South African Higher Education Research Articles

The Role of Middle Managers in Strategy Execution in two Colleges at a South African Higher Education Institution (HEI)

This research examined the role of middle management in executing strategic plans in two colleges in a South African higher education institution (HEI). Strategy execution is a complex operational process. Flawed sense-making of the strategy could lead to strategy breakdown, and challenges may occur concerning understanding and executing the strategic plans. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to examine how middle management in the two colleges at the HEI engaged in the sense-making of the strategic plan. The study set out to: examine how middle management participated in the sense-making of the two colleges' strategic goals; determine how middle management communicated the strategy to employees at the two colleges, and identify the challenges middle management faced with strategy execution at the two colleges. The research employed a qualitative research approach. Interviews were conducted with a purposive non-probability sample of ten middle managers in the two colleges at the HEI. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The interviews were conducted at the middle management’s offices and lasted between 20-45 minutes. The study findings revealed that each college engaged in the sense-making processes differently and that there are different understandings of the role of middle management in executing strategic plans. The study highlights the need for middle management in the two colleges in the HEI to engage in training in executing strategic plans. The findings may help us understand how middle management in the two colleges executes strategy and how sense-making occurs. In addition, it could assist with role clarification of university service units in implementing the strategic initiatives, as most literature focuses on strategy formulation rather than execution.

Workplace bullying in a South African higher education institution: Academic and support staff experiences

Orientation: Workplace bullying is a common occurrence in organisations worldwide, and higher education institutions are no exception.Research purpose: This study was conducted with the aim of determining the perceptions of workplace bullying amongst academic and support staff at a higher education institution in South Africa and to ascertain how they are affected by selected sociodemographic variables.Motivation for the study: Currently, there are limited published research studies reporting on the prevalence and/or experience of workplace bullying at tertiary education institutions in South Africa.Research approach/design and method: The study used a quantitative-based survey design. The research setting was limited to one higher education institution in South Africa. The target population of the study comprised all academic and support staff of the institution. A web-based standardised questionnaire was used to collect the data.Main findings: The results revealed that the respondents experienced negative behaviours related to exclusion the most, followed by managerial misconduct, humiliation and belittlement and hostility the least.Practical/Managerial implications: Understanding and addressing workplace bullying is critical to counteract this problem in organisations. The longer the phenomenon is left unattended, the worse it will become and the more difficult it will be to combat. Employers can play a pre-emptive role in the prevention of and intervention in workplace bullying.Contribution/value-add: The study sheds light on the experiences of bullying at a South African university and adds to the body of literature on bullying in the tertiary education sector in the national context.

Managing Challenges Faced By South African Higher Education Institutions In Implementing Pre-Service Teacher Education Curricular

Managing Challenges Faced By South African Higher Education Institutions In Implementing Pre-Service Teacher Education Curricular

Quality of administrative services in a South African higher education institution. Stakeholder perceptions

Student administration in a higher education institution encompasses admissions and registration, accommodation, health services, assessments, and several aspects of a student’s life from the first contact with the institution until graduation. We set out to determine how students felt about these services at a South African university. The need to understand how students perceive these services is becoming increasingly important, especially in higher education, because it impacts not only student recruitment but the overall image of the university. Findings from this study can lead to much needed improvement of service quality. Data was collected from students using an open-ended questionnaire while interviews and focus groups were used for administrative staff. We realised a mix of feedback in terms of how both students and administrative staff felt about the quality of service at the university. In part, the findings suggest the need to sufficiently cater for both staff and students for them to experience enriched job experiences and better teaching and learning services from the university. This study not only contributes to the literature on administrative competency of higher education staff, but it also offers a new way of looking at stakeholders to understand the various skills, i.e., functional skills, essential skills, and emerging skills, required for optimal effectiveness of administrative professionals in the new world of work.

Policy Framework for the Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa: A Compass for Comprehensive Internationalisation?

On 6 November 2020, the Policy Framework for Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa was promulgated. It provides high-level principles and guidelines for the internationalisation of higher education in South Africa, lays down specific rules for certain aspects of the process and aims to shape the process of internationalisation at South African higher education institutions, redressing past inequalities whilst addressing policy imperatives of higher education in a democratic South Africa. In this paper, we analyse the context and content of the Policy Framework. We first explore the context by discussing the historical background leading to the development and drafting of the Policy Framework, whereafter we analyse the substantive content of the Policy Framework. We consider its suitability for advancing the South African higher education system's internationalisation objectives, interrogate whether it can provide direction for comprehensive internationalisation of higher education in the country and provide recommendations on the way forward devoting attention to strategies for successful policy implementation.

