This thesis is situated at the intersection between the three themes of education in Africa, impact assessment, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Specifically, it seeks to develop a critique of current practices regarding monitoring and evaluation of ICT for education within Africa, and explores plausible alternatives to such practices that would make the benefits of education and technology more available and structured towards the poor and marginalised. Two participatory case studies of ICT for education programmes in Malawi and Ethiopia were used as the main empirical focus for the research. These involved working in partnership with implementing organisations, whilst simultaneously abstracting myself so as to evaluate the evaluation process and assess the underlying reasons for what was occurring. These case studies were supplemented by three international participatory workshops and a pan-Africa survey of ICT for education practitioners. The findings from the empirical work are examined within four analytical contexts. The first of these analyses the different methodological approaches employed in the case studies and considers the limitations and opportunities encountered. The second focuses on the role of partnerships within ICT for education programmes, especially in regard to their impact in defining the nature of monitoring and evaluation processes. The third investigates the marginalising of pedagogy within many ICT for education programmes, especially in regard to educational outcomes. The fourth explores the significance of aspiration within technology related development initiatives, focussing on consequences for effective impact assessment. The applied nature of the research emphasises the need for both critical rigour and innovative alternatives in assessing ICT for education in Africa. This thesis concludes by demonstrating the ways in which monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment can be positively reframed in the light of the research findings to emphasise process, participation, capacity enhancement, and the centrality of education.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has gained increased use in the construction industry in recent years. ICT brings many benefits to an organisation including improving the way information is sourced, manipulated and utilised to increase the efficiency of business processes and improve a company’s productivity. This research demonstrates that while ICT has a role to play in the construction industry, its exploitation by SMEs in South Africa still needs development as they focus on simpler forms of ICT such as mobile phones and landlines, but not advanced solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems and CAD. Furthermore, one of the major challenges identified in this research is the issue of poor ICT skills and the lack of information on available ICT solutions. The government and the private sector have a role to play in ensuring that requisite ICT skills are developed and improved in the sector.

Abstract The South African government embarked on a liberalisation path of the telecoms sector in 1996 in order to establish a knowledge-based society and thus enhance all aspects of the economy to make South Africa globally competitive. Liberalisation of the telecoms sector was an integral part of its overall vision to improve the quality of life for all South Africans. Market-based reform was the central philosophy underpinning the growth strategy for South Africa. ICT was recognised as key to growth and development. To date, international telecoms reform has focused on managing the transition from traditional monopoly markets to effective competition. The key steps in this process have been the commercialisation and ultimate sale of state-owned assets, licensing competitors, setting sector-specific regulation by independent national regulatory authorities to implement the market reform policies and ensure public interest objectives are met. As a result of rapidly changing technology, the unanticipated rapid and pervasive uptake of mobile services, the influence of international financial advisors and suppliers of telecoms equipment who all stand to gain, the reform process in developing countries has been controversial. Also, often after the first phase of market liberalisation, entrenched private sector incumbents make further reform in developing countries difficult. The focus of this study is on the second-phase of reform in South Africa after the initial market liberalisation. The research analysed the changing configuration and structure of the South African telecoms network market during the transition from monopoly to competition (2000- 2003) within the framework of competition rules to determine how government’s “managed liberalisation” policy and regulatory decisions have shaped (and are shaping) the competitive dynamics of the South African market. The findings were utilised to analyse its implications for the development of South Africa’s information society and provide a framework for policy-makers and regulators on effectively shaping telecoms network markets in transition. This study contextualised the South African telecoms situation within the dynamics of an international market by examining the changing role of the market in telecoms policy formulation in both developed and developing countries. This research looks at the current debates on the information society and liberalising telecoms markets in order to assess the impact of policy and regulatory interventions in selected national markets deemed relevant to this investigation e.g., United States, United Kingdom, India, Nigeria, Morocco, Uganda and Sri-Lanka. Based on an information society paradigm, the study involved multiple methods incorporating primarily qualitative research to investigate the actual development on the ground of competition in South Africa since the start of the managed liberalisation process. Secondary statistical data was utilised to understand market development and dynamics. The analysis combined competition rules and regulatory principles based on international experience together with the South African experience with sector liberalisation derived from interviews, focus groups and data analysis of the market. The study uses market structure analysis, with specific reference to telecom network markets as the basic framework of analysis. This is further enhanced by analysing the broader dynamics of the business, communications, policy and regulatory environments and an analysis of the performance of infrastructure companies in the telecoms network market in South Africa. The analysis explains how the managed liberalisation policy of the South African government has constrained growth, allowed incumbent operators to entrench themselves, generally failed to meet the needs of most consumers and limited South Africa’s aspirations to join the global information society. Despite technically meeting the form of most international best practice standards on market reform, there has been a lack of commitment to the substance i.e. effective competition, inconsistent application of regulation, the absence of a clear strategic framework and failure to undertake detailed market analysis throughout the process. The result has been artificial barriers to investment and constrained growth in the telecoms sector. In particular, a pre-occupation with the narrow licensing of individual technologies and specifically defined service classifications has created an unnecessarily complicated implementation regime hindering market development. The lack of competition at the core infrastructure level has constrained growth and innovation at the upper levels of the telecoms sector value chain, i.e. network services, that are dependent on access to the fixed line network. The study provides recommendations to increase investment in the South African ICT sector which include: clarifying national policy objectives and reviewing the current licensing framework; implementing widespread market reform; instituting market and competition review processes; allowing for increased competition review processes and increasing independence and accountability of the regulator. The research outlines strategies to counter the effects of a weak competitive environment, infrastructure and resource shortages and the lack of strong administrative structures in South Africa that are applicable to most developing countries. It suggests the following measures to drive competitive markets and enhance ICT growth: ensuring political commitment to market liberalisation and market-driven macro-economic policies; focusing on licensing major operators; instituting technology neutral licensing; reducing the need for regulatory decisions by accelerating competition and harnessing regional skills to strengthen regulatory effectiveness. Finally, this study demonstrates that ICT market development and policy is rooted in and influenced by many factors and disciplines. Thus the research suggests an integrated and holistic approach for analysing network markets in transition.

