African Higher Education Landscape Research Articles

A Pilot Study of Brand Loyalty in Generation Y of Technical and Vocational Education Training Colleges

Objective - In an increasingly changing and dynamic South African higher education landscape, institutions must communicate their brand to stakeholders to perceive the institution as offering quality services,to have a loyal stakeholder. However, thereseemsto be little attention devoted to the influence of brand communication, brand satisfaction and service quality on brand loyalty in higher education, particularly in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector. Considering this view, and noting that prior research on brand loyalty in the service sector has shown a connection between brand communication, service quality, brand satisfaction and brand loyalty, it is unknown if a similar correlation is found in the South African TVET sector. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate Generation Y students' views of brand communication, brand satisfaction and service quality in the TVET sector throughout the Gauteng Province of South Africa.As a result, this paper summarises the findings of a pilot study to establish the validity and reliability of a questionnaire used to examine Generation Y students' perceptions of brand communication, brand satisfaction and service quality related to brand loyalty in Gauteng TVET colleges. Methodology/Technique - The variables for the paper were derived from previously established questionnaires. A section of the questionnaire asked students about their views of a TVET's brand communication. Additionally, there were questions concerning the quality of service, brand selection and brand loyalty. Finally, all scale items were modified to be more contextually relevant.The questionnaire used a six-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating strong disagreement and 6 indicating strong agreement. The questionnaire was piloted with a convenience sample of 50 students not included in the primary study's sampling frame. Finding - The overall number of respondents (46) was insufficient to undertake extensive statistical testing. As a result, only frequency and correlation coefficients were computed. Correlation analysis revealed a substantial association between brand loyalty and the variables that influence it. All had a strong association between brand loyalty and brand communication, service quality and brand loyalty and satisfaction. Additionally, there were substantial correlationsbetween service quality and brand satisfaction and between service quality and brand communication. Correlation coefficients between constructs ranged from 0.294 to 0.781. This demonstrates that these constructs do not correspond to the same concept. As a result, all construct items were kept for use in the main study. Novelty - The results from the pilot study provides preliminary support for the hypothesised relationship between brand loyalty and its predictors. Marketers and service organisations need to recognise that the future patronage of a service organisation depends on loyalty. Type of Paper - Empirical Keywords: Brand Communication; Service Quality; Brand Satisfaction; Brand Loyalty; Technical and Vocational Training JEL Classification: M31, I23, I29

The Role of Contexts in the Construction of Academic Identity in Selected South African Universities

Using qualitative interviews and document analysis, that is, national and institutional policies, the study is embedded on the assumption that the purpose of the academic career is knowledge creation, dissemination, and the acquisition and promotion of high-level skills that contribute to scholarship and the support of the economy of knowledge. This implies that academics create knowledge in pursuit of the academic career to develop scholarship. Given the identity-subjectivity-agency theory, the study set out to examine the global and local contexts or dynamics that affect the academic career in constructing academic identity and how they apply to the South African higher education landscape. We argue that the legacy of apartheid affected academic careers differently as higher education institutions were divided, separated, and segregated along racial lines with different purposes. They shaped the roles of academics in different ways, with some enjoying academic freedom and autonomy while some are operating as public servants. Moreover, university academic staff should be encouraged and enabled to advance knowledge. Thus, the study recognizes the need for high-level skills and knowledge creation, which require greater attention to the nature of academic careers.

Predictors Of Brand Loyalty With Technical And Vocational Education Training Colleges İn Gauteng: Results Of A Pilot Study

According to Akoojee and McGrath (2008:132), TVET colleges are required to build institutions that are attuned better to satisfy the needs of the stakeholders through their brand. Very few TVET colleges have attracted stakeholders without proper brand communication and service quality (Beneke & Human 2010: 437). In most TVET colleges, very little is done to communicate the brand to stakeholders, which may be a direct result of the lack of proper brand communication and service quality (Azoury, Daou & El Khoury 2013:5). In an increasingly changing and dynamic South African higher education landscape, it is imperative for institutions to communicate their brands to stakeholders in such a way that these stakeholders perceive the institution as offering quality service in order to have a satisfied stakeholder who is loyal to the institution. However, there appears to be little attention paid to effects of brand communication, service quality and brand satisfaction on brand loyalty in the tertiary education sector, especially in the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) sector. This study was conducted in Nigeria. In light of this view, and given previous research on brand loyalty in service industries identifying a relationship between brand communication, service quality, brand satisfaction and brand loyalty, it is unclear whether such relationships exist in the South African TVET sector. Therefore, there is a need to examine Generation Y students' perceptions of brand communication, service quality and brand satisfaction on brand loyalty in TVET colleges in Gauteng. Consequently, this research study reports on the findings from a pilot study conducted to determine the legitimacy and reliability of the measuring instrument being employed to examine Generation Y students' perceptions of brand communication, service quality and brand satisfaction on brand loyalty in TVET colleges in Gauteng. Keywords: Brand Loyalty, Brand Communication, Service Quality, Brand Satisfaction

