This thesis examined the 2004 SA higher education merger processes in order to determine the extent to which these mergers have achieved in the context of the broader transformation goals of the post-1994 government’s policy objectives. Mergers have become part of the South African higher education landscape and system since their implementation in 2004. The merger process induced the reduction of higher education institutions from 36 to 23 (at least until 2012 at the time of writing this report). The merger implementation process itself was not voluntary. Some South African universities did not just willingly opt for the transformation process. It took the government a range of strategies, elaborate consultations and ‘carrot and stick’ approaches to convince some of the targeted institutions. The merger was not only limited to physical reconfiguration, but also to the systemic aspects motivated by the need to open the doors of learning and culture to all South Africans without barriers of ethnicity, race and other forms of discrimination. The ‘ivory tower’ universities had to be reigned into the national transformation project as well. Curriculum which was mainly crafted from an epistemological-ideological premise of the supremacy of Afrikaans as a language of the government of the day and the employer of choice had to be reviewed. Admission criteria, advanced access restrictions to the majority of black students to urban and more advanced universities, also warranted scrutiny / Public Administration / Ph. D. (Public Administration)

The private and social returns to education literature share the same conclusion: that education is beneficial for both the individual and society. However, the theoretical underpinnings are flawed as the literature does not account for the main feature that leads to the acquisition of education: the private demand for education. An understanding of the factors that motivate the individual to invest in education would lead to a deeper insight as to why both private and social returns to education exist, and would provide a clearer framework on which to base the government funding of education. This thesis provides a first attempt at filling this gap by introducing a method of estimating the returns to government investment in education, which is labelled the ‘labour market drop-out rate approach’. The approach focuses on the social return to education, not in terms of graduate earnings, but in terms of the interaction of the graduate with the economy. The approach introduces a measure of expertise utilisation, based on the premise that there is no social return to an individual acquiring education if he or she does not utilise the acquired knowledge base on entering the labour market. The approach is tested using the labour market for marine scientists in South Africa as a case study. In this case the private demand for education is found to be heavily influenced by the provision of student bursaries from the National Research Foundation, with a resulting estimate of the social return to a degree in marine science being a mere 20% to 25%. Owing to this, a new approach to government investment in marine science is introduced, that of graduate contribution schemes. Of broader significance is the ease of application of this approach, it may be adopted to analyse any funding programme in which a government may decide to invest. As such, the labour market drop-out rate provides an extension to the returns to education literature through its theoretical dealings of the private demand for education, as well as a practical tool which government agencies can use to evaluate the efficacy of any government funding of education.

The South Africa higher education environment has been regulated through the enactment of policies promulgated by the governments of the day since the establishment of South African higher education. Even in the early days, the higher education sector comprised both public and private higher education institutions. Since South Africa’s democratic election in 1994, the higher education environment has been altered by the current government by means of policy enactment. Limited research has been conducted on the impact of the current regulatory context on the management of a private higher education institution. Therefore, the focus of this study was to determine how a private higher education institution within the current higher regulatory context in South Africa is managed. A qualitative research methodology was used to study the phenomenon. For this purpose, a case study, an accredited and registered private higher education institution was identified and individual interviews conducted with its six managers. The study adhered to ethical principles and techniques to enhance the validity/trustworthiness of the findings. The study found that the current regulatory enactment that was initiated under the new democratic government elected in 1994 had far-reaching implications for the private higher education sector. As a consequence, management structures, policies and procedures, quality assurance processes and procedures and management functions were altered. However, some of the regulatory criteria still have an impact on the management functions as private providers still struggle for full recognition by the government. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)

