/methodology/approach The paper rests upon a literature review of the development of South African higher education, and an assessment of the prominent role played by the Dutch Vrije Universiteit in support of the all-white, Afrikaans Potchefstroom University (presently North-West University). The authors, who are both involved in the institutional cooperation between Vrije Universiteit and South African universities, reflect on the complexity of this relationship by providing auto-ethnographic evidence from their own (religious) biography. Findings The paper reflects the ambiguous historical as well as contemporary contexts and ties that bind Vrije Universiteit to South African universities, especially formerly Afrikaans-speaking ones. The ambiguity is about the comfort of sharing an identity with formerly Afrikaans-speaking universities, on the one hand, and the discomfort of historical and political complicities in a (still) segregated South African society on the other hand. Originality/value This auto-ethnographic paper breathes an atmosphere of a “coming out” that is not very common in academic writing. It is a reflection and testimony of a lifelong immersion in VUA-South African academic research relations in which historical, institutional, and personal contexts intermingle and lead to a unique positionality leading to “breaking silences” around these complex relations.
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Leibowitz, Brenda, Vivienne Bozalek, Susan van Schalkwyk, and Christine Winberg. "Institutional context matters: the professional development of academics as teachers in South African higher education." Higher Education 69, no. 2 (2014): 315–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9777-2.
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JANSEN, JONATHAN. "Mergers in South African higher education: theorising change in transitional contexts." Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 30, no. 1 (2003): 27–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02589340308046.
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Jansen, Jonathan. "Mergers in South African higher education: theorising change in transitional contexts." Politikon 30, no. 1 (2003): 27–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0258934032000073897.
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Mudzielwana, Ndileleni P., and Cosmas Maphosa. "The Influence of Context in the South African Higher Education System: A Social Realist Critique." Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology 4, no. 3 (2013): 175–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09766634.2013.11885594.
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Andrianatos, Kristien. "Implementation of a Multimodal Academic Literacy Resource at a South African University." International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning 13, no. 4 (2021): 83–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.2021100105.
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As a lecturer at a higher education institution in South Africa, the author is conscious of an emphasis placed on multimodal resources as part of the globally experienced shift to teach remotely due to the COVID-19 epidemic. In this autoethnographic study, she critically reflects on her experience in planning and executing the implementation of a custom-made multimodal resource called WIReD. WIReD is an acronym for writing, information literacy and reading development. She situates academic literacy and WIReD within the theoretical framework of multiliteracies, and thereafter provides background in terms of the study context and gives a brief description of WIReD. The methodology section includes the data used, a brief discussion on validity, reliability, and the reflexive process. The data analysis led to two broad categories of implementation inhibitors, namely inadequate resources and collaboration. These hindrances highlight broader issues with regard to institutional management, lecturers, and the needs of students in the South African higher education context.
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Stander, Sunelle. "Subordination vs. agency/resistance in South Africa: Virgins bargaining their way through higher education." STJ | Stellenbosch Theological Journal 2, no. 2 (2016): 431–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.17570/stj.2016.v2n2.a20.
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Oppression manifests itself in various ways, such that intersections between different forms of oppression can be identified. This is also true for women living in South Africa, a country that has for years been plagued by many forms of oppression (racism, sexism, classism, etc.). Women are, amidst various forms of oppression, often left with few alternative options but to bargain with various forms of gender relations as a means to obtain basic human rights (like education). Recent student protests have highlighted the discriminating ways in which black students are kept from obtaining higher education. The so called “maidens bursary”, awarded to underprivileged girls who vow to stay virgins throughout their studies, will be used as a case study that examines an alternative route to which underprivileged women may resort in order to obtain a quality education. The notion of patriarchal bargaining will then be used to illumine the often unrecognized, complex and interwoven relationship between subordination and agency/resistance that operates within the South African context.
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van der Bijl, Andre, and Adele Ebrahim. "Centres of Excellence in the Context of Further Education and Training in South Africa." Industry and Higher Education 26, no. 1 (2012): 53–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.5367/ihe.2012.0080.
