Case Of South African University Research Articles

The Drivers of Innovation at Universities: A Case of South African Universities

Purpose: The study is aimed to contribute to an understanding of the drivers of innovation that lead to practical solutions at South African Universities. Theoretical Framework: This article borrows from both Institutional Theory and organizational Theory’s perspectives on innovation. Those theories are crucial in exploring the views of employees and leaders on what they deemed to be drivers of innovation at their respective universities with the view to suggest a sustainable conceptual model for public universities’ innovativeness. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed method approach was adopted, entailing an online survey and semi-structured interviews, to explore innovation from both an employee's and senior leaders' perspective. The population for the study included employees from two Universities, and random sampling and purposive sampling were applied respectively, for the survey and semi-structured interviews. Survey data were analysed using SPSS and semi-structured interviews data were analysed using Nvivo 12. Results: Several drivers for innovation were found, including the need to respond to societal challenges, the drive for collaborative knowledge exchange, global rankings, individual employee drive, a nurturing environment, leadership, students, and government. Research, Practical & Social implications: Careful reflections must be entered into by all relevant internal and external stakeholders (see figure 1) so that Universities can define the scope of innovation they wish to pursue based on their resources and contexts since Universities differ. Originality/value: The original contribution to knowledge of this study lies in the suggested conceptual model for South African universities as they position themselves to innovatively address local and global socio-economic challenges.

The Integrity of Names and Name Changing (Renaming) In Post-Apartheid South Africa: A case of South African Universities

The Integrity of Names and Name Changing (Renaming) In Post-Apartheid South Africa: A case of South African Universities

Learning foreign and indigenous languages: The case of South African universities

Learning a language through another language is trivialto any type of language learning, whether it is the learning of a local or a foreign language. South Africa’s language policy for higher education recommends the study of foreign languages (FLs) and indigenous languages.A decade after its adoption, the learning of a foreign or indigenous language in that foreign or that indigenous language, respectively, at universities has been overlooked. In essence, the learning of foreign languages at the country’s universities dates back to the 19th century, when the first higher education institution,the South African College was established. At that College a Department of General Literature that offered Dutch, English, Latin and Ancient languages was established. English and Dutch teachers provided instruction in the English and Dutch language, respectively. The instructions involved theory, history and practice of English grammar and literature or Dutch grammar and literature. The learning of indigenous languages at the country’s universities began in the 20th century under the departments of Bantu Studies. They were learnt through English, and then later through English andAfrikaans. The instructions involved theory, history and practice of English grammar and literature. The aim of this study is to gain knowledge on the different approaches that may be used to learn a foreign language and an indigenous language. The study focuses on the complex challenges facing the country’s universities to adopt new, different and best models for the teaching of foreign and indigenous languages after many decades of using English and Afrikaans mediums. A case study method is used for this study. The emphasis is on the learning of foreign versus indigenous languages in South African universities (SAUs). The paper consists of an introduction, the theory of Grammar Translation Method (GTM), a case study on the learning of foreign versus South African indigenous languages (SAILs) at the SAUs, and a conclusion. Keywords: foreign language, indigenous language, learning, English, Afrikaans

Managing the Link between Academic Development and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: The Case of South African Universities

Managing the Link between Academic Development and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: The Case of South African Universities

Mathematics Students’ Perception about Professional Development Programmes (PDPs): Case of South African University

This stu dy investiga ted the perception of ca ndidate mathema tics teachers a bou t Professional Development Programmes (PDPs). A questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha of 0.87 was used. Simple random sampling was employed to collect data from 182 undergraduate Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) University students. Due to the research questions, the researcher employed two types of data analyses thus; (1) partial correlation and analysis of variance (ANOVA) and (2) factor analysis. The analysis wa s conducted to explore the relationship between two variables, while statistically controlling for (getting rid of) the effect of another variable that might be influencing the relationship. With respect to the current study, partial correlation was carried out to explore the correlation effect after controlling for respondents' tendency to present themselves in a positive light on PDPs. Further analysis using ANOVA was employed to conduct statistical significance. Factor analysis identified set of factors/structures that represented the underlying relationships among a group of related variables. The findings of factor analysis revealed three factors/structures for the emerged measures of PDPs thus: (1) support from mathematics administrators (2) period of time of PDPs and (3) concerns identified by mathematics teachers themselves .The results also indicated significa nt inter- correlations among variables especially three measures of PDPs.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences of Teaching Practice: Case of South African University

The current study examined faculty of education students' experiences of the quality of teaching practice. The intent was to determine how to equip prospective teachers to ef fectively cope with feelings and common problems they faced during teaching practice. A qualitative research design was adopted using a case study . Semi-structured interview schedule was administered, while content analysis was used for analysing the data. The sample included forty- three pre- service teachers in a South African university. The data revealed that education pre-service teachers need to pay attention to (1) flexibility in time of course participation, (2) flexibility in content in the course, (3) flexibility in instructional approaches and learning materials, and lastly (4) flexibility in course delivery and logistics.