Doctor Educationis / This study examines changes in public funding and student access, factors influencing the changes in public funding, and strategic responses towards influencing variations in student access under fluctuations in public funding at two African public universities, the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and the University of Ghana in Ghana. Underpinned by resource dependence theory, the study uses a qualitative methodology via in-depth interviewing of twenty-two respondents and documentary analysis to gather data to explore the study’s objective. The public funding of higher education and student access in South Africa and Ghana have been changing over time, where various issues of concern have been raised about the changes. This study explores the relationship between changes in public funding and student access at both universities. The study finds that the levels of change in public funding have a significant effect on the variations in student access at the University of the Western Cape. In other words, changes in public funding are a major factor in changing student access. The analysis shows that, statistically, approximately 94 percent of the variation in student enrolment between 2007 and 2016 is accounted for by public funding. However, the study finds an insignificant relationship between changes in public funding and student access at the University of Ghana. The findings reveal that the state of the economy; competing needs of the various sectors; low prioritization of higher education; sectoral planning and budgeting; a shift of focus from education; funding mechanism; and overspending in election years are factors that influence changes in public funding at both institutions. Strategic responses such as government subsidy; low-tuition fee structure; payment arrangement; recruitment strategy; containment strategy; special grants; financial support system; policy for the admission of athlete students; and policy for less-endowed schools have been employed by the two universities to influence variations in student access in the face of fluctuations in public funding. The study concludes by generating practical and conventional propositions on public funding of higher education and student access. A recommendation for further research into changes in public funding and student access is also suggested. A similar study could thus be undertaken to investigate the relationship between changes in tuition fees and student access.

Magister Pharmaceuticae - MPharm / The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that “there is no health without a workforce” (Campbell et al., 2013). The health workforce is essential for every health care system. The availability, accessibility and quality of health care workers play an important role in improving and overcoming health system challenges, in particular the call to universal health coverage (UHC) as stipulated in sustainable development goal 3. It has been observed that there is limited collaboration between healthcare systems and academic institutions. According to an article by Frenk et al., 2010, this limited collaboration has resulted in a mismatch between health care graduates’ competencies (such as inter-professional collaboration) and the needs of the population that they serve. One of the problems of health education institutions is the emphasis on curriculum content and learning methods as opposed to social purpose and moral obligations. / 2021-08-30

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Internationalisation or the “process of integrating an international/intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and service functions of a higher education institution” (Knight 1997: 8) has become an important aspect of the domination of higher education institutions. In South Africa as in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Canada, there have been dramatic increases in the numbers of international students. Research shows that the majority of these international students experience various difficulties when the academic culture of the host environment is different from that of the home environment in many respects (Al-Murshidi, 2014; Abukhattala, 2013). The present study employs a social approach to academic literacies (Barton and Hamilton, 2000) to examine the academic reading and writing practices of a group of Libyan students in South Africa (against the backdrop of the home academic culture). Using both quantitative and qualitative methods (Creswell and Plano, 2011), data were collected and analysed to address reading and writing across Libyan and South African academic cultures. The sources of data include Facebook discussions, focus group discussions, questionnaires, documents (such as policies of UWC relevant to my study), and interviews with selected UWC officials. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data whereas SPSS was used to analyse quantitative data.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / This thesis presents a system for performing whole gesture recognition for South African Sign Language. The system uses feature vectors combined with Hidden Markov models. In order to construct a feature vector, dynamic segmentation must occur to extract the signer's hand movements. Techniques and methods for normalising variations that occur when recording a signer performing a gesture, are investigated. The system has a classification rate of 69%.