Quality Assurance of Higher Education Governance and Management: An Exploration of the Minimum Imperative for the Envisioned African Common Higher Education Space

In 2018, as part of the African higher education harmonisation drive, the African Union Commission (AUC) issued the African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ASG-QA). Within the ASG-QA, the AUC commits to promoting good governance and management in higher education institutions and provides governance and management as the second standard. However, there is a dearth of knowledge about the governance and management architecture for higher education institutions in the African higher education landscape that is either implicit or explicit in the ASG-QA. Against the above backdrop—using the ASG-QA as a source of data and content analysis as a data analysis method—the paper examines the governance and management imperative for higher education institutions in the African higher education landscape from the perspective of the AUC. Six themes relating to Africa’s higher education governance and management landscape emerged from the data: the role of the state (or government) in higher education, the internal governance framework, focus on quality and quality enhancement, observance of values of higher education, adherence to the principles of good governance, and capable leadership. The findings suggest that the governance and management architecture under the ASG-QA leans more towards providing common standards for quality assessment of governance and management than creating an identical national higher education governance and management ecosystem across Africa.

Humanity, expectations, access and transformation (HEAT): revisiting South African higher education entrance assessment in a postcolonial context

ABSTRACT Entrance assessment and standardized testing is a feature of the South African higher education landscape, with many universities using assessment and testing as benchmarking, placement or, in some instances, gatekeeping exercises. Entrance assessment practices seek to inform universities about the capabilities of students. In this paper we examine current entrance assessment paradigms and practices through our frame of humanity, expectations, access and transformation (HEAT) embedded in a broader lens of postcolonialism. We claim that current practices do not lay a foundation for meeting the larger goals of higher education – they do not transform human relationships, ignore ways of being in the world, fail to sufficiently embed learning-centred teaching, nor promote metacognitive development, self-efficacy, resilience or lead to transformation. In so doing, we contribute a new way of thinking about the transformation of higher education today and the way in which diagnostic assessment could be re-visited to meet broader goals.

Capacity-building projects in African higher education

This article studies issues of coloniality in so-called capacity-building projects between universities in Africa and Scandinavia. Even fifty years after independence, the African higher education landscape is a product of the colonial powers and subsequent uneven power relations, as argued by a number of researchers. The uneven geography and power of knowledge exist also between countries that were not in a direct colonial relationship, which the word coloniality implies. Based on interviews with stakeholders and on our own experiences of capacity-building projects, this article examines how such projects affect teaching, learning, curriculum, research methodology and issues of quality enhancement. We analyse the dilemmas and paradoxes involved in this type of international collaboration and conclude by offering ways to decolonise capacity-building projects.

The differential predictive validity of a test of academic literacy for students from different English language school backgrounds

In the past decade, testing for academic readiness has become common practice across the South African higher education landscape. The aim of this assessment is to identify students who might not be ready for academic education and to put support programmes in place to help bridge this gap. Given the implied contribution that these programmes are expected to make towards higher graduation rates, it is important that the tests used for identifying those who need the support are valid for all students regardless of background. The aim of this study was to investigate the differential predictive validity of a test of academic literacy for two groups of students; those who took English at Home Language level and those who took it as First Additional Language at school. A regression analysis of a total of 564 scores obtained by the two groups on the Test of Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) as a predictor of their end of first-year average scores was carried out to determine this. The results show that although the Home Language group performed better than their counterpart on the test on average, the test predicted the outcome variable marginally better for the First Additional Language group than it did for their counterpart. This difference was too negligible, however, for one to conclude that the test was predictively biased against any of the two groups.

Decolonising Universities in South Africa: Rigged Spaces?

This article provides a broad overview of the necessity for and challenges of decolonising universities in South Africa. It situates the student protests for the decolonisation of knowledge within the debates on the African Higher Education landscape, the ideology of Pan-Africanism, and calls for an African Renaissance. The article highlights the context in which the Fallist Movement emerged in South Africa and the demands it articulated. This article questions whether or not the decolonisation of knowledge, and the broader university system, can truly materialise, given the inherent nature and functioning of these institutions and the current practices of decolonising universities. The article argues that to date the decolonisation of universities has largely been ad-hoc, performative, and technical, rather than the sustainable and substantive transformative processes that should be at the heart of any decolonisation project. Furthermore, the article asserts that the universities that we are trying to decolonise are rigged spaces as they have been fashioned in the image of western universities and align with their norms, values, and epistemologies. To break this foundational epistemological and cultural bedrock requires a complete overhaul of the structure, ideology, and functioning of the universities. Without major shifts in the power relations, orientation and forms of knowledge production at these universities, there can be no decolonisation.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE CHOICE OF PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS BY STUDENTS

