Academic Support

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Academic advising in universities : concept paper
(Kamla-Raj, 2014) Makondo, Livingstone
The need for sustained academic advising and support for students and lecturers in universities in South Africa is on the rise. The initiative draws from the sad reality that the South African higher education system is characterised with low success, retention and throughtput rates. It is within this context that this concept paper interrogates what strategic advisory roles academic/educational/curriculum practitioners/specialists could execute towards ameliorating the situation. This paper draws from academic development literature, institutional self-evaluation, Higher Education Quality Committee audit reports and reflections from experience gathered from lecturing and academic advising. It emerged that academic development advisors need be properly qualified, experienced for them to strategically be visible, design and offer as well as popularise discourse on curriculum design and review, teaching, learning and assessment services among others. Educational practitioners need to execute different agential roles meant to ensure that requisite enabling teaching and learning policies are in place and well popularized. This calls for the nurturing of an institutional culture that foregrounds discourses on academic support, academic excellence and mindset change for the enhancement of the university teaching and learning agenda.
Accessing success through the Writing Centres at a University of Technology
(Kamla-Raj, 2016) Zuma, Nonhlanhla; Popoola, Tosin; Makondo, Livingstone
University students are diverse not only in their demographics, but also in their academic literacy needs. To meet and accommodate the writing needs of all learners, writing centres were established in 2013 at a selected University of Technology (UoT). This study explored the factors that influence use of the writing centre at a selected UoT campus, using a descriptive qualitative design. The study triangulated data collected from interviews with 15 purposively recruited participants and responses from 50 consultations forms. The study findings provided insights into the academic needs of participants, factors influencing use of the writing centres and participants’ evaluation of the writing centres in relation to their academic pursuit. Participants’ academic literacy needs included issues with grammar, public speaking and pronunciation. Taking account of the range of needs of writing centre users at the selected UoT and the diverse factors affecting use of the writing centres, it is recommended that the writing centre invests in the continuing development of its staff so that they can be more responsive to the writing needs of its users. Furthermore, since the factors predicting use of the writing centre include personal and organizational factors, it is important that strategies to raise awareness of the writing centre be tailored appropriately to the needs of the university community.
The advocacy-growth nexus: the case of the Egyptian banking sector
(Emerald Insight, 2014) Abdel-Baki, Monal A.
Purpose – The Egyptian banking sector has acted as an arena for multiple alliances, some of which bred crony capitalism and others acted as growth alliances. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of private sector advocacy in the Egyptian banking sector on macroeconomic performance, with the prime aim of designing an Egyptian-centric roadmap outlining precepts of good advocacy between bankers, policymakers and businesses. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a two-stage model. In the first stage an advocacy construct is developed using confirmatory factor analysis. In the second stage the relationship between advocacy and macroeconomic growth is measured by running a set of parsimonious regressions. Findings – The empirical results show a strong relationship between advocacy and growth, albeit not on inflation rates, suggesting that an innovative set of public policy instruments is needed to promote private advocacy efforts and to institutionalise private-public partnerships. This is an innately pressing mission for the new government to mitigate the impact of the double-digit inflation that has prevailed since the Triple-F – food, fuel and finance – Crisis of 2006. Practical implications – The ousted Egyptian government failed to protect its citizens from crony alliances and corruption, be it abuse of public resources or unfair access to bank credit. Hence, the prime aim is to design a future roadmap for the endorsement of effective growth alliances between businesses, bankers and policymakers. The recommendations proposed by this study would prove helpful to future public policymakers in the fulfilment of the macroeconomic aspirations of the Egyptian society as well as to other emerging and developing nations that share similar problems. Social implications – The research addresses how reforms can be designed in an egalitarian fashion to direct credit to growth enhancing and job-generating sectors since a prompt treatment of these problems at their roots is apt to minimise the probabilities of future social turmoil. This is apt to assist the Egyptian people to transition to a truly democratic society and to convert street rebellions into inclusive institutional activism. Originality/value – This paper adds to the literature a measurable construct gauging the relationship between advocacy in the banking sector and growth. Another contribution is the set of policies proposed to institutionalise rightful advocacy efforts.