Magister Chirurgiae Dentium (MChD) / The dental clinic of the University of the Western Cape provides oral health care for many preschool children. The clinical observation was that these children presented with rampant dental caries. A recent report compi1ed by an international Joint Working Group of the Internationale Dental Federation and the World Health Organisation identified the changes in oral health in children and factors associated with these changes. South Africa presents a unique opportuni ty to study the oral health status of different ethnic and socio-economic groups. A review of the relevant literature indicated that there was a lack of published data, especially on the oral health status of preschool children. A study was designed to investigate the oral health status of a selected group of preschool children ages 2-6 years in the Western Cape. The examinations were conducted at twelve different créches by two calibrated examiners. The examinees' weight and height were also measured. The data was recorded on a revised World Health Organization Basic Oral Health Assessment form. A total of 547 children were examined with an almost equal distribution of males and females. Only 18% of the sample had a compl ete sound primary dentition, dmft = O. The mean dmft was 5.37 which ranged from 2.73 for the 2 year age group to 7.01 for the 5 year age group. The mean dt of 4.09 made up 76% of the dmft, the mean mt of 1.22 made up 23% and the ft was negligible. Seventy-eight percent of the sample had decayed teeth present and 28% had missing teeth recorded. The treatment chosen by or for these children appeared to be extractions. Observations of extensively decayed teeth and the high prevalence of dento-alveolar abscesses suggested that this treatment was of an emergency nature. There was much unmet treatment as only 22% of subjects were free of decay and those with decayed teeth present had an average of 5. The dmft distribution showed 48% had a dmft.)5. There was a statistically significant linear association between the dmf and age for all the tooth types except the cani nes. There was no significant difference in caries prevalence between males and females. The phenomenon of bilateral symmetrical occurrence of dental caries in the primary dentition was demonstrated in the present study. The maxillary central incisors were the most frequently affected teeth (55%), followed by the mandibular second molars (47%) and maxillary second molars (42%). This is contrary to the findings in European communities where the primary second molars are the most susceptible tooth types. The present study found the fifth year of 1ife to be the critical one for the primary dentition. It was at this age that the greatest increment in dmft was observed, the greatest decrease in the number of caries-free subjects, more than a twofold increase in rampant caries, and a twofold increase in the number of subjects with dento-a1veo1ar abscesses. Few hard tissue anomalies were recorded. Localized enamel hypoplasia was quite common especially of the upper incisors and second molars. Most children claimed their teeth were brushed at least once a day. But soft deposits were present in almost all age groups in all the segments. Sixty percent of the sample had the sole responsibility of brushing their own teeth with no assistance from their parents. Parental assistance with toothbrushing was limited to the younger age group. In the present study soft deposits and gingivitis were recorded mostly on the buccal of the upper posterior segments and on the lingual of the lower posterior segments. The anterior segmentshad less plaque than the posterior segments. Thi s may be due to children finding it easier to brush anteriorly than posteriorly when they do brush. Also, the other areas are less accessible and require greater manipulative skill. There was a weak correlation between the total soft deposits and total gingivits. Although 60% of the sample had six segments of soft deposits present, only 4% had )six segments of gingivitis present. However, it was found that the higher the number of segments of soft deposits present, the greater the tendency for the presence of gingivitis. The association between dmft and soft deposits was not significant but between dmft and gingivitis was significant. This may be more preci se as these two are both cumulative measures. Soft tissue lesions were generally uncommon in this age group. The children in this community were generally lighter in weight and shorter in height compared to the NCHS (1979) percentiles. Recommendations regarding ways of redressing the obviously inadequate general and oral health of this sample of children were made.

