Higher Education In South Africa Research Articles

Proportional reasoning ability of school leavers aspiring to higher education in South Africa

The ability to reason about numbers in relative terms is essential for quantitative literacy, which is necessary for studying academic disciplines and for critical citizenship. However, the ability to reason with proportions is known to be difficult to learn and to take a long time to develop. To determine how well higher education applicants can reason with proportions, questions requiring proportional reasoning were included in one version of the National Benchmark Test as unscored items. This version of the National Benchmark Test was taken in June 2014 by 5 444 learners countrywide who were intending to apply to higher education institutions. The multiple choice questions varied in terms of the structure of the problem, the context in which they were situated and complexity of the numbers, but all involved only positive whole numbers. The percentage of candidates who answered any particular question correctly varied from 25% to 82%. Problem context and structure affected the performance, as expected. In addition, problems in which the answer was presented as a mathematical expression, or as a sentence in which the reasoning about the relative sizes of fractions was explained, were generally found to be the most difficult. The performance on those questions in which the answer was a number or a category (chosen as a result of reasoning about the relative sizes of fractions) was better. These results indicate that in learning about ratio and proportion there should be a focus on reasoning in various contexts and not only on calculating answers algorithmically.

Theology and higher education: The place of a Faculty of Theology at a South African university

In 2017, the Faculty of Theology celebrates its centenary at the University of Pretoria. Celebrating a centennial is as much as looking back as looking forward. In a changing world with changing paradigms how does one remain relevant? Different challenges and expectations presented to tertiary institutions of education in a new dispensation puts all concerned with higher education in South Africa under pressure. The question addressed in this article is how will a Faculty of Theology (in this case at the University of Pretoria) remain relevant to such an extent that it is continued to be viewed as desirable to have such a faculty present at a university, participating in the academic process and simultaneously continues to contribute to the well-being of the South African society. The author suggests the following guidelines for consideration. In order to remain relevant for the next couple of hundred years the Faculty of Theology should engage contextually with society, practise interdisciplinary Theology, engage in interreligious dialogue while still remaining connected to faith communities. A paradigm of post-foundationalism enables Theology to exercise Theology in a relevant and meaningful manner.

Schooling inequality, higher education and the labour market: Evidence from a graduate tracer study in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

ABSTRACTAn emerging body of research has shown that there are large inequalities in access to higher education in South Africa. There remains a gap, however, in identifying how factors such as schooling background, academic performance, race and gender are linked with key higher education outcomes. In particular, the significance of these factors for first-choice degree attainment at university and in the subsequent transition to the labour market is of interest. This article addresses these questions by presenting a descriptive and multivariate analysis of data collected through a tracer study which interviewed graduates from two Eastern Cape universities. The results suggest that schooling background, race and gender are associated with study choices and unemployment. These findings have important implications both for equity and for the efficiency of higher education institutions. The article concludes with a discussion of potential policy responses and the implications for equity in higher education.

Quantitative literacy of school leavers aspiring to higher education in South Africa

It is important for higher education educators to understand the quantitative literacy (QL) competencies of incoming students, in order to make appropriate assumptions about prior knowledge and to design suitable curricula. In this article we analyse the results of a National Benchmark Tests project's (NBTP) QL test written by a large cohort of prospective applicants to higher education, in order to contribute to this understanding. A large proportion of these candidates were unable to cope with quantitative literacy demands of the kinds commonly encountered in higher education. More than half of candidates need some kind of supplementary QL support and at least 30 per cent require extensive support. Candidates' performance on subgroups of the QL test items and on individual items provides further insights into particular strengths and weaknesses. The results highlight that opportunities for the development of QL competencies should be found and these should be integrated into disciplinary teaching.

Humanising higher education in South Africa through dialogue as praxis

Freire (1993) premised his pedagogical theory on the assumption that humanisation is the fundamental objective of education, and he emphasised the role of dialogue as praxis in achieving this. In South Africa, race has played a constitutive and dehumanising role in higher education since its beginnings during colonialism and apartheid (Soudien, 2015, 2016). During 2014 and 2015, higher education in South Africa came under attack from various student organisations for alleged discrimination, racism, and exclusive practices. We propose two conditions for dialogue as humanising praxis in higher education: the acknowledgement of situated selves, and the ontological need for, and right to, voice. We conclude that these conditions are interrelated and point to the possibilities of humanising post-1994 higher education. We use qualitative data from the NRF-funded project, Human rights literacy: a quest for meaning (Roux & du Preez, 2013) to explore student teachers' experiences of implicit and explicit exclusion, racism, and discrimination at institutions of higher education in South Africa.

