Law that regulates management of higher education institutions has been increasing in recent years in both Saudi Arabia and England. The Higher Education and Universities Act (HEUA) 1414 A. H. (1993 A. D. ) and the Regulation for Organising the Affairs of Teaching Staff (ROATS) 1418 A. H. (1997 A. D. ) in Saudi Arabia arose as major upheavals in the organisation of Higher Education and Universities. Similar developments have occurred in England in response to the Education Reform Act (1988) and the Further and Higher Education Act (1992). All these developments in both countries have deeply effected the legal position of the university as well as the affairs of the academic staff and other university members. This research seeks to show the laws that now apply to universities in both countries and to provide for all academic and administrative members of the university. In addition, the scope of this thesis is to compare the laws of universities and to show the advantages and disadvantages of such laws in relation to both legal and administrative affairs at these universities. Particular emphasis is placed on the organisation of the academic staff and on how the disciplinary procedures in both countries focus on natural justice.

Magister Educationis - MEd / This thesis sought to understand the various ways in which Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania, as a teaching and research institution, engages with its communities. This was prompted by the increasing calls upon the universities, both locally and globally, to become relevant to the communities through community engagement. Although the idea of community engagement has emerged and continues to gain momentum in higher education, there have been different understandings and shifts in the ways in which universities are practising community engagement. The study is located within the broader debates in the literature, which sees community engagement as a contested concept in terms of its exact practices and outcomes, particularly in relation to the university’s core activities of teaching, learning and research. With the contextual nature of community engagement, a case study design was deemed to be suitable for this type of study. Data collection instruments comprised of document reviews, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. From the data collected and analysed, there are three key findings in this study. Firstly, community engagement in the Tanzanian higher education system in general has moved from predominantly supporting communities to incorporating some aspects of teaching, learning and research, as well as economic pursuit. This is illustrated in practices such as national service programmes, continuing education, volunteering, field practical attachment, community-based research, commissioned research and consultancy, participatory action research, experiments and technology transfer. Secondly, whereas some of the practices are fading away in some Tanzanian higher education institutions, those that are active at SUA fall within both the Land-Grant (one-way) and Boyer’s (two-way) models of community engagement. Thirdly, there are no deliberate efforts by SUA to institutionalise community engagement as a legitimate activity that enriches teaching, learning and research. As such, there are loose and discontinuous linkages between community engagement and SUA’s teaching, learning and research, attributed to a weak institutional approach to community engagement.

High retention rates, low levels of academic literacy and inundated support services show that students enrolled at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are experiencing difficulty coping with the demands of tertiary study and reaching their academic goals. Literature shows that a significant number of students who are attending HEIs experience barriers to learning, both intrinsic and extrinsic. The aim of this study was to determine the opinions of lecturers at one University of Technology regarding their role in supporting students experiencing barriers to learning. The researcher used a mixed methods approach to collect data with the aim to describe the phenomenon accurately. Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model provided a theoretical framework for this study as it emphasizes the importance of the interaction between the development of an individual and the systems within the individual’s social context. A purposive sampling strategy was employed, and self-structured questionnaires were given to lecturers who teach first year to post-graduate students at the University of Technology. After the statistical analysis of the quantitative data, fifteen lecturers were randomly chosen to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. The transcriptions of the interviews were coded and themes were identified. Using the constant comparative method of data analysis, the researcher aimed to explain the results of quantitative data analysis. The key findings revealed that lecturers feel inadequate to deal with barriers to learning; mainly owing to a lack of training and that they are mainly of opinion that their duty is to refer students for support. / MEd (Learner Support), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

High retention rates, low levels of academic literacy and inundated support services show that students enrolled at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are experiencing difficulty coping with the demands of tertiary study and reaching their academic goals. Literature shows that a significant number of students who are attending HEIs experience barriers to learning, both intrinsic and extrinsic. The aim of this study was to determine the opinions of lecturers at one University of Technology regarding their role in supporting students experiencing barriers to learning. The researcher used a mixed methods approach to collect data with the aim to describe the phenomenon accurately. Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model provided a theoretical framework for this study as it emphasizes the importance of the interaction between the development of an individual and the systems within the individual’s social context. A purposive sampling strategy was employed, and self-structured questionnaires were given to lecturers who teach first year to post-graduate students at the University of Technology. After the statistical analysis of the quantitative data, fifteen lecturers were randomly chosen to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. The transcriptions of the interviews were coded and themes were identified. Using the constant comparative method of data analysis, the researcher aimed to explain the results of quantitative data analysis. The key findings revealed that lecturers feel inadequate to deal with barriers to learning; mainly owing to a lack of training and that they are mainly of opinion that their duty is to refer students for support. / MEd (Learner Support), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Magister Curationis - MCur / Service-learning (SL) is regarded as a teaching and learning method combining community participation with content-based class discussion and reflection. It involves a teaching and learning assessment process with community members. It therefore combines theory-based knowledge learnt at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and the learning experiences produced through community engagement. National guidelines developed by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) are available for higher education to institutionalise service-learning (SL) in South African HEIs, but widespread inconsistencies with the implementation of these guidelines have been reported. This thesis is informed by a previous study conducted at an HEI in Western Cape that identified constraining factors required to institutionalisation SL within an academic programme. The aim of this study was to determine the institutional support needed for embedding service-learning in nursing at a Higher Education Institution in the Western Cape. A quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of 60 nurse educators (lecturers and clinical supervisors). All-inclusive sampling was used because of the small number in the population. All questions were statistically analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 24) to provide descriptive statistics. The data was summarized, and the descriptive statistics were presented as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation.