Since its inception in the 1980s digital technology is considered to be at the heart of contemporary education in the developed world, supported by national ICT strategies and exponentially rising levels of public funding. Yet the promised educational transformation, as measured by learning outcomes, has arguably failed to materialise, while developing countries continue to emulate unproven digital educational programmes. A substantial body of empirical research, conducted by policy makers, business and educators over the past fourty years has found tangible beneficial evidence consistently elusive. This qualitative-based study seeks to explain the dichotomy by critically investigating what is actually happening when digital technology meets education in UK secondary schools as opposed to what is often envisaged as 'should' or 'might' be happening. It moves the debate beyond both its learning focus predominance, and deterministic view of education and technology to one which addresses the educational phenomenon by reference to the broader context of the social, political, historical and cultural conditions that influence all educational practices and which recognises the mutual social-shaping nature of the relationship. Consequently, this qualitative study utilises semi-structured interviews in a multilevel framework to explore how secondary school heads of department; a hitherto under-researched group, at the organisation's structural intersection, have responded to the introduction of ICT from the 1980s to the current day. This thesis contributes to the advancement of knowledge and understanding by drawing attention to issues of continuity and change, and structure and agency within the educational process and by offering insights into why (unforeseen) developments have occurred, how they have evolved and with what consequences for the profession and its educational institutions. It concludes by establishing a link between ICT-induced structural developments and agency constraints, offering policy makers a means of addressing key detrimental oganisational procedures in order to improve educational processes.

This dissertation is about the role of institutions in bridging the Digital Divide. Its thesis is that governments must encourage the consistently increased use of information and communications technology (“ICT”) if they hope to foster sustained economic growth. Superficially, the Digital Divide describes differences in ICT usage between rich and poor nations, but it is more profoundly concerned with poor nations’ integration into a global economy. Intensive academic study demonstrates that four factors are critical to the relationship between ICT usage and economic growth: institutions; telecommunications infrastructure; investment in ICT; and human capital. The dissertation addresses three perceived shortcomings in the literature. First, proponents of institutions’ importance use the term vaguely, often obscuring important distinctions between policies, laws and institutions, thereby inhibiting detailed analysis. Second, many writers see the institutional reform needed for growth as an exceedingly slow process due to factors beyond governments’ control. Third, the literature does not adequately address which institutions are salient to the relationship between ICT usage and economic growth or how to create them. The dissertation attributes more precise meanings to key terms and contests the view that institutional reform can only proceed at a glacial pace. Its primary goal, however, is to identify specific institutions that help mediate the relationship and to suggest how they might be built relatively quickly. Good institutions can create the enabling environment that allows for the building of telecommunications infrastructure, investment in ICT goods and services and the development of human capital to lead to economic growth. The analysis of institutions identifies several salient institutions and concludes that the manner in which they are designed often determines their effectiveness. Case studies of Singapore and Malaysia examine their successful, but divergent, development paths. Their different rates of development can be attributed, in part, to the quality of their institutions.

