This research study explored the dimensions of motivation that may exist for mature psychology graduates when completing their postgraduate degree. And because it is widely acknowledged that stress is often a close companion to motivation, specifically in the pursuit of academic goals, the study also investigated those aspects of coping skills these individuals employed to sustain their motivation in completing their studies. Eight mature female psychology postgraduates from four different South African public universities were identified using a non probability sampling technique. Semi structured interviews were then carried out with the eight participants; the interviews were then transcribed and analysed using content analysis. The results of the study indicated that self efficacy; intrinsic motivation, attribution and achievement goals all play a role in the students’ motivation. It further indentified perseverance as an important factor in the students’ completion of their studies. Positive beliefs, problem solving strategies and social support appeared to be the most widely used coping skills by this sample.

The 21st century has seen nations becoming more competitive yet ironically more interdependent as their future becomes even more dependent on the knowledge, skills, and resourcefulness of its people, creating new opportunities and difficulties for education, (Power, 2000). The education-work-society interdependency has therefore become more important now than ever. It is also because of this triad-interdependency that tertiary education‟s relevance to industry needs has become a crucial issue in societal development. The ever changing needs of South Africa, the unemployment rate, introduction of new technologies and many other ripple effects of globalization have seen more and more pressure mounting on the South African education system as more and more people try to ensure that the education system answers the crucial challenges of the country today and tomorrow.The discussion below provides a detailed account of the context, in which this discourse on curriculum relevance takes place, highlighting some relevant cornerstones of the Reconstruction and Development Programme, (RDP, 1994). Furthermore, this chapter exposes the key research questions and significance of the study. The subsequent chapter 2 gives an account of what other scholars have said on issues of curriculum relevance, development and the South African Higher Education system. Chapter 3 explains the research methodology as a research process used to investigate the problem in question. In this research study the researcher uses both quantitative and qualitative design (online surveys of three groups, these are the graduates, prospective employers and the lecturers). The analysis is based on quantitative data and further substantiated through qualitative data analysis. The subsequent chapter tabulates and lays out the results according to the surveys. The final chapter discusses the findings and makes future recommendations.

This study explored the experiences of mature women undertaking Master’s degrees at a Historically Disadvantaged Institution of Higher Learning in South Africa. Attaining a Master’s degree is a significant milestone in education and the process may take from one to three, or more, years. The study aims to describe aspects of the women’s experiences of their research journeys and the goal of the study is to present descriptions of these experiences. The methodology is qualitative and uses a critical feminist approach, appropriate to exploring the research questions. A critical feminist stance holds that women experience the world differently to men given the patriarchal structure of society. Emphasis is placed on the primacy of the co-researcher’s perceptions of their experiences. A single method research design was followed using semi-structured interviews. The analysis resulted in the emergence of a number of central themes. Together these reflect the experiences of the co-researchers, although they did not automatically share all the experiences. The findings show that postgraduate study, in the form of a Master’s degree, was found to be transformative, meaningful and worthwhile, although not without difficulties; mainly the demands required of multiple roles within home, community, work, and the university. This study contributes towards the larger body of research within education, in particular in the understanding the experiences of mature women within the field of postgraduate study.

Submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Technology: Homoeopathy, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / Aim of the study The study aimed to identify the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions amongst post graduate homoeopathy students and post basic primary health care nurses serving in a primary health care setting regarding adverse effects associated with childhood vaccinations. Methodology In this qualitative study 18 participants were selected through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant. The interviews were recorded and analysed conceptually. Results The findings of this study revealed that all of the PHC nursing participants were in favour of the childhood immunisation schedule of South Africa, contrary to the homoeopathic participants where the majority of participants were not in favour of the childhood immunisation schedule. Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions varied amongst the homoeopathic participants in contrast to the PHC nursing participants where there was a much more unified stance and cohesive outcome with regard to their attitudes and perceptions. / M

Submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Technology: Homoeopathy, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / Aim of the study The study aimed to identify the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions amongst post graduate homoeopathy students and post basic primary health care nurses serving in a primary health care setting regarding adverse effects associated with childhood vaccinations. Methodology In this qualitative study 18 participants were selected through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant. The interviews were recorded and analysed conceptually. Results The findings of this study revealed that all of the PHC nursing participants were in favour of the childhood immunisation schedule of South Africa, contrary to the homoeopathic participants where the majority of participants were not in favour of the childhood immunisation schedule. Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions varied amongst the homoeopathic participants in contrast to the PHC nursing participants where there was a much more unified stance and cohesive outcome with regard to their attitudes and perceptions. / M

Master's degree in Research Psychology Research report, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016. / This study explored the stories of South African black female postgraduates, in particular, focusing on family dynamics in their childhoods and the role these relationships played in their academic development. South African higher education is a site of contestations as access opens up for students previously excluded from universities. However access and success continue to be racialized and gendered hence black women are unevenly represented in higher education particularly at postgraduate level. This study brings forth stories of women who have succeeded in this context, exploring questions of social and cultural capital (Bourdieu 1994).Thematic analysis highlights predominant themes across the narratives of these women. There is a very strong thread across the narratives that these women feel that their academic achievement is primarily due to hard work and a ‘natural’ or intrinsic intellectual talent that was recognised by their families and teachers from a young age. Despite the emphasis on individual aptitude, the findings also highlight participants’ recognition of the value of support from family in their schooling and even continuing into their lives as young adult postgraduate students. The nature of family dynamics in these women’s childhood and adult lives was revealed, including, the friendship that characterises daughter-mother relationships, the absence of fathers, and the role of grandmothers and other members of the extended family and community networks . It is worth noting that all participants talk of the sudden movement from public township schools to private or Model C schools that disrupts their narratives of schooling. The lack of reading in the childhood homes of some of these women contradicts the common assumption that a reading home environment is vital for the development of the appropriate cultural capital necessary for academic success. Instead, it is evident that these multigenerational families provide a range of support that allows learning to take place, including emotional and financial support, providing critical social capital. / GR2017

The main aim of the study was to investigate the Career Orientation profiles of first year and second year MBA students at the University of Natal in order to establish what particular profiles were prevalent amongst students with the view of using those as the diagnostic schedule of those that are likely to succeed in their careers. The first aim of the study was to compile the profile of first and second year MBA students. The second aim of the study was to determine MBA students' career orientation profiles. A standardized Schein's Career Orientation Inventory Scale was used in the study in order to achieve the objectives of the second aim. The researcher constructed a biographic questionnaire in order to achieve the objectives of the first aim. The measuring instrument was administered to groups of first and second year students. One hundred questionnaires were analysed, seventy for the first years and thirty for second year students. The sample consisted of 42 first year male students and 28 first year female students, and 18 second year male and 12 second year female students. The findings according to the first aim of the study, i.e., the compiling of the profiles of the first and second year MBA students, revealed that there was no significant difference in terms of age, marital status, level of education, employment sector and salary range between the two groups of MBA students. The findings based on aim two, i.e., determining the career orientation profiles revealed that the most dominant career anchor for both groups of MBA students was the Pure Challenge followed by Autonomy / Independence. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Using social realist theory and particularly the morphogenetic/morphostatic methodology advocated by Margaret Archer, this study offers a critical examination of the emergence of a formal academic staff development programme at a small South African university (SSAU). Archer’s morphogenetic approach enabled an investigation of the interface between culture, structure and agency (at macro, mezo and micro levels) in order to theorize about the material, ideational and agential conditions that obtained and which in turn enabled the emergence of the Postgraduate Diploma of Higher Education (PGDHE) at the SSAU. The study therefore advances concrete propositions about the cultural, structural and agential conditions for transformation which existed at a particular time in the history of higher education (and the subfield of educational development) which enabled the introduction of the PGDHE. Analysis of the data suggests that what occurred at SSAU was a disruption of the morphostatic synchrony between structure and culture brought about by new discourses and structures emanating from the broader international and national higher education context. In particular, it seems that attempts at reconciling the constraining contradictions between the discourses and structures related to quality assurance on the one hand and educational development on the other resulted in a conjunction between transformation at the levels of both the cultural system and social structure. This conjunction, along with the actions of key Institutional agents and the morphogenesis of the staff of the Educational Development Unit, created sufficiently enabling conditions in the Institution for the introduction of the PGDHE. The research adds to knowledge through insights into the contribution that the ideas, beliefs, values, ideologies and theories about higher education broadly and about educational development specifically make to enabling or constraining conditions for the professionalization of academic staff in higher education institutions. It uncovers how relevant structures at the international, national and institutional levels can shape the practice of educational development and specifically staff development. It has generated insights into how the relevant people and the positions they hold can impact on staff development practices. In summary, the research could contribute towards emancipatory knowledge which could be used by SSAU and educational development practitioners elsewhere to inform future planning and decision making in relation to educational development and more specifically staff development practices in their contexts.

