Learners with disabilities do not only incur various challenges in their learning encounters, but their presence also places many demands on Institutions of Higher Education (IHE). The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges and needs of learners with disabilities in an inclusive IHE and to use the findings to develop guidelines that will promote their accommodation in the learning environment. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative design where self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. A total of 67 learners from different disability categories participated in the study. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19. Among the participants 50.7% were males, 41.8% were mobility impaired and 29.9% were visually impaired. While almost two-thirds (64.2%) of the participants indicated that they were born with the condition, 27.3% said they required regular medical attention and 9.0% indicated they needed assistance in performing their daily routine work. With regard to challenges facing the participants, 64.1% said lecturers were not flexible in their teaching methods, and 68.8% said lecturers did not make follow-ups on them when they failed to cope academically. Among this group of learners almost 3 in 4 (74.6%) participants repeated their courses at least once. In addition, whilst 43.8% indicated that the physical environment constituted a great barrier to their learning, 53.8% said they were vulnerable to abuses and dangers. The participants rated sanitation and extra-curricular programmes as the poorest. The study established that there were significant (p=0.007) relationship between blindness status and failure rate, and also between type of secondary school (special or regular) attended and the ability to cope with the demands of tertiary education (p=0.004). These findings suggest that there are a number of challenges that tend to exclude and marginalise learners with disabilities in IHEs. The study, therefore, recommended that the Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET) must make it mandatory for all IHEs to develop and implement inclusive institutional policies that will remove academic and social barriers in IHEs in line with the Social Model of Disability. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

In the world in which we live today, information and communication technology (ICT) has proliferated in all spheres of society, including in the corporate, social and academic arenas. Within these arenas ICT has made noteworthy contributions. In the academic space, which is the focus of this study, ICT has made a significant contribution to the communication and consultation between students and higher education institution staff. One such example has been the emergence of learning management systems (LMSs) in higher education institutions, both locally and globally, with LMSs providing higher education institutions with several possibilities as regards facilitating the online teaching and learning process. Nevertheless, research has shown that there is underutilisation of LMSs throughout the world. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the utilisation of LMSs in an open and distance learning (ODL) institution in South Africa to ascertain whether they are being used to their full potential. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

This research set out to explore the curriculum experiences of French-speaking students in a private tertiary education institution. The study was qualitative in nature and utilized narrative inquiry and the case study approach. Data-gathering methods included a blend of semistructured interviews, document analysis, participant observation and field notes. Data analysis employed content and thematic analyses. Findings that emerged from the study were seven-fold: First, the academic experiences of French-speaking students from pre-degree to third-year degree programme entailed a rigorous negotiation with the LoLT. They negotiated the pre-degree route to mainstream degree programme due to non-compliance with academic standards set for higher education. Second, French-speaking students negotiated the pre-degree route to mainstream degree programme because their curricula of study, while they negotiated secondary school education in French-speaking countries were not recognized by most South African public universities. Third, French-speaking students experienced a number of hidden curriculum experiences which were not visible but influenced the planned, enacted and assessed curricula. Fourth, the deportment of lecturers was a useful asset. Lecturers were sourced from different sociocultural perspectives of the world. The impact of lecturers’ deportment led to commitment to achieve excellence and dedication towards student learning. Fifth, the use of Zulu, Sotho and sporadic use of Afrikaans languages by lecturers became sociocultural experiences of French-speaking students. The impact of this was felt by French-speaking students when they took a longer time to negotiate transition from French-speaking to English-speaking. The rate at which white lecturers spoke and the unfamiliar accents of black South African lecturers became important aspects of experiences they negotiated at Montana College. Sixth, learning ensues when there is a hybridization of the three sociocultural factors namely language of communication, acculturation to the domain of influence and mediated identity. Seventh, it was found that power relations manifested themselves in different perspectives at Montana College. Lave and Wenger (1991) proposed that power relations exist in the field of education where teachers exercise their roles as facilitators of learning and students see that they are in possession of economic power, by virtue of the fact that they pay fees. Consequently the issues of power relations abound in the form of the “continuity-displacement contradictions” as suggested by Lave and Wenger (1991:115-116). Much new knowledge came to light, especially in terms of the three sociocultural factors (language, acculturation and identity). When these are in a state of redress, there is an emergent learning, depending on the extent of hybridization between the sociocultural factors. The magnitude of learning is conceptualized to depend on the extent of redress or hybridization among the sociocultural factors. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / In this study the experiences of a group of first-year Extended Degree Programme (EDP) students were explored in order to obtain insight into their acquisition of academic literacy. The study was undertaken against the backdrop of a higher education sector that is facing an increasing influx of first-year students on the one hand, and poor retention rates on the other. In South Africa, where the opening up of access to higher education for all citizens has become a political imperative, the need to address the undesirable dropout rate is self-evident. Students’ poor performance at university is often linked to their under-preparedness for higher education studies, and an important aspect of such under-preparedness is their academic literacy. In this context academic literacy is seen as knowing how to speak and act within a particular discourse, and the reading and writing that occur within the discipline as tools through which to facilitate learning. While some students acquire academic literacy by virtue of their participation in the discourse community of the relevant discipline, this is not always so for students who are less prepared for higher education studies. In response to the disconcerting retention rates, higher education institutions have implemented academic support programmes to address the needs of students who enter university with poor school results. One such intervention at Stellenbosch University is the Extended Degree Programme in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, which makes provision for students to extend their first academic year over two years. Since 2006 EDP students have also been required to register for an academic literacy module and it is this group that comprises the focus of this study. Using a case study design, this qualitative, interpretive inquiry was characterized by multiple data collection methods. In this way qualitative data that pointed to the perceptions of the students and some of the lecturers who taught the EDP classes were generated via semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, observation and content analysis. In addition, descriptive quantitative data was collected and this further contributed to generating the rich, in-depth data that characterize case study research. The analysis of the data was undertaken according to a three-tiered approach, in which the results of the empirical inquiry were first analysed per data source and then themes and trends across all the data sources were identified. Ultimately, these findings were interpreted according to an explanatory framework. The study highlights a number of important issues, key of which is that providing an academic literacy module for under-prepared students can facilitate the acquisition of academic literacy, particularly when such provision seeks to support the different discipline-based mainstream modules. Another important finding of the study emphasizes the extent to which institutional factors, such as increased student numbers, have placed pressure on university infrastructure and human resources. The impact of this situation filters down to the first-year classroom and negatively influences student learning. Finally, the results of the study question prevailing notions about under-prepared students as all of the students in the study, irrespective of their backgrounds and levels of sophistication, attested to the significant challenges that entry into the academic community posed for them. The findings of this study, while specific to the context in which it was undertaken, contribute to the growing body of knowledge in the field of academic development within higher education and the role of academic literacy in student learning.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Reform is one of the most controversial elements in higher education and has therefore attracted much attention from within the academic community and from outside. The present higher education scene is characterised by demands for transformation and change, not only in South Africa but in Africa and the developed countries as well. The pressures and demands for change come from outside the field of higher education as well as from within. Some countries have been involved in the process of change and transformation for a period of over thirty years, while others have just embarked on the route or still have to start the change process. The post-apartheid era has marked an era of profound change for South African higher education institutions with concomitant legislation to ensure the change process. If effective and successful transformation of higher education institutions and systems can take place in South Africa with new models of transformation and the effective integration of cultures and openness to change at all institutional levels, these models could be instructive not only to Africa but also to the rest of the world and to academic life universally. However, the demands for change worldwide indicates not only towards new legislation but also towards flexible approaches and new forms of institutional structures and leadership to accommodate the significant, rapid and fundamental changes taking place in higher education and the realisation that institutions of the future will be different from those of the past and the present. In this study the influence of organisational models are used to establish a conceptual framework towards the development of learning organisations. The study reflects on how these new types of organisations will influence higher education institutions as organisations. It also considers what will be expected of higher education institutions to become learning organisations. Learning organisations have special