COVID-19 and the Key Digital Transformation Lessons for Higher Education Institutions in South Africa

COVID-19 has left an unmistakable impression on the world stage. It has altered the global socio-economic landscape, forcing individuals to adapt and embrace new ways of doing business, as well as new ways of life. One of the most significant effects of the pandemic was to hasten the adoption of digital technologies by many areas of the global economy. Campus closures were observed in the higher education sector, putting an end to long-standing face-to-face teaching and learning. This necessitated the most rapid paradigm shift ever seen in this industry to continue educating and learning. An abrupt change to online learning, which is primarily reliant on digital technologies, occurred. As a result, the purpose of this article is to investigate and identify ten critical digital transformation lessons from COVID-19 for South African higher education institutions. Secondary data gathered from the literature research were used to meet the study’s goal. The study concluded by laying out the most important digital transformation lessons for South Africa, including the notion that the country should strive to build digital capabilities because digital technology gaps remain wide, among other things.

Blended Learning Challenges During COVID-19: A Case of Cost Accounting 2 Students at a Selected South African Higher Education Institution

Every sector in the twenty-first century makes use of technology for its activities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and higher education institutions are not exceptional. However, the cohorts enrolled in the selected higher education institution are from technologically challenged backgrounds. This suggests that in their previous schooling, technology was unemployed as a learning aid. As this may present some challenges for such students, this study aims to investigate challenges experienced by Cost Accounting 2 students who are from a technologically disadvantaged background. To accomplish that, a quantitative approach was used since it permits surveys to be delivered to the entire impacted population while also reducing sampling error. Because of the Coronavirus, online questionnaires were sent to 400 students, but only 119 (n=119) responded. Blended learning was found to be an effective technique for learning Cost Accounting 2 since the university provided sufficient information on how to use the system. However, there was a lot of discussion about internet access, learning materials access, and library resource access. Based on the findings, blended learning is excellent for studying Cost Accounting 2 as long as the learning management system is customised such that students can navigate it effortlessly. Management must work with internet service providers to try stabilise internet connectivity in the students’ neighbourhoods. The additional study can be done using a variety of research methods and target other groups of students.

Touching Text: Feeling My Way Through Research-Creation

This article explores how artistic research practice, as a thinking through art, generates different understandings of the world. Having come to higher education through my visual arts practice, I trace threads of thinking-making practices that, while seeded in the studio, continue to generate new connections and concepts that in/form my PhD inquiry into different ways of learning in South African Higher Education contexts. Guided by Manning’s conceptualization of research-creation as an ecology of practices operative within the interstices of making and thinking, I show how artmaking as an intuitive process nudges my thinking through-and-around concerns obliquely, attuned toward different registers and levels of intensities, cutting across normative accounts of what it means to know. Referring to two bodies of my work, sum of the parts (2010) and Evidence of Things Unseen (2014), the article shows how materiality and making conjugate new languages that give expression to the ineffable obscured in the name of Science and Fine Art. Exploring the diffractive entanglements of thinking-making practices in the “between” of writing and drawing, the article shows how writing-with, drawing-with, doodling-with, and scrawling-with activate and agitate the spaces between words and images and do inquiry differently.

Exercising positional power to advance and support women in leadership – conversations with men in higher education

The paper focuses on the South African Higher Education environment, engaging with men in leadership and their views on areas that have been identified as challenging in women's lived experiences and the advancement of women towards leadership. Men still dominate positions of leadership and as such, hold positional power and influence in transformation towards a more equitable and diverse leadership profile. Research in this area focuses predominantly on the voices of women, yet there is recognition that men should also exercise agency in this regard. Set within a framework of social justice, critical and social realism, the research considers whether men understand women's lived experiences and challenges of institutional culture, often described in gendered terms. It considers their perceptions of women as leaders, inclusive of their notions of leadership. It is an attempt to grapple with women's perpetual challenges in the Higher Education milieu and the globally persistent underlying barriers to women's advancement. A qualitative approach was adopted and six men in leadership positions were interviewed. Responses to open-ended questions, based on areas highlighted in the literature, were analysed using critical discourse analysis. The findings revealed that though men in leadership appeared to understand the challenges experienced by women, the deeper embedded (real) levels of patriarchy and institutional culture and the impact on women's lived experiences were not fully appreciated. The paper concludes that men's advocacy and agency, though not conclusively so, can be major game-changers in institutional culture and patriarchal practices. The appearance of a perpetual cycle of cultural and structural barriers, and a predominance of research on women's experiences of this cycle, led the researcher to engage with men in leadership to ascertain whether they recognise and comprehend this cycle and whether they exercise agency and advocacy in challenging the status quo.

