Universities In South Africa Research Articles

‘They are just women, what do they know?’: The lived experiences of African women doctoral students in the mathematics discipline in South African universities

Background: The presence of African women in mathematics has been nearly invisible. The underrepresentation of African women in this field is a result of their historical socio-political marginalisation. The mathematics discipline is politicised, racialised, and gendered to systematically oppress African women. The mathematics fields continue to be a masculine and white male dominated field, which reinforces and preserves masculine culture which is hostile and unwelcoming to women. African women mathematicians are further oppressed because of their racial and gendered identities in fields that are ideologically founded on proving the racial, gendered, social, cultural, and intellectual inferiority of Africans.Aim: The article aims to exemplify the lived experiences of African women doctoral students in the mathematics disciplines in South African universities. The article critically interrogates the factors that influence the participation, progression, and retention of African female doctoral students in the mathematics disciplines.Setting: The article comes from a larger study which investigated the reasons why African doctorate students do not become academics after they receive their doctorates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in South African universities. This paper focuses on the experiences of 10 African female doctoral students at five universities in South Africa. The universities were selected because they ranked in the top five in South Africa. Two of the institutions are historically Black universities and the rest are historically white institutions, with one historically Afrikaner-speaking university—between 2019–2021.Methods: This article employed a qualitative research methodology, where semi-structures interviews were conducted with 10 African female doctoral participants in mathematics disciplines in five South African universities and is underpinned by the theory of intersectionality.Results: The findings reveal how interlocking systems of oppression continue to influence the recruitment, retention, and progression of women in the mathematics discipline, thereby providing insight into the mechanisms that need to be altered and/or put in place to actively recruit African female doctoral students and retain them in academic positions.Conclusion: The article concludes that despite the mathematics field proclaiming neutrality and objectivity nevertheless, African women still experience racism, sexism, and classism. The experiences of African women in mathematics are vital to understanding the reasons why there is a high attrition rate of African women in the mathematics discipline in academia and why they do not become academics when they could transform this discipline.

A Trajectory towards a Culture of Quality: A Phenomenological Study of an Open Distance Learning University in South Africa and in China

Over the past few years we have witnessed immense advancements of technology which challenge conventional teaching methodologies. Through an international staff exchange program that was attended over a period of two weeks, this paper compares two distance education universities from two culturally diverse continents; Africa and Asia, more specifically, a distance university in China and an open distance and e-Learning university in South Africa. This paper focuses on supporting students through quality assurance by reflecting on both distance-learning institutions and generated data by means of field notes and observations that took place during presentations. It is argued that effective and quality teaching and learning cannot occur without tightened quality control measures in a course. Arguably, if teaching and learning is quality controlled, success and throughput rates would improve. The findings in this paper indicate that an enabling environment that caters for quality assurance activities to be implemented on a continuous basis needs to be effected. Distance learning institutions need to move towards a culture of quality and by doing this they need to tailor their student support not just to produce graduates at end of a cohort but to produce quality graduates needed for the ever-evolving and rapidly transforming information and communication technologies. This paper concludes with recommendations for distance education institutions to move towards a trajectory of a culture of quality. It is argued that an environment that is conducive for quality assurance activities is needed for an effective culture of quality to ensue.

Working with and through Neoliberalism: Envisioning Research Supervision as a Pedagogy of Care in a Context of “Privileged Irresponsibility”

The report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion revealed that exclusionary practices are commonplace in South African universities. They remain a compelling factor that contributes to student attrition in Master’s and doctoral programmes, and they were a trigger to the #RhodesMustFall movement. Universities, oblivious to their doublespeak, have institutionalised curriculum decolonisation and delivery, yet simultaneously enforce neoliberal performative principles (fast-tracking increased numbers despite different levels of student readiness). The extent to which traditional, hierarchical research supervision models (with their genesis in an asymmetrical master-apprentice power dynamic) have responded to the needs of the euphemistically coined “non-traditional” student is moot. In a context of unprecedented increase in research supervision workloads and pressure to decolonise, there is limited research-informed knowledge as to how research supervisors navigate these contradictory conditions. This article reports on a study informed by a Freirean “pedagogy of care” as it attempts to address this lacuna by exploring the research supervision experiences and practice of a sample of 18 research-active professors in a College of Humanities at a research-led university in South Africa. Data was generated through in-depth interviews and subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. The findings indicate that a deep sense of care exists among the sampled supervisors and it manifests in various ways as supervisors actively work with and through neoliberal protocols.