Affective and embodied pedagogy as pathways to equity in curriculum and responsiveness
(2022-12-31) Fomunyam, Kehdinga George
The question of equity in the South African educational landscape and particularly in the curriculum at all levels cannot be over emphasised, however achieving this equity has proven to be daunting task. The purpose of this article is to explore affective and embodied pedagogy as alternative pathways to equity in curriculum and responsiveness. Hamilton (2007) argues that beyond the idea that equity is morally right, striving for radical educational equity, is a winning strategy for all learners regardless of their background. With resistance to the drive to achieve equity almost guaran-teed, questions arise on how to achieve the same and ensure that curriculum responsiveness takes places for all learners/students. This paper seeks to answer the question. This paper theorised affective and embodied pedagogy, and generated pathways or forces which can be used to establish equity and responsiveness in education. The paper proposes diffractive physicality, social vulnerability and rhizomatic spatiality as the key constructs for equity and responsiveness. The paper concludes that affective and embodied pedagogy can be used as pathways to achieve equity in curriculum and responsiveness.
African female doctoral graduates account for success in their doctoral journeys
(AOSIS, 2022) Tsephe, Lifutso; Potgieter, Cheryl
Doctoral education is regarded as a crucial engine for development by the knowledge economies, thereby making the research capacity of scholars play a critical factor towards development. Widening participation within doctoral education is seen as a way of enhancing this capacity. However, African scholars produce only 1.4% of all published research, indicating that Africa lacks research capacity. Even though both men and women contribute to the development of their continent and their countries, the number of women holding doctoral degrees on the African continent remains low across all nationalities. In high-income countries, there are 3963 PhDs per million people, whereas in some African countries (such as Tunisia, Egypt and Kenya), the number ranges from 100 to over 1500; however, in most lowincome countries (such as Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania), the number is less than 100. Much research in doctoral education examines the reasons for low graduation rates and high attrition rates, but little research examines the contributors to the doctoral study for African women, especially in these times when doctoral education is viewed as a driver of the economy. Based on a qualitative study that interviewed 14 women from African countries, this article aimed to investigate how women account for completing doctoral studies. Data were gathered through semistructured interviews and analysed thematically using a capabilities approach as a theoretical framework. The findings suggest that institutional support, peer support and academic support played a role in their achievement. Contribution: The article contributed to doctoral education scholarship of African women and indicated that religion contributed to African women’s success in doctoral programmes, granting them strength to push until completion. This research may greatly encourage more women to enrol in doctoral programmes when reading other women’s success stories
Analysing factors influencing women unemployment using a random forest model
(2022-12-30) Adeliyi, Timothy; Oyewusi, Lawrence; Epizitone, Ayogeboh; Oyewusi, Damilola
The unemployment crisis has been a persistent issue for both development countries, resulting in an economic indicator deficit. Women are at a disadvantage and continue to encounter significant obstacles to gaining employment. Nigeria, like many other developing countries with high unemployment rates, has a 33% unemployment rate. Consequently, there has been minimal research on the factors that affect women's unemployment. As a result, the purpose of this study investigates the factors women's unemployment in Nigeria. Although the Random Forest model has been widely applied to classification issues, there is a gap in the literature's use of the random forest as a predictor for analyzing factors influencing women's unemployment. The random forest model was employed in this study because of its characteristics such as strong learning ability, robustness, and feasibility of the hypothesis space. As a result, the Random forest prediction model was benchmarked with seven different cutting-edge classical machine learning prediction models, which include the J48 pruned tree, Support Vector Machine, AdaBoost, Logistic Regression, Naive Bayes, Logistic Model Tree, Bagging and Random Forest. The experimental results demonstrate that Random Forest outperformed the other seven machine learning classifier models using ten commonly used performance evaluation metrics. According to the study's findings, age groups, ethnicity, marital status, and religion were the essential factors affecting women's unemployment in Nigeria.
