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.

In 2004 Rhodes University celebrated its centenary. At a Critical Tradition Colloquium opportunity was given to explore the university’s past. In particular, its liberal image was questioned and its role during apartheid brought under scrutiny. This thesis investigates the questions raised at the Colloquium. It aims to cover the whole apartheid era in one coherent narrative by addressing the history of Rhodes during that era and how it handled issues of race and politics. It begins in 1933, when the first black student applied to Rhodes, and ends in 1990, when apartheid was drawing to a close.

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Almost fifteen years after democracy, issues of 'race' still hold daily South African life firmly in its grip. Following calls from foremost South African theorists on 'race', such as Sarah Nuttall, this thesis moves beyond a study of crude 'racism', to the more complex consideration of 'race' as an embedded ideological social formation within the spatial context of Rhodes University. Using analytical concepts such as 'silencing' and 'ritual' the thesis weaves an understanding (1) of how particular powerful representations of institutional history are produced and made dominant, and (2) how seemingly innocuous performances of institutional identity are key to reproducing 'racial' dominance within Rhodes' student life. This ultimately manifests in the production of a deeply 'racialized' commonsensical understanding of the 'most' legitimate and authentic representation and ownership of institutional space. The thesis delves into dominant representations of Rhodes University'S history, considering how these help produce and reproduce 'racial' dominance through, for instance, the production of defining apolitical narratives of 'excellence'. Central to the dominant apolitical institutional history is the production of silences about the past. History, I argue, is less compelling in any revelation of 'what happened' than in illustrating the production of silences used to enable the appropriation of a particular history as the sole relevant history. The 'inheritors of the past', those who are able to lay authoritative and representative claim to it, it is argued, ultimately claim ownership over institutional space. I argue too, that the dominant practices and performances of daily institutional life (re)produce the institutional space as a space of 'racial' dominance. Ritualized performance of the dominant institutional identity produces ownership of institutional space through making some articulations of 'Rhodes identity' more acceptable, legitimate and authentic than others. The dominance of 'drinking culture' in Rhodes student life produces a particular 'racialized' institutional identity as most legitimate. 'Racial' dominance is instituted, consecrated and reproduced through the ritualistic performance of 'drinking culture', which ultimately produces a superior claim of ownership over the institutional space through the reiteration of racial domination that these performances of institutional identity powerfully symbolize.

M.A. (Sociology) / The increasing incidence of phenomena like cohabitation, extra-marital births and voluntary single parenthood in Western society, indicates a shift in the social definition of sexuality. This is particularly apparent when the current situation is compared to traditional Western societies where sexuality was, for instance, limited to the monogamous, heterosexual marriage and to reproduction within marriage. This change in the meaning of sexuality can be attributed to a change in attitudes towards the acceptability of premarital sexual and sexually-related behaviour. This attitude is referred to as premarital sexual permissiveness. This study investigates premarital sexual permissiveness among female university students as related to: (i) certain social factors namely mother-daughter communication about sexuality, religiosity, liberalism-conservatism and commitment to marital life and (ii) certain biographic factors namely age, area of study, academic study year, environment where the student grew up, home language, religious denomination, father's occupation, father's highest educational qualifications, mother's occupation, mother's highest educational qualification and the student's dating phase. In this study quantitative research was conducted in which a questionnaire was completed by a representative sample of 253 female students. The questionnaire consisted of questions on the biographical background of students as well as questions measuring premarital sexual permissiveness, mother-daughter communication about sexuality, religiosity, liberalism-conservatism and commitment to marital life. To measure the above-mentioned social factors, six scales were developed by means of factor analysis and item analysis. The scales are Premarital sexual permissiveness-with-affection, Premarital sexual permissiveness-without-affection, Mother-daughter communication about sexuality, Religiosity, Politicalliberalism-eonservatism and Commitment to marital life. Premarital sexual permissiveness-with-affection and Premarital sexual permissiveness-without-affection were analysed in terms of the biographic background of the student and the four other scales, making use of one-way analysis of variance and Scheffe's paired comparisons, Hotelling T2 and t-tests and Pearsons correlations. It was found that fourth year/honours students are more in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-with-affection than second- or third year students. Students that are in love with somebody or are engaged, are also more in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-with-affection than unattached students. English-speaking students are more in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-with-affection and Premarital sexual permissiveness-without-affection than Afrikaans-speaking students. It was also found that students from the Faculty of Science are more in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-without-affection than students from the Faculty of Arts. Regarding the interrelation between the different scales, it was found that the more students are in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-with-affection, the more they are in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-without-affection. Religiosity proved to be of significance in the sense that the more religious the students are, the less they are in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-with-affection and Premarital sexual permissiveness-without-affection. It was also found that the more often mother and daugther communicated about sexuality. the less the student would be in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-without-affection. With regard to Commitment to marital life as a dependant variable, it was found that the more students are in favour of Premarital sexual permissiveness-with-affection and Premarital sexual permissiveness-without-affection, the less they are committed to marital life. These findings pave the way for more research on premarital sexual permissiveness in South Africa, for example research on premarital sexual permissiveness among male students, among other races and among high school scholars.

