M. Tech. Interior Design / The focus of this study was a small university library situated on the TUT Arts Campus in Pretoria. Since the library opened its doors nearly 20 years ago, little attention was paid to the interior and no alterations were implemented since then. Staff and students did not perceive the library as a positive asset due to the state of disrepair of its interior. As indicated by previous studies, redesigning a library interior has the potential to improve the learning environment it offers. It was hypothesised that the condition of the TUT Arts Campus library interior may have been a deterring factor causing students' reluctance to use it and that the redesign of the library's interior would have the potential to solve this real-life problem. This study involved itself with the process of redesigning the interior of the TUT Arts Campus library and the process of achieving the final design. The study dealt with answering the research question: How may one go about to redesign the interior of the TUT Arts Campus library, with the use of focus groups involving iterative cycles and user-based input, to increase student usage?

M. Tech. Tourism and Hospitality Management / Educationally motivated mobility is one of the many reasons for human travel around the world. It is believed to be influenced by the push and pull factors that are bound in foreign students' countries, as well as receiving destinations. Developed countries like the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada have successfully utilised foreign students' mobility to reap financial benefits, as well as to create labour development opportunities. With twenty three public universities in South Africa, the number of foreign students here is perceived to represent only a very small part of the number of African students said to be studying outside of their own country. The aim of this study is to boost South African tourism, specifically tourism in the City of Tshwane, by increasing the number of foreign arrivals through increased foreign students, as well as attendant visit friends and relatives and youth travel. By means of a purposive sampling, this study examines the perceptions of 282 foreign students at the Tshwane University of Technology. The outcomes are encouraging, pointing to a bright future for tourism development by exploiting educational mobility. However, preconditions for this are the creation of the required infrastructure and the implementation of destination marketing.

M. Tech. Education / Higher Education in South Africa has - in the recent past - shifted from an elitist to a mass-based system of education with the aim of fostering democratic nationbuilding. One of the pressing demands on higher education institutions has been accommodating the large student diversity. Student enrolments have become increasingly dissimilar in terms of racial, cultural, socio-economic and linguistic backgrounds, as well as at the level of preparedness that students have for university programmes. The transition from high school to university is for many students an immense challenge and - without proper support - dropouts will escalate, resulting in higher levels of attrition. The above scenario has stimulated renewed interest and placed a premium on student mentorship in higher education. Students are more willing to seek assistance from peers than from lecturers; they feel less intimidated. The rationale for this study was to explore first-year student mentees' experiences of the student mentor programme - and their experiences of transition at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). Data were collected from students who had attended the student mentoring sessions from different faculties and on different campuses of the TUT.