Private higher education institutions (PHEIs) are important role players in the South African higher education landscape. Unlike their public counterparts, PHEIs receive no financial support from the government. These organisations are thus reliant on sound strategic management principles to ensure their long-term survival in a competitive industry. Modern marketing philosophy suggests that the consumer and the satisfaction of his or her needs should be the reason for the existence of any organisation and it should thus be the main driver for strategic decisions. This warrants the need for PHEIs to gain a thorough understanding of their clients (students) needs and behaviour. Very little research exists on the needs and behaviour of students registered at PHEIs in South Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the relative importance of various factors that influence students in their choice of a PHEI. In addition to an extensive literature study of the higher education landscape and its peculiarities, as well as student choice behaviour, a quantitative survey was conducted on 600 full-time students at three different PHEIs. It was found that, in contrast to numerous other studies, safety and security conditions constituted the most important choice factor amongst the respondents at the three PHEIs. Comparable to numerous international and local student choice studies, academic reputation and reasonable class fees were consistently identified as being very important choice factors. These findings should alert PHEIs to the important factors that should be considered in planning student offerings. This study contributes to existing student choice theory, and may serve as a launching pad for future student choice studies at PHEIs

Current Trends, Challenges and Prospects of Student Mobility in the African Higher Education Landscape

Since the 1990s, the development in the international dimension of higher education including student/scholar mobility, regional and international research networks and initiatives have brought new opportunities for African higher education to be incorporated in the global knowledge production and circulation processes. One of the instruments of internationalization process that facilitates international knowledge flows in the knowledge society is academic mobility. This research will touch upon the major issues related to student mobility in Africa since the 1990s addressing pressing issues like; what is the current trend of both intra and inter African student and staff mobility in higher education in the region? How do the continental initiatives already in place to promote student and academic mobility work? What are the challenges and prospects of academic mobility in Africa? Recent developments in the area have also been described through quantitative and qualitative data generated from primary and secondary sources.

Towards a 21st century university: Teachings from consumer behaviour applicable to higher education

The South African Higher Education landscape has changed dramatically over the last 25 years. The purpose of this conceptual article is to challenge higher education institutions to learn/draw from a wider spectrum of knowledge domains in their quest toward a 21st century university. The author argues that the rich body of theoretical knowledge which is contained in the domain of consumer psychology can contribute generously to the understanding of the behaviour of a principle stakeholder, namely the student. Four teachings include, firstly, develop and manage your corporate and brand image, secondly, determine the valence of decision-making criteria and market accordingly; thirdly, research your consumer target market and finally attend to consumer needs. Five challenges are presented to higher education institutions (specifically universities) in South Africa and recommendations for future research are made.

Deliberate strategy and the tangible link to performance: Lessons from South African higher education

The notion of deliberate versus emergent strategy has long been debated. However, researchers have failed to show which method will bring about an increase in organisational performance, which is the bottom line for business organizations. The study proposes that higher education institutions (HEIs) can be regarded as businesses, and thus, also have to be concerned about their performance within competitive environments. Using a quantitative methodology, we set out to explore the environments in four public HEIs in South Africa and sought information on their use of deliberate strategy. The study then compared their use of strategy with their performance (determined by their research outputs – an inarguable measure of performance in the current South African higher education landscape). The paper further compared two types of HEIs in South Africa, namely traditional universities and universities of technology. Statistical significance testing was done to determine mean differences between the various groups. The paper found that with regard to deliberate strategic management processes deployed, there were no significant differences between the types of institution. However, a significant finding was that more deliberate use of strategic management was likely to result in higher research outputs in HEIs. The article concludes with recommendations to policy makers regarding their strategic management directives. Key words: Deliberate, emergent strategy, performance, higher education institutions.

Mergers And Change Management At The Micro Level: A Case Study

The transformation of the South African higher education landscape resulted in, among other things, the merger of three distance education institutions: Unisa, VUDEC and TSA. The macro level of the merger will no doubt be studied in detail. This article explores a micro level process for two departments merged by a top-down decision that did not take cognisance of their dissimilar functions and structures. The result was both a merger and a demerging process. The two departments first had to confront the realities of their different functions and structures before a reconfiguration could occur, including the emergence of a strategic plan focusing on aspects such as specific contribution, drivers, objectives and structure. The change management principles adopted to ensure the success of the process are outlined, analysed and reflected upon.