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Since 1994 South African further education and training (FET) has undergone significant and fundamental changes. These changes include the transfer of colleges between state departments, curriculum revision, forced mergers and a shift in the student population. As a result of the growing interest in, and funding of, vocationally aligned education, education and training excellence models have permeated into the management portfolio of South Africa's FET. FET colleges (FETCs) have been faced with the emerging excellence discourses in the higher education and business sectors, as well as funding and accreditation linked motivators. How FETC managers have chosen to incorporate, or not to incorporate, centres of excellence (CoEs) into their organizational structures indicates both the difference in the application of CoE models to the sector compared with the higher education and business sectors and the way FETCs are managed in their volatile environment. This paper uses data initially gathered for a funded project aimed at identifying excellence indicators applicable to the FET sector, and a comparative content analysis of related publications and telephone interviews with senior staff responsible for innovation. The authors argue that higher education or business excellence models cannot be applied to the further education and training college environment; models need to be adapted to suit this specific type of environment.
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Ndlovu, Sibonokuhle. "Provision of Assistive Technology for Students with Disabilities in South African Higher Education." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 8 (2021): 3892. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18083892.
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This paper used the Critical Disability Theory (CDT) to analyse the provision of assistive technology (AT) and assistive devices at an institution of higher education in South African. In this empirical study, data were collected through interviews with students with disabilities and Disability Rights Centre staff members. The paper sought to explore the effectiveness of the provision of AT and assistive devices, in terms of enabling students with disabilities’ learning. The provision was deemed inadequate, and a specific AT and assistive device was inaccessible to one category of disability, consequently limiting learning. The paper concludes that the provision of assistive devices at the institution enabled students with disabilities’ learning, however, there was a need for improvement by way of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The UDL will help all diverse students, including students with disabilities in all their categories of disability, to be assisted to learn through the provision of AT and assistive devices. It is hoped that the paper will contribute to contemporary debates on the provision of AT and assistive devices for people with disabilities in low-resource settings, from a South African context specifically, and in higher education broadly.
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Seale, Oliver, Patrick Fish, and Birgit Schreiber. "Enabling and empowering women in leadership in South African universities – Assessing needs and designing a response." Management in Education 35, no. 3 (2021): 136–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0892020620981951.
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Gender equity and women’s access to senior leadership and management positions in universities are a major challenge not only in South Africa but on the African continent, too. For women to take up senior leadership roles more potently, it is essential that they not only cope with and compete in patriarchal systems but more so, are equipped to change patriarchal hegemony and shift the management discourse and culture to a pluralistic leadership culture where transformational leadership becomes the norm and praxis. This paper examines a needs analysis for leadership and professional development competencies of women in senior leadership positions in South African higher education and presents the discussion on these findings, based on the data collected from 74 participants. The conclusion reveals the participants’ enthusiasm for personal leadership development as well as their readiness for impacting their leadership contexts. These findings, in turn, shape the content development of the Women in Leadership programme, designed by Higher Education Leadership and Management under the auspices of Universities South Africa.
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Singh, R. J. "USE OF BLENDED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION – SOME EXPERIENCES." Progressio: South African Journal for Open and Distance Learning Practice 37, no. 1 (2015): 54–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/0256-8853/572.
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This article reports on the use of blended learning in higher education. Blended learning has become popular in higher education in recent years. It is a move beyond traditional lecturing to incorporate face-to-face learning with e-learning, thereby creating a blend of learning experiences. The problem is that learning in higher education is complex and learning situations differ across contexts. Whilst there is face-to-face contact at some institutions, others offer distance learning or correspondence learning. In each context, the mode of learning may differ. The challenge is to cater for various learning opportunities through a series of learning interactions and to incorporate a blended approach. The aim of this study was to examine various ways of defining blended learning in different contexts. This was done through an examination of experiences of the use of blended learning in different higher education contexts. The study presents a case of blended learning in a postgraduate course. The experiences from all these cases are summarised and conclusions and recommendations are made in the context of blended learning in higher education in South Africa.
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Perold-Bull, Karolien. "Becoming designer/researcher/teacher: Working towards decolonization of/through design in South African higher education." Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education 19, no. 2 (2020): 131–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/adch_00019_1.