Thesis (PhD.(Education))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

The strategic alignment and reengineering of business processes is critical for institutions across sectors worldwide to achieve performance improvement and subsequently, competitive advantage. Competition within higher education forces higher education institutions, such as TUT, towards management approaches such as business process reengineering to improve effectiveness and efficiency. This research was triggered by an observation of a lack of a framework, within TUT, to guide the manner in which business processes could be strategically reengineered in a uniform, coordinated, and focused fashion. The main focus of the research was to identify core elements which could be included in a comprehensive framework to assist higher education institutions, specifically TUT, to strategically align and reengineer their core business processes in order to achieve performance improvement, which is a prerequisite for higher education institutions across sectors to achieve competitive advantage. The findings of the research were based on the triangulation of data from a robust literature survey to uncover the theoretical underpinnings and to pinpoint core elements of business process reengineering and strategic planning, prescripts from legislation and the regulatory framework governing higher education in South Africa, an analysis of relevant strategic documents within TUT, and opinions and perceptions of sampled respondents within TUT to compare and contrast the data gathered. The findings of the empirical exploration confirmed the problem that triggered the research, namely, that TUT lacks a framework to guide the manner in which it could strategically align and reengineer business processes. An analysis of documents within TUT and consistent with the results of the empirical exploration revealed that although various strategic documents allude to the strategic alignment and reengineering of business processes, lack of a standardised methodology hampers the uniform, coordinated, and focused operationalisation of this noble intent which is critical for the enhancement of strategic planning across sectors worldwide. Consequently, the main contribution of the research was to develop a comprehensive framework to guide the manner in which TUT and other similar higher education institutions could strategically reengineer business processes. The proposed framework advocates an incremental approach to business process reengineering to allow for the continuous improvement of reengineered business processes. At the core of the proposed business process reengineering framework is strategy alignment and stakeholder focus. The framework suggests that when higher education institutions, such as TUT, embark on business process reengineering, they should realise that they are engaging in a strategic endeavour and that business processes targeted for reengineering should be of critical importance to the enhancement of a strategic orientation. It is imperative that higher education institutions, such as TUT, should prioritise the strategic alignment and reengineering of business processes that provide stakeholder satisfaction to create competitive advantage and survival. Considering that TUT and other similar higher education institutions operate as an open system, the proposed framework is based on the systems approach to management. Given the dynamic nature of the South African higher education sector, the proposed framework promotes a business process reengineering methodology which, amongst others, involves the reengineering of business processes with due consideration of the national higher education imperatives and legislative requirements. Consideration of the external environment should cover an analysis of critical developments within higher education, including changes to national legislation and other national strategic imperatives. TUT and other similar higher education institutions should continuously monitor changes that might have an impact on their business processes to ensure timeous and strategic alignment and reengineering of core business processes in accordance with the changing environment. Due cognisance of the internal factors and acknowledgement of a need for internal interaction of various departments and operational units within higher education institutions, such as TUT, should also form the basis of all business process reengineering efforts. Given the theoretical underpinning that business process reengineering is a strategic endeavour and that the strategic alignment of business processes is critical for institutions across sectors to improve institutional performance so as to achieve competitive advantage and survival, proposing a comprehensive business process reengineering framework and advocating the strategic reengineering of business processes within a South African public higher education institution constitute an advancement of knowledge within the Public Administration field of study. / PhD (Public Management and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The strategic alignment and reengineering of business processes is critical for institutions across sectors worldwide to achieve performance improvement and subsequently, competitive advantage. Competition within higher education forces higher education institutions, such as TUT, towards management approaches such as business process reengineering to improve effectiveness and efficiency. This research was triggered by an observation of a lack of a framework, within TUT, to guide the manner in which business processes could be strategically reengineered in a uniform, coordinated, and focused fashion. The main focus of the research was to identify core elements which could be included in a comprehensive framework to assist higher education institutions, specifically TUT, to strategically align and reengineer their core business processes in order to achieve performance improvement, which is a prerequisite for higher education institutions across sectors to achieve competitive advantage. The findings of the research were based on the triangulation of data from a robust literature survey to uncover the theoretical underpinnings and to pinpoint core elements of business process reengineering and strategic planning, prescripts from legislation and the regulatory framework governing higher education in South Africa, an analysis of relevant strategic documents within TUT, and opinions and perceptions of sampled respondents within TUT to compare and contrast the data gathered. The findings of the empirical exploration confirmed the problem that triggered the research, namely, that TUT lacks a framework to guide the manner in which it could strategically align and reengineer business processes. An analysis of documents within TUT and consistent with the results of the empirical exploration revealed that although various strategic documents allude to the strategic alignment and reengineering of business processes, lack of a standardised methodology hampers the uniform, coordinated, and focused operationalisation of this noble intent which is critical for the enhancement of strategic planning across sectors worldwide. Consequently, the main contribution of the research was to develop a comprehensive framework to guide the manner in which TUT and other similar higher education institutions could strategically reengineer business processes. The proposed framework advocates an incremental approach to business process reengineering to allow for the continuous improvement of reengineered business processes. At the core of the proposed business process reengineering framework is strategy alignment and stakeholder focus. The framework suggests that when higher education institutions, such as TUT, embark on business process reengineering, they should realise that they are engaging in a strategic endeavour and that business processes targeted for reengineering should be of critical importance to the enhancement of a strategic orientation. It is imperative that higher education institutions, such as TUT, should prioritise the strategic alignment and reengineering of business processes that provide stakeholder satisfaction to create competitive advantage and survival. Considering that TUT and other similar higher education institutions operate as an open system, the proposed framework is based on the systems approach to management. Given the dynamic nature of the South African higher education sector, the proposed framework promotes a business process reengineering methodology which, amongst others, involves the reengineering of business processes with due consideration of the national higher education imperatives and legislative requirements. Consideration of the external environment should cover an analysis of critical developments within higher education, including changes to national legislation and other national strategic imperatives. TUT and other similar higher education institutions should continuously monitor changes that might have an impact on their business processes to ensure timeous and strategic alignment and reengineering of core business processes in accordance with the changing environment. Due cognisance of the internal factors and acknowledgement of a need for internal interaction of various departments and operational units within higher education institutions, such as TUT, should also form the basis of all business process reengineering efforts. Given the theoretical underpinning that business process reengineering is a strategic endeavour and that the strategic alignment of business processes is critical for institutions across sectors to improve institutional performance so as to achieve competitive advantage and survival, proposing a comprehensive business process reengineering framework and advocating the strategic reengineering of business processes within a South African public higher education institution constitute an advancement of knowledge within the Public Administration field of study. / PhD (Public Management and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Thesis (M.A. (Information Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / A large number of first year entering undergraduate students at tertiary institutions at Tshwane University of Technology lack skills and competencies for accessing relevant academic information for their assignments and other academic projects they are engaged in. To overcome this problem academic libraries at this institution organise Information Literacy Training Programme (ILTP) to equip students with such skills and competencies. This research investigated if there is any impact that ILTP has among first year entering undergraduate students attached to the Faculties of Humanities and Management Science, who have attended this programme at Tshwane University of Technology, at Polokwane campus. The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative research approaches through a questionnaire and focus group interview respectively to measure the information literacy skills and competencies of first year entering students before and after t attending ILITP.The study sought to measure (a) Students’ perception of information literacy; (b) Students’ ability to use library resources; (c) Students familiarity with different library resources before and after attendance of the programme. The study found that most of the first entering students had a different perception of information literacy. Furthermore, the student’s abilities to use library resources and their familiarity with library resources were very little before they attended the programme. It was only after they attended the programme that they were familiar with some of the library resources and their abilities to use those resources improved. Therefore this study discovered that ILTP has a positive impact of the academic success and performance of first entering students, even though it is minimal.The study recommends that information literacy education for students should be continuous so that students should not lose focus of what they have learnt in the formal Information Literacy Training Programmes. Furthermore, teaching of information literacy should be compulsory to all first year entering students across all faculties offered at Tshwane University of Technology and this will attach some form of accreditation to them to encourage participation.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Statistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The ever increasing number of students who drop out of university remains a challenge for Higher Education administrators. In response to this, different studies have been conducted globally in order to identify student retention strategies to fix the problem. However, the challenge continues to prevail year in and year out. Most of the studies conducted in South Africa used statistical methods that ignore the temporal nature of the process of student dropout. This study uses discrete-time survival techniques to model the occurrence and timing of undergraduate engineering student dropout at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). Discrete-time survival analysis techniques allow for a more appropriate utilisation of the longitudinal nature of institutional data, where the time dependence of the data, time-varying factors and time-invariant factors can all be accommodated in the analysis. The temporal nature of the process of student dropout was analysed for the cohort of students registered in engineering programmes for the first time in 2010 at Tshwane University of Technology using discrete-time survival analysis methods. The cohort was followed for five years from 2010 through 2014, inclusive. Of particular interest was the incidence of dropout, the determinants of dropout, comparison of the single risk discrete-time model with a competing risk discrete-time model, as well as testing for the effects of unobserved heterogeneity. The study used administrative data obtained from the ITS. The logit model was used to estimate the effects of race, gender, Matric performance, performance in Matric Mathematics, residence type, English language status and time on time to dropout with time measured in academic years. A discretetime competing risk model in the form of a multinomial logit model was also estimated to account for the possible correlation between graduation and dropout. A frailty model assuming a Gaussian distribution for the frailty term was also estimated to account for unobserved heterogeneity. The study established that the risk of dropout for nonwhite students is significantly higher than that of white students. Furthermore, it was found that the effects of residence type varied with time. For instance, in the first year students with private based accommodation were more likely to dropout compared to those residing onvi Abstract campus. On the other hand, in the third year students accommodated in private residences were less likely to dropout than those residing on-campus. The findings also indicate that the effect of having English as a first language as opposed to as a second language on the risk of dropout was only significant in the fourth year such that first language English students were more at risk of dropout compared to second language students. The findings also revealed inconsistencies between the estimates from the single risk and the competing risk model. Moreover, the effect of unobserved heterogeneity was found to be insignificant. Recommendations from this study are that discrete-time survival analysis model is more efficient than traditional methods used for analysis of student dropout and should therefore be used for analysis of academic outcomes such as dropout. The model can account for the temporal nature of the process of dropout. Both time-varying and time-invariant explanatory variables can be included in the model.The effects of time-invariant explanatory variables that might have time-varying effects can also be investigated.