Advertising credibility across media channels

Generation Y consumers have become an important consumer group and, as a result, theirperceptions of media credibility has become an important issue for many organisations andmedia planners. This study explores the credibility of traditional media advertising versus newmedia advertising, the credibility of broadcast-media advertising versus print-media advertising,the credibility of cellphone advertising versus Internet advertising, and the relationship betweenthe credibility of Internet advertising and likelihood of Generation Y consumers shopping online.The target audience comprises students between the ages of 18 and 30 years at one of thelargest residential universities in South Africa. Convenience sampling was used and a total of1 345 questionnaires were completed. Some of the results indicate that Generation Y consumersrate the credibility of traditional media higher than new media and that print media has highercredibility ratings compared with broadcast media.

THE LEGALITIES OF MANDATORY COVID-19 VACCINATION AT UNIVERSITIES: LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM Klaassen v Trustees of Indiana University (No. 1:21-CV-238 DRL, N.D. Ind.)

The Covid-19 pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has continued to wreak havoc and has changed humanity forever. The Higher Education sector, like many others, has not been spared. In an effort to save the academic year and ensure that some teaching and learning could take place in a safe and secure environment, many tertiary institutions in South Africa and other parts of the world transitioned to online education. There is no doubt that online learning promotes rich learning and understanding, and it is an effective modality for teaching both concepts and skills in most disciplines. Online education has enabled many tertiary institutions to become innovative in the way students learn and academics teach, while also overcoming the constraints of space, time and distance. However, the shift to remote learning has also unmasked historical, geospatial and economic inequalities that permeate the world in which students live. Challenges include the digital divide, lack of technical support, poor learning environments, conditions at home, and lack of assets (among others), resulting in many student organisations in Africa and South Africa rejecting online teaching, with some viewing it as “an unaffordable, impractical and an elitist solution” to COVID-19. With the realisation that COVID-19 is here to stay for a while, and many students complaining about the difficulties posed by online learning from home, it seems inevitable that many universities in South Africa have already or may in future consider expediting the return of students to campus. However, to open fully, universities (like other sectors) may deem it necessary, as part of their planning process, to make it mandatory for all staff and students to be vaccinated. The question that arises then is whether mandatory vaccination in a tertiary setting will pass constitutional muster in a court of law. Students, if required to vaccinate or produce a vaccination card upon entry to campus, may argue that their legal rights, such as their right to bodily integrity, religious freedom and possibly their choice to choose or refuse their medical treatment, may be infringed. South Africa has not yet had to deal with such challenges. However, the US case of Klaassen v Trustees of Indiana University (No 1:21-CV-238 DRL ND IND) (Klaassen) 1–101, was one of the first cases from a global perspective to deal with such challenges and can provide valuable assistance for South Africa going forward. This case note critically examines the case of Klaassen, which is a landmark case dealing with the issue of mandatory vaccinations for students within a university setting. It is hoped that the case will provide guidance to universities in drafting policy documents surrounding mandatory vaccination, as well as in dealing with possible legal challenges in future.

Job stressors, work tension and job satisfaction of academics at a university in South Africa

The SA Journal of Human Resource Management provides a forum for cutting-edge, peer reviewed research in all fields related to the exploration of issues and experiences relating to employment studies and people management.

(O)mission statements

This paper interrogates the mission statements and strategic development plans of two universities in South Africa in order to unpack both the deficit and surplus messages embedded in them. One of the universities is located in a rural setting and was classified as formerly disadvantaged, while the other one was a formerly white and privileged university. This article is a qualitative study andemploys a content and discursive analytic approach, together with McLaren’s (1994) typological framework on the four forms of multiculturalism in order to interrogate the mission statements and strategic development plans of the two universities in question. Both the mission statements and the strategic development plans are examined for the ways in which they discursively identify whois included and excluded from the realisation and attainment of the missions and development plans of the two universities studied. The article argues that specific discourse patterns emerge from the two universities’ mission statements and strategic development plans to the extent that either marginalising messages or promissory and empowering messages are conveyed inadvertently in the inscriptions. The article ultimately suggests that there is a need for a shift from a deficit discourse to looking critically and reflexively at current university practices and shortcomings in the use of discourse patterns to include or exclude significant agents in both the crafting and implementation of the principalities embedded in their mission statements and strategic development plans.

