The thesis utilises Michel Foucault's work on disciplinary power to study the changes which played themselves out in the area of educational activities and governance at the Pietermaritzburg centre of the University of Natal during the 1980s and 1990s. It examines the effects of these changes in relation to students, staff, and the institution, the 'academic subjects' of the title, raising questions about the implications of these for the future of the institution. The overall context of the changes was one of national transition from an apartheid to a democratic, nonracial dispensation; decreasing state funding for higher education; and international 'globalisation'. The primary vehicles for the changes were Education Development initiatives around access, teaching and learning, curriculum, and related issues, which brought 'disadvantaged' black students into the fold of an 'historically white' institution and facilitated their academic success; and a Vice Chancellor's Review and rationalisation and restructuring processes which brought about structural and governance changes. The study examines how these processes interacted with each other and with other forces (e.g. technological change); the discourses and resistances they generated; and how Education Development gave way to a new dominant discourse of 'Quality' , Its point of departure is genealogy, an analytic which reveals the mutually-generative, normative, subject-producing nexus between knowledge and modem disciplinary power, as illustrated by Foucault's historical studies of the prison and human discourse on sexuality. It demonstrates that Education Development, operating against resistance and established norms of autonomy, developed and employed sophisticated techniques and tactics of power-knowledge to supervise tighter norms in student and staff academic practices, Education Development's linkage with the Vice Chancellor's Review and other processes and the uneven incorporation of its truths into the everyday practices of the university's established 'regime of truth' produced a more general mechanism of institutional control which 'transformed' the university, partly in line with political demands but also, through an increased degree of government of its staff and students, as a more panoptical institution for efficiency, productivity and 'international competitiveness'. The study posits the need for further inquiry into whether the university's current 'regime of truth' is that for an 'ethical' institution producing 'ethical' subjects, that is, subjects capable in Foucault's terms, of inventing themselves through exercising 'the care for the self' as a practice of freedom. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

The aim of this research was to investigate the different methods incorporating HIV/AIDS education into formal academic curricula at the University of Natal. This research aimed to flag up examples of ways of incorporating HIV/AIDS into the different curricula, and also to look at some of the obstacles the different academic departments may have encountered in trying to incorporate such education into their curricula. I had guessed that a variety of HIV/AIDS awareness programmes, initiatives and education were being undertaken at the university and that on the whole students and staff were well aware of the basic information regarding the disease. What I wanted to look at in particular was how the university was responding to HIV/AIDS within the curricula. Were academic curricula being altered in any way to allow for the impact of HIV/AIDS and how was this being undertaken? The key issues to be addressed and the main questions posed by this research were: • What are the different ways that HIV/AIDS education is incorporated into academic curricula? • What do lecturers consider to be the specific links between their subject matter and HIV/AIDS? • What is the purpose of such education? Why are lecturers choosing to incorporate HIV/AIDS education into their programmes? • What aspects of HIV/AIDS are being covered within the programmes? • How do lecturers attempt to get students to relate disciplinary knowledge to HIV/AIDS in order to inform future decision-making? • What are the main positive features of the current HIV/AIDS programmes being undertaken? • What are the main difficulties/concerns encountered by the different schools in incorporating HIV/AIDS education into the curricula? Through examining different schools within the university it was hoped to come up with a variety of different and innovative ways that HIV education can be incorporated into the curricula. This research started with a search of the HIVAN database to find lecturers with programmes that are undertaking some form of HIV/AIDS education. From this initial search I gained a number of contacts, who were then able to direct me to further contacts within the university. I ended up with an initial sample of seventeen lecturers based across fourteen schools or programmes and spanning seven faculties. The sample included lecturers from the faculties of Community & Development, Human Sciences, Law, Management Studies, Engineering, Medical Sciences, and Education. (See appendix I) For this research I used a number of methods of data collection. The first data collection method used was to carry out semi-structured interviews with the lecturers in the sample. This method was the prime method and the vast majority of the data was collected using this method. The following methods were mainly used for triangulation purposes although a number of new insights were made from these. The second method used then was to review printed material made available to me from a number of the lecturers interviewed. This was mainly course outlines but in a small number of cases also included reports on the HIV/AIDS modules. The third method used was to observe a number of the chosen programmes and following this observation to interview students about the HIV/AIDS education. (See appendix 11 Interview Questionnaires) Initially I have presented the findings of this research by documenting and summarizing the responses to each research question. In order to make for an easy overview of the findings for the reader I have drawn up a table under each research question, these tables list the responses to the research questions. I then go on to look at the different models this research has shown for teaching HIV/AIDS education. I have taken each model in turn and shown how it works in practice through giving a detailed description of the example cases. Following this I have attempted to outline the main features of these HIV/AIDS programmes and to document the main insights emerging. Looking back at the literature reviewed in this field, I have then attempted to review the responses in terms of what was said in the literature regarding HIV/AIDS education. I have also outlined the questions and surprises brought to light by this study and have attempted to draw some conclusions regarding the teaching of HIV/AIDS within academic curricula. Finally, in the light of the findings, I have made recommendations for future work in this field. It was impossible from this study to say which programmes work better than others with regards to the teaching of HIV/AIDS education. What I have merely attempted to do is to describe the methods and approaches used at present in order that others wishing to undertake similar programmes may review these. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This work discusses issues of curriculum in terms of a case study of curriculum reform at a South African medical school, from the viewpoint of a clinical department of which teaching input is predominantly postgraduate rather than undergraduate. Concepts of curriculum and content are explored. A distinction is drawn between different uses of the term 'paradigm'. The context underlying the current educational climate nationally and internationally is described, and the course of medical education and teaching in anaesthesia traced historically. Results of a questionnaire circulated amongst general practitioners in KwaZulu-Natal, and informal interactions and semi-structured interviews with members of staff and students at the medical school, are documented. The general practitioners were broadly in favour of the changes contemplated by the Curriculum Development Task Force and indicated support for movement towards newer modes of teaching and learning. Staff and students were more equivocal about proposed change, conceding their conservatism and pointing out practical problems with initiating change in the direction envisaged, but appearing willing to proceed. Anaesthetics staff on the whole seemed more optimistic about change; they differed from the GPs, other staff and students in advising against attempting to teach specific - as against generic - anaesthetic skills to undergraduates. The responses of the different groups' opinions are discussed against the national and international background in terms of curricular paradigm, educational strategies, curriculum content and aspects of change. It is concluded that Medicine in general has operated in the natural science paradigm and that a degree of inertia has resisted changes suggested for at least the past century. The impetus for change from within medical schools, the profession and society at large is now such that transition directly to a critical mode, strongly influenced by postmodernism, is pending, the effect being that of a Kuhnian paradigm shift. The interdependence of curriculum as a whole and of content - one of its elements - is noted. Local teaching changes in Anaesthetics are compared with those of the faculty as a whole and the interaction of the now fragmented elements of anaesthesia core teaching with the reform process are sketched. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 1999.