In this investigation an attempt was made to determine the misconceptions that engineering students have of the idea of a limit. A comprehensive literature study showed that there are a number of common misconceptions that students normally form. The empirical investigation was done in two phases. A questionnaire on the idea of a limit was given to the students during the first phase. During the second phase six interviews were conducted. The findings were grouped according to the nature of a limit and students' views on the relationship between the continuity of a function at a point and the limit at that point. An analysis of these findings led to the identification of the misconceptions that these students have of the idea of a limit. / In hierdie ondersoek is gepoog om die wanbegrippe wat ingenieursstudente van die limietbegrip vorm, bloot te stel. 'n Omvattende literatuurstudie het 'n aantal algemene wanbegrippe aan die lig gebring. Die empiriese ondersoek het in twee fases plaasgevind. Tydens die eerste fase is 'n vraelys aan die studente gegee in 'n poging om meer te wete te kom van hulle begrip van 'n limiet. Die vraelys is opgevolg deur ses onderhoude. Die responsies is gegroepeer in terme van die aard van 'n limiet en studente se sienings van die kontinuiteit van 'n funksie by 'n punt en die limiet by daardie punt. Die analisering van hierdie responsies het die identifisering van 'n aantal wanbegrippe by hierdie groep studente moontlik gemaak. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (with specialisation in Mathematics Education)

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / Having tools and resources that would enhance the performance of the learners would be of huge assistance to learners and their institutions. The increasing use of internet and technology has enhanced and transformed the conventional library resources into electronic resources. Utilizing electronic library resources helps learners to acquire information anytime and anywhere. Institutions that support the use of e-resources save significant amounts of money because the printing of materials are reduced. As a result, the use of e-resources by learners enhances their learning and their performance gets improved. The major objective of this study was to conceptualize a framework that will assist in successful electronic resources utilization. This was encouraged by the fact that the determinants of effective utilization of electronic resources are still not clearly expressed.