3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Exclusion and access in higher education policies(2015-02-16) Menon, Kirti ShashikantThe democratisation process of higher education in South Africa commenced in 1994, with the refrains of ‘widening access, broadening participation’ and ‘the doors of education and culture shall be opened’. The deep structural and systemic deficits in the apartheid education system restricted access to higher education based on race, while simultaneously deepening inequalities in the schooling system. Education reform as the transition to democracy commenced, required seismic policy and systemic shifts widely described as an agenda to transform the higher education system. Thus equity of access and success reverberate in the policy documents and reforms undertaken by the government. This research study examined the policy texts and state instruments used to steer the system towards the goal of widening access. Using the conceptual model of Bowe, Ball and Gold (1992) it explored the role of universities in re-interpreting policies, while at the same time focusing on the difficulty of ‘widening access’ given the treacherous legacy of the past. The focus was on a 16 year time-span from 1994–2010, tracing the journey of policy reforms and analysing the quantitative data at the national level of the higher education system. The researcher sought to understand the enormity of the education system problems, while taking into account that changing the course for the country is a major task which would require deep transformation that would not be feasible in a short period. Findings of the research conducted are analysed and discussed during the course of this thesis. The thesis also recommends the adoption of an evaluative framework that would enable government to measure progress in relation to stated goals and inculcate greater accountability by universities.Item The evolution of broadband policy and regulation in South Africa(2014-03-18) Kekana, Arthur GladwellThe liberalization of the telecommunications sector in South Africa has brought about vast improvement in the take-up and use of mobile telephony, however the opposite can be said of broadband penetration. As recently as 2012, there has been some degree of stagnation in fixed telephony and broadband access. This research report explores the evolution of broadband policy and regulation over the past decade, 2003-2012. Several themes from international trends are used, as guidelines of what an integrated, efficient broadband policy should address what governance and policy leadership is necessary for driving broadband policy initiatives across all spheres of government. The study proposes a conceptual framework that informs the analysis in comparing and contrasting the national broadband policy and plans, as well as provincial and local government’s policies and plans against desirable characteristics, such coordinated planning and implementation of broadband across government. The research analyses the current state of the country’s national broadband policy and plans across the three spheres of government. The analysis considers the contextual differences between the trends studied and the local data collected in the formal research phase, for the benefit of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the South African broadband plans. The conclusion focuses on the incentive structure needed to extend the development of the broadband ecosystem in terms of infrastructure, services, applications and user involvement in the country.