Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Technology Degree: Operations and Quality Management, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / Over the last decade the institutional framework within which most universities in South Africa operate has undergone major transformation forcing the higher education sector to become more competitive in its approach to attracting and retaining quality students. Against this background, service quality has been put forward as a critical determinant of competitiveness. The purpose of this study therefore was to identify best practice in terms of postgraduate studies and research development and support service delivery in the South African (SA) and Australian (Aus) contexts in order to inform the development of a quality model for postgraduate or research centres (PG/RCs) for universities of technology (UoTs) in SA. Underpinned by the Gap Model of service delivery and an adapted SERVQUAL instrument, this study sought to determine perceptions and expectations of service quality across five dimensions, namely: tangibles; reliability; responsiveness; assurance; and empathy. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from PG/RC staff and postgraduate and research students in SA. Various gaps between students’ perceptions and expectations indicating dissatisfaction with PG/RC services particularly among the SA students were identified. The findings revealed that the SA UoTs lag behind the Aus UoTs in terms of communicating their services and forms of support to students and providing satisfactory services according to student expectations. The findings further suggested that issues such as service quality planning and monitoring, establishing recovery mechanisms for service failures, and student-driven service design and standards need to be high on the agenda at higher education institutions to ensure service quality control. All five dimensions of SERVQUAL indicated a negative score or quality gap suggesting that the SA PG/RCs need to urgently the gaps that exist at their institutions; key recommendations were thus made to improve the gaps identified. Based on the literature reviewed, best practice gleaned from the findings of this study, and benchmarking with the Aus UoTs; this study proposed a centralized and decentralized PG/RC model for SA UoTs to provide service quality to its ‘customers’.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The overarching aim of this study is to analyse what researchers in South African higher education institutes and science councils mean by the term 'utilisation'. In specific terms, this aim is interpreted as determining what researchers mean when they indicate that their research findings are being utilised. The data used to conduct this analysis is taken from a national survey conducted to establish the extent to which research findings in South Africa are utilised. The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies - now called the Centre for Research on Science and Technology - conducted the survey for the National Advisory Committee on Innovation (NACI). This study for NACI involved a questionnaire survey of research being conducted with universities, technikons and science councils, and a telephone survey of a sample of research and development managers in 116 companies. As a researcher in the Centre, I played an active role in this two-fold survey component of the research process. Besides coding the questionnaire for the NACI survey, for the purposes of my study I did additional coding of the questionnaire data. This involved coding 1052 responses to an openended question using a software package. After exporting this data to Microsoft Excel, I further coded the data into one of three categories: Mode 1, Mode 2 and a combination of Mode 1 and Mode 2. This 'new variable' created, formed part of the quantitative analysis since it was correlated with the following variables: the 'trigger' or 'driver' behind the research; the expected outcome of the project or study; the scientific field of the project; the project's or the study's science culture; the source of funding of the study, the modes of dissemination of the results and the intended beneficiary(ies) of the research. Results of the qualitative analyses reveal a profile for projects exhibiting features of Mode 1, Mode 2 or a combination of Mode 1 and Mode 2 knowledge utilisation. With Mode 1 we see that research was likely to be utilised within the discipline, was conducted for the benefit of the researcher's peers and it expanded on existing knowledge - all indicating that Mode 1 knowledge utilisation is predominantly associated with fundamental research. With Mode 2 we see that research was produced primarily for its use value and included the user's interests - indicating that Mode 2 knowledge utilisation is predominantly applied, commissioned and/or strategic. Projects that exhibited both features of Mode 1 and Mode 2 were both indicative of fundamental and applied research. Besides the quantitative analyses also showing the same result mentioned above, it was also discovered that the majority of the projects exhibited features of Mode 2, with one third of the projects exhibiting features of Mode 1 and a small proportion of projects as comprising both modes of utilisation. This was a very interesting finding because it is no longer just speculation that a shift is occurring to more applied, strategic research. The analysis revealed that this shift is a reality. The correlations of mode of utility with the seven other variables produced a range of results that expanded on the features of Mode 1 and Mode 2 type of knowledge production and verified that each mode had qualities unique to itself. My recommendations to researchers in South African research institutes concerns conducting the type of research which will be more relevant to the needs of South African society at large. To funding bodies and programmes of South Africa, the suggestion is to become more informed about the dissemination and intended utilisation strategies that they fund. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om 'n analise te doen van die begrip "navorsingsbenutting", soos verstaan deur navorsers binne die publieke Suid Afrikaanse navorsing- en ontwikkelingsektor. Data wat verkry is van 'n landswye ondersoek na die aanwending van navorsingsuitsette binne die publieke sektor, soos onderneem deur die Sentrum vir Interdissiplinêre Studies, is geanaliseer. As 'n lid van die navorsingspan wat die studie onderneem het, was ek aktief betrokke by die proses wat onder meer 'n vraelys-ondersoek ingesluit het na navorsingsprojekte wat in swang is aan SA universiteite, tegnikons en wetenskapsrade. Vir die doel van die studie het ek 1052 response wat die resultaat was van 'n oop vraag in die vraelys in drie kategorieë gekodeer naamlik Modus 1, Modus 2 asook Modus 3, 'n kombinasiekategorie met die benaming "modus van aanwending". Die kwalitatiewe analise het getoon dat in die geval van modus 1, die navorsing mees waarskynlik binne die dissipline en tot die voordeel van die navorser se eweknieë aangewend sal word en dat dit in die meeste gevalle 'n uitbreiding van bestaande kennis behels - 'n aanduiding dat modus 1 navorsing hoofsaakilk verbind kan word met fundamentele navorsing. In die geval van modus 2 blyk dit dat navorsing primêr berus op die utiliteit- of aanwendingswaarde daarvan. Dit vertoon 'n noue verband met die gebruiker se behoefte of belangstelling en is hoofsaaklik toegepaste, kontrak of strategiese navorsing. Projekte wat aspekte van beide modi 1 en 2 vertoon, het tegelykertyd gedui op fundamentele en toegepaste navorsing. Die kwantitatiewe analise het aangedui dat die meerderheid projekte eienskappe van modus 2 vertoon het, met 'n derde van die projekte wat eienskappe van modus 1 vertoon het. 'n Klein hoeveelheid projekte het aspekte van beide modi 1 en 2 vertoon. Hierdie analise het aangetoon dat 'n verkuiwing inderdaad plaasgevind het vanaf fundamentele na meer toegepaste en strategiese navorsing. Die korrelasie van die modus van aanwending met sewe ander veranderlikes, het 'n reeks resultate tot gevolg gehad wat die eienskappe van modi 1 en 2 verder uitgebrei het. Dit het ook bygedra tot die bevestiging van die spesifieke eienskap van elke modus en unieke aspekte van elke modus aangetoon. Aanbevelings word ten slotte gedoen met die oog op 'n keuse vir meer relevante navorsing binne die publieke sektor gemeet aan die kriteria van die navorsingsbehoeftes van die breër Suid Afrikaanse gemeenskap. Aanbevelings m.b.t. disseminasie en navorsingsaanwendingstrategieë van navorsing wat deur befondsingsliggame befonds word, word ook gemaak.

D. Tech. Informatics / In the world of information and communications technology (ICT), collaboration plays a central and significant role towards development and economic growth. Collaboration is relevant for all spheres, starting with individuals, organizations, private businesses, governments, and specifically research institutions which focus on research and innovation. In the academia, e-collaboration has become part of the survival strategy and is also essential to ensure continuity, competitiveness, growth and maturity. ARIs (Academic and Research Institutions) must plan on how e-collaboration is applied and improved in organizations. The main research objective for this study was to propose an e-Collaboration Maturity Model for ARIs. In support of this four secondary objectives were listed as follows: To investigate collaboration initiatives and technology amongst ARIs; To understand the driving forces and challenges towards Collaboration amongst ARIs; To explore the themes of e-Collaboration; To review maturity and assessment models.

M. Tech. Architecture: Professional / The origins of the Apies River within Fountains Valley, established the foundation of the city of Pretoria as well as the inspiration for this design. The significance of Fountains resides not only in its natural features but also its historical and cultural layers, forming a complex matrix of time and influence. The proposal explores the potential role that architecture plays in the conservation of Pretoria's cultural waterscapes, through the process of fabric renewal and public engagement. The study identifies the need for a hydrological research and conservation facility within Fountains Valley, unifying the significance of the site which stems from natural features as well as historical and cultural layers. Fountains Valley currently forms a place with cultural value, leisure and recreation opportunities, and an escape from the busy city. The proposed intervention consists of a cultural waterscape that creates a new relationship between people and nature. The future built landscape will be a platform and catalyst which researches, informs, and preserves Pretoria's natural spaces and aims to facilitate the integration of a hydro-logical research facility within a cultural recreational park.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture: Professional)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2012. / This thesis presents the proposal of a Synaesthesia Research and Sensory Substitution facility in Pretoria. The facility's primary research will be on the phenomenon of synaesthesia and the effect it can have on people with impaired senses. The envisaged site, Prince's Park, is located on the western edge of the Pretoria CBD and is presently used as an urban park. This thesis will explore the human being's perception of the built environment and how we experience the language of materials to create a rich sensual journey: namely, to move away from a singularly visual architecture in favour of a design approach that experientially accommodates all the senses. In other words, seeing is not believing, feeling is believing; the aim is to create architecture through participation - not just observation.