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This article provides a new materialist perspective on design education within the context of decolonization in a South African higher education institution. It reflects on a specific case of design/research/teaching that transpired within the context of the Visual Communication Design curriculum at Stellenbosch University. A post-qualitative approach was followed; i.e. the researcher actively worked at resisting pre-conceived hierarchies and differences not just in thinking about the research, but also in its doing. The research demonstrated that decolonization requires relentless processes of collaborative resistance and that active commitment to new materialist praxis can positively contribute to individuals becoming more attuned to recognizing moments of transformation within their situated present. It was found that integrating creative play with representational media such as text and layout design within the research process facilitated this. The more transformative moments became visible and felt, the more ‘real’ decolonization seemed to become.
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Wolhuter, C. C., J. L. Van der Walt, and F. J. Potgieter. "THE CASE FOR AN ADAPTED COMMUNITY COLLEGE MODEL FOR SOUTH AFRICA TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM OF NEETS." Progressio: South African Journal for Open and Distance Learning Practice 37, no. 2 (2015): 115–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/0256-8853/596.
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A serious problem in South Africa is the existence of 2.8 million people we can refer to as NEETs. This term refers to youths between the ages of 18 and 24 years who are neither in employment nor in education or training in South Africa (Cloete and Butler-Adams 2012). This article argues for the institution of community colleges to fill the niche between colleges for further education and training and universities. This niche represents a model of higher education that has already internationally proven its value for steering NEETs into worthwhile careers. After a conceptual clarification of the term ‘Community College’ and an overview of its track record, it is argued that the South African context dictates for the model to be adapted in two ways. Firstly: a South African community college should fully utilise ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and offer education of a blended type. Secondly, as a result of this, the concept of ‘community’ needs to be redefined more broadly than has traditionally been the case with community colleges abroad.
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Francis, Suzanne, Janine Lewis, Brenton Fredericks, and Belinda Johnson. "Humanity, expectations, access and transformation (HEAT): revisiting South African higher education entrance assessment in a postcolonial context." Studies in Higher Education 45, no. 9 (2020): 1786–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1793928.
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NWOKEDI, PEACE GINIKA. "Thriving in the face of adversity: Mapping experiences of international students in a South African higher education institution." Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education 12, Spring (2020): 49–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v12ispring.1400.
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Despite the diverse experiences, knowledge, skills, values, potentials, and abilities that international students studying in South African universities possess, their voices still remain unheard or silent. Therefore, this article presents a qualitative case study research approach of twelve international students in their postgraduate and undergraduate level of study critical dialogue concerning their experiences and wellbeing in South Africa. Meanwhile, this study was conducted with the purpose of exploring international students’ experiences in a South African institution of higher learning. As a result of the photovoice method and the focus group, discussion method was utilised for the data generation method. In addition, the purposive and convenience sampling method was used to select a specific group of students and the research context. However, this study was framed using the Bandura agentic capability theory in order to explore and understand the international student experiences in a South African higher educational institution. The findings of the study indicate that international students’ experiences of their host environment were diverse and mostly constraining. They identified several elements within the meso, micro, macro environment that inhibited their learning, growth, and development which needs to be addressed. The study highlights that addressing these inhibiting elements will help to improve the international student’s wellbeing within their learning environment. This article also concludes that by enhancing international student’s wellbeing and addressing the challenges they are experiencing will help in promoting and providing an enabling learning environment to assist them learn better, attain and achieve their academic goals as well as develop holistically in their host environment.
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Maas, Gideon J. P., and Mike Herrington. "The Role of HEIs in an Entrepreneurial Renaissance in South Africa." Industry and Higher Education 25, no. 4 (2011): 225–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.5367/ihe.2011.0047.
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For decades, entrepreneurs have been identified as critical change agents in socio-economic development. It is probably safe to say that some countries have had more success than others in the promotion of entrepreneurship; and in that context it can be argued that South Africa's successes are not yet clear. The promotion of entrepreneurship through the involvement of higher education institutions (HEIs) is by no means an easy task, but they have an important role to play. Although South African HEIs are focusing on various elements of entrepreneurship promotion, there is no clear evidence of an integrated effort from HEIs to develop entrepreneurial skills and activity. The authors argue that without such an integrated effort entrepreneurship development in South Africa is likely to be constrained.
