Assessing Graduateness in Higher Education Islamic Tertiary Institutions in South Africa: Towards a Pedagogical Contextual Approach

Abstract

This study aims to examine the concept of graduateness in tertiary Islamic institutions and its essential integration into the curriculum of Islamic higher education. The study sheds light on the connections between program content, teaching methodologies, and the cultivation of graduateness in the context of Islamic education at the International Peace College South Africa (IPSA), emphasizing the curriculum’s role in enhancing values and ethics alongside employability preparedness. The study investigates the BA program at IPSA over three years (2020-2023). Employing the frameworks of Coetzee’s categorization of Graduate Attributes, Biggs’ Constructive Alignment, and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), the analysis explores attitudes toward curriculum content, teaching, and learning through the lens of graduateness development. Results from the questionnaire revealed a statistically significant difference in the development of graduate attributes at IPSA, influenced notably by thematic content (p = 0.0018). In addition, there was a strong correlation between students’ and lecturers’ perceptions (r = 0.900, p < 0.0001), indicating effective alignment in the understanding of educational goals.