Magister Artium - MA / This project explores the negotiation of shifting racial identities within a transforming post-Apartheid context, in particular, the negotiation of what it means to be ‘coloured’. Twenty-seven years into South Africa’s democracy, the power and influence that race and language hold over many South Africans’ are still prominent within this country. Because race is historically intersected with language and social class, language is used as an instrument of racialization. Therefore, this project seeks to understand how coloured racial and linguistic identities, which are steeped in complexity and ambiguity, are navigated by participants. It will focus, in particular, on how participants engage with Afrikaans and Kaaps to navigate these complexities and signal alignments and ambivalences. Additionally, this research aims to explore the potential of multilingualism to be a dynamic factor in the inclusive transformation of historical positions. Its central aim is to contribute to the notion of Linguistic Citizenship (Stroud, 2001, 2015, 2018, 2021) by capturing how linguistic encounters and interactions can go beyond the defined subjectivities of race and ethnicity, and how people use language to challenge and subvert historical and more contemporary identities. The data draws on focus group discussions with UWC students and the narratives produced within these spaces. It will draw on contemporary scholarship in Sociolinguistics, Discourse and Narrative Analysis and Linguistic Citizenship to explore how participants perform acts of Linguistic Citizenship to showcase their agency and voice as language and narratives become a site where identity juxtapositions are laid bare, and participants and their (racial and linguistic) identities are reimagined.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The major objective of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between achievement motivation, autonomous and social achievement values, study habits and attitudes, locus of control and socio-economic status (SES) as independent variables on the one hand and the level of achievement as dependent variable on the other. The subjects were 548 second and third year social science students who were studying in seven different directions at the University of the Western Cape during 1990. The following measuring instruments were used in the investigation: The Ray-Lynn (1980) Achievement Orientation questionnaire; Strumpfer's (1975) questionnaire for the measuring of autonomous and social achievement values; Rotter's (1966) internal/external locus of control scale, as adapted by Collins (1974); The study habits and attitudes subscales of the Brown and Holtzman (1955) Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA) questionnaire, as adapted for South African conditions; A brief biographical questionnaire The achievement criterion consisted of the average achievement point, which is constituted of a proportion of achievement obtained in continuous evaluation, and a proportion of achievement obtained in the final examination. The following findings were made: Achievement motivation plays a much smaller role in achievement than can be expected and its influence is gender specific. It explains only about 5% of the variance in the achievement of males, and non in the case of females. Academically successful and unsuccessful students could also not be distinguished from each other in terms of level of achievement motivation. The measuring instrument for achievement motivation, although valid and reliable, probably does not succeed in measuring aspects of achievement motivation which are related to a specific situation such as the academic. While social achievement value is not related to achievement, autonomous achievement value explains 4,8% of the variance in achievement of males but none in the case of females. Successful and unsuccessful students also do not differ from each other with regard to their achievement value orientation. Study habit and attitude do not differ in their ability to predict the achievement criterion and explain 4,1% and 5,3% of the variance in achievement of males respectively, but none in the case of females. Successful and unsuccessful students can be distinguished in terms of their study habits and attitudes. Socio-economic status has a differential influence on achievement. While higher SES females achieve at a higher level than low SES females, males do not differ in this regard. The subjects are predominantly internally orientated as far as locus of control characteristic is concerned. Although internal individuals display more "positive" characteristics compared to external individuals, the two groups do not, however, differ as far as level of achievement is concerned, irrespective of gender or socio-economic status. African students have a more positive attitude towards study compared to English and Afrikaans speaking, as well as bilingual (English and Afrikaans speaking) students. Females in this study are generally more homogenous than males. It is recommended that: The suitability of the average achievement point as a criterion of achievement be studied; A broad investigation be launched into practices and problems which might centre around the system of continuous evaluation at uwc, with specific reference to possible problems that students, lecturers and big departments may experience; The nature of differences which might exist between higher and low SES female, and low SES female and low SES male students be investigated; The nature of debilitating factors which affect the achievement of low SES female students be investigated; The tendency towards greater homogeneity among female influence thereof on university study; The adjustment of African students at uwc be studied with the objective of identifying factors that obstruct their academic progress