Debunking the grit-retention relation among historically disadvantaged students in a South African Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) institution

ABSTRACT This paper sought to examine psychological grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, and its efficacy in determining postgraduate retention among historically disadvantaged students enrolled at the University of South Africa (UNISA). The Grit-S scale was used to gauge the level of grit among the participants (n = 594) followed by one-year lagged secondary data, which sought to ascertain retention among the sample. Previous performance at an undergraduate level (i.e. passed or passed with distinction) and demographic attributes (i.e. gender, age, ethnicity and home language) were also included in the scale and used as controls. Results from the binary logistic regression revealed that psychological grit is not a significant predictor of retention from one year to the next (β = .02, OR = 1.02, p = .91), nor does it add incremental value when controlling for previous undergraduate performance and demographic attributes (β = .08, OR = 1.09, p = .58). The paper concludes with a discussion on these pertinent results.

The impact of entrepreneurship education on tourism students’ entrepreneurial intention in South Africa

ABSTRACT This paper explores the impact of entrepreneurship education on tourism students’ entrepreneurial intention, and insights of the desirability and feasibility of starting a tourism-related business upon graduation. A structured questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 154 randomly selected tourism students in a comprehensive University in South Africa. Data analyses included descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses to address research objectives. The results indicate that entrepreneurship education influences tourism students’ entrepreneurial intentions, including students’ perceptions of the desirability and feasibility of starting tourism-related businesses. The findings further suggest that some respondent profile variables have influences on how tourism students perceive entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial behaviour. The study recommends that the university that is studied implement a variety of reform programmes aimed at increasing employability or self-employment among university tourism graduates. Among them is the addition of a new entrepreneurship track to the undergraduate curriculum. Students, as from their first year of study should be invited to apply for the entrepreneurship education track, which includes business training as well as individualised coaching sessions with industry mentors. This will aid in the formation of professional networks, increased entrepreneurship process knowledge base, and self-efficacy among tourism students who want to become tourism entrepreneurs.

About The Author

About The Author

Exploring technology as enabler for sustainable teaching and learning during Covid-19 at a university in South Africa

This paper discusses the use of technology as enabler for sustaining teaching and learning by reviewing various local and international publications. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in 2020, the Departments of Basic and Higher Education in South Africa ordered all institutions of learning to shut down and start using online education as a substitute for face-to-face teaching and learning processes. This sudden transition has without doubt caused an incredible amount of harm and disruption in our education system. In view of this, I am interested in exploring how a traditional, face-to-face university used technology effectively as a delivery tool to sustain teaching and learning during the Covid-19 crisis. The review conducted was aimed at answering the research questions: How can continuity of teaching and learning be strengthened during emergency situations such as that posed by the Covid-19 pandemic? Secondly, what were educators’ and students’ experiences and attitudes towards the use of technology as enabler for sustaining teaching and learning during the Covid-19 pandemic? To answer the research questions, I conducted data searches with the help of librarians and other international primary search source indexes such as ProQuest, EBSCOhost, Educational Resource Information Centre (ERIC), Google Scholar, SAGE and Academic Search Premier. A total of 85 empirical papers were reviewed and analysed so that an aggregated understanding of using technology as enabler could be established. The results of this systematic document review revealed that technology has the potential to provide immediate feedback, improve workloads and access to education, thus making it an agent of sustainability. In addition, the review conducted revealed that Covid-19 reinforced the importance of technology and virtual learning in education.

The Impact of Social Networks on Teaching and Learning at a Rural University in South Africa

The Impact of Social Networks on Teaching and Learning at a Rural University in South Africa

Education for sustainable development: Insights from Canadian and South African universities

Universities can play a key role in contributing to a sustainable future for our planet and its inhabitants. In times of constant changes, there is a growing urgency to reflect on the vision of universities as well as their respective practices and projects that can promote the creation of sustainable societies. As is evident in scholarly literature, there is a need to empower universities and enhance their ability to prepare individuals who can confront global sustainability challenges and pursue sustainable development. The United Nations’ adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 recognised that societal problems were territorially blind, meaning that no country has sufficient knowledge or research capacity to solve all challenges on its own. To that end, this qualitative, comparative research study represents the unified effort of two very different countries to explore the topic of education for sustainable development (SD) at universities. The study employed a document analysis of selected publicly funded universities in Canada and South Africa. Gathered documents are from the past seven years and include the universities’ mission and vision statements, annual reports, and strategic plans. The three main questions addressed in this work are: (a) What is the status and role of higher education for SD in Canada and South Africa? (b) What areas of SD are on the agenda of universities under investigation in Canada and South Africa? (c) What are the main similarities and differences between the two contexts under investigation? Findings indicate that universities focus on several aspects of SD, namely sustainable education, sustainable relationships, and sustainable initiatives. The paper discusses these areas for each country in connection to their contextual setting. Although the study’s findings cannot be generalised, they can be informative for other universities and contexts and thus contribute to the body of knowledge about education for SD in higher education.