This dissertation is about the role of institutions in bridging the Digital Divide. Its thesis is that governments must encourage the consistently increased use of information and communications technology (“ICT”) if they hope to foster sustained economic growth. Superficially, the Digital Divide describes differences in ICT usage between rich and poor nations, but it is more profoundly concerned with poor nations’ integration into a global economy. Intensive academic study demonstrates that four factors are critical to the relationship between ICT usage and economic growth: institutions; telecommunications infrastructure; investment in ICT; and human capital. The dissertation addresses three perceived shortcomings in the literature. First, proponents of institutions’ importance use the term vaguely, often obscuring important distinctions between policies, laws and institutions, thereby inhibiting detailed analysis. Second, many writers see the institutional reform needed for growth as an exceedingly slow process due to factors beyond governments’ control. Third, the literature does not adequately address which institutions are salient to the relationship between ICT usage and economic growth or how to create them. The dissertation attributes more precise meanings to key terms and contests the view that institutional reform can only proceed at a glacial pace. Its primary goal, however, is to identify specific institutions that help mediate the relationship and to suggest how they might be built relatively quickly. Good institutions can create the enabling environment that allows for the building of telecommunications infrastructure, investment in ICT goods and services and the development of human capital to lead to economic growth. The analysis of institutions identifies several salient institutions and concludes that the manner in which they are designed often determines their effectiveness. Case studies of Singapore and Malaysia examine their successful, but divergent, development paths. Their different rates of development can be attributed, in part, to the quality of their institutions.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Over the past decade, research conducted for the benefit of IT project management has pointed to numerous factors that contribute to organisational project success. Support from executives and top management is often cited as an imperative factor, whilst having clear business objectives for conducting projects follows closely behind. The linchpin between the executive leadership team and project managers is the project sponsor, who is in a position to directly contribute to the two aforementioned project success factors. The precise responsibilities of the sponsor, however, remain relatively poorly defined. As a result, it is important to focus on this very important role and provide those who are in this position with a set of activities that would facilitate greater project success. Further to this, the corporate governance scandals of the past few years and the consequent publication of relevant acts of legislation and governance standards has forced top management to become more interested in the conduct of their organisation’s portfolio of projects. This research study therefore addresses both the formal and informal aspects of the role of the project sponsor and has provided guidance to organisations and professional associations in defining the role and responsibilities of the project sponsor within a corporate governance framework. The first goal was therefore to establish a holistic corporate governance framework that encompasses the roles of IT and project management in the organisation. By doing so, executives are given a road map that aligns all IT projects with organisational strategy and a means to facilitate greater internal control over all IT project-related activities. This was developed by identifying the relevance and implications that recent corporate scandals around the world have had on IT and project management in general. This then led to combining COBIT (which is an IT governance Abstract ii framework) and a new project governance framework (known as the PG framework) to form a corporate governance framework. This is followed by the development of a generic project sponsorship competency framework that provides organisations with a benchmark that assesses whether an individual is appropriately suited for the role of sponsoring an IT project. Both frameworks provide a means to facilitate better strategic alignment and internal control of all IT project-related activities, and thus contribute to the improvement of IT project management capability within the organisation. / Labuschagne, L., Prof.

This research focuses on online payment methods which are premised on electronic funds transfer. It is a general discourse that the use of online payment methods is risky. It is held that the fear of fraud and abuse of a payment system is at the focal point of such risk. Banks which provide these payment systems are usually not prepared to negotiate with their prospective customers. Resultantly, banks contract out of the risk associated with online payments, specifically the liability for unauthorized electronic funds transfers. This culminates in bank’s customers bearing the majority of that risk as a result of the bank-customer contract. Some of the laws applicable to this relationship also ascribe to the notion above. They burden bank’s customers solely with the liability of the use of their cards until notification to the bank of its theft or misuse. This shows a completed disregard of the nature of how online payment methods operate. Such imposition of liability is excessively one-sided in favour of the banks and detrimental to the bank’s customers. Ultimately, the scope of application of the current applicable consumer protection laws is limited by factors such as non-applicability to juristic persons or limitation based on asset value for those that do. This thus denotes a large segment of online payment methods users who cannot avail themselves to measures of protection provided for by the current applicable consumer protection laws. The research aims to avert the issues as demonstrated above, provide clarity in pursuit of equity and compliance, plus a comprehensive consumer protection approach for online payment methods users. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Mercantile Law / LLM / Unrestricted

This study examines educational reform in Japan since 2006, when the first Abe administration added objectives to increase “love for the country” and “respect for tradition and culture” into Japan’s central edict on education. The Japanese education system has since been internationally criticized by academics and journalists as furthering a neonationalist revisionist history movement, but the initiative to remove ‘masochistic views’ of history from education is only one aspect of the reforms. This thesis argues that Prime Minister Abe’s educational reforms attempt to meet related demands coming from both the global and domestic environments. In fact, a close examination of Japanese educational reforms since the 2006 Basic Act reveals a strategic response to the new technologies and changing security environment of the Information Age, as well as an effort to make students think of themselves as members of a national community. This research contributes to understanding how Japanese educational policies are being affected by the changing global environment, and the ways in which efforts to meet different global and domestic demands can be negotiated with each other. / Graduate