The study investigated whether the South African Research Chairs and the research programmes of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation Programme (DST/NRF programmes), have made an effective contribution towards the acceleration of transformation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. The study argues that the implementation of the Higher Education (HE) policies by HEIs and the South African Research Chairs are seriously undermined by legacies of colonialism and apartheid. It is further contended that unless more funds are made available to black students to study full-time, the pillars of democracy of social justice, redress and equality remain meaningless ideological slogans. Guided by the insights provided by literature review on CDA, the study focuses more on the top-down relations of dominance (policy) that fuels continuing racial discrimination in higher education institutions, which the 2008 Final Report of the Ministerial Higher Education Committee isolated for criticism. The study posits that the thematic structural unifier, which links all the pieces of the multiplicity of the competing ideas and voices and threads through the whole study, is the endless probing and unravelling of the cultural and historical factors that continue to undermine the higher education transformation agenda. The findings of this study suggest that the policy implementation of the HE transformation agenda continues to be constrained by mismatch between policy objectives and implementation results. The findings also indicate that although the research-driven performance of South African Research Chairs has progressively improved each year and student support and research outputs increased between the 2008/09 and 2009/10 financial years, the direct impact of the SARChI programme can only be determined when performance is measured against the South African Research Chair Holders‟ baseline performance. The data also suggest that despite access to educational services at HEIs improving, the existence of various forms of discriminatory 15 practices, are still employed, a major challenge attributed to the “great man” leadership styles adopted by many university‟s vice chancellors and councils. This evaluation study utilises a small-scale purposive sample composed of three experts, with unstructured in-depth face-to-face interviews conducted with the experts. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the NQF on higher education institutions focussing specifically on access, teaching and learning. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: What was the impact of the NQF on increasing access to higher education? In particular how did the RPL process facilitate access into the University of Pretoria? Secondly, how did the NQF influence the processes of teaching and learning at this particular institution? And finally, why did the NQF have differential impacts on different faculties within the same higher education institution? To gain the end-users’ perspective, a case study of the University of Pretoria was conducted. Data was gathered using interviews with ten senior members of staff at the university working in nine different departments, and student records indicating admissions through RPL into the University of Pretoria as well as relevant institutional documents. The findings suggest that the impact of the NQF on access, teaching and learning differed across departments, resulting in a partial implementation of the policy. This was facilitated by factors inherent in the policy itself and factors inherent to the institution. The influence of external factors such as professional bodies on teaching and learning practices of end-users at the University of Pretoria posed a major challenge against NQF implementation. The motivations leading to NQF implementation are not directly linked to the NQF policy per se, although they resulted in portraying the extent of change to access, teaching and learning along a continuum that distinguished between departments that ‘blindly complied’, that selectively adapted and those that strategically avoided implementation of the policy. Indications for further research are that a wider look at the impact of the NQF on access, teaching and learning in higher education is less revealing than a more focussed investigation. Future research should zoom-in on individual departments within higher education institutions to reveal the deeper and more nuanced impact of the NQF. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om die impak van die NKR (NQF) op veral toegang, onderrig en leer in hoër onderwysinstellings te ondersoek. Die studie poog om die volgende navorsingsvrae te beantwoord: Watter impak het die NKR op toenemende toegang tot hoër onderwys? Hoe fasiliteer die EVL-proses ("RPL process") toegang tot die Universiteit van Pretoria? Hoe beïnvloed die NKR die onderrig- en leerproses aan hierdie spesifieke instelling? Ten slotte, waarom het die NKR 'n differensiële invloed op verskillende fakulteite binne dieselfde hoër onderwysinstelling? Ten einde die uiteindelike gebruiker se perspektief te bepaal, is 'n gevallestudie aan die Universiteit van Pretoria uitgevoer. Data is ingesamel uit onderhoude met tien senior personeellede wat in nege verskillende departemente werk, studenterekords aangaande toelating tot die Universiteit van Pretoria deur EVL, en ook relevante institutêre dokumente. Die bevindinge impliseer dat die impak van die NKR op toegang, onderrig en leer van departement tot departement verskil en dat dit lei tot 'n gedeeltelike implementering van die beleid. Dié verskil is aangehelp deur faktore wat inherent is aan die beleid, maar ook faktore inherent aan die instelling. Die invloed wat eksterne faktore soos professionele liggame op die onderrig- en leerpraktyke van finale gebruikers aan die Universiteit van Pretoria het, is 'n groot struikelblok vir die implementering van die NKR. Motiverings wat lei tot die implementering van die NKR is nie noodwendig aan die NKR-beleid gekoppel nie, alhoewel dit daartoe gelei het dat die mate van verandering in toegang, onderrig en leer op 'n kontinuum aangedui is. Hierdie kontinuum onderskei tussen departemente wat die beleid "blindelings navolg", ander wat dit selektief aanpas en nog ander wat die implementering van die beleid strategies vermy. Aanduidings vir verdere navorsing is dat 'n breë ondersoek van die NKR se impak op toegang, onderrig en leer in hoër onderwys minder beduidend is as 'n meer spesifieke ondersoek. Toekomstige navorsing behoort te fokus op individuele departemente binne hoër onderwysinstellings ten einde 'n indringender en meer genuanseerde impak van die NKR te bepaal.