An analysis of corporate community engagement in Zimbabwe
(Business Perspectives, 2014) Msweli, Pumela; Wushe, Tawaziwa
A notable conflict in extractive industries is a clash of competing interests. A desire to address this conflict has resulted in the development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) theories. The aim of this paper is to provide an indepth understanding of factors that have a significant impact on positive corporate community engagement, by focusing on the engagement aspect of corporate social responsibility. The study is centered around the following three questions: (1) How should corporates engage with local communities to ensure positive engagement outcomes? (2) What is the role of communities in the corporate engagement process? (3) What are the key components of Corporate Community Engagement? Using qualitative and quantitative data instruments, empirical evidence was generated from five commu-nities in close proximity to platinum and diamond mining companies in Zimbabwe. The qualitative data gathering process generated ten key components of corporate community engagement. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the factorial validity of these components. The factor solution resulted in three significant components: (1) value adding partnerships; (2) trust; and (3) effective communication. The paper concludes by giving consideration to corpo-rate best practices that lead to enriching understanding of local communities and effective engagement.
Analysis of enrolment rate in private institutions in west African countries
(2022-09-01) Kehdinga George Fomunyam
Higher education in Africa is often characterized by academic institutions shaped by colonialism and patterned after the European model. With the demand for educational access unstoppable in Africa, it also has immense possibilities for modernization and development in the face of low post secondary attendance levels. One way that has contributed to this drive is the institutionalization of private institutions in the higher education landscape in Africa. This study looked at enrollment rate in private universities in West African Countries by first examining the higher education landscape in Africa and understanding the drive for private institutions in Africa. findings from the study revealed that there has been increase in enrollment rate in private institutions in west African countries. This study therefore recommends that government should focus on both public and private higher education institution to avert a downward spiral in educational quality in the public institutions and to also encourage quality and control in the private institutions. There is also need for proper regulation of private universities to avoid a repeat of the inadequacies of public universities.
Antibiogram of environmental isolates of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus from Nkonkobe Municipality, South Africa
(PSP, 2016) Stenström, Thor-Axel; Okoh, Anthony I.; Adegoke, Anthony Ayodeji
The antibiogram of Acinetobacter isolates from freshwater and soil samples in Alice and Fort Beaufort towns in Nkonkobe Municipality, South Africa were assessed for their extended beta-lactamase (ESBL) spectrum. Eighty-six Acinetobacter isolates were obtained from the 50 samples of soil and 50 samples of water (25 in each location) analysed. The resistance of the Acinetobacter isolates ranged between 30-100% against penicillin G, ceftriazone, nitrofurantoin, erythromycin and augmentin, while 9% showed intermediate response to minocycline, and 10% were resistant to oxytetracycline. Both Tet B and Tet 39 were detected in 66.7 % of the tetracycline resistant Acinetobacter isolates and in 44.4 % of the intermediately tetracycline resistant Acinetobacter isolates. An observation of 9.3% phenotypic expression of ESBLs was made while 3.5% were carrying the blaCTX-M-1 gene; all of which were susceptible to the fluoroquinolone. The multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of > 0.2 indicates that the isolates emerged from high-risk sources, in line with conventional standards. Commensal Acinetobacter spp in the environment have proven to be one of reservoirs for antibiotic resistance genes.
Are ‘Albergo Diffuso’ and community-based tourism the answers to community development in South Africa?
(Taylor and Fancis Online, 2016-05-26) Giampiccoli, Andrea; Saayman, Melville; Jugmohan, Sean
Conventional mass tourism shortcomings have facilitated the origin of alternative forms of tourism such as community-based tourism (CBT). Lately, another form of tourism known as ‘Albergo Diffuso’ (AD) has also been mentioned as a possible strategy to revive depressed speciﬁc local contexts, such as townships, villages and small towns. This article’s aim is twofold: ﬁrst to contextualise the concept of AD in the South African milieu and secondly to investigate the possible relationship and role that CBT and AD could have. In this context, speciﬁc characteristics and similarities between CBT and AD are explored. The article’s main contribution concerns the exploration of the AD concept as an alternative form of tourism related to local community development. This is the ﬁrst time that this concept has been presented in a South African context.
