M.Ed. / The main aim of the study is to develop an appropriate curriculum framework for Communication Studies at teacher training institutions. 4 This aim will require: 1.3.1 Identifying the basic principles involved in developing a curriculum framework; 1.3.2 Identifying the basic guidelines underlying a course in Communication Studies; and finally 1.3.3 Identifying the needs of student teachers in Communication Studies from the perspective of teacher educators

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (DPhil (Education Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Thesis(Ph.D. (Education Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / This study reports on the evaluation of Teaching Practice necessary for guiding future best practice of Teaching Practice at the University of Limpopo. The key research question answered in this study was: How is Teaching Practice implemented at the University of Limpopo? The study is embedded within the interpretive paradigm. A qualitative research approach was employed using case study design. Case study design was used in order to explore the research questions that guided the entire study. This enabled the researcher to interact with the participants, immerse himself in the data for better and deeper understanding of the implementation of Teaching Practice. The case study design was also adopted because the researcher had no control over the implementation of Teaching Practice. In other words, the researcher could not manipulate the behaviour of the participants involved in the study. Purposive sampling was used to select knowledgeable and information rich participants comprising of the Director of the School of Education, three Heads of Department, the Teaching Practice coordinator, two academic staff members in the Teaching Practice Unit, the Teaching Practice administrative officer, six academic staff members, six four-year Bachelor of Education in Senior and Further Education and Training students, six Postgraduate Certificate in Education students, four schoolbased mentors in Limpopo, and four school-based mentors in the Mpumalanga Province. Data were captured through document analysis, semi-structured interviews and observations. Inductive analysis was used to analyse data from the documents. Data from semi-structured interviews and observations were analysed thematically. Findings from the documents, semi-structured interviews and observations were used to make recommendations for establishing an Integrated Model of Teaching Practice at the University of Limpopo. The study revealed lack of appropriate policy for Teaching Practice; lack of clear frameworks for the responsibilities of supervisors; student teachers and school-based mentors; lack of school-university partnerships; inadequate training of supervisors and school-based mentors in relation to supervision and assessment of student teachers; lack of a structured programme on the induction of student teachers into schools; poor human, physical and financial resources, and an inappropriate model for Teaching Practice.

A research report submitted to the WITS School of Education, Faculty of Humanities; University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education by combination of coursework and research, Johannesburg, 2017 / Student 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. / XL2019

Thesis (M. A. (Sociology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Education is of paramount value to the empowerment of women and also brings about positive change in our societies. Higher Education has since been in existence for so many years. Traditionally, its management structure has always been dominated by males. The government has since put in effort to ensure we have female representation in management positions. However, progress in this endeavour has been somewhat slow, regardless of the efforts made. Accordingly, this study sought to explore why gender imbalances continue to exist in institutions of Higher Education, particularly at the University of Limpopo. The study was conducted with fifteen women in management positions. The study highlighted the causes of gender imbalances in management positions and further captures the voices of women in management positions. The study also documented the roles women play in this institution and also includes strategies that can be put in place to address the problems raised. This has been captured from the women’s perspective as the study used feminist qualitative research methods. This meant that the study was conducted in terms of the participants’ perspective as feminist research methods suggests. The analysis has been completed using the Thematic Analysis approach as the themes that emerged were coded and analysed from that point. The study revealed that there is still gender imbalance in management positions in the University of Limpopo. According to the study, this was due to a number of factors such as the multiple roles women play that delay them to progress academically. Also, this showed that only few women met the requirements for occupying management positions as the criterion for highest qualification was not met by many in order to enable them to apply for these positions. In the category of women that did not meet the requirements, there have been delays in them obtaining their doctoral studies and some showed no interest in applying for the jobs given the number of challenges faced by those women that are in management positions. These, amongst others, included the deep patriarchal culture entrenched by men at the University of Limpopo who feel uncomfortable to be led by women.