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Research project explored the learning experiences of two groups of first-year students in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of the Western Cape during the course of 2009/2010. The aim was to obtain insight into the learning challenges that these students encountered and the reasons why some of them were less successful in the learning process, while others were successful. The perspective of this study was therefore student centred. The project was undertaken against the backdrop of a higher education institution that caters mainly for so-called ‗disadvantaged‘ and ‗underprepared‘ students. Such students come predominantly from marginalised and poorly resourced education environments and socio-economic backgrounds, which suggests that they would find higher learning challenging and, as a result, would most likely experience failure in the learning process. The objective of the research project was two-fold: firstly, to identify and determine which factors have an impact on failure or successful completion of the first year of study in this faculty; and secondly, to derive from the data a socially situated, supportive and holistic learning approach that could assist more students to be successful in the learning process. The argument in the study was that learning is socially situated and constructed. To realise the objective, Vygotsky‘s social cultural theory and Bandura‘s social cognitive theory were used as theoretical orientation of the study. This qualitative, interpretive inquiry was characterised by multiple data collection methods. Qualitative data concerning the perceptions of the participants were generated via written reflective pieces, a questionnaire and individual interviews and content analysis. In addition, quantitative data were collected and this further contributed to the triangulation of rich, in-depth data. An ‗open coding‘ strategy for the content analysis was used, but the approach for the analysis was not purely inductive. A student-centred analytical framework based in part on theories and findings of five studies conducted on student learning, failures and dropouts, and the context of UWC as HBU served as a framework for the analysis but new sub-themes also emerged from the data collected. The results of these two Case studies revealed that some of the students experienced multiple learning challenges simultaneously which increased in severity during the course of the academic year, and that, in Case 1, these challenges became too overwhelming and severe for the students and that was why they were less successful; while in Case 2, the students managed to overcome and deal with these challenges successfully. The findings of this project, while specific to the context in which it was undertaken, contribute to the growing body of knowledge in the field of higher education and in the identification of enabling factors that could assist more students to be successful in their first year of study at a higher education institution. The findings provide guidelines for a socially situated, supportive and holistic learning approach that could help higher education institutions to mitigate the cumulative effects of learning on students‘ personal, academic and social lives. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsingsprojek ondersoek twee groepe eerstejaarstudente se leerervaring gedurende 2009/2010 in die Fakulteit Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappe aan die UWK. Die doel was om insig te verkry in die leeruitdagings waarvoor hierdie studente te staan gekom het en die redes hoekom party van hulle min sukses in die leerproses behaal het, terwyl ander suksesvol was. Die perspektief in die projek was daarom gerig op die studente en hoe hulle the leerproses ondervind. Die projek is onderneem teen die agtergrond van ‘n instelling van hoër onderwys wat hoofsaaklik vir sogenaamd ‗benadeelde‘ en ‗swak voorbereide‘ studente voorsien. Sulke studente kom meestal uit ‘n gemarginaliseerde opvoedkundige en sosio-ekonomiese agtergrond met gebrekkige bronne, wat daarop dui dat hoër onderwys vir hulle ‘n uitdagings sal wees en dat hulle gevolglik heelwaarskynlik in die leerproses sal misluk. Die doelwit van die navorsingsprojek was tweevoudig: eerstens, om te bepaal watter faktore ‘n invloed het op die mislukking of geslaagde voltooiing van die eerste studiejaar aan hierdie fakulteit; tweedens, om uit die inligting ‘n sosiale gestruktureerde, ondersteunende en holistiese leerbenadering af te lei wat meer studente kan help om in die leerproses sukses te behaal. Die projek berus op die uitgangspunt dat die leerproses ‗n sosiaal gebaseerde en gestuktureerde proses is. Die teoritiese raamwerk was daarom gebaseer op Vygotsky se sosiale kulturele teorie en Bandura se sosiale kognitiewe teorie. Hierdie kwalitatiewe, vertolkende ondersoek word deur veelvoudige metodes van inligtinginsameling gekenmerk. Kwalitatiewe inligting oor die deelnemers se waarnemings is verkry deur middel van nadenkende skryfwerk, ‘n vraelys en individuele onderhoude, en die ontleding van die inhoud daarvan. Ook kwantitatiewe inligting is ingesamel, wat tot die triangulering van ryk, diepgaande inligting bygedra het. Daar is ‘n ‗oopkode‘-strategie vir die ontleding van die inhoud gebruik, maar die ontledingsbenadering was nie suiwer induktief nie. Ontleding het plaasgevind binne ‘n studente gebaseerde ontledingsraamwerk wat gegrond is op teorieë en bevindings uit vyf studies oor leer, mislukking en uitsakking onder studente asook die konteks van die UWK as historiese Swart inrigting. Unieke temas het ook uit die inligting in hierdie studie na vore gekom het. Die resultate van hierdie twee gevallestudies het getoon dat studente veelvoudige leeruitdagings tegelykertyd ervaar het wat al hoe meer geword het deur die loop van die jaar en dat hierdie uitdagings in die een geval te oorweldigend en straf vir die studente geraak het, sodat hulle min sukses behaal het. In die ander geval het die studente daarin geslaag om hierdie uitdagings te hanteer en dit suksesvol te oorkom. Hoewel die bevindings van hierdie projek gekoppel is aan die konteks waarin dit onderneem is, dra dit nietemin by tot die groeiende kennisbasis oor die terrein van hoër onderwys en oor die bepaling van bemagtigende faktore wat meer studente sou kon help om in hulle eerste studiejaar aan ‘n instelling van hoër onderwys sukses te behaal. Die bevindings bied riglyne vir ‘n sosiale ondersteunende holistiese leerbenadering vir akademiese steun wat instellings van hoër onderwys moontlik sal help om die kumulatiewe effek op die studente se persoonlike, akademiese en sosiale lewens in die leerproses te help verlig.

Large numbers of students tend to experience failure and dropout in their first year at university. The fundamental aim of this research was to explore protective factors that could foster resilience amongst first year students. It is hoped that resilience research can give young adults the skills and support to survive academic challenges with the help of the university. This study undertook to determine resilience traits that could contribute to academic success. Students who enrolled at the University of the Western Cape for the first time during the year 2003 participated in this study.

Large numbers of students tend to experience failure and dropout in their first year at university. The fundamental aim of this research was to explore protective factors that could foster resilience amongst first year students. It is hoped that resilience research can give young adults the skills and support to survive academic challenges with the help of the university. This study undertook to determine resilience traits that could contribute to academic success. Students who enrolled at the University of the Western Cape for the first time during the year 2003 participated in this study.