Students with hearing impairment at a South African university: Self-identity and disclosure.

BackgroundA growing number of students with hearing loss are being granted access to higher education in South Africa due to the adoption of inclusive educational policies. However, available statistics indicate that participation by students with hearing impairments in higher education remains low and research suggests that support provisioning for those who do gain access is inadequate.ObjectivesThis article aims to illustrate that the assumed self-identity of students with hearing impairment influences their choice to disclose their disability. The choice not to disclose their hearing loss prevents them from accessing the necessary reasonable accommodations and this in turn may affect their eventual educational success.MethodReported here is a qualitative descriptive case study at a South African university. Purposive sampling methods were employed. Data were gathered from in-depth interviews with seven students with hearing impairment ranging from moderate to profound, using spoken language. Constructivist grounded theory was used as an approach to the process of generating and transforming the data, as well as the construction of theory.FindingsAll the student participants identified as having a hearing rather than a D/deaf identity cultural paradigm and viewed themselves as ‘normal’. Linked to this was their unwillingness to disclose their hearing impairment and thus access support.ConclusionIt is crucially important for academic, support and administrative staff to be aware of both the assumed ‘hearing’ identity and therefore subsequent non-disclosure practices of students with a hearing impairment using the oral method of communication. Universities need to put measures in place to encourage students to voluntarily disclose their hearing impairment in order to provide more targeted teaching and learning support. This could lead to improved educational outcomes for students.

Blended interaction: Implementing a bring-your-own-device approach versus provided tablet computers

Effective interaction in classes and real-time feedback are challenges that may occur in any classroom. In this regard, mobile technologies may act as a supplement in a so-called blended context. This article investigates the role a bring-your-own-device approach in comparison with an approach where similar tablet computers are provided, plays in terms of interaction and feedback in a linguistics class at third-year university level. In this way the gap in the literature regarding the implementation of blended learning in higher education in South Africa and especially in terms of the bring-your-own-device approach could be augmented. In this research a case study design was used and the data of two groups of third-years were gathered by means of qualitative methods. User statistics from a learning management system was collected, but the main data consisted of the observations and reflections of the lecturer, as well as feedback from students by means of short questionnaires. This data was analysed in an inductive manner in order to identify relevant themes and codes. Both a bring-your-own-device approach and the use of provided tablet computers could facilitate effective interaction and real-time feedback. Apart from the benefits, some limitations were identified in terms of access and skills among students. In this specific context, the bring-your-own-device approach seems to be the better option, but for other contexts solutions will have to be customised.

An Exploratory Critique of Action Learning in Higher Education in South Africa: Barriers and Challenges

An Exploratory Critique of Action Learning in Higher Education in South Africa: Barriers and Challenges

A move towards heutagogy to empower theology students

Society is transforming from the industrial era to an information based, network society. Thereis widespread consensus that due to this revolution in society, education needs to make aparadigm shift in order to stay relevant to the changing needs of society. Although thisparadigm shift is promoted widely in academic literature, it seems as if in practice there arestumbling blocks preventing higher education to make positive strides into a new directionwithin the South African context. This research highlights some of the hurdles that OpenDistance Learning higher education in South Africa is experiencing and also suggests apossible way forward to overcome these obstacles through the implementation of selfdeterminedlearning (heutagogy). In order for heutagogy to be implemented successfully,student support is of the upmost importance both in the curriculum design and the actualteaching and presenting of courses.

Inferences from the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS)

Inadequate student success at the undergraduate level forms the focus of much current research in the realm of higher education in South Africa. However, few studies have examined to what extent success is being achieved at postgraduate level, and whether language proficiency constitutes a barrier to academic achievement at this more advanced phase of study. In this article, which provides an analysis of the test results of a cohort of postgraduate students who wrote the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS) at a centrally located university in South Africa, I find that postgraduate students show the same kind of vulnerability to academic literacy challenges as their undergraduate peers. On the basis of inferential statistics and an analysis of student writing, the inferences to be drawn from the available test data are that not only are students being allowed to graduate with low levels of academic literacy and language proficiency, creating another form of social injustice, but some of these students are even being admitted to postgraduate study. This anomaly suggests that existing short-term literacy interven- tions fall short of reaching the desired outcomes and that language issues need to be prioritised considerably more throughout the undergraduate phase.

“The fire below”: Towards a new study of literatures and cultures (in English?) A letter from a literary scholar in a South African university in transition

This letter was first read as a seminar paper in the Institute for the Humanities in Africa at the University of Cape Town in which I offer a series of provocations about what our current moment asks of us. It is concerned with the future of literary and cultural studies (in English) at that university and in South Africa in the wake of the RhodesMustFall movement. I look at the formation of English literature in colonial India and the rise of black studies in the US as I think through the emerging cry for decolonization of curricula in higher education in South Africa. I contemplate literary and cultural studies as modes of reading and making consent.