Bibliography: p. 151-153. / The dissertation, "Institutional Change in Higher Education: A Case Study" examines efforts to bring about fundamental institutional change at the University of Natal over a period of some 1 0 years, 1988 to 1997. The case study is characterised as being of an embedded single case design. It is an instrumental rather than an intrinsic study. It attempts to extend understanding of the complex social phenomenon of institutional change in higher education, through analytic generalization. The two sub-units of the case study relate to different attempts by the executive of the University of Natal to bring about consensus on the need for fundamental change and the nature of the change: through a more-or-less conventional strategic planning process; and by the adoption- as a strategic initiative- of the notion of becoming a learning organization. The two sub units are examined on the strength of University documents and interviews with past and present University office bearers and staff, within a conceptual framework of organizational theory derived mainly from Mintzberg, McGregor, and Senge. Both the strategic planning approach and the learning organization approach are seen to have failed as means of engineering consensual change and in the latter half of 1997 the University experiences a restructuring crisis as a result of financial pressures. A puzzle around restructuring, viz. why the University should pursue structural change which goes beyond the needs of simple cost-cutting and efficiency, is addressed first in terms of a perceived need for innovation, within the foregoing organizational theoretical framework. The analysis is then extended (effectively recontextualised) within a more pedagogic , social and political theoretical framework which is dependent largely on Bernstein. This analysis sees the changes being pursued at the University of Natal as being consistent with a shift in higher education generally to a market-dominated, competitive discourse in which University lecturers become knowledge entrepreneurs, competing within the institution and between institutions for scarce resources in response to perceived market needs . In this process, the narcissistic and introjected identities of academic departments, in which professionals in bounded disciplines determine priorities themselves , are replaced by projected identities and priorities are determined outside the discipline and the University. This cannot happen overnight. However , plans at the University of Natal to remove their administrative authority from academic departments are seen as a step in this direction.

Thesis (M.A. (History)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / This study explores the socio-cultural experiences of students at the University of the North (UNIN) in the period between 1970 and 1994. The sampling of the study was purposive and involved thirteen (13) participants who were students at UNIN in the 1970s, 80s and 1990-1994. Data was collected using an interview guide and was analysed using the Thematic Content Analysis as outlined by Braun and Clark (2011). To make sense of the study aim and objectives, this study adopted a qualitative approach wearing an Afrocentric pair of lenses. As shown by literature and the study’s findings, Historically Black Universities (HBUs) in South Africa were established by the apartheid government with the aim of serving Black students excluded from attending segregated White-only universities. Some of the study findings are that former UNIN students were subjected to a racialised institutional autonomy, racialised educational curriculum as well as an unfriendly academic setting for both African students and staff. The study therefore argues for inclusive and Africanised institutions of higher learning in Africa and perhaps elsewhere in the world. This study also recommends that institutional autonomy and educational curricula should be in line with an Africanised value system.

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The importance of increased accessibility to higher education for non-traditional students has been recognised globally. In South Africa, a strong drive exists to provide access to students who were previously excluded from higher education because of the apartheid history. Stellenbosch University attempts to contribute to redress and transformation through, amongst other initiatives, the SciMathUS Bridging Programme (Science and Mathematics at the University of Stellenbosch). The SciMathUS Bridging Programme provides access to educationally disadvantaged students to higher education. Even though these students gained access to higher education, they were struggling to succeed. Many questions about the functioning of specifically educationally disadvantaged students in higher education are still unanswered. This study aims to find answers to some of these questions, namely what are the major challenges educationally disadvantaged students face at a predominantly white, Afrikaans university and how do they function within the university. The research is a narrative ethnography with the focus on the experiences of seven former SciMathUS students at Stellenbosch University. The data was collected by means of unstructured interviews, student journals as well as social media over a period of four months. Narratives about the seven students’ experiences on campus were compiled and analysed within the framework of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model by focusing on the reciprocal and dynamic interactions of the students within their campus systems. The analysis of the narratives showed limited interactions in the academic, social and residential contexts and revealed that these students faced academic, financial, linguistic, social and administrative challenges, which led to very high stress levels. They struggled to become part of the academic practice and responded by functioning on the periphery of the university system. The implications of providing access to educationally disadvantaged students to higher education, and particularly Stellenbosch University, are threefold. On a theoretical level, gaps in current theory on student development and support were identified. On a substantive level, a disjuncture between university policies and initiatives, and the real-life experiences of the students existed and systemic changes in the academic, social and residential contexts are imperative. Finally, on a practical level, the narratives of these students provided insight into their experiences and highlighted the need for the reconsideration of current practices around teaching and learning, language, admission, re-admission, financial support, tutoring and mentoring, and social life, particularly in residences. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die belang van groter toeganklikheid tot hoër onderwys vir nie-tradisionele studente word wêreldwyd erken. As gevolg van die apartheidsgeskiedenis, is daar in Suid-Afrika ‘n grootse poging om aan studente wat voorheen uitgesluit was, toegang tot hoër onderwys te verleen. Die Universiteit Stellenbosch poog om ‘n bydra te lewer tot die regstelling en transformasie, onder andere, deur die SciMathUS Brugprogram (Science and Mathematics at the University of Stellenbosch) wat aan onderwysbenadeelde studente toegang tot hoër onderwys verleen. Alhoewel hierdie studente toegang tot hoër onderwys verkry het, sukkel hul om sukses te behaal. Baie vrae oor die funksionering van spesifiek onderwysbenadeelde studente in hoër onderwys is steeds onbeantwoord. Hierdie studie poog om antwoorde te vind op van hierdie vrae naamlik, wat is die grootste uitdagings wat onderwysbenadeelde studente aan ’n hoofsaaklik wit, Afrikaanssprekend universiteit in die gesig staar en hoe funksioneer hul binne die universiteit. Die navorsing is ’n narratiewe etnografie met die fokus op die ervarings van sewe voormalige SciMathUS studente aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch. Die data is oor ’n tydperk van vier maande deur middel van onderhoude, studentejoernale en sosiale media versamel. Narratiewe oor die sewe studente se ervarings op kampus is saamgestel en binne die raamwerk van Bronfenbrenner se ekologiese model ontleed deur op die wedersydse en dinamiese interaksies van die studente in hul kampus- sisteme te fokus. Die ontleding van die narratiewe het beperkte interaksies binne die akademiese, sosiale en residensiële kontekste aangedui en het getoon dat die studente akademiese, finansiële, taal, sosiale en administratiewe uitdagings in die gesig gestaar het, wat tot hoë stresvlakke gelei het. Hul het gesukkel om deel te word van die akademiese praktyk en het daarop reageer deur op die rand van die universiteitsisteem te funksioneer. Die implikasies van toegang tot hoër onderwys, en meer spesifiek die Universiteit Stellenbosch, aan onderwysbenadeelde studente, is drieërlei. Op ’n teoretiese vlak is gapings in huidige teorie oor studente-ontwikkeling en -ondersteuning geïdentifiseer. Op ’n substantiewe vlak het daar ’n gaping bestaan tussen universiteitsbeleide en -inisiatiewe en die werklike ervarings van die studente en is sistemiese veranderinge in die akademiese, sosiale en residensiële kontekste nodig. Laastens, op ’n praktiese vlak het die narratiewe van die studente lig gewerp op hul ervarings en die behoefte aan die heroorweging van huidige praktyke rondom onderrig en leer, taal, toelating, her-toelating, finansiële ondersteuning, tutor- and mentorskap en sosiale lewe, spesifiek in koshuise, beklemtoon. / FIRLT Committee