Arising from Marxist theory, critical theory investigates the mechanisms that enable continued domination in capitalist society, with a view to revealing the real, but obscured, nature of social relations and enabling these to be challenged by subjugated classes. Within the broad spectrum of Marxist theory, social relations of domination and subordination are assigned according to the relationship of social classes to economic production. However, the neo-Marxist perspective developed by Antonio Gramsci locates relations of power within the broader context of the political economy. In doing so, the role of the State in a capitalist society assumes greater significance than that of maintaining and securing social relations on behalf of the dominant class through coercion and force. Instead, the State embarks on a range of activities in the attempted “exercise of hegemony”, or the cultivation of general acceptance by all social classes of existing social relations and conditions. Gramsci refers to this desired outcome as “consent”, the product of the successful exercise of hegemony, a political function which is thus crucial to the accumulation of capital. When unsuccessful, dissent cannot be contained by the State, and the extent to which contestation constitutes a threat is revealed by recourse to coercion. The manner in which relations of power are cemented through the exercise of hegemony lies at the core of this thesis. It investigates the relationship between the State and the administrators of an institution within civil society, the University of Fort Hare, as well as the responses to the activities of the State and University Administration within the University itself, over an extended period of time between 1916 and 2000. This period is divided into three specific time frames, according to changes in the expression of the South African State. In general, it is seen that conformity characterises the relationship between the State and the University Administration, underscoring the success of the State in fostering the role of education in the reproduction of social relations and values and in eliciting conformity. The nature of conformity is seen to vary according to different expressions of the State and changes in social relations, which are in turn informed by the overarching political economy and events taking place within society and the University of Fort Hare. Manifestations of consent and dissent, as responses to the attempted exercise of hegemony, are presented in the three periods corresponding to different expressions of the State. Four reasons for conformity, as presented by Gramscian scholar Joseph V Femia (1981), are utilised in order to explain and illustrate the nature of control and compliance at the University of Fort Hare between 1916 and 2000.

The South Africa higher education environment has been regulated through the enactment of policies promulgated by the governments of the day since the establishment of South African higher education. Even in the early days, the higher education sector comprised both public and private higher education institutions. Since South Africa’s democratic election in 1994, the higher education environment has been altered by the current government by means of policy enactment. Limited research has been conducted on the impact of the current regulatory context on the management of a private higher education institution. Therefore, the focus of this study was to determine how a private higher education institution within the current higher regulatory context in South Africa is managed. A qualitative research methodology was used to study the phenomenon. For this purpose, a case study, an accredited and registered private higher education institution was identified and individual interviews conducted with its six managers. The study adhered to ethical principles and techniques to enhance the validity/trustworthiness of the findings. The study found that the current regulatory enactment that was initiated under the new democratic government elected in 1994 had far-reaching implications for the private higher education sector. As a consequence, management structures, policies and procedures, quality assurance processes and procedures and management functions were altered. However, some of the regulatory criteria still have an impact on the management functions as private providers still struggle for full recognition by the government. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)