Between theory and practice : A conceptualization of community based tourism and community participation
(Loyola College of Social Sciences, 2015) Giampiccoli, Andrea; Mtapuri, Oliver
Tourism in general and community-based tourism (CBT) in particular is important in the overall development discourse in which political ideology and philosophy have a role to play. This paper, using a thorough desk top research, perused various sources of literature, especially handbooks and manual on CBT, to interrogate how theory and practice inform the conceptualization of Community Based Tourism and community participation. CBT is a form of tourism which emphasises and encourages the involvement of communities in showcasing their culture, artifacts, heritage and environments. Community participation may include running own enterprises as individuals, as collectives and/or with formal partners and may include village visits and tours, participation in village life, cultural tours and so forth. his paper argues that the degree of participation is informed by the CBT venture type as some venture types work to the advantage of communities while others do not. Notions of control, power, empowerment, decision-making and socio-economic conditions are important in this discourse. Participation approaches should be able to challenge existing power structures if genuine empowerment is to be achieved in previously disadvantaged areas The major contribution of this paper is the Community participation and CBT Model Framework which it posits. The framework can be used to locate areas of effective community participation through ‘citizen control’ by venture type. It informs both policy and practice in modeling CBT ventures which ensure community participation, control, empowerment and community decision-making. While most manuals mostly targeted practitioners, this paper advocates the development of manuals which target communities so that they can initiate, manage and run productive CBT projects.
Building knowledge absorptive capacity in South African public companies through recruitment practices
(Academic Conferences International Ltd, 2023-01-01) Phaladi, Malefetjane Phineas
Most state-owned companies (SOCs) in South Africa are in a perpetual struggle to recruit human resources and replenish their intangible knowledge asset losses that are largely due to high employee turnover. The study is interdisciplinary in nature, presenting a strong link between recruitment practice, employee turnover, knowledge loss and knowledge absorptive capacity. The research project used a mixed methods exploratory sequential design by gathering in-depth qualitative data through interviews with 20 human resource managers in 9 SOCs. Survey data was collected from a 25% response rate to the 585 distributed questionnaires. The survey instrument was tested for reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha at 0.94. The qualitative data extracted through the interviews were analyzed thematically using Atlas.ti software, whilst the quantitative data were analysed using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS). The findings revealed that due to increased human resources mobility, human resource management (HRM) establishments in many SOCs were in a perpetual struggle to fill vacancies in mission-critical areas. Knowledge-loss induced by human resource attrition was a serious challenge in most SOCs. On a positive note, the study revealed that recruitment practices were knowledge-driven, largely because they supported SOCs in the sourcing of the required company-specific human and knowledge resources, albeit some extant challenges. The study concluded that HRM recruitment practices build knowledge absorptive capacity in South African SOCs.
Can alignment of digital resources with needs produce a new curriculum theory for teaching?
(BRILL, 2020-12-14) Khoza, Simon Bheki; Fomunyam, Kehdinga George; Fomunyam, Kehdinga; Simon, Khoza
Teaching and graduating students have become important responsibilities for academics, helping their universities to fulfil disciplinary, societal, and personal needs. Academics use digital resources to support their teaching processes, in order to increase the student completion rate for their universities, improving the world rankings with funding. Digital resources divided into hardware, software, and theories work well when they are aligned with relevant needs. Therefore, this chapter presents an interpretive case study of eight academics who taught students specialising in Curriculum Development at a university in South Africa. The study explored and understood the alignment of digital resources with human needs involved in the teaching of master of education (MEd) students. Semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussions, and document analysis were used for data generation. Purposive with convenience sampling was used to select the eight most accessible participants. The study revealed that, when digital resources were used for teaching, this created competing perceived and conceived spaces that had to be integrated into lived space. This chapter, consequently, recommends the understanding and the use of the lived space, which is capable of helping individuals to self-actualise and be able to address societal and disciplinary needs.
Can Universities of Technology in South Africa achieve transformation by promoting a culture of social responsibility among academic and student agents?