Decoloniality and Africanisation as Instruments for Change:

The end of 2017 marked a significant change in South African higher education with the government’s announcement that free higher education would be extended to poor and working-class students. For students who engaged in protest action to demand a curriculum which centers Africa and takes African discourses as its point of departure, this was a partial victory. While concessions were made regarding fees and the removal of colonial-era statues, students continue to grapple with the form and purpose of higher education. This struggle is not a new one; it can be traced back to the early 1960s when Black student movements rejected colonial and apartheid ideas at an intellectual level. In grappling with the critical epistemological questions raised by students, scholars have proposed the notions of decoloniality and Africanisation as instruments to rethink the purpose and form of higher education. Using sociological discourse analysis, this article examines the pragmatism of these concepts in the quest for relevance in higher education.
 Key words: Africanisation, decoloniality, sociological discourse analysis, higher education

Imagination, decolonization, and intersectionality: the #RhodesMustFall student occupations in Cape Town, South Africa

ABSTRACT South African students have since 2015 returned to the forefront of the country’s social movement struggles. Central to this wave of contention was the #RhodesMustFall (#RMF) movement at the University of Cape Town (UCT), which coalesced with uprisings at universities across the country under the banner of #FeesMustFall, focusing demands on abolishing tuition fees, decolonizing education and society, and ending campus worker exploitation. In the process, students imagined how education and society could be different. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between social movements, occupations, and imagination, by examining a crucial event in the #RMF movement: the student occupation of an administrative building at UCT. Because social movement theory has an underdeveloped conception of the imagination, we draw on Sartre’s and Fanon’s understanding of the imagination and apply it to students’ activism. Based on original qualitative research we demonstrate how imagined futures guide movement activity, while their prefigurative practices in the occupation enacted these in the present. The #RMF occupation was seen as a break from reality that catalysed students’ imaginations, honing their critiques of society and shaping two central imaginaries of alternative futures, decolonization and intersectionality. The #RMF movement’s imaginaries and enactments were influential in reshaping the South African higher education landscape and even inspired movements internationally.

Estimating South African Higher Education Productivity and Its Determinants Using Färe-Primont Index: Are Historically Disadvantaged Universities Catching Up?

Recent high dropout and low graduation rates in the South African higher education institutions as well as government funding cuts and the economic uncertainty due to COVID-19 pandemic have heightened the urgency for the higher education sector to improve its productivity. However, empirical evidence on the productivity growth of the sector remains unexplored. To address this gap, we applied a Färe-Primont index approach to a panel data of 22 public universities over an 8-year period to measure total factor productivity (TFP) and its components—technological change, technical, scale and mix efficiency changes. We also used a feasible generalised least squares model to assess the determinants of productivity and efficiency growth. The results show that the average TFP of the sector for the study period was 0.631, led by historically advantaged universities (0.894), whilst historically disadvantaged universities had lower average TFP (0.823). During the period, TFP increased by 3.43%, largely driven by scale and mix efficiency changes (5.32%) and technical efficiency change (0.83%), whilst technical change declined by 1.80%. In terms of university types, the comprehensive universities achieved the largest TFP growth (6.13%) followed by traditional universities (4.85%), and technology universities by 1.41%. TFP growth was positively influenced by student graduation rates, quality of academics and academic-student ratios. Therefore, policy considerations to improve the sector’s productivity and efficiency should consider investment on research and development, adoption of teaching and research innovations, re-skilling through training and education and aligning admission policies with staffing.