The African renaissance and the transformation of the higher education curriculum in South Africa

ABSTRACTThe curriculum is a critical element in the transformation of higher education, and as a result, I argue for the inclusion of what I refer to as an African epistemic in higher education curricula in South Africa. In so doing, attention is directed at the decolonisation of the curriculum in higher education in South Africa, which aims to give indigenous African knowledge systems their rightful place as equally valid ways of knowing among the array of knowledge systems in the world. In developing my argument, I maintain that a critical questioning of the knowledge included in higher education curricula in South Africa should be taken up in what I call transformative education discourses that examine the sources of the knowledge that inform what is imposed on or prescribed for curricula in higher education in South Africa, and how these higher educational curricula are implicated in the universalisation of Western and European experiences.

The University of South Africa (Unisa) 1918–1948: the first transition, from colonial to segregationist institution

ABSTRACTThis article traces the first of what would become several significant transitions in the evolution of the University of South Africa (Unisa); that from University of the Cape of Good Hope (UCGH), an institution with a distinct English tradition loosely based on the ‘liberal’ constitution of the Cape Colony, to a more segregationist Afrikaner-dominated university by 1946. This was largely shaped by national politics, in particular the rise of Afrikaner nationalism, in the 1920s and 30s. Not only did Unisa become captive to Afrikaner forces, it also was strongly infiltrated by the Broederbond, which had as one of its objectives the holding of key positions in higher education in South Africa. In addition, issues of race now became a growing ‘problem’ as Unisa sought to fulfil its mandate to provide higher education for ‘non-Europeans’ in an era of segregation. However, it would be a distortion to portray this transition fom a simple binary perspective. There was ambivalence about the ‘liberalism’ of the UCGH that reflected the pressures for a new racial order at the Cape. Similarly, the extent of Broederbond influence at Unisa (and over national politics) should not be over-emphasised. Somewhat paradoxically, Unisa continued to accommodate nodes of liberal thinking within the institution, and in the 1960s resisted state attempts to be drawn into a scheme to construct an Afrikaans-only university in Johannesburg. Nevertheless, the essential conservatism and political acquiescence of the university to apartheid meant that the requirement to transform Unisa in the democratic era was all the more painful and complex.

Fiscal incidence of public expenditure on higher education in South Africa. A comparison between 2000 and 2006

Currently no distinction is made in the financing of higher education in South Africa with respect to race. One would thus expect all racial groups to receive the same subsidy per student. This paper investigates whether it actually works out this way in reality. The analysis is done for 2000 and 2006 and estimated subsidies are calculated per headcount of students as well as full time equivalent student numbers. A further distinction is made between calculations for all students and for only contact students. In the last instance a distinction is also made between those students studying in social sciences and those in natural sciences. From this analysis it follows that there is indeed differences in the subsidy paid per student and that Indian and white students still received the biggest subsidies. This is directly linked to the fact that a greater percentage of these students study in natural sciences (who receive a subsidy 2½ times more than the subsidy of students in social sciences) than is the case for African and coloured students. This unintended inequality must already be addressed at school level by encouraging a larger percentage of learners to take maths and/or science.

Mapping our way to coherence, alignment and responsiveness

Transformation of higher education in South Africa has resulted in an ongoing need to reflect critically on the relevance and responsiveness of higher education curricula. This article describes two inter-related aspects of curriculum mapping, namely the mapping process and the mapping tool. Based on a case study of a career-oriented business qualification, curriculum data such as subject guides are analysed, followed by a discussion on the findings that emanated from this analysis. Using a constructivist framework, the article argues how challenges, such as a lack of staff participation, a teacher-centred technicist approach to curriculum design, as a result of past curriculum development practices at Universities of Technology, can be addressed by using curriculum mapping both as a process and tool for curriculum review. We shall argue in this article that curriculum mapping, both as a process and a tool will encourage higher education lecturers to consider these key issues when designing curricula: What do we teach? Why do we teach what we teach? What do our students learn? How do our students learn? How do we assess what students have learned? How well should students perform in these assessment tasks to show that they have achieved the intended learning outcomes? These questions relate to the three levels of a curriculum, namely the intended (planned), the taught (created) and the learned (experienced). Curriculum mapping in this context is not used as an instrumentalist approach to curriculum review and design, but to illuminate the pedagogical relationships within a curriculum and to engender reflective conversations on how academics approach their curricula.

