Magister Artium - MA / The transition from high school to university for many students all over the world has never been very easy and this is also true in the South African context. At the University of the Western Cape the majority of students, particularly part-time students, come from previously disadvantaged institutions of learning. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that most tertiary institutions in South Africa, including The University of the Western Cape, use English as the official language of instruction even though more than three quarters of students entering into institutions of higher learning in South Africa are second or even third language English speakers who do not have the language competence level required in the medium of instruction to successfully negotiate academic curricula.

Verandering vind voortdurend op alle gebiede van mense se lewens plaas. Ten einde met 'n veranderende wereld te kan tred hou en aan die behoeftes van die land en sy mense te voldoen, vind daar ook op onderwysgebied in Suid-Afrika, groot veranderinge plaas. Inrigtings betrokke by onderwysersopleiding het oo k die afgelope paar j aar ingrypende herstrukturering ondergaan. Volgens wetgewing moet aile tersiere onderwysinrigtings by die Hoeronderwys-sektor inskakel, wat inkorporering by 'n universiteit oftechnikon beteken. Hierdie studie fokus daarop om vas te stel hoe die dosente verbonde aan 'n tersiere onderwysinrigting die veranderingsproses beleef. Die navorser maak van die k:walitatiewe navorsingsmetode gebruik deur individuele onderhoude met 'n aantal dosente te voer. Hierdie inligting is met behulp van 'n oudio-bandopnemer opgeneem en verbatim transkripsies is daarvan gemaak. Na die ontleding van die transkripsies is faktore geidentifiseer wat emstige stres by die deelnemers veroorsaak tydens die veranderingsproses. Ten slotte is aanbevelings in hierdie verband gemaak. / Change is a constant in all sphere of people's lives. To keep abreast of the changing world and to meet the needs of its people, vast changes are also being implemented in education in South Mrica. Institutions involved in teacher training have also undergone far-reaching restructuring over the past few years. Legislation requires that tertiary education institutions be incorporated into the Higher education sector, which means incorporation into a university or technikon. This study focuses on establishing how the lecturers employed at a tertiary education institution " experience this process of change. The researcher has used the qualitative research method by conducting individual interviews with a number oflecturers. This information was taped and verbatim transcriptions were made of the interviews. Analysis of these transcriptions made it possible to identify factors that have caused serious stress in participants during the process of change. In the end recommendations were made concerning these factors. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Onderwysbestuur)

This PhD provides the first organized view of art therapy education in Australia. It focuses on the theories that are used in this specialized teaching and learning process. It evolved from the authors’ immersion in the field as a migrant art therapy educator to Australia from the UK and a desire to be reflexive on this experience. The research questions aimed to discover the field of art therapy education in Australia: to find out what theories and practices were taught; and where the theoretical influences were coming from, in order to develop understanding of this emerging field. Positioned as a piece of qualitative research a bricolage of methods were used to gather and analyse information from several sources (literature, institutional sources, and key participants, including the author) on the theories and practices of art therapy training programs in Australia. This also included investigating other places in the world shown to be influential (USA and UK). The bricolage approach (McLeod, 2006) included: phenomenology; hermeneutics; semi-structured interviews; practical evaluation (Patton, 1982, 1990/2002); autoethnography (Ellis & Bochner, 2000); heuristic (Moustakas, 1990); and visual methodologies (Kapitan, 2010). These were used to develop a body of knowledge in the form of institution/program profiles, educator profiles, country profiles and an autoethnographic contribution using visual processes. Epistemologically, the project is located in a paradigm of personal knowledge and subjectivity which emphasizes the importance of personal experience and interpretation. The findings contribute knowledge to support the development of art therapy education and the profession in Australia, towards the benefit, health and wellbeing of people in society. The findings show a diverse and multi-layered field of hybrid views and innovative approaches held within seven programs in the public university and private sectors. It was found that theories and practices are closely linked and that theoretical views have evolved from the people who teach the programs, location, professional contexts (health, arts, education, social, community) and the prevailing views within these contexts, which are driven by greater economic, socio-political forces and neo-liberal agendas. The university programs generally teach a range of the major theories of psychotherapy underpinned with a psychodynamic or humanistic perspective. Movement towards a more integrative and eclectic approach was found. This was linked to being part of more general masters programs and economic forces. The private sector programs are more distinctly grounded in a particular theoretical perspective or philosophical view. Key words distilled from the profiles included: conflict, transpersonal, survival through art, pedagogy, epistemology, theory driven by context and mental health. Important issues for art therapy education were identified as: the position and emphasis on art; working with the therapy/education tension; the gender imbalance in the profession; Indigenous perspectives; intercultural issues and difference. The horizons of the field revealed the importance of developing the profile of the profession, reconciling differences towards a more inclusive view and the growth of research. A trend towards opportunities in the social, education and community areas was found, driven by the increasing presence of discourses on arts and wellness.