Collaboration and partnerships between South African higher education institutions and stakeholders: case study of a post-apartheid University

In this paper we attempt to locate collaboration and partnerships between higher education institutions and their stakeholders. These include the state, students, teaching and administrative staff, the community and corporate entities. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contribution of stakeholders to the developmental trajectory and sustenance of higher education institutions using the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa as the case study. The paper analyses existing scholarship to understand the importance of stakeholders and their impact on higher education institutions. The study first examines the stakeholders’ concept in the post-apartheid period, the concept of stakeholder in relation to HEIs, UWC and collaborations and partnership with stakeholders from a theoretical perspective, and the stakeholder collaborations and partnership from UWC perspective. The study adopted a qualitative approach utilising existing data from literature and interviews with participants. Conceptual analysis was used to analyse the data. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key participants. In total, 10 participants participated in the interviews.

Analysis of "Hierarchy of Needs" as a Strategy to Enhance Academics Retention in South African Universities

A high attrition rate exists among South African higher education institutions, which poses a significant challenge to university productivity as an academic enterprise. The attrition/turnover seems disruptive and costly, and some of the disruptive implications are poor productivity, lack of motivation and poor morale to work, including skill drain. This theoretical paper presents Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and its assumptions as a possible motivation that is needed to enhance academic staff retention in the university system. This study was designed using conceptual analysis within the principle interpretive paradigm, enabling the researcher to adequately engage critically in interpreting Maslow's hierarchy of needs and its assumptions as an alternative strategy that could enhance academic staff retention in the university system. The study argued that the five hierarchies of needs (physiological needs, safety/security needs, love and belongingness, esteem needs, and self-actualisation needs), as propounded by Abraham Maslow, are essential in ensuring academic staff retention in the system. The study concludes that total rewards in the form of basic needs, environmental safety and job security, creation of affectionate work-environment, the need for recognition and self-actualisation are the dimensions of academic staff retention in the university system.
 
 Received: 11 January 2022 / Accepted: 4 April 2022 / Published: 5 May 2022

Academic advising during emergency remote teaching and learning: A South African higher education perspective

Academic advising remains an emerging profession and practice in the South African higher education sector, with an increase in evidence-informed literature about advising for this context in recent years. The disruptions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have been significant for academic advising. This paper posits that the pandemic has had a catalytic effect on advising, how it is perceived, and how it is practiced at the university where the author works, thus potentially setting the scene for change. By drawing on data generated through interviews with 15 academic advisors, the paper examines the likelihood of change (or morphogenesis). The examination is underpinned by Social Realist principles. Margaret Archer’s notions of structure, culture, and agency, as well as elements of her work on the morphogenetic cycle, guides the study. The focus is on the potential of advising and advisors within and for SA HE contexts. The academic advisors interviewed emerge as a previously under-valued and poorly utilised link among students, lecturers, and the broader institution. The paper concludes by elucidating how the work of academic advisors during the pandemic could bring about greater integration of advising with other dimensions of the academic project, while foregrounding the high-impact potential of advising for SA HE contexts.

Reframing purpose and conceptions of success for a post-Covid-19 South African higher education

The Covid-19 pandemic raised immense challenges for universities. Staff and students had to quickly transition to an unfamiliar mode of emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) with its associated affordances and losses. The experiences of students and staff and the lessons learned during this time will affect the provision of teaching and learning in the future. During ERTL, a group of academics and teaching and learning support staff from different faculties at a large research-intensive public university in South Africa came together to support each other and share experiences of enhancing teaching and learning in higher education. This led to reflection on the impact of Covid-19 on the higher education landscape through community of practice. The aim of this conceptual paper is to discuss alternative notions of institutional purpose and lecturers’ conception of success that might influence the emerging post-Covid-19 higher education landscape in the global south. We claim that a more nuanced and critical understanding of these concepts is essential to evaluate the gains and losses experienced during Covid-19. Our argument hinges on our reflections of supporting teaching and learning during 2020 and 2021, and our observations of the challenges experienced by lecturers as they transitioned to ERTL. We suggest that it was in the moments of disruption and disequilibrium that lecturers were required to re-think the purpose of their courses and of higher education more broadly. Furthermore, it challenged us as a collective and individually to reflect critically on the measures of success within courses that changed dramatically in response to the prevailing circumstances, as well as more broadly within the sector.