Magister Curationis - MCur / Background: Service-learning links academic acquisition with community-based work within a partnership framework, which is underpinned by values such as respect, reciprocity, relevance and reflection. This pedagogy has its roots in the northern hemisphere, but has become popular with higher education institutions across the globe. According to Butin, service-learning became institutionalised in the USA after a critical mass of service-learning champions was reached in the 1990s. Hence, the majority of higher education institutions are now subscribing to the national organisation, Campus Compact, which is committed to broadening the footprint of service-learning in this sector. Within the South African higher education sector, “service-learning” as a term became known in 1996. There is, however, wide-spread disagreement as to what is meant by “service-learning”, or exactly what it is meant to accomplish. As a result, education institutions must define it for themselves. A School of Nursing at a university in the Western Cape has defined service-learning during a baseline study that was conducted at the school and this particular definition is, therefore, regarded as a work in progress. Aim: The aim of the study was to refine the preliminary service-learning definition developed during the baseline study by identifying the main concepts that should be included in the definition of service-learning for this School of Nursing.

Knowledge management and organisational learning have received much attention in recent times, owing to the increased recognition which has been accorded knowledge as a source of organisational success and sustainability. Researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in striving to understand how the two notions can be harnessed in order to attain that success. However, while it seems clear that both knowledge management and organisational learning have the same goals, that is to nurture and harness knowledge resources, the concepts have tended, in the past, to be regarded independently of each other, with parallel strategies having been implemented for each. Such an imposed separation has, at times, resulted in resource duplication and unsatisfactory outcomes for the organisations concerned. The current study examines the nature of the relationship between knowledge management and organisational learning in higher educational institutions in Uganda, with the aim of providing a unified framework for understanding how the above-mentioned knowledge-based concepts relate to each other. A mixed methodology approach was applied to achieve the set objective. Quantitative data were collected using questionnaires from 270 respondents, employed at six higher educational institutions (comprising four universities, one management development institute, and one business school). Qualitative data, in contrast, were collected by means of interviews which were conducted with 13 key informants from three different institutions. Analytical techniques of correlation analysis, regression analysis and canonical correlation analysis were applied to the quantitative data, while content analysis procedure was applied to the qualitative data. Empirical evidence confirmed that knowledge management and organisational learning have an interdependent relationship, which is manifested in two main dimensions, namely the institutional strategic focus and people (human resources) focus. Based on such dimensions, the study proposes a re-conceptualisation of the linkage between knowledge management and organisational learning, aimed at evolving the two concepts into a single organisational knowledge sustainability concept in higher educational institutions. Such a joint concept emphasises the effective utilisation of existing knowledge, while, at the same time, focusing on the importance of continuous learning for acquiring new knowledge to meet future organisational knowledge requirements. In addition, empirical evidence from this study show that knowledge management practices play an important role in promoting learning at various levels of the organisation. The study concludes that knowledge management has not been fully integrated in the strategic agenda of most higher education institutions in Uganda and much internal knowledge is not properly harnessed for the benefit of such institutions. The study recommends that, in the current information age, higher education institutions in Uganda should prioritise both knowledge management and organisational learning by implementing strategies aimed at exploiting existing knowledge, as well as at exploring new knowledge. Lastly, recommendations for future research are presented.