INTELLECTUAL WELLNESS: A CRITICAL COMPETENCY FOR MANAGING TRANSFORMATION AND CHALLENGES IN SOUTH AFRICAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

The complex challenges occasioned by transformation and other changes in higher education in South Africa impose significant intellectual demands on managers. This paper reports the results of an investigation into the intellectual wellness levels of managers at two South African universities. The purpose of the study was to determine whether managers at higher education institutions in South Africa engage in activities and behaviour that stimulate intellectual development and growth. A survey was conducted among 324 managers at both universities by means of a questionnaire. The study was carried out within the qualitative paradigm, and descriptive and inferential statistical procedures were used to analyse the quantitative data. The Cronbach’s alpha of 0.82 showed that the instrument used was reliable for measuring the intellectual wellness behaviour levels of managers. T-tests were conducted to compare the mean scores of four selected managerial groups, while an ANOVA was used to compare the mean scores of three managerial age groups. The combined average score of 84.38% suggested that the managers had high levels of intellectual wellness. A minority number of respondents obtained scores less than 60%, which indicate the need for intellectual wellness development interventions. These managers should engage in specific activities to stimulate their intellectual development and growth, such as keeping themselves informed about social and political issues; learning about scientific discoveries; seeking opportunities to acquire new competencies and skills (for example, written and verbal, and computer and interpersonal skills) and improving their academic qualifications.

Using assessment strategically to gestate a student thesis: learning through community

In the context of higher education in South Africa and drawing on the author's experience as a lecturer in two higher education institutions (HEIs), this article presents her attempts to bring together - and into balance - teaching, supervision and research in an endeavour to offer a transformative learning experience for her post graduate students. It does this by foregrounding student assessment in the Master of Education (MEd) degree in the field of Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) where the development of a half thesis, underpinned by research, stands as the evidence of success. The author suggests that the MEd (ELM) degree be conceptualised differently in order that the half thesis be permitted to gestate over a two-year period. Within this conceptualisation, she argues that inspired teaching and meaningful research is best attained through a community of learning approach which seeks to foreground participatory learning, the advancement of scholarly discourse and the development of student agency. Through the use of a case study, the author provides evidence to suggest that a range of authentic assessment strategies which are purposeful and in alignment with the teaching strategies, the content and the intended outcomes of the qualification being taught are essential. She further argues that well-crafted, formative, recursive and sustainable feedback is an essential part of the gestation process.

Race, gender and sexuality in student experiences of violence and resistances on a university campus

With the dismantling of apartheid in 1994, significant changes were made to higher education in South Africa. Access to higher education has expanded and student bodies are now more representative in terms of gender and race. However, demographic change alone is insufficient for higher education transformation. As in other parts of the world, within dominant educational discourses ideal students are still typically represented as white, middle-class, male, cisgender and heterosexual. Furthermore, students who occupy these categories tend to hold symbolic power within these institutions. Recently, student movements, starting with RhodesMustFall (RMF) at the University of Cape Town (UCT), have begun to challenge this and draw attention to these issues of transformation. This study was critically and empathically provoked by engagements around the RMF movement and aimed to examine students' experiences of transformation in higher education relating to race, gender and sexuality at UCT. Photovoice methods (involving focus groups, personal reflections, photographs and written stories) were used to explore two groups of students' experiences of non-direct, symbolic violence (i.e. issues of bathrooms, residences and campus art) and direct, physical violence on campus as well as these students' resistances and disruptions to the violence they encountered.

WEB 2.0 USAGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

The proliferation of Web 2.0 applications in general and in higher education in particular was the impetus for this survey-based research into practices that online users (students) currently employ when using Web 2.0 sites. As part of the study, the popularity of Web 2.0 technologies and sites among online users at two universities were investigated to determine the extent of access and use as well as the potential threat to users of Web 2.0. The results of this study indicate that the use of Web 2.0 sites is very popular among both on-campus (full-time) and distance learning (part-time) students, but that modes of study and the site of access differ significantly between the groups. The respondents indicated that they regularly visit Web 2.0 sites, and that all of them (100%) post personal information on these sites. Both types of users are acutely aware of the risks associated with the technology and posting of information on these sites, and are alert regarding the possibility of internet theft and phising attacks. Given the distinctive characteristics of the two groups of students, significant differences were observed between the full-time and part-time users in terms of mode of study, influence of online technologies on studies, and their ranking of potential risks, all of which pose unique academic challenges for students, educators and institutions of Higher Education in South Africa .

Globalization of Higher Education in South Africa

Globalization of Higher Education in South Africa