What does decolonising education mean to us? Educator reflections

The #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall student protests accelerated the call for a decolonised higher education space. Much complexity and debate exists around the notion of a decolonised curriculum, how to frame it, describe it and/or enact it. Within this debate, the positionality and identity of individuals who design, implement, and evaluate curricula are important. The purpose of this article is to reflect on how theory-informed pedagogical reflections can assist in our understanding of decolonisation. The four educator reflections include our personal accounts of pedagogical philosophies, methodologies, and practices. A major focus is social work, which aims to enhance the well-being of all persons especially the disadvantaged, the marginalised and the voiceless. Through belonging to a community of practice, we embarked on the process of articulating our voice, positionality, and identity and how this informs our teaching, which is both personal and political within a South African higher education context. We provide our ways of knowing regarding how we (try) to contribute to social justice and equity ideals. We conclude with our consolidated view on an envisioned, decolonised education in the global South context. We recommend an approach that values ongoing, collective reflection, critical questioning, and agitation of how a decolonised curriculum can be envisaged. The contribution that this article makes is in the value of collective reflection, coupled with embracing personal stories/biographies to theorise decolonisation.

Influential factors impacting leadership effectiveness: A case study at a public university

Orientation: As a result of increased globalisation and rapid changes in the technological, social, economic and political spheres, the environment in which businesses and organisations function has become increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). This has created a unique set of challenges for the leaders of these organisations, including higher education (HE) in South Africa.Research purpose: This study aimed to identify potential influential factors that have impact on leader effectiveness in a HE VUCA environment.Motivation for the study: Leadership effectiveness under VUCA conditions within the South African higher education sector no longer only depends on professional leadership training. A thorough understanding of crucial influential factors moderating leader effectiveness and a sober strategy to overcome potential negative impact is pivotal. This study seeks to contribute to this understanding and to leadership theory and practice.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research approach was adopted to test research participants’ perceptions regarding the significance of influential factors impacting leadership effectiveness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 employees in leadership positions at a single public university. A rigorous 16-stepwise method was used to analyse the qualitative data that employed a directed qualitative content analysis.Main findings: The major findings of the study include theoretical and empirical support for four influential factors impacting leadership effectiveness, that is, organisational culture, the role of women in leadership, and the role of millennials in leadership and diversity.Practical/managerial implications: Recommendations for university leaders to create an enabling environment for effective leadership to navigate VUCA are provided.Contribution/value-add: The significance of this study lies in the potential contribution to leadership theory and insights for leaders in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to be effective in the face of VUCA.

Hyflex Teaching and Learning: An Alternative Modality for Meaningful Engagement and Epistemological Access in South African Higher Education

Hyflex teaching and learning is relatively a new concept within the South African higher education context. This teaching and learning approach brings to the fore the possibility of combining the existing teaching platforms for maximizing not only physical access to knowledge, but epistemological access, the latter is also described in this paper as meaningful access. The argument in this paper is that access cannot be meaningful until there is room for student engagement in the teaching and learning process, otherwise, all efforts to ensuring access in educational institutions will remain a mere paper fantasy. This paper, therefore, brings to the fore the need for higher education in South Africa to maximize the possibilities being offered by the Hyflex teaching and learning, not only for student engagement but meeting the need and respecting the democratic choices of students in terms of the modalities that work for them the most. Hence, it is argued in this paper that Hyflex learning is not a mere fad, but a choice for effective engagement with an emphasis on the needs of students at the center of all the pedagogic and curriculum choices in higher education. Keywords: Hyflex teaching and learning, epistemology access, student engagement, higher education, modalities, etc.

Talent management practices in a selected South African higher education institution

Organizations utilize talent management as one integrated method to attract and retain staff, resulting in long-term competitive advantage. However, it has emerged that higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa (SA) are experiencing talent management challenges. The study aimed to establish talent management practices that are poorly managed in a selected SA HEI and further recommend ways to improve talent management practices leading to sustainable competitive advantage. The study was carried out using mixed methods within the interpretive and positivist research paradigms. This study interviewed 7 non-academic staff using purposive sampling; questionnaires were randomly distributed to 153 academic staff working at one selected HEI. Results of the study indicate shortcomings in workforce planning, succession planning, and performance management. It became clear that these three talent management functions were poorly managed by the HEI. This study further recommended ways to improve talent management practices that should significantly lead to the sustainable competitive advantage of the institution.