qualities and higher education institutions or teaching institutions do not automatically qualify as learning organisations. The promise of the new millennium provides the higher educationcommunity with the opportunity to take stock of their position and to find out if they possess the necessary skills and have the enabling structures to accommodate a new world. Becoming a learning organisation involves more than a paradigm shift for higher education institutions. It requires a revolution, a quantum leap towards individual recognition and growth, leadership development and empowerment and institutional learning. The Academic 'Process Leadership' Super structure provides the space, structure and process for higher education organisations to re-organise and re-create itself to fit the demands of a new world. An analysis of leadership, leadership development and institutional change in higher education institutions brought to the fore that these institutions have not been effective in providing programmes that develop leaders because they simply do not know what is necessary for effective leadership development. Institutions do not have an in-depth understanding of leadership and they have not enculturated leadership development as a core aspect and activity in higher education institutions. There is grave concern regarding the development of 'soft' people skills. The qualitative research investigation into the process of change towards learning organisations in higher education institutions indicate that there are profound problems in the areas of leadership, leadership development, people management and satisfaction, knowledge management and learning dynamics. These areas form the core aspects within the new structures, that of learning organisations. The insights gained from the process analysis of five higher education institutions indicate that the implementation of the academic leadership model as described in the study will provide individual leaders with the necessary leadership skills to fulfill their roles in the recreated empowered institutions. This process of leadership development, as indicated in the study, could enable institutions to become learning organisations. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:Die huidige konteks van hoer onderwys dui daarop dat verandering een van die belangrikste, maar ook mees kontroversiele aspekte aangaande die studieveld is. Die hoeronderwysomgewing asook hoeronderwysinstellings verkeer onder geweldige druk van beide binne en buite die akademiese gemeenskap om te verander. 'n Analise van die huidige stand van sake en konteks van hoeronderwysinstellings dui daarop dat verandering nie net in Suid-Afrika 'n faktor is en baie aandag geniet nie, maar dat Afrika sowel as die ontwikkelde lande ook onder geweldige druk verkeer om te transformeer. Sommige lande is al vir meer as dertig jaar betrokke by die proses van verandering. Dit wil egter voorkom dat sommige van die ander lande Of nog glad nie begin het nie 6f pas begin het met die proses van verandering en transformasie. Die tydperk na 1994 en die oorgang na 'n nuwe demokratiese regenng m Suid- Afrika was ook die begin van dramatiese verandering in die Suid-Afrikaanse hoeronderwysomgewing. Die kwessie van verandering is nie net in sekere nasionale beleidsdokumente aangespreek nie, maar ook in meegaande wetgewing. Indien Suid-Afrikaanse hoeronderwysinstellings in staat sou wees om nuwe modelle te kan akkommodeer en te kan verwesenlik terwyl hulle besig is met die transformasieen veranderingsproses, kan hierdie modelle van nut en van waarde wees, nie net vir Afrika nie, maar ook vir die ontwikkelde wereld en die internasionale hoeronderwysgemeenskap. Nuwe strukture en modelle kan ongelukkig nie net deur wetgewing daargestel word nie. Instellings sal toeganklik moet wees vir moontlike nuwe vorms van leierskap, leierskapsontwikkeling en die konsep van veranderde strukture om sodoende te kan aanpas by die eise van 'n voortdurend veranderende wereld en die geweldige impak wat verandering op hoeronderwysinstellings het. Hoeronderwysinstellings sal moet besef dat instansies wat op die toekoms gerig word nie kan vashou aan ou uitgediendemodelle nie. Toekomsgerigte modelle verskil van die huidige vorms, sowel as die van die verlede. Die invloed van organisasiemodelle op hoeronderwysinstellings verskaf konseptuele verwysingsraamwerke vir die ontwikkeling van nuwe begrippe en konsepte. Die konsepte help om rigting aan te dui en te bepaal wat van instansies verwag word om sodoende te kan verander na lerende organisasies. Dit is belangrik om kennis te neem dat lerende organisasies spesifieke eienskappe het en dat hoeronderwysinstellings nie sonder meer gereken en geklassifiseer kan word as lerende organisasies nie. Hierdie nuwe vorm van organisasiestruktuur sal 'n fundamentele invloed he op institusionele prosesse asook op die manier waarop instellings in die toekoms bedryf sal word. In die nuwe millennium sal hierdie paradigmaskuif die geleentheid aan hoeronderwysinstellings voorsien om nie net revolusioner te verander nie maar ook om 'n kwantumsprong te maak na die belangrike mens- en leervaardighede. Hierdie vaardighede is nie net noodsaaklik vir die ontwikkeling om 'n lerende organisasie te word nie, dit maak ook die kern uit van hierdie nuwe organlsaSles. Die proses van akademiese leierskap en leierskapsontwikkeling, soos wat voorgestel word in die model van die Akademiese Leierskapsproses Superstruktuur sal aan instellings die geleentheid bied om die noodsaaklike leierskapsvaardighede te ontwikkel. Dit sal ook die kreatiewe en innoverende omgewing skep wat dit vir hierdie soort organisasie strukture moontlik sal maak om nuut te kan ontwikkel en sodoende in staat sal stel om te kan herorganiseer binne 'n konteks van groter aanpasbaarheid. Hierdie kwalitatiewe studie en navorsingsanalise ten opsigte van leierskap, leierskapsontwikkeling en die proses van verandering en transformasie het aangedui dat hoeronderwysinstellings in Suid-Afrika nie effektief ontwikkel ten einde lerende organisasies te word nie. Die ondersoek dui daarop dat instellings nie die onderliggende elemente van die begrip "leierskap" verstaan nie. Leierskap en leierskapsontwikkeling maak tans nie deel uit van die huidige institusionele kultuur nie.