3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item A comparative case study of the academic development and student support initiatives and programmes in two schools at the University of the Witwatersrand(2017) Nayager, AneshreeStudent success at university is dependent on various academic and non-academic factors. Some students may face barriers to their success due to these factors. Academic development for students and staff, as well as student support programmes can play an important role in helping students to overcome the barriers they may be experiencing. This study aims to differentiate between different forms of academic development and student support, and their functions as well as to understand how these types of programmes or initiatives were conceptualised and operationalized at WITS. An important aim was to understand the provision of academic development and student support from the top-down, through examining WITS‟s policies on these issues. This was done through a comparative case study of two Schools in different Faculties at WITS. A series of interviews was conducted with practitioners working within programmes, at Faculty and School-level, and those who have had extensive experience within the field. What emerges from this research is that there are different programmes or initiatives in place in both Schools. These include teaching and learning development initiatives, student academic development programmes and student support programmes. However, without a policy or guidelines, the nature of academic development and student support tends to be uneven and each of the practitioners had varied perspectives based on their experiences in the field. There are various challenges faced by the programmes, but these are navigated differently by the practitioners given their context and agency. This unevenness and the varied experiences of the practitioners in this study tend to suggest the need for a policy to guide the implementation of academic development and student support.Item Women students as political activists(2018) Mudau, ElelwaniThe #FeesMustFall movement introduced a new era of youth uprising in South Africa; it is another example of the many social action movements wherein youth are the driving force and main voice for social change. An interest of this research project was to understand the ways throughout history that social action platforms have been utilized by those involved to assert their values and desires for social change. Social action platforms can be seen as one of the spaces in which humanity asserts its identity. Even during the #FeesMustFall protests in 2015 and 2016, it was evident that a number of identities were being mobilized; the black students’ identities are examples of such and even more was the insertion of black women students during the protests. The heightened role of women students in leadership positions during the protests was explored, especially because women had previously been seen to occupy secondary supporting roles in movements of political change. The project investigated the ways in which these women students inserted their multiple identities that had previously been seen as non-complementary; these identities became a means to address the political agenda of the #FeesMustFall movement. The methodology took a narrative approach to understanding the Experience-Centred narratives told by participants. Application of thematic analysis method produced recurrent narration of events; these particular incident narratives (PINS) (Wengraf, 2006) became important as focal points of analysis. The analysis of participants also revealed the impact of students’ individual upbringing. The family, school and other important influences played key roles in the extent of politicization of participants; from these experiences, leadership qualities were also instilled. Hence during the #FeesMustFall protest, participants were able to engage the movement in the ways they did. Due to their particular background influences, these students were not afraid to lead; neither were they timid about resisting unjust systemic measures on campus or within the movement structures. In the end it was their bodies that curbed police violence on campus.Item Adjustment problems faced by international students in South Africa(2017) Mokgwasi, Kegomoditswe MorongwaThe aim of the study was to assess the challenges faced by international students in South Africa. The study was conducted at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. There were 14 international students who participated in the study. Of these, 6 were male and 8 were female. The study was qualitative in nature. An interview schedule was used to interview participants. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data. The results showed that international students in South Africa faced adjustment challenges relating to: reasons for choosing to study in South Africa, first settling in experiences, financial constraints, registration process, language problems, visa application and immigration laws, cultural differences, diversity, discrimination, academic challenge, homesickness, social support, institutional assistance and how they handled the challenges to cope with the prevailing situation in South Africa. Future studies should thus focus on finding effective ways to improve the adjustment process for international students in South Africa.Item The experiences of African immigrant academics in South Africa higher education(2018) Nkomo, ThulaniSince the dawn of democracy over two decades ago when access to South Africa became possible to African immigrants, a significant amount of African academic immigrants have come to the country to work within the higher education sector. This study sought to explore the experiences of fourteen African immigrant academics working at two universities in South Africa. The findings indicate that despite a generally negative national perception of African immigrants (Crush 2002), African academics are generally attracted to work within the South African higher education sector. In addition, while participants lamented the limited access to research related funding, they noted the importance of funding sources such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York as playing an important role in their career development. The study noted that the middle class position of African immigrant academics generally protected them from xenophobia that is often directed at working class African immigrants. They occupy an ambivalent position within their universities as there is the general perception that they are preferred over their black local counterparts while they simultaneously reported experiences of racism within their institutions. Their narratives reflect a consciousness of this position and the inherent danger of disrupting solidarities with black South African academics. The findings reflect moments of alienation in relation to funding, racism and immigration policies and practises which make working within South Africa difficult. There are however moments of belonging which derive from solidarities with black South African academics, a sense of contribution to the project of building the South African academy, and a pan Africanism based on the choice of remaining on the African continent. The study concludes with recommendations relevant to policy changes on South African immigration laws, promotion of research through inclusive funding of African academic immigrants in South African higher education sector, and the need for consideration of immigrant experiences in shaping the institutional cultures of higher education institutions.Item An investigation of student capabilities in private higher education(2017) Somerville, Fenella AlisonHigher education in South Africa in the 21st century faces the complex challenge of balancing the demands of the neo-liberal global agenda with meeting national goals and addressing individual student needs. Research reveals the current South African higher education system to be inefficient, characterised by high attrition and low success rates. This is despite major restructuring, new legislation and a committed focus on access and equality. Lack of government funding, inadequate capacity and public demonstrations of student frustration are indicative of a crisis. This study used the capability approach to investigate student experiences in a private higher education institution. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods design within an interpretive paradigm, a broad survey was followed by in-depth individual interviews to understand the factors that enable and constrain first-year student opportunities and achievements. The study found that student access to and participation in higher education is strongly driven by aspiration, and supported by affiliations as well as students’ ability to reflect on their experiences. These capabilities foster identity, learning and agency. There are many personal, social and institutional factors that restrict student functioning. While these might constrain achievement and have the potential to foreshorten a student’s higher education career, students who are able to adapt and develop resilience to the particular challenges they face within their daily experience have further opportunities for realising their higher education aspirations. KEYWORDS: Capability Approach; Higher Education; Inclusion; Diversity; CapabilitiesItem Doek and dagger, smoke and mirrors: how has the print media represented women of #FeesMustFall 2015?(2017) Koole, Gregory ThabangIn this report I look at women's representation in #FeesMustFall, which is a student led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in response to an increase in fees. The core question posed in this project is how has the print media have been reported in a selection of newspapers pertaining to the women of #FMF 2015, honing in on 77 articles written about #FMF, and arguing that issue of women in #FMF 2015 are underrepresented in these media outlets. [No abstract provide. Information taken from introduction]Item Writing from inside the fire: reflections on the fire-centered politics of the 2015/16 South African student movements(2017) Breakey, Jessica MaryFire lives briefly, breathes sharply and spreads with urgency across the surface of the earth. Writing from Inside the Fire offers a series of reflection on the fire-centered politics that have been ignited within the RhodeMustFall and FeesMustFall movements. in this paper I trace the political roots of fire and explore the ways in which it employed as a tool of resistance and empowerment during the anti-apartheid struggle.: [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]Item Mentoring of early career academics in South African higher education : a transformation strategy(2004) Geber, Hilary MargaretEarly career academics in South Africa enter a higher education system with a historical legacy of division along lines of past discrimination and apartheid. The higher education system has been undergoing profound transformation in the last decade through the promulgation of the SAQA Act (No 58 of 1995) and the Higher Education Act No 101 of 1997. Although numbers of black students at historically advantaged, predominantly white higher education institutions have increased dramatically in the past decade to over 50% in some cases, the change in the academic staff at these institutions has not been nearly as rapid. Less than 30% of the academic staff is black, even at institutions which consider themselves to be progressive. The argument in this research is that the professional socialisation and development of early career academics in all South Africa universities is generally neglected or receives scanty attention and that the professional development in teaching which they receive at entry-level, is minimal. Although mentoring as a professional development strategy has been shown in many studies to have a positive impact in careers at entrylevel, South African universities are not doing enough to support and develop early career academics and consequently the transformation of higher education is being retarded by institutional lack of support. The case of the University of the Witwatersrand illustrates the situation common in many higher education institutions. The purpose of the study is to investigate mentoring as a transformation strategy for the professional development and socialisation in the career development and management of the early careers of entry-level academics to higher education in South Africa where transformation of higher education is a critical issue on the national agenda. In this study there are 28 early career academics in formal mentoring relationships as a result of specially designed mentoring programmes or academic internships which have been established since 1999. They were interviewed in-depth for their interpretations of their experiences in formal mentoring programmes where almost all the mentors are white and the majority of mentees belong to different cultural groups. The findings in the study show how necessary it is for early career academics to be paired with mentors who are aware of the functions and roles of mentors in higher education and who are seriously committed to fulfilling those roles themselves or in conjunction with others in their networks. One new career development function and one new psychosocial function of mentors were added to a model of existing functions derived from the literature. Transformation is an important new function of mentors and their function as role models is emphasised by the context of this mentoring research. Mentoring may be lauded as the panacea for transformation in higher education but unless mentors are adequately trained, supported and monitored, and are committed to transformation, the strategy is not likely to meet with success. Mentoring in cross-cultural contexts in higher education in South Africa is also likely to be only partially successful because too little is being done to address the effects of institutional and covert racism which lingers on. A wide spectrum of recommendations is made for making mentoring work in higher education institutions. These range from broadly based macro interventions at national and institutional levels, to quite detailed micro interventions at the individual level. Without a systematic and committed thrust throughout the sector to accelerate transformation, the whole sector is likely to languish and busy itself with meeting legislative demands for equity compliance and quality assurance drives without addressing the fundamental issues of developing those young academics who are instrumental in transforming the system.Item Stories of students identified as at-risk: insights into student retention and support at a South African University(2015) Sing, NevenshaThe perturbing phenomenon of wastage (revealed through incidences of unsatisfactory levels of student retention, poor pass and completion rates and an increase in repetition rates) is a course of concern for universities as it has a bearing on financial expenditure as well as institutional reputation. For the purpose of this study being at-risk is synonymous with being vulnerable.Student vulnerability is not a homogeneous phenomenon and therefore different student support structures, strategies and policies need to be devised for different issues and problems experienced by vulnerable students. This study argues that as long as effective and adequate institutional support is lacking, student vulnerability will continue to be a 'wastage' catalyst. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version - Abstract would not load onto DSpace]