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023-01-01) Markus, Elisha Didam; Govender, Nereshnee
University social responsibility is an intrinsic discourse in South Africa. Universities grapple with their identities relating to learning, teaching, research and community engagement. This paper explores how the drive for transformation particularly at universities of technology has promoted a culture of social responsibility among student and staff agents. Two universities were considered in the analysis of existing norms and understanding how institutions integrate the culture of social responsibility while adhering to mandates of creating knowledge societies. This study provides recommendations that could be endorsed as policy to develop innovative developmental strategies and enact new social responsibility partnerships within university spaces.
Can Using Online Formative Assessment Boost the Academic Performance of Business Students? An Empirical Study
(Kamla-Raj, 2015) Oellermann, Susan Wilma; Van der merwe, Alexander Dawid
The declining quality of first year student intake at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) prompted the addition of online learning to traditional instruction. The time spent by students in an online classroom and their scores in subsequent multiple-choice question (MCQ) tests were measured. Tests on standardised regression coefficients showed self-test time as a significant predictor of summative MCQ performance while controlling for ability. Exam MCQ performance was found to be associated, positively and significantly, with annual self-test time at the 5 percent level and a significant relationship was found between MCQ marks and year marks. It was concluded that students’ use of the self-test tool in formative assessments has a significant bearing on students’ year marks and final grades. The negative nature of the standardised beta coefficient for gender indicates that, when year marks and annual self-test time are considered, males appear to have performed slightly better than females.
Challenges facing women in the mining area of Bojanala district of South Africa
(IGI Global, 2021) Mafora, Gaontebale Audrey; Rena, Ravinder
This chapter examined the Marikana Massacre and its effects on women of the deceased and those who sustained injuries. It also covers the challenges of the women in the Bojanala District of South Africa. The chapter also addresses the disparities and inequalities experienced by women in the mining industry. Forty women participants were part of the study. The data was gathered through questionnaires, oral interviews, and observations. The analysis revealed that more women were affected by the massacre and has deepened their level of poverty. The government provided interventions, but the findings revealed that the incident has left participants with scars, loss of income, and dissatisfaction. The chapter recommended some possible measures to improve the situation of women because of the Marikana Massacre and poverty in the area.
Challenges of student accommodation at institutions of higher learning : a case study of University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
(Centre for the Study of Southern African Literature and Languages, 2022-12-12) Adam, Ahmed Sadeq; Adam, Pamela; Adam, Jamila Khatoon; Krishna, Suresh Babu Naidu
Access to higher education by the general populace in South Africa has been steadily increasing over the last decade. With this increase in access, major challenges have presented themselves that may compromise the transformational agenda for higher education in South Africa. The focus of this research was to examine the challenges associated with student accommodation. In total, 600 questionnaires were dispatched to students from the five campuses of University of KwaZulu-Natal and 453 were returned which gave a 75.5% response rate. The research instrument consisted of 31 items, with a level of measurement at a nominal or an ordinal level. Data obtained from the respondents included biographical data, quality of accommodation, accessibility and adequacy of accommodation, security, safety and health issues in the University accommodation. The questionnaire was the primary tool that was used to collect data and was distributed to students who lived in residences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The data collected from the responses were analysed with SPSS version 24.0. The study’s focus was to examine various challenges associated with student accommodation in South Africa specifically UKZN and results indicated that accessibility to the university accommodation for residential purposes is a great challenge for many students. Other issues faced by students include insecurity on campus, irregular security checks, inefficient and untimely manner of the quality of services rendered by the hall management. Good and efficient accommodative measures by the university are necessary for quality academic output; hence, the need for critical intervention, as suggested in the study.
Characteristics and policies of community-based tourism in the case of Jamaica
(2015-01) Giampiccoli, Andrea; Jugmohan, Sean; Mtapuri, Oliver
The aim of the article is to investigate the relationship between relevant Community-based Tourism (CBT) characteristics and the Jamaican Community Tourism Policy and Strategy (CTPS) and to discuss its value in community development. This article makes a contribution towards the understanding of the role of government in the development CBT. It argues that while the Jamaican CTPS has many positive strategies, they seem to be skewed in favor of the well established and market ready Community Tourism Enterprises (CTEs). It argues that such a state of affairs risks increasing the inequality gap between the rich CTEs and the poor ones and the members involved. By inference, it also risks developing ‘elite’ CTEs. As such, the article also argues that support should be given to all CTEs in the various tiers depending solely on need. The article also posits that it is critically important to develop community tourism partnerships with government ministries and other agencies, the private sector and NGOs for the establishment of standards, assessments, branding, marketing, financing and legal issues and capacity building. The article argues that the forms and modes of capacity building and empowerment which it advocates should make communities independent in the interest of social justice. While Jamaica’s CTPS has numerous feasible strategies, it is their prioritization which is highly contestable.