The pervasive presence of cellphones in the lives of urban young people around the globe has led to widespread research to evaluate the impact that this device has on young people’s overall psychosocial development. This relationship is often characterised as “addictive”. This research study presents a unique South African youth perspective in a field of research that is predominantly conducted in the United States, Europe and Asia. It explores the relationship that students (ages 18–21) at Rhodes University have with their cellphones in order to understand how this device informs their experience of social participation online and offline. Central to the design of this study is a “social media detox” which involved the research participants volunteering to restrict their social media and cellphone use for an agreed-upon period of time. The study employs interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to uncover key themes from in-depth interviews before and after the detox. Eight respondents were interviewed twice; once before and once after their detox. This study provides insights into the integral role of a cellphone as reported from a young adult’s perspective. Communicating on social media platforms using a cellphone has become normalised among this age-group and the respondents described how the cellphone feels like “a part of you”. Unlike interacting face-to-face which is potentially awkward and involves effort, socialising on a cellphone offers the respondents a sense of companionship, control and instant access to their peer groups. The respondents in this study seemed unaware of their own agency in social situations until their participation in the social media detox. By participating in this study, the participants became more aware of how their cellphone use influences social behaviour, both online and offline. The study proposes that the term “addiction” undermines the positive association young people have with their cellphones. Instead, this study suggests that “social fitness” would be a more relevant construct through which to encourage and support young people to exercise agency in their social lives. This exploratory study raises new questions for researchers, programme developers and educators to take up in future studies and programme development

The perceptions of both students and teachers are vital to improve performance and to ensure a positive teaching and learning climate at a college. This study examines the perceptions of staff at three recently merged campuses and students regarding student performance. The research focuses specifically on the performance of students registered for the Small Business Management N3 and NSC (National Senior Certificate) curriculum. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods was employed to investigate the desired result. Staff teaching the subject (Small Business Management) were given semi-structured interviews, while students who are currently studying the subject were given questionnaires to complete. Data was collected and analysed. This study reveals amongst other findings that management in FET institutions needs to take cognisance of the perceptions of staff and students regarding the improvement of student performance. Opinions, attitudes, insights and recommendations expressed concerning student performance can help institutions improve their culture of teaching and learning.