On entering the Rhodes University Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at 6 Prince Alfred Street, visitors are confronted by a glass cabinet in which is displayed the four volumes of the Keiskammahoek Rural Survey (1947-1952); six of the volumes which emanated from the Border Regional Survey (1956-1964) of which three are the Xhosa in Town trilogy, and a modest paperback From Reserve To Region (1997), which records the changes which took place in Keiskammahoek between the birth of apartheid in 1948 and its demise in 1994. Together these may be seen as the charter documents of the ISER - rooted in empirical research in the Eastern Cape, multidisciplinary, substantial works of scholarship and, in the case of The Xhosa in Town trilogy, at least, of international repute.

M. Tech. Architecture (Professional) / The aim of the dissertation is to create an architectural interpretation of a new interactive center. The center will explore the adaption of buildings in a natural context within the city of Pretoria, to promote research, solutions and understanding of climate change in a developing country that is dependent on energy. The awareness center will be situated on a prominent untouched site within the Innovation Hub campus. The aspiration for this site is to reintroduce the link between two major research facilities namely the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the University of Pretoria (UP). The development of the design will investigate the following issues: The background and effect of climate change; Climate change as a reality and architecture in an eco-systemic approach; and How architecture should respond to climate change and nature.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture (Applied Design))--Tshwane University of Technology, 2012. / The aim of this dissertation is to design a National Food Technology and Research centre in Marabastad, Tshwane. The focus of the proposed project is to introduce an urban food system by way of reviewing available foodstuffs, seeds and products in a scientifically responsible manner. This will be achieved by attempting to create an awareness concerning food and all related aspects, to challenge the old habits of consumers and to promote a responsible and sustainable lifestyle. The centre's programme will aim to manage innovative research and develop public and community activities related to future urban agriculture and related food technology. This proposal will also aspire to initiate networking and development of relationships amongst farmers (producers), the commercial sector (production and processing sector) and the consumer (public). The architectural intervention will promote social and economic development, contributing to the general self-sufficiency and up-liftment of the Marabastad community. The architectural language is in contrast to the surrounding context but simultaneously celebrates the existing Marabastad social culture and architectural elements. This development intends to rejuvenate the existing proximate environment and establish an urban building typology, which aims to contribute to the future development initiative for Marabastad. The design and layout of the facilities are based on social, pragmatic and cultural actions, evident within Marabastad and particularly the area known as Jazz Square, between Bloed and Struben Streets. The proposed Research Centre will consequently embrace and respond to the site's unique and historical genius loci.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / This proposal deals with the design of a beekeeping research centre on the Wonderboom farm on the northern outskirts of Pretoria, alongside the Magalies mountain range. The site forms a link between urban and agrarian fabric. The project serves as a tool of recreation, knowledge, understanding and response with regard to the protection of bees.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master's Degree in Information and Communication Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Research has become one of the major activities of higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide. Increasingly important is research information that emanates from the published research as it has now become one of the major sources of funding especially within the South African higher education landscape. However, many HEIs are facing numerous problems managing research information to sustain and attract more funding. The lack of resources to build or acquire appropriate systems for managing research information has been identified as one of the major challenges in HEIs. However, recent studies show that advancements have been made in some countries to address the challenge. For instance, in South Africa, a proprietary research information management system (RIMS) has been implemented in some HEIs. Nevertheless, some HEIs still face problems regarding the use of RIMS. Studies further show that most proprietary systems do not adequately satisfy requirements as desired by the HEIs. This is mostly because proprietary systems are developed without fully understanding the user requirements of individual HEIs. Moreover, most proprietary systems are developed following ad hoc approaches which neglect the requirements specification stage in the development life cycle. Requirements specification is important as it brings developers and users to a common understanding about the requirements of the system before development. The initial lack of consensus about system requirements results in systems that have technical barriers which make users shun from using them. For instance, such systems do not adapt very well to devices with small screens such as mobile phones, and do not have attractive interfaces to make users want to use them. Proprietary systems are also costly to acquire and maintain. Moreover, HEIs may not be able to immediately implement the new desired features in the system because proprietary systems usually do not allow them access to the source code. This study develops a web-based research administration and management system (RAMS) as a proposed solution to the problems of using a proprietary system to manage research information at a South African higher education institution. The study emphasises the use of formal methods for requirements specification to build an optimal system. Consequently, the Zermelo-Fraenkel Z specification language was used to specify the requirements of the proposed system which was developed in close collaboration with the intended users who also assessed its usability. The system evaluation responses were made on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. The overall results of the evaluation show that RAMS is usable and suitable for managing research information, nonetheless improvements are recommended. / M