The study investigated whether the South African Research Chairs and the research programmes of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation Programme (DST/NRF programmes), have made an effective contribution towards the acceleration of transformation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. The study argues that the implementation of the Higher Education (HE) policies by HEIs and the South African Research Chairs are seriously undermined by legacies of colonialism and apartheid. It is further contended that unless more funds are made available to black students to study full-time, the pillars of democracy of social justice, redress and equality remain meaningless ideological slogans. Guided by the insights provided by literature review on CDA, the study focuses more on the top-down relations of dominance (policy) that fuels continuing racial discrimination in higher education institutions, which the 2008 Final Report of the Ministerial Higher Education Committee isolated for criticism. The study posits that the thematic structural unifier, which links all the pieces of the multiplicity of the competing ideas and voices and threads through the whole study, is the endless probing and unravelling of the cultural and historical factors that continue to undermine the higher education transformation agenda. The findings of this study suggest that the policy implementation of the HE transformation agenda continues to be constrained by mismatch between policy objectives and implementation results. The findings also indicate that although the research-driven performance of South African Research Chairs has progressively improved each year and student support and research outputs increased between the 2008/09 and 2009/10 financial years, the direct impact of the SARChI programme can only be determined when performance is measured against the South African Research Chair Holders‟ baseline performance. The data also suggest that despite access to educational services at HEIs improving, the existence of various forms of discriminatory 15 practices, are still employed, a major challenge attributed to the “great man” leadership styles adopted by many university‟s vice chancellors and councils. This evaluation study utilises a small-scale purposive sample composed of three experts, with unstructured in-depth face-to-face interviews conducted with the experts. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

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)

This study deals with the impact of educational policy on the National Senior Certificate: Pre-1994 and Post democracy South African case. The qualitative approach was used in this study, and the research findings were based on the analysis of documents. The transition from apartheid education to the present education system in South Africa has not been without challenges. In the past, South African education reflected the fragmented society in which it was based. Outcomes based education (OBE)/Curriculum 2005 (C2005), since its inception, was riddled with challenges. OBE/C2005 by its nature is complex. It is not user-friendly for developing countries such as South Africa. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of educational policies on the 2008 National Senior Certificate results. Historical-educational research is undertaken with the view of putting the education phenomenon into proper perspective. Venter (1985) is of the opinion that historical education investigation refers to the systematic placing of historical education variables in the spotlight. The general, continual pedagogical and fundamental problems are accentuated against the multiplicity of historical detail. This then makes historical-educational research an orderly (systematic and controlled) process of knowledge enrichment (Venter & Van Heerden 1989:106). The National Senior Certificate was established in terms of National Education Act 27 of 1996. Curriculum 2005 has been described in policy documents as a “paradigm shift” because it represents a radical departure from the previous curriculum in terms of the following: theoretical underpinnings, structure and organisation, teaching and learning process, and assessment (South Africa, Department of Education 1997:1). Pre-1994, the researcher discovered that the education of black people in rural areas in particular and South Africa in general was, in most instances, negatively impacted by policies of the previous government (1948-1953). The apartheid government used poor funding models to ensure that there were low teacher-pupil ratios and teacher qualifications were of unequal standard. Unequal pattern of spending continued well into the post-1994 democratic era. This poor funding model which impacted negatively on rural schools made infrastructural provision in rural areas difficult. Post -1994 democratic dispensation, the researcher discovered that the government have competitive legislative policies in place, but the challenges lay in the fact that those policies were impulsively implemented. Hence the many challenges. This is shown by the frequency of curriculum changes which took place in a very short space of time. Stakeholders played a major role in insuring that schools received quality service by challenging some of the decisions the government was taking. The government has had to take the recommendations into account. / Public Administration and Management / M.Admin. (Public Administration)