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Luckett, Kathy. "A ‘Quality Revolution’ Constrained? A Critical Reflection on Quality Assurance Methodology from the South African Higher Education Context." Quality in Higher Education 16, no. 1 (2010): 71–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538321003679556.
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Machimana, Eugene Gabriel, Maximus Monaheng Sefotho, and Liesel Ebersöhn. "What makes or breaks higher education community engagement in the South African rural school context: A multiple-partner perspective." Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 13, no. 2 (2017): 177–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1746197917731353.
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The purpose of this study is to inform global citizenship practice as a higher education agenda by comparing the retrospective experiences of a range of community engagement partners and including often silent voices of non-researcher partners. Higher education–community engagement aims to contribute to social justice as it constructs and transfers new knowledge from the perspectives of a wide range of community engagement partners. This qualitative secondary analysis study was framed theoretically by the transformative–emancipatory paradigm. Existing case data, generated on retrospective experiences of community engagement partners in a long-term community engagement partnership, were conveniently sampled to analyse and compare a range of community engagement experiences ( parents of student clients ( n = 12: females 10, males 2), teachers from the partner rural school ( n = 18: females 12, males 6), student-educational psychology clients ( n = 31: females 14, males 17), Academic Service-Learning ( ASL) students ( n = 20: females 17, males 3) and researchers ( n = 12: females 11, males 1). Following thematic in-case and cross-case analysis, it emerged that all higher education–community engagement partners experienced that socio-economic challenges (defined as rural school adversities, include financial, geographic and social challenges) are addressed when an higher education–community engagement partnership exists, but that particular operational challenges (communication barriers, time constraints, workload and unclear scope, inconsistent feedback, as well as conflicting expectations) hamper higher education–community engagement partnership. A significant insight from this study is that a range of community engagement partners experience similar challenges when a university and rural school partner. All community engagement partners experienced that higher education–community engagement is challenged by the structural disparity between the rural context and operational miscommunication.
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Gribanova, Valentina. "The Protest Actions of South African Youth in the Context of the Current Crisis of Higher Education." Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serija 4. Istorija. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija 23, no. 2 (2018): 177–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2018.2.15.
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Ojo, Emmanuel, Shirley Booth, and Laurie Woollacott. "Faculty’s conceptions of teaching introductory economics in higher education: A phenomenographic study in a South African context." International Review of Economics Education 30 (January 2019): 100134. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iree.2018.05.001.
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Callaghan, Chris. "Gender moderation of intrinsic research productivity antecedents in South African academia." Personnel Review 46, no. 3 (2017): 572–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/pr-04-2015-0088.
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Purpose Ascription theory together with human capital theory both predict that, over time, the scarcity of knowledge and skills in increasingly complex working contexts will “crowd out” the influence of arbitrary characteristics such as gender. The purpose of this paper is to test the extent to which job performance determinants of research productivity differ by gender in their contributions to research productivity, in the developing country (South Africa) context, in which gender and other forms of historical discrimination were previously endemic. Design/methodology/approach Research output was measured as published journal articles indexed by Thomson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information, ProQuest’s International Bibliography of the Social Sciences and the South African Department of Higher Education and Training, as well as conference proceedings publications, conference papers presented and published books and book chapters. Structural equation modelling, with critical ratio and χ2 tests of path moderation were used to test theory predicting gender (sex) differences moderate the potential influence of certain intrinsic determinants of job performance on research productivity, as a form of academic job performance. Findings Gender is found to moderate the relationship between experience and research productivity, with this relationship stronger for men, who are also found to have higher research output. This is considered a paradox of sorts, as English and African home languages, which proxy racial differences in societal and economic disadvantages and unequal opportunities, are not significantly associated with research output differences. Findings further suggest none of the tested intrinsic effects are moderated by gender, contesting theory from general work contexts. Research limitations/implications This research applied a cross-sectional design, and did not apply causal methods, instrumental variables or controls for endogeneity. Nevertheless, these are limitations shared with most research in the human resources field, which is constrained by the type of data available in organisational contexts. Further research might do well to investigate non-intrinsic influences on research productivity which may be vulnerable to differences in societal gender roles. Originality/value This research offers a novel perspective of research productivity and gender inequality in a developing country context of increasing diversity, which might offer useful insights into other contexts facing increasing diversity in higher education. The problem of gender-based inequality in research productivity is empirically identified, and little evidence is found to support the notion that intrinsic effects, including core self-evaluations, are at the heart of this problem. Arguably, these findings reduce the problem space around gender inequality in research productivity, in a context in which other forms of disadvantage might no longer manifest in research productivity inequality.