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis briefly explores the quality phenomenon in higher education and more specifically in the university context. In addition, the experiences of stakeholders who participated in the first institutional quality audit at a merged university are explored and analysed. It is also argued that the world-wide quality phenomenon at universities, although sometimes politically driven and at times undertaken with hidden agendas, may eventually add value to a university‟ cycle of never-ending quality improvement and enhancement. University stakeholders who are either directly or indirectly involved in realising the university‟s vision and mission can provide invaluable feedback about their experience of a quality audit. Feedback by all stakeholders about a quality audit will assist the university to plan and prepare for the next cycle of quality audits. The research findings of this study indicated that a variety of differences exist in the perceptions of stakeholders that participated in the preparation and execution of the institutional quality audit. In some cases the differences may hold some limited risk for the university therefore some recommendations are also made in support of future audits. These and other recommendations emenating from the research findings will hopefully also contribute towards improved engagement between the stakeholders and members of the audit panel. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek kortliks die verskynsel van gehalte in hoër onderwys, en meer spesifiek in die universiteitskonteks. Voorts word die ervarings van belanghebbendes wat deelgeneem het aan die eerste institusionele kwaliteitsoudit aan ʼn saamgesmelte universiteit, ondersoek en ontleed. Daar word ook aangevoer dat die wêreldwye verskynsel van kwaliteit aan universiteite uiteindelik waarde kan toevoeg tot ʼn universiteit se siklus van ewigdurende kwaliteitsversekering en –verbetering, selfs al is hierdie verskynsel soms polities gedrewe en al gaan dit by tye gepaard met verskuilde agendas. Belanghebbendes van die universiteit wat direk of indirek betrokke is by die realisering van die universiteit se visie en missie kan uiters waardevolle terugvoer bied oor hulle ervaring van ʼn kwaliteitsoudit. Terugvoer deur alle belanghebbendes oor ʼn kwaliteitsoudit sal die universiteit help om vir die volgende siklus kwaliteitsoudits te beplan en voor te berei. Die navorsingsbevindings van hierdie studie dui daarop dat ʼn verskeidenheid verskille wel bestaan in die persepsies van belanghebbendes wat deelgeneem het aan die voorbereiding en uitvoering van die institusionele kwaliteitsoudit. In sommige gevalle hou die verskille wel ʼn beperkte risiko vir die universiteit in en daarom word aanbevelings gemaak ter ondersteuning van toekomstige kwaliteitsoudits. Hierdie, sowel as ander aanbevelings sal hopelik ook bydra tot verbeterde interaksie tussen die belanghebbendes en lede van die ouditpaneel.

This research is an attempt to determine the extent to which the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in higher education promotes social transformation. Through analysing the case study of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) RPL programme, some conclusions on this matter were drawn. This research, a qualitative study, analyses key official documents, institutional reports, learning portfolios - produced by RPL candidates wherin they narrated their autobiographical learning histories - extensively. In addition, qualitative data were incorporated into this study to assist in the construction of the context within which RPL is being offered ...

The Student Support and Development Services (SSDS) at Further Education and Training (FET) colleges represent a holistic and systemic approach to addressing barriers to learning and development. College SSDS are based on the acknowledgement that all FET students need support and development and that, when addressing needs of the college student, it is done in a holistic, integrated, intersectional and inclusive manner.<br /> <br /> The SSDS therefore strive to develop competencies, knowledge, skills and attitudes in a systemic and holistic manner. The aim of the study was to design, implement and evaluate SSDS at the FET colleges in the Western Cape Education Department and to establish a Lecturer Support and Development Team (LSDT) at each FET college, which would include the following services.<br /> <br /> <ul> <li>student counselling services</li> <li>academic development and learning support</li> <li>occupationald evelopmenat nd careerg uidance</li> <li>life skills education and health education, and</li> <li>college institutional development</li> </ul> Student counselling services at FET colleges aim to render comprehensive student services with a holistic developmental aspect of the student in relation to his/her social, emotional, physical and cognitive dimensions. The staff of the LSDT are the first line of contact for the troubled student. Academic development is aimed at the students who enter the FET sector with inadequate schooling, education and training. Orientation programmes include bridging the gap between schooling and FET education and training. Bridging programmes and remedial programmes are offered to students to compensate for their academic backlog and to accelerate their education and training up to a level suitable for FET.

This study investigated access to and use of Information and Communication Technology by students at the University of the Western Cape. It examined how the issues of access and use play out at the microlevel of a historically disadvantaged institution in South Africa by investigating the institutional arrangements and practices of different computer laboratories.

A thesis submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy / The 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]