This thesis deals with the system of financing education in the Czech Republic and the development of education over the past 20 years. Individual chapters are divided by levels of the educational system in the last chapter analyzes public spending on education, the above developments and the relationship with the State budget and the amount of taxes collected.

Cloud computing popularity has continued to be on the increase side, and it has been significant contributory factor to the of 24/7 365 days business culture of the digital 21st century where data and data centers are accessed via the internet through any connected device, anytime and from anywhere. Higher Education Institutions (HEI) or Tertiary Education Institution (TEI) are also among organisations, medium and large, that are tapping into this trend by gradually adopting this technology to reduce their high budgets in the prevailing face of financial shortage. This has particularly made the technology attractive to TEI in developing countries, and more of them are adopting the services being offered by cloud computing. The adoption of this technology however, affects the way and manner by which IT services are being delivered traditionally by the TEI IT or ICT departments. The objective of this study therefore, is to explore the adoption of this phenomenal technology and its impact on the role of traditional IT department in one of the tertiary education institution in the South Western part of Nigeria. The TOE framework adoption model was used to explore the adoption factors, and interviews conducted within the ICT department of the institution as part of the empirical findings process. In contrary to popular belief, no member of the IT staff has lost his or her job yet based on the adoption despite the impact on the skills and culture in service delivery of the department. IT staffs were encouraged to adapt to the change as quickly as possible with trainings given, and the ICT, thus the HEI have value added as most of the services are now available on a 24-hour basis to users, even while off campus and far remote, a dream very difficult and near impossible in the days of full traditional IT services delivery.

The thesis verifies the relationship between education and economic growth using economic theory and current data about education in the Czech Republic. After verifying this relationship the current state and the form of Czech education are analyzed. Demonstration of declining results of Czech primary and secondary education with the usage of international comparative investigations follows together with the detection of the absence of similar data in tertiary education. These findings direct the main goal of the thesis to ascertain the causes of the declining results of primary and secondary schools and their impact on the quality of higher education. Subsequent analysis of the Czech tertiary education identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the higher education system and also positive and negative trends in this area during the last decade. Final identification of the causes determining the current level and quality of tertiary education leads to the submission of recommendations to improve the quality and increase the competitiveness of Czech universities in international comparisons. Providing top quality education is one of the decisive factors influencing the competitiveness and future economic growth of the country.

This thesis seeks to explore the factors that limit the freedom of choice and access of the Indian community to tertiary level education in Malaysia. Issues of ethnic minorities are of concern for all multi-cultural societies. In Malaysia, it was the indentured labour system, introduced by the British colonial rulers who brought non-Malays into this previously mono-ethnic society. British colonisation has influenced the position of the Indian community in Malaysia in a number of ways, which are explored in this thesis. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of the complexity of this plural society and its implications for one of its ethnic minority groups, particularly in terms of education. This sector has been examined as education is a fundamental component for socio-economic development and upward social mobility. Malaysia, a classic modern day plural society, has its own complexity in terms of issues of ethnic minorities. The findings of this thesis indicate four main factors limiting the freedom of choice and access to tertiary level education for the Indian community. These factors are the country’s education policies, the financial situation of Indo-Malaysians, the attitude and awareness of the students, and the community’s values. The findings are significant as it is believed that the advancement of the Indian community in Malaysia is currently obstructed through lack of access to tertiary level education. Before this situation can be improved it needs to be understood.