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Rudwick, Stephanie. "Compulsory African language learning at a South African university." Language Problems and Language Planning 41, no. 2 (2017): 115–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lplp.41.2.03rud.
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Abstract While many universities in the world are making provisions to include the English language in their institutional structure, the South African University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is opposing the hegemony of English in its institution. The University has launched a language policy and planning (LPP) strategy that makes provisions first to incorporate the vernacular language Zulu as language of learning and teaching, and second, to promote it as a subject. In this vein, the institution recently made an unprecedented decision for the South African higher education system. Since the first semester of 2014, a specific Zulu language module is a mandatory subject for undergraduate students who have no proficiency in the language. Although considered a watershed moment among many African language promoters, the mandatory ruling is fiercely discussed and debated in the institution and beyond. Theoretically grounded in Language Management Theory (LMT) and empirically based on semi-ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the interplay between macro and micro language dynamics at UKZN in the context of the mandatory Zulu module. In juxtaposing interview discourses of language policy stakeholders with those of Zulu lecturers, the study reveals a stark discrepancy between macro and micro language management at this university. The article argues that this mismatch between the language policy intents and actual practices on the ground is symptomatic for South Africa’s language policy in education being shaped more by ideological interests than by pedagogical regards.
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Jooste, Karien, Jose Frantz, and Firdouza Waggie. "Challenges of academic healthcare leaders in a higher education context in South Africa." Educational Management Administration & Leadership 46, no. 4 (2017): 692–708. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1741143216688468.
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Universities are in a highly competitive environment, needing strong academic leadership. Some heads of departments have been appointed into leadership positions in a healthcare faculty after having been mere academics for a few years. They are more likely to experience challenges. This study aimed to explore the views and understanding of heads of departments in a healthcare faculty on being appointed as academic leaders in a higher education context in South Africa. A qualitative design using 12 individual unstructured interviews was conducted with all the heads of departments in a health sciences faculty. Open coding was conducted and two themes emerged, focusing on the varied skills needed for academic leadership positions and developing leadership skills amongst senior academics. The findings indicated that development of senior academics in leadership should be undertaken by a knowledgeable professional in formal or informal settings, to encourage mentorship and more regular group meetings, while addressing the core role of a leader. Implications of these findings for a faculty of health sciences and suggestions for leadership succession in future are discussed.
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du Plessis, André. "RETHINKING TRADITIONAL SCIENCE TEACHING THROUGH INFUSING ICT LEARNING EMBEDDED BY A ‘LEARNING-AS-DESIGN’ APPROACH." Journal of Baltic Science Education 14, no. 1 (2015): 4–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.33225/jbse/15.14.04.
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The South African Department of Basic Education (DoBE) has been promoting constructivist learning principles, the development of higher order thinking, the implementation of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) (Department of Education, 2004; Du Plessis, 2014) and the development of critical outcomes such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, self-management, finding and analysing information, developing effective communicating skills, assisting learners to use science and technology effectively as well as promoting effective learning strategies (Department of Education, 2004). The use of ICTs to promote teaching and learning has also been high on the agenda of the DoBE (2004; 2007). However, it appears that the use of ICT within South African schools is ‘bolted-on’ on to the curriculum as an added extra, resulting that integration with school subjects is minimal (Du Plessis, 2010). The above is probably prevalent outside the South African context too in many other schools all over the globe.