A cluster-randomized controlled trial to reduce Diarrheal disease and dengue entomological risk factors in rural primary schools in Colombia
(National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 2016-11-07) Overgaard, Hans J.; Alexander, Neal; Matiz, María Inés; Jaramillo, Juan Felipe; Olano, Victor Alberto; Vargas, Sandra Lucía; Sarmiento, Diana; Lenhart, Audrey; Stenström, Thor-Axel
Background As many neglected tropical diseases are co-endemic and have common risk factors, inte-grated control can efficiently reduce disease burden and relieve resource-strained public health budgets. Diarrheal diseases and dengue fever are major global health problems sharing common risk factors in water storage containers. Where provision of clean water is inadequate, water storage is crucial. Fecal contamination of stored water is a common source of diarrheal illness, but stored water also provides breeding sites for dengue vector mosquitoes. Integrating improved water management and educational strategies for both diseases in the school environment can potentially improve the health situation for students and the larger community. The objective of this trial was to investigate whether interven-tions targeting diarrhea and dengue risk factors would significantly reduce absence due to diarrheal disease and dengue entomological risk factors in schools. Methodology/Principal Findings A factorial cluster randomized controlled trial was carried out in 34 rural primary schools (1,301 pupils) in La Mesa and Anapoima municipalities, Cundinamarca, Colombia. Schools were randomized to one of four study arms: diarrhea interventions (DIA), dengue interven-tions (DEN), combined diarrhea and dengue interventions (DIADEN), and control (CON). Interventions had no apparent effect on pupil school absence due to diarrheal disease (p = 0.45) or on adult female Aedes aegypti density (p = 0.32) (primary outcomes). However, the dengue interventions reduced the Breteau Index on average by 78% (p = 0.029), with Breteau indices of 10.8 and 6.2 in the DEN and DIADEN arms, respectively compared to 37.5 and 46.9 in the DIA and CON arms, respectively. The diarrhea interventions improved water quality as assessed by the amount of Escherichia coli colony forming units (CFU); the ratio of Williams mean E. coli CFU being 0.22, or 78% reduction (p = 0.008). Conclusions/Significance Integrated control of dengue and diarrhea has never been conducted before. This trial pres-ents an example for application of control strategies that may affect both diseases and the first study to apply such an approach in school settings. The interventions were well received and highly appreciated by students and teachers. An apparent absence of effect in primary outcome indicators could be the result of pupils being exposed to risk factors out-side the school area and mosquitoes flying in from nearby uncontrolled breeding sites. Inte-grated interventions targeting these diseases in a school context remain promising because of the reduced mosquito breeding and improved water quality, as well as educa-tional benefits. However, to improve outcomes in future integrated approaches, simulta-neous interventions in communities, in addition to schools, should be considered; using appropriate combinations of site-specific, effective, acceptable, and affordable interventions.
Communication skills as a subject in the programme cost and management accounting at a South African University
(International Foundation for Research & Development, 2013-07) Naidoo, Suntharmurthy Kristnasamy; Garbharran, Hari Lall
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the communication proficiency of the Cost and Management (CMA) students and to assess whether the studying of the subject,, ”Communication Skills”, is having any positive influence on students’ skills development. The research design for this paper was descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional. The target population was 556 CMA students. A census survey was conducted. Findings, which were analysed with the aid of descriptive statistics, indicate a significant correlation between skills in English proficiency and better grades in CMA. This paper recommends the implementation of a screening mechanism and the provision for the acquisition of communication skills for first-year university students.