Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37942

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Evaluating the perceived existence of racial profiling and income inequalities in the South African banking sector
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020-10) Diphoko, Tebogo Mogosi; Chakamera, Chengete
    The purpose of the study was to investigate inequality of outcomes and opportunities. Inequality of outcome in the context of the role that education played in narrowing the income inequality gap. Inequality of opportunities in the context of disparities in financial services access by way of racially profiling and subsequently the role that media played in perpetuating the notion of racial profiling in the South African banking sector. The research strategy utilised was quantitative with the research design being the cross-sectional research design. Moreover, the data collection instruments applied in this study was the fully structured questionnaire. Analytical methods include frequencies and correlations. The results indicate that education does not narrow income inequality in the South African banking sector. This finding was confirmed by the hypothesis testing where the null hypothesis was not rejected which concluded that education is not significantly recognised to influence income inequality in the South African banking sector. The results in relation to the second research questions indicated that disparities in financial services access by way of racial profiling does exist. Subsequently, this was confirmed by the hypothesis testing where the null hypothesis that suggested that the disparity does not exist was rejected. Meaning, that the banking sector do profile their clients. Results in relation to the third research questions indicate that the notion of racial profiling is a phenomenon that had been personally experienced by individuals rather than perpetuated by media coverage. The main recommendation of this study was that banks must have a transparent credit scoring system during the credit application process, so that it can demystify the notion of discrimination. Furthermore, the study recommends that the definition of the term racial profiling be added to literature to providing a platform for future study replication. In terms of value addition, this study is one of the first research papers to contribute to the pool of knowledge and to investigate the role of education in narrowing income inequality and the existence of racial profiling in the South African banking sector. Thus, providing a platform for future replication in other sectors and expansion on the topic.
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    Establishing mathematics teaching and training institutes in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020) Mashile, Mahlogonolo; Oba, Pius
    This business venture proposal presents an idea that seeks to scale up an existing entrepreneurial idea that provides mathematics tutoring services and proposes the establishment of mathematics teaching and training institutes in South Africa. The business falls under the private tutor industry, which has a growing market size and an opportunity for the business to gain a significant share. The services offered will be mathematics teaching to high school students and training to both existing and new mathematics teachers (those who are entering the field of education). The project initially reviews literature to gain deep knowledge and understanding of the challenges experienced in the mathematics education of South Africa, and to acquire enabling data for managing a business of this nature. This enables us to design a business that will yield considerable profits and be sustained. South Africa produces poor mathematics results annually, which is very concerning for multiple stakeholders that depend on good performance in the subject. The government has used several strategies aimed at improving mathematics results in South Africa, but there has not been any improvement realised. This is very concerning for a country whose future depends on the success in technical subjects like mathematics. Studies conducted on mathematics performance indicated that South African students and teachers perform very poorly when compared to their peers in other countries (McCarthy & Oliphant, 2013). This project used the qualitative research method to gather data from the field to assist in understanding the market, its appetite and opportunities available. Data was collected from three provinces in South Africa: Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng. The results showed a low pass rate in mathematics, particularly in lower quintile schools, which constitute the highest number of schools and students in the country. Lower quintile areas are an untapped market because most mathematics tutoring services are based in big cities where the affordability is higher. The business will have partnerships with organisations that have corporate social responsibility to serve this market, while also serving the high- income market that pays tuition fees. The results from the survey conducted indicated an acknowledged gap in mathematics teaching. Most respondents noted that their students perform poorly in the subject, which they attributed to lack of student commitment and lack of workshops addressing challenging topics, among others. Over 92% of the respondents recommended consistent training for mathematics teachers. Several marketing strategies will be employed to introduce the mathematics services to our target market, grow the market share and increase the brand awareness. These include advertising on social media platforms, billboards and promotions. The business plans to establish institutions in Gauteng and Mpumalanga in the initial stages, and work towards increasing enrolments year on year. The business is expected to make a net profit of R2.6 million in year one, R5.8 million in year two and R7.5 million in year three. The business will be expanding into other provinces after the initial three years and work towards establishing mathematics, science and technology institutions in the future
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    The Resource Curse and Tertiary Education Sector in Angola
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Carrilho, Vanessa
    Resource Curse is a much-debated phenomenon that affects countries with natural resources wealth. Considering the contributions of past studies and accepting that Angola exhibits the malady, the present research seeks to understand how the problem had impacted the country’s higher education. The theoretical framework sought to understand the Resource Curse theory and its impacts on Education as well the background for the selection of study variables. Given the limitation of existing literature concerning tertiary education, a new conceptual framework was adopted to study the interconnection between variables. Similarly to most Resource Curse studies, a qualitative research method was embraced and data collection was done in two phases, sourcing primary data in the form of interviews and secondary data in form of documental analysis. The study concludes that the Resource Curse had a negative effect on tertiary education, in which the association between Resource Curse and education variables resulted in four main clusters: colonialism, civil war and institutions, weak governance and weak economy, attesting that these dimensions had impacted the higher education quality. Evidence from the results show that in the period under study (2002-2019) weak governance played a crucial role in perpetuating the deleterious effect of the previous periods by widening the gap between those with and without access to socioeconomic opportunities and welfare, including educational prospects. Strong institutions, political will and better investments are required to meet the needs of the underfunded and neglected education system and boost the quality of the education being provided if economic development is to be achieved
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    Gamification as a tool for supporting Entrepreneurship Education in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Sephiti, Kelebogile; Urban, Boris
    The significance of entrepreneurship as a vital economic factor has tremendously burgeoned in the past decades as it aided in curbing the impact of unemployment and the global economic downturn. With its scope proliferating in every field, educational institutions have started incorporating it into their learning system as Entrepreneurship Education (EE). To enhance the effectiveness of EE, educators are employing diverse strategies. Among these techniques, gamification is seen as a major one. Gamification as a tool uses game-based design in non-game settings, making it a captivating practice which helps improve students’ engagement in innovative learning. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of game-based learning on entrepreneurship education in South Africa. The required data is collected from an Entrepreneurship Education Foundation based in South Africa, which aims to foster a community of responsible entrepreneurs and collaborates with beneficiaries who study in secondary as well as tertiary educational institutions. The collected data is interrogated using quantitative analysis for further interpretation and the results suggest that gaming, when used as a tool for entrepreneurship education, increases the chances of an individual becoming an entrepreneur