The profession of Psychology in post-apartheid South Africa has been dominated by women, despite attempts to address issues of equity, access and redress in recruitment and training. Certain obstacles to entering the profession, that may be specifically relevant to men, included the longevity and cost of training; the notion that Psychology is a ‘woman’s profession’; and the appeal of more lucrative job opportunities. Women, on the other hand, were often encouraged to enter female-dominated professions such as Psychology and financial support either from one’s family or an economically-independent partner facilitates the pursuit of this career trajectory. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of married females who were embarking on postgraduate study. Using semi-structured interviews, eight married female participants currently enrolled in Professional Masters programmes provided in-depth information on why they took on the dual adjustment of marriage and postgraduate study and what were the challenges and benefits associated with this process. Thematic content analysis was used to interpret these accounts which revealed that the dating phase of relationships often concluded as postgraduate study commenced due to the longevity of the study trajectory. To address the accompanying relationship insecurity, marriage was idealised as offering enhanced security and stability. Despite the notion that Masters and marriage would complement each other in order to overcome the difficulties of marriage and postgraduate study, a blurring of boundaries was experienced between the perceived challenges and benefits as the idealised complementarity was not actualised. Using feminist theory, the study added value to debates on the perpetuating influence of chauvinistic notions regarding marriage and career development for women inherent in the family life cycle theory, as well as explored the implications of the “feminisation” of the profession of Psychology on recruitment, training and future practice of female Psychologists.

Young people are often expected to find employment after completing their tertiary qualifications but they often face various challenges in finding employment. These challenges may be due to a variety of factors such as the type of qualification that they hold, structural changes in the economy, lack of skills and experience and the lack of relevant social networks. Furthermore, the current economic climate is characterised by low absorption rates of labour in the economy, poverty and inequalities. As such young graduates may experience various negative effects as a result of their unemployment, such as isolation, depression, decreased self-esteem, dependency, discontentment, loneliness, loss of social status and poverty. Social support has been found to have a buffering effect on people experiencing adverse life events such as unemployment. The focus of this current study was therefore to explore the social support experiences of graduates in the township of Mamelodi. This research study was a qualitative, interpretative phenomenological study. Snowballing sampling and purposive sampling were used to obtain research participants who attained tertiary qualifications. Smaller samples of between 6 and10 participants are commonly used in interpretative phenomenological studies. As such, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was then used to extract themes from the participant interviews. The participant interviews indicated that the participants experienced a lack of finance as the most significant challenge during their unemployment, as they could not support themselves and their families. The participants experienced social support in the form of encouragement and information about possible employment opportunities from their family, friends, intimate partners and their community. Moreover, the analysis of the participants’ interviews demonstrated that social support, especially from the family, was essential for the unemployed graduates to cope with the negative effects of unemployment, even though they did not want to burden their families with the responsibility of providing them with social support. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)