The support needs of health professional educators to teach clinical skills online: Experiences of COVID-19 lockdowns from three countries

Introduction: Supporting educators has been identified as vital for the efficacy and sustainability of online teaching. The teaching of clinical skills online presents additional challenges given the vast shift from traditional pedagogies. However, the support needs of health professional educators to teach clinical skills online are unknown. The aim of this study was to explore educator experiences of teaching clinical skills online and investigate their workplace support needs. Methods: A qualitative approach using focus groups was used to investigate educator experiences at three universities in Australia, Chile and South Africa. Data were subject to thematic analysis, and a thematic network tool was used to triangulate international experiences. Results: Seven focus groups were undertaken, with a total of 32 participants. Four global themes were identified following analysis: 1) the educator experience, 2) changes to pedagogy, 3) challenges to teaching online and 4) support for educators. Conclusions: This study has highlighted the professional challenges that teaching clinical skills online creates for health professional educators and the uncertainty regarding expectations and outcomes. Enhancing university support for educators to prepare and provide clinical skills teaching online is suggested to mitigate these challenges. Recommendations are made for universities and educators to consider in the pursuit of effective and sustainable teaching of clinical skills online.

Drowning in data, thirsty for information and starved for understanding: A biodiversity information hub for cooperative environmental monitoring in South Africa

The world is firmly cemented in a notitian age (Latin: notitia, meaning data) – drowning in data, yet thirsty for information and the synthesis of knowledge into understanding. As concerns over biodiversity declines escalate, the volume, diversity and speed at which new environmental and ecological data are generated has increased exponentially. Data availability primes the research and discovery engine driving biodiversity conservation. South Africa (SA) is poised to become a world leader in biodiversity conservation. However, continent-wide resource limitations hamper the establishment of inclusive technologies and robust platforms and tools for biodiversity informatics. In this perspectives piece, we bring together the opinions of 37 co-authors from 20 different departments, across 10 SA universities, 7 national and provincial conservation research agencies, and various institutes and private conservation, research and management bodies, to develop a way forward for biodiversity informatics in SA. We propose the development of a SA Biodiversity Informatics Hub and describe the essential components necessary for its design, implementation and sustainability. We emphasise the importance of developing a culture of cooperation, collaboration and interoperability among custodians of biodiversity data to establish operational workflows for data synthesis. However, our biggest challenges are misgivings around data sharing and multidisciplinary collaboration. We recommend a system that is free, user friendly, functional, stable, integrative and designed to cater for different data access agreement levels. Sharing data through this pipeline will directly advance the science and practice of conservation, giving multiple stakeholders and decision-makers access to valuable biodiversity data to support research and biodiversity conservation.

Science pre-service teachers’ experience with mentors during teaching practice

This study aims to explore how mentor teachers and the school environment helped pre-service teachers develop their pedagogical skills, and thereby, closing the gap between theory and practice. The study is based on a survey research design consisting of 75 participants consisting of third and final year students at a research and teaching university in South Africa. The participants completed a Google survey questionnaire where responses were given on a five-point Likert scale from strongly disagree, to strongly agree. The results indicate that although most pre-service teachers received the necessary guidance in theory and practical lessons as well as assessment, a significant proportion of the participants were not adequately assisted. A large proportion of the schools did not have laboratories, laboratory equipment, and chemicals. The study has practical implications for the professional development of teachers of science before service. There is dire need for all science pre-service teachers to be adequately developed by selecting the appropriate context in which the teaching practice is done to develop the knowledge, science specific pedagogical skills, and values necessary for successful entry into a professional career Furthermore, mentor teachers need to be properly oriented about their mentoring roles, and the school management team must assist in monitoring the mentoring process.