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Maphalala, Mncedisi Christian, and Olufemi Timothy Adigun. "Academics’ Experience of Implementing E-Learning in a South African Higher Education Institution." International Journal of Higher Education 10, no. 1 (2020): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v10n1p1.
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This study sought to explore the experiences of academics with the use of e-learning to support teaching and learning at a South African university. The theory underpinning the study was the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). The study adopted a qualitative design using ten purposively selected academic staff and one IT specialist at a South African university. Semi-structured interview was used to gather the data that were used to answer the research questions. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The following themes resulted from the analysis: technical support and training for e-learning; Information Communication Technology infrastructure and internet accessibility; uptake of e-learning and the use of the Learning Management System; content development for e-learning; and evaluation of teaching effectiveness using e-learning. Based on the findings, periodic updates and training on the new changes should be made to the university’s e-learning platforms, provision of timely technical support to academics in order to sustain positive user experiences of e-learning were recommended.
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Matarirano, Obert, Nobert Rangarirai Jere, Hlanganani Siqondile Sibanda, and Manoj Panicker. "Antecedents of Blackboard Adoption by Lecturers at a South African Higher Education Institution – Extending GETAMEL." International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) 16, no. 01 (2021): 60. http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v16i01.16821.
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Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become central to the teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The aim of this paper was to test the constructs of the General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for e-Learning (GETAMEL) and some selected constructs from the other Technology Acceptance Models (TAM) on adoption and use of Black-board LMS by lecturers at a selected university in South Africa. A cross sec-tional electronic survey was carried out to obtain data from 101 lecturers, who were conveniently sampled to express their perceptions on BLMS. Structural equation modelling, utilising SmartPLS3, was used to analyse the collected data. The results confirmed that behavioural intention (BI) influ-enced actual use whilst BI in turn was influenced by perceived usefulness (PU) and subjective norm (SN). Attitude was influenced by PU but had no significant effect on BI. The external factors that influenced perceived ease of use (PEOU) included perceived enjoyment (ENJOY), system self-efficacy (SE), and system anxiety (ANX) whilst PU was influenced by job relevance (JR) and PEOU. University management at the HEI under study should con-sider the determinants of SE, ENJOY and ANX if they need effective utilisation of Blackboard by the lecturers. The study findings imply that a LMS that is adopted and used is one that is considered useful, otherwise users will be reluctant to use it. The findings can assist HEIs in preparing their lecturers before implementation of any e-learning systems, such as training and technical support, thus, enhancing LMS adoption and utilisation. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on antecedents of LMS adoption and use. In addition, it establishes the applicability of GETAMEL in a South African university context.
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Roets, L., and J. C. Lubbe. "SCHOLARSHIP OF DISCOVERY: ENHANCING A RESEARCH CULTURE IN NURSING COLLEGES." Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery 16, no. 1 (2016): 3–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/2520-5293/1483.
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The scholarship of nursing depends on the research culture in institutions. Not all higher education institutions globally expect from diploma prepared nurses to be research trained, but it is expected in the South African and African context. Globalisation and the migration of degree and diploma prepared nurses, should sensitize the global nursing community about the challenges faced when nursing colleges or learning centres, offering diploma programmes, become part of the higher education sphere and need to contribute to the scholarship of discovery. This article reports on strategies that could be implemented in higher education institutions, such as colleges, to enhance the research culture. A qualitative research design was used and data gathered through a nominal group technique with 12 students from different institutions as well as reflection reports from five nurse educators involved in research training and supervision. Participants indicated that the most important aspect that needed to be addressed in nursing education was improved research knowledge for students, nurse educators and research supervisors. Institutions where nurse educators do not have master’s degrees should implement strategies to support students and educators in enhancing their research capacities and skills in order to improve the institution’s research culture. University nursing schools, which have research mentors, should become role models/mentors to support enhancing a research culture in nursing colleges in South Africa and Africa.
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du Plessis, Theodorus. "The role of Language Planning Agencies in higher education in South Africa - comparing two cases." Sociolinguistica 34, no. 1 (2020): 173–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/soci-2020-0011.