Government policies on subsidising higher education institutions may have a direct impact on the behaviour of researchers and managers respectively. Therefore, this thesis looks for clues on how higher education institutions respond to the government funding policies, with special reference to the New Funding Framework (NFF) introduced in South Africa in 2001. The funding framework specified that research funding would be determined only on the basis of research output. The NFF puts emphasis on the number of publications produced by higher education institutions per annum to determine their subsidy amounts. Governments use quantitative formulas to allocate research funds to higher education institutions based on their production of output. The current South African funding framework is arguably consistent with some international suggestions of the role that government funding can play in the implementation of national higher policies. This thesis uses higher education research output as a measure of knowledge production. As such, the thesis was set out to determine the effects that the research subsidy component of the NFF might have had on South African public higher education institutions‟ knowledge production between 2001 and 2006. The thesis argues that the subsidy component of the NFF has had positive effects on the knowledge production of South African public higher education institutions (HEIs). An empirical analysis of the output trends of South African HEIs for the period under review has shown a steady increase, more especially from 2003. The thesis attributes the new trend in higher education research output to the successful implementation of the NFF. It is thus concluded that considering the output trends of the period under review, the implementation of the NFF is yielding positive effects towards achieving its intended goal of increasing research output of South African public HEIs. / Public Administration / D. Admin. (Public Administration)

Government policies on subsidising higher education institutions may have a direct impact on the behaviour of researchers and managers respectively. Therefore, this thesis looks for clues on how higher education institutions respond to the government funding policies, with special reference to the New Funding Framework (NFF) introduced in South Africa in 2001. The funding framework specified that research funding would be determined only on the basis of research output. The NFF puts emphasis on the number of publications produced by higher education institutions per annum to determine their subsidy amounts. Governments use quantitative formulas to allocate research funds to higher education institutions based on their production of output. The current South African funding framework is arguably consistent with some international suggestions of the role that government funding can play in the implementation of national higher policies. This thesis uses higher education research output as a measure of knowledge production. As such, the thesis was set out to determine the effects that the research subsidy component of the NFF might have had on South African public higher education institutions‟ knowledge production between 2001 and 2006. The thesis argues that the subsidy component of the NFF has had positive effects on the knowledge production of South African public higher education institutions (HEIs). An empirical analysis of the output trends of South African HEIs for the period under review has shown a steady increase, more especially from 2003. The thesis attributes the new trend in higher education research output to the successful implementation of the NFF. It is thus concluded that considering the output trends of the period under review, the implementation of the NFF is yielding positive effects towards achieving its intended goal of increasing research output of South African public HEIs. / Public Administration and Management / D. Admin. (Public Administration)