There is a dearth of literature on the effects of the implementation of the Skills Development Act (SDA) in South African governmental or Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Although the available body of scholarship draws attention to problems that HEIs encounter with the implementation of the SDA, it does not elaborate on the underlying reasons for these problems. The aim of this critical interpretive study was, therefore, to gain an understanding of the rationale for and meaning of HEIs' employee staff development practices and that of the implementation of the SDA, as well as the match and mismatch between them. The intention of this study was to bring to the surface the underlying social dynamics that Skills Development Facilitators (SDFs) attach to the implementation of the SDA in HEIs. The epistemological intersection between interpretivism and critical theory was, therefore, chosen as the paradigmatic backdrop of this study. The use of Atlas.ti™ to analyse systematically the volume of unstructured data gathered from seven SDFs at HEIs not only facilitated the data analysis but also enhanced the validity of the study. Besides this, Professor Elsie (Liz) Greyling and Professor Nico Sauer intensively scrutinised and commented on my interpretation of the data, also contributing to the validity of this study. An analysis of the research data generated the following interrelated themes: • HEIs experience a total lack of support and guidance from the ETDP SETA. • The descriptions of terminology in the SDA and the explanations offered by government officials are often contradictory and confusing. • Informal development, one of HEIs' core employee learning methods, is difficult to capture. • HEIs' Workplace Skills Plans (WSP) and Annual Training Reports (ATR) submitted to the ETDP SETA are not a fair and accurate reflection of HEIs' staff development practices. • The development of systems to capture HEIs' employee ETD practices on the ETDP SETA's templates for the WSP and ATR is costly. • Time frames for the development of WSPs in HEIs differ from the time frame of the ETDP SETA. These were the main themes indicating why HEIs find it difficult to integrate the SDA in their staff development framework. The effect of these reasons why HEIs find it difficult to integrate the SDA in their staff development practices is that HEIs submit their WSPs and ATRs only to recoup in rebates (grants) the levies they pay. The government furthermore aims to take control of HEIs' employee ETD practices by enforcing the establishment of institutional structures to manage staff development mechanistically. Moreover, HEIs are compelled to prioritise investment in the education, training and development of designated employees, whereas the service delivery of quality education depends on the efficiency of all HEIs' staff members (by implication the development of all employees). In addition, HEIs are compelled to invest in the development of unemployed SA citizens, although the relationship between investment in ETD and economic prosperity is not proven. HEIs are, furthermore, compelled to follow a statutory policy framework that focuses on the manual skills required in the labour market, not on the cognitive, intellectual and largely scholarly skills that HEIs require to maintain and enhance quality education in South Africa. The result of the latter, viewed from a institutional perspective (macro-financial), is that HEIs not only have less funds for ETD practices than they had before the implementation of the SDA, but also that the implementation of the SDA could create negative social relations in HEIs themselves. These effects of the implementation of the SDA also seem to be perpetuated by the lack of interaction and debate between the ETDP SETA and HEIs. It is therefore argued in this study that the absence of officially structured dialogical activities between HEIs' representatives and ETDP SETA officials would perpetuate the dissonance between the reasons for and aims of the SDA and those of skills development in HEIs. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Sustainability education has become an important focus of many higher education institutions (HEIs), with the inclusion of many sustainability-related learning objectives for undergraduate students. As sustainability is a new, rising discipline, an increasing number of HEIs have made efforts to assess their teaching and learning effectiveness. However, most assessments fall short in determining the relationship between sustainability curriculum and the impacts on leaning outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of academic setting, specifically of a structured sustainability curriculum, on undergraduate sustainability knowledge, as well as analyze the implications of perceived barriers and opportunities to implementing sustainability into academics. Using California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) as a case study, this research emphasizes the results from an online sustainability knowledge survey administered to honors students who take a structured sustainability knowledge curriculum and general students who are not required to take any sustainability courses, but can elect to do so. The study reveals that honors students have significantly higher sustainability knowledge scores (SKS) after taking a structured sustainability curriculum, but also reveals that those post-curriculum SKS of honors students are not significantly different from that of general students after taking 3 courses. The results further indicate that honors students that take a 3-course sustainability curriculum do not score significantly higher than those that take a 1-course sustainability curriculum. However, general students that take 3 sustainability-related courses score significantly higher than general students who take 0, or 1 to 2 sustainability-related courses. These results suggest that unlike honors students, general students need to take a minimum of 3 courses in sustainability to achieve significantly higher SKS. The findings also show that the SKS of students do not significantly differ across colleges and that the SKS of students in the general population have the potential to improve, suggesting that additional sustainability education can benefit all students. Additionally, the analysis of student perceptions reveals that students support the integration of sustainability into existing courses, which can help address the main perceived barriers of time constraints, lack of course promotion, and lack of relevance to major. Ultimately, the results suggest that university-level decision-makers should focus efforts on integrating sustainability into existing courses, increasing the opportunity for all students to take at least 3 sustainability-related courses during their undergraduate experience. Such efforts would be a first step in developing sustainability education at an HEI and would help achieve significant improvement in undergraduate student SKS.

Yes / Higher Education [HE] policy makers play a major role in the application of international standards on gender equality. Depending on the particular characteristics of each Higher Education organisation, this responsibility is borne and/or shared by specific actors that may be located in Human Resources departments, and/or could be strategically placed throughout the organisational structure. It also rests on the actions and commitment of senior leaders and managers, who are visual and powerful champions for structural change. Either way, policy actors are particularly involved in monitoring and evaluation processes, and policy implementation, as well as legitimation of gender equality standards. Therefore, it is fundamental to work with a clear roadmap to integrate gender equality into organisational change, which would sustain context-specific, legally compliant and responsive policies that meet international and national standards of gender equality and non-discrimination. Accordingly, this resource offer a hands-on and transparent approach to gender mainstreaming in Higher Education institutions, constituting a support tool for policy makers and actors involved in policy development and implementation, which is key for regulating and legitimating organisational transformation along gender sensitive, gender competent, gender balanced and gender equal principles. / FP7