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AbstractThe question about the role of Language Planning Agencies (LPAs) in higher education is very relevant within the South African context. A range of policy provisions regarding language in higher education are characterised by the use of language policy and planning (LPP) jargon found in the Framework for Language Planning Goals, pointing to the need for a range of LPAs to be involved in this language domain. Since such involvement has been documented in the case of the institutionalisation of Afrikaans as alternative language of higher education during the period 1910-1961, it provides the basis for a comparison with post-1994 initiatives regarding the elevation of the Sintu languages and the extension of their use in this language domain. Such comparison is undertaken on the basis of a Typology of LPAs that is developed from earlier insights that evolved during the International Research Project on Language Planning Processes at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s, essentially distinguishing between LPAs involved in regulatory, productive and promotional language planning functions. Evidence on the work of LPAs involved during the two periods is collected from secondary sources documenting the cases and analysed in terms of this typology. The results of the study provide insights into the role of LPAs in each case and in their relative effectiveness in aiding the institutionalisation of the designated languages. The article concludes by suggesting the “ideal” LPA mix for the realisation of LPP goals in higher education in South Africa.
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Bell, Diane, and Estelle Swart. "Learning Experiences of Students Who Are Hard of Hearing in Higher Education: Case Study of a South African University." Social Inclusion 6, no. 4 (2018): 137–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/si.v6i4.1643.
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Students who are hard of hearing (HOH) are being granted access to university increasingly, yet they remain significantly under-represented and under-supported, often resulting in poor academic outcomes with elevated levels of attrition. This situation places a growing obligation on universities to improve the support provided to these students in order to have a positive influence on their overall academic experience and eventual economic independence. This trend is relevant to South Africa, where Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are accepting and registering students with a hearing loss but are not providing adequate academic support and inclusive curricula. Furthermore, in South Africa, almost no research has been conducted concerning students who are HOH in higher education regarding their teaching and learning needs or the coping strategies which they use to survive academically. However, what is known is that, of those HOH students who do enter higher education, many do not graduate successfully (up to 75%) and, of those that do graduate, many continue to be excluded from professions. The aims of this article were to report on the teaching and learning experiences of students who are HOH at a South African university, who prefer to make use of spoken language, to share the daily barriers with which they are faced, and to provide recommendations for teaching and learning, as well as curricula transformation. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on this topic in South Africa and could be relevant in similar contexts.
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Ramnund-Mansingh, Aradhana, and Nikita Reddy. "South African specific complexities in aligning graduate attributes to employability." Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability 12, no. 2 (2021): 206–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.21153/jtlge2021vol12no2art1025.
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South African higher education (HE) cannot be compared to any other country’s HE systems due to the unique political landscape and structural narrative that it has undergone. Subsequent to the reorganisation of HEIs in 2004, a number of complexities arose. These included accessibility to education across race and the alignment of the South African HEIs to global pedagogic benchmarks. With the changing political landscape, transformations within higher education, socio economic inequities and changes in the workplace, researchers failed to cognize the impact of these factors on graduate employability. Changing graduate attributes to align with a decolonised curriculum and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) workspaces were transiently underway when COVID-19 set a new narrative for the future of employability. This paper seeks to identify the impact of workplace changes and its direct influence on successful graduate employment and integration into the HE curriculum. The work environment has cursorily moved from 4IR to an advanced stage of the 4IR, where there is a full emphasis on digitisation, non-localised workspaces and is an ostensible playground for digital natives (Generation Z). This paper provides a systematic review of literature in the South African HE contexts that pertains to graduate attributes for employability within the workplace. The adoption of malleable secondary data will allow for an understanding of the relationship between changing workplace environments and expectations from graduates. This correlation is directly linked to graduate attributes which students need to comply with from year one. The paper will provide context to changes which are required for the future success of graduates, and whether graduate attributes are adequate preparation for employability. A clinical model is recommended with an intervention to manage the risk factors of decolonisation of curriculum, the 4IR and multi-generational workplace and responses to COVID-19.