First-year nursing students’ digital literacy: A cross-sectional study

Background: The digital world is rapidly changing, and so do the required digital skills. As physical devices and software are adapted to meet new possibilities and demands, individuals’ skills must adapt to technological advancement. Digital literacy is increasingly used in the public discourse, becoming a core requirement of students, academics, patients and healthcare professionals. Assessing nursing students’ digital literacy at the entry-level is vital to ascertain their abilities to use digital technologies. This study aimed to assess basic digital literacy among first-year nursing students at a selected university in South Africa.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st March 2019 to 31st May 2019 at a university in South Africa. The population consisted of 82 nursing students from the first-year students in the 4-year nursing programme. The convenience sampling technique was used to determine the participants of this study, and 76 respondents completed a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed descriptively using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS®) software (version 25) from the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM®). A reliability test of the instrument was conducted, and Cronbach Alpha was 0.85.Results: The students’ digital literacy included: (i) basic computer skills — performing basic computer operations, MS Word and PowerPoint; (ii) internet skills — using e-mail, Moodle®, social media platforms, accessibility to the internet; and internet searches (iii) digital device usage — desktop, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Overall, the mean for internet skills was 3.61 (SD = ±0.62), 3.11 (SD = ±0.85) for computer skills, and 3.00 (SD = ±0.47) for digital device usage. Computer skills was positively correlated with internet skills (r = 0.278, p = .012) and computer skills corrected with digital device usage (r = 0.384, p < .001). The overall score for internet skills was higher in the female group than in males, with the mean of 4.00 (SD = ±0.62) and 3.61 (SD = ±0.54), respectively (t74 = -0.405, p = .019). Furthermore, the overall score for digital device usage was higher in the age group of 20 years and above with a mean of 3.19 (SD = ±0.38) than in the age group under 20 with a mean of 2.90 (SD = ±0.48), and those differences were statistically significant (t74 = -2.420, p = .018).Conclusions: An adequate digital literacy at the entry-level of the nursing programme is a foundation and a critical factor to academic success and future use of technology in nursing education and practice. Having adequate digital literacy among nursing students would positively impact their ability to perform electronic documentation, communicate and collaborate, and search for information to support evidence-based practice.

The Agenda of Simon Sekone Maimela as Student Political Activist in the Black Consciousness Context at Umphumulo Lutheran Theological College

In this article, the early days of Simon Sekone Maimela as a theological student at Umphumulo Lutheran Theological College are unpacked. He was one of the Lutheran theological students who actively established the Black Consciousness Movement at this college. He was also involved in the South African Student Organisation and other civil organisations. During his theological college days, it was not an easy task to establish this type of movement or to be involved in any civil organisation that was resisted by most White teaching staff and under apartheid in South Africa. Maimela connected his Christian faith with a life of socio-political justice. His contribution in the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, particularly to the issue of pastors’ working conditions and salaries, is also described in this article. Another vital discussion is how Maimela introduced feminist theology lessons at the University of South Africa in 1981. Archives such as letters, minutes and reports of and about Maimela were used to compile this article. Interviews with Maimela and with his church and teaching colleagues were also conducted.

Motivational Factors as a Driver for Success for First-Year Students at a Selected Public University in South Africa

Remaining motivated is vital to enable continued focus and success for university students. This study examined motivational factors as a driver for success for first year students at a selected public university in South Africa. The study adopted a phenomenological qualitative research design and participants included 312 first year students from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg who were purposively selected from the 2020 first year Bachelor of Education cohort. Data were collected by means of open-ended survey questions in the first and sixth week of lectures. Alderfer’s Existence, Relatedness and Growth (ERG) theory (1969) and Vroom’s (1964) theories of motivations were used as the analytic framework. The qualitative findings indicated significant reliance by students on external motivating factors as compared to internal motivating factors. In practice, university structures could strengthen orientation programmes for first year students at the university as these programmes would be an external motivator to enable student success.

Shifting From Onsite to Online Summative Assessment at the University of South Africa

The discourse around online summative assessment has become one of the major issues in open distance learning (ODL) worldwide. There is a lack of major research in online summative assessment in environmental education (EE) module for the bachelor of education (B.Ed.) students in ODL. The purpose of this study was to explore online summative assessment of EE module for the B.Ed. students at the University of South Africa (UNISA) during COVID-19. This study employed a qualitative approach, purposive sampling, and an interpretive paradigm. Data were ethically collected using participant observation and documentation. It was thematically analysed. Online summative assessment policies were in place before the outbreak of COVID-19, but policies were not implemented. The university quickly transitioned from face-to-face to online summative assessment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and lecturers were trained. Challenges included non-training of students for online summative assessment, corrupt answer books, lack of prompt response from ICT specialist, and connectivity problems.