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Subject: search.filters.subject.Academic achievement--South Africa

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    The provision of academic literacies for the enhancement of teaching and learning in a selected programme at a university in KwaZulu-Natal
    (2021-04-28) Mbatha, Nomfundo Patience; Moyane, Smangele Pretty; Nkomo, N.
    The general expectation is that students entering university should possess a diverse range of literacies. The reality, however, is that even with various interventions to develop essential literacies, students continue to be inadequately equipped with academic literacies (ALs) that are pivotal towards the attainment of quality teaching and learning and improved student success. This study sets out to examine the provision of ALs for the enhancement of teaching and learning in a selected programme at the Durban University of Technology. The objectives to achieve the above aim were to identify the practices followed in the provision of ALs for the enhancement of teaching and learning in a selected programme at DUT and to establish the factors influencing the provision of ALs for the enhancement of teaching and learning in a selected programme at DUT. The study was informed by Lea and Street’s (1998) theory of New Literacy Studies (NLS). The NLS theory considers ALs as more than technical reading and writing skills and rather as social practices that vary with context, culture, community, student identities and discipline. A post-positivist paradigm was adopted allowing for a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches within a survey research design. The populations targeted were lecturers and undergraduate students. A census of all the lecturers in the selected programme was conducted. For students, the first level of sampling was through probability quota sampling for the representation of the three undergraduate levels: first, second and third year. Although a Bachelor of Technology is an undergraduate qualification, for this study it was excluded. The second level of sampling was to select randomly within quotas. Academic staff were targeted through a census. The quantitative data obtained was analysed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data through content analysis. The findings reveal that there is consensus on the need for the provision of ALs for the enhancement of teaching and learning in the selected programme. AL teaching practices are dominated by the Study Skills Approach while the preference of all participants’ points to the NLS approach. With regard to factors that influence the provision of ALs, time was of primary importance especially time to engage with lecturers as well as individual time for practice. In addition, there was a lack of synergy and cooperation among the relevant stakeholders which hampered the provision of ALs. The study recommends a shift in focus on the provision of ALs from the study skills approach to the more nuanced delivery mode provided through the NLS approach. This could be achieved by putting more emphasis on helping students learn beyond superficial reading and writing skills to the more overt approaches of sense making within their disciplines. The implications of changing from the study skills approach to the NLS approach are that the provision of ALs which is presently largely offered by support departments has to move to discipline- based lecturers. Improved synergy and cooperation among relevant stakeholders are imperative to enhance the provision of ALs for teaching and learning.
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    Factors influencing the throughput of postgraduates in a South African University of Technology
    (2020-12-01) Dlamini, Sanelisiwe Precious; Moyane, Smangele Pretty; Nkomos, N.
    Failure of students to complete postgraduate studies is a matter of concern globally to several stakeholders among them academics, postgraduate candidates, government representatives, HEIs administrators, and postgraduate funders. The contemporary terminology for this phenomenon is throughput, regarded as the completion of studies within a minimum or maximum allocated timeframe. Throughput related issues in higher education include the length of time it takes for students to graduate, the students’ success rates, termination of studies and dropping out of the system before graduation or remaining in the system inactively, etc. In the context of South Africa, postgraduate throughput is noticeably lower in Universities of Technology (UoTs) given that research was previously not their primary focus. With reference to the above, this study, aimed to examine the factors influencing the throughput of postgraduates in a South African University of Technology. The aim of the study was achieved by establishing awareness of and adherence to the completion timelines for postgraduate studies, determining the research capacity available for the completion of postgraduate studies and determining the factors hindering the completion of postgraduate studies. To fully appreciate the concept of postgraduate studies and issues associated with postgraduate throughput, the literature on the factors influencing postgraduates’ throughput was reviewed. The theory of Student Integration (Tinto 1975) was employed to guide the present study. Tinto’s theory recommends that the extent of students’ integration into the academic life and social life within academia, and the extent of students’ commitment and diligence to their studies and the university-oriented goals are the symptoms signifying students’ persistence within academia. The study was informed by the post-positivist research paradigm allowing for the combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches in a single study within a survey research design. The population groups targeted for data collection were postgraduate students, academic supervisors, faculties’ research coordinators, and library personnel (librarian). Self-administered semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from postgraduate students and academic supervisors. Data from librarians was collected by means of face-toface semi-structured interviews. The collected quantitative and qualitative data was analysed through descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis, respectively. Analysis through descriptive statistics was limited to frequency counts, percentages, tables, charts, and graphs. Qualitative data results were presented in a narrative form (textual formats). The study findings outlined the importance of awareness of completion timelines, and rules and regulations governing postgraduate studies to throughput. It was, however, clear that there was laxity in terms of adherence to rules and regulations, even though the study could not determine whether the extent of laxity extended to failure to meet completion timelines as the majority of those who responded were still within their candidature. The study also found that there is optimum visibility of the core research capacity (in terms of facilities including library and research support programs, and trained personnel) for throughput and the satisfaction thereof was by and large on the moderate to satisfactory scale. The availability of academic writing skills was reported to be low yet significant to postgraduate throughput. The study confirmed the significance of personal/students, supervisory, and institutional related factors to throughput. The most influential factors were slow feedback; challenges associated with financial resources; lack of readiness to conduct research; lack of commitment to conduct research, lack of research skills; supervisors’ workload, commitments associated with family responsibilities; lack of sound training in research methodologies and methods as well as lack of technical support. The institution has the opportunity for significant improvement regarding the factors hindering the throughput of postgraduates.
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    Academic staff perceptions of empowerment training programmes initiated by Durban University of Technology
    (2018) Bingwa, Luyanda Loraine; Ngwane, Knowledge Siyabonga Vusamandla; Reddy, Radha
    Higher education in South Africa underwent a significant change during the last decade. Lecturers may not be necessarily equipped to face all the changes that are a result of changes faced by higher education. Academic staff needs to be trained so as to strengthen their teaching competencies. Training serves as an opportunity to upgrade their qualifications. Without training, it would be challenging for academics to perform their core activities. The problem that arises is that the type of routine tasks typical of the functions of academic staff does not require only training in the form of coaching but also learning in the form of gaining knowledge and competence within the academic disciplinary context. However, hands-on training seems to be the crucial component that will ensure the correct application of routine procedures. The purpose of this study was to identify the academic staff perception of empowerment programmes initiated by the Durban University of Technology (DUT), and the challenges involved in successfully empowering staff. This study also identified problems encountered during academic staff development process and further investigated if the academic staff were provided with reasonable opportunity to participate. In this study, a quantitative approach was used, and data was collected from academic staff, comprising of professors, head of departments, senior lecturers, lecturers and junior lecturers of the Durban University of Technology. A sample size of 132 was drawn from the population. Questionnaires were designed with both closed and open-ended questions, and were personally administered by the researcher to all academic staff members in all faculties of the Durban University of Technology. Analysis of data revealed that the University provide academic staff with sufficient and relevant training however staff felt that they should be included in the planning of these programmes. Furthermore there was a need for follow-up to evaluate effectiveness of the training programmes and if they served the purpose for which they were intended to. This study, therefore, recommended that respective faculties should involve their staff members in planning, and that a follow-up be conducted after completion of training.