<p>The research findings are grouped according to the three themes identified which includes the relevance of the module, the effectiveness of the teaching and learning approaches and methods, and the integration of generic and discipline specific academic literacy. The researcher hopes this study will help illuminate perceptions of part-time students&rsquo / about the Academic Literacy for Commerce course and also how it can be improved to better serve the needs of part-time students.</p>

La mia tesi di dottorato è una raccolta di tre articoli che considerano diversi aspetti del sistema scolastico italiano e i suoi legami con il mercato del lavoro. il primo capitolo offre una breve sintesi della letteratura sugli investimenti in istruzione secondaria e terziaria. Il secondo capitolo analizza i differenziali salariali fra i diplomati delle scuole superiori italiane. il terzo ed ultimo capitolo analizza le determinanti del tempo di inserimento professionale dei laureati italiani. / My dissertation is a collection of three essays that consider various aspects of the Italian education system and its links with the labour market. The first chapter provides a review of the empirical works focused on the issue of investments in both secondary and tertiary education in most of OECD countries, with a particular attention on Italy. The second chapter provides empirical evidence on differences in early occupational labour market outcomes across high school tracks. The third and last chapter investigates the hazard of first job for Italian university graduates.

This thesis is about knowing in biology in higher education and research. The gene concept is used as an example of knowledge content that is common to both biological research and education. The purpose is to study how knowing about the gene is expressed in different forms of knowledge contexts at the university. This is important to study in order to understand documented learning problems regarding the gene concept but also to better understand the relation between knowledge in research and teaching. Knowledge has to be transformed to become an educational content, a process that is of special interest within the field of Didaktik. The thesis is based on three qualitative case studies. Study I is an analysis of a textbook in biology. The purpose is to examine the content as presented to the students to see how its structure may contribute to the problems students have. How does the gene concept function as a scientific representation and at the same time as an object for learning in a biology college textbook? A phenomenographic approach is used to study implicit variation in gene concept use when the textbook treats different sub disciplines. The results show conceptual differences between them. The different categories of the gene found–as a trait, an information structure, an actor in the cell, a regulator in embryonic development or as a marker for evolutionary change–mean that we deal with different phenomena. The gene as an object is ascribed different functions and furthermore these functions are intermingled in the textbook. Since, in the textbook, these conceptual differences are not articulated, they likely are a source of confusion when learning about genes. Study II examines the gene concept use in a scientific context, as exemplified by five research articles from a scientific journal. Using an adaptation of Hirst’s criteria for forms of knowledge, the study characterizes how the scientific contexts for the gene concept use vary. What kinds of different gene concept use in these contexts can be discerned? When comparing the articles, it becomes evident that the gene concept is used to answer different kinds of questions. The meanings of the gene concept are connected to various knowledge projects, their purposes and the methods used. Shifts of methodologies and questions entail a concept that escapes single definitions and “slides around” in meanings. These contextual transformations and associated content leaps are here referred to as epistemic drift. Study III follows an integrative research project in biology.  What are the characteristic content conditions for knowledge development? What different ways in using the gene concept can be distinguished? By using the analytic methodology developed in study II, the scientific contexts are categorized according to their knowledge project, methods used and conceptual contexts. The results show that the gene concept meanings and the content vary in focus, are more or less explicitly formulated, or possible to formulate, and consist of different skills. One didactic conclusion is that by being more overt about the conditions for problem solving within a specific subdisciplin (i.e. fruitful questions to ask, knowledge needed to answer them, and methods available), students may be given opportunities to get a broader perspective on what it means to know biology. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p><p> </p>