This study is an investigation into the stereotypes used in advertisements designed to appeal to university students’ sense of having a social identity, taking the situation at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) as being representative of university campuses as, among other things, social and cultural space. The study assumes that a university is a site of cultural negotiation, and as such may be viewed as a place where identities are formed and readjusted to conform to stereotypes popularised by influential social models as portrayed in the media. Moreover, with the process of globalization, which distributes stereotypical images globally, one would assume that advertising at NMMU functions in a similar way to its mode of functioning in most parts of the world. Although such media (advertisements) exist in various forms, the scope of the research for this study was limited to print advertisements. Advertisements relevant to the concerns of this study are found everywhere at South African universities. Today, the latest trend for companies like Mr. Price, Standard Bank, Truworths, Red Bull, and Axe, among others, is to sponsor university events, that way creating the opportunity to advertise their products or services to students. Moreover, the notice boards of South African universities are filled with posters advertising new products in the market. In addition to all this, the general South African goods and services market is flooded with magazines that contain stereotype-promoting advertisements targeting students or, in general, young adults. For the purposes of this study, a ‘stereotype’ is understood as an iconic site of identification which functions as a generalized model for social behaviour. In this sense, a ‘stereotype’ may also be understood as a representation of an ‘ideal self’. The purpose of this study is threefold: firstly, to show how and why students may be vulnerable to the stereotypes identified in terms of Lacan’s theory of the ‘mirror stage’; secondly, to identify and categorize the various stereotypes used in advertising to appeal to the student’s sense of social identity, and thirdly, to show that advertisements can be misleading in so far as stereotyping ignores the specificity of every student’s personal social situation and creates false expectations on the part of the target students.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Sciences: Environmental Health, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / The Durban University of Technology (DUT) signed the Taillores Declaration (TD) in an attempt to deal with environmental issues and subsequently waste management challenges. A few projects have been initiated within the institution to realise the TD ten point action plans. Currently there is limited data regarding the status quo at DUT. A quantitative descriptive study was conducted to analyse the situation with regards to waste management and recycling practices and to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of students towards waste management and recycling at DUT. An audit of the refuse receptacles was conducted and information obtained was plotted out on a map of two selected campuses. A questionnaire was used to collect data on the practices of waste management and recycling from nine departments. A total of 403 students from the Indumiso and Riverside campuses of DUT were recruited for the KAP study. The findings revealed that refuse receptacles are provided inconsistently and that there is a lack of planning around the provision of these receptacles. Departmental practices regarding waste management and recycling were found to vary from one department to the next. The KAP study results indicated that the students’ knowledge regarding waste management and recycling is poor and their attitudes and practices towards waste management and recycling may be improved by education and enforcement of policy. It is essential to develop a policy regarding waste management and recycling for DUT. In addition, a learning programme should be implemented for all new students entering DUT and during orientation. / M

This study provides a critical interrogation of the perceptions held by the undergraduate Philosophy of Education students at an open and distance learning institution, towards African philosophy. The study is premised on famed Kenyan philosopher, Odera Henry Oruka‟s classification of African philosophy into four trends: ethno-philosophy, philosophic sagacity, nationalist-ideological philosophy and professional philosophy. These trends confirm that African philosophy is more than traditions, culture or ubuntu, and more complex than the students make it to be. The study makes a link between the students‟ flawed perceptions of African philosophy with their lack of critical thinking skills. The study has attempted to answer questions such as why students have flawed perceptions of African philosophy; how critical thinking assists in changing their perceptions of African philosophy, and what role can the education system play in equipping students with critical thinking skills. The study‟s findings show that undergraduate Philosophy of Education students conflate African philosophy with African people‟s traditions and cultures, and with ubuntu. Students perceive that African philosophy lacks reason and rationality - key elements of critical thinking. The study‟s findings show that students lack critical thinking skills. The study notes that the way students are taught makes a large contribution to their perceptions and lack of critical thinking skills. The study makes the following recommendations. Firstly, to deal with the problem of students‟ conflations, the study recommends the introduction of the principles of African philosophy, namely, ubuntu, communalism and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the school curriculum, and to emphasise these principles in the curricula of higher education institutions. Secondly, the study recommends the introduction of philosophy for children (P4C) in schools. It is envisaged that P4C will assist learners to acquire critical thinking skills at an early stage of learning. Thirdly, the study recommends the teaching of critical thinking skills at universities. Finally, the study recommends that in- service training be made an integral part of teachers‟ and lecturers‟ professional training, to bring them up-to-date with new ideas and methods of teaching. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)