Doctoral Degrees (School of Higher Education Studies)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (School of Higher Education Studies) by Advisor "Erasmus, M. A."

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    A comprehensive university at the heart of its communities: establishing a framework for engagement
    (University of the Free State, 2015-08-04) Boughey, John Desmond; Erasmus, M. A.
    English: The thesis documents the construction of a coherent conceptual and practical framework in which to locate the quest to establish community engagement as a legitimate, feasible and viable undertaking in higher education alongside its more established and accepted counterparts of teaching and research, with particular focus on the University of Zululand (UNIZULU) – a rural-based comprehensive university with an urban footprint. The thesis begins with a brief outline of the national context of community engagement before moving on to a more specific description of the context and recent history of UNIZULU. Certain key concepts are then clarified. A statement of the research concern and objectives of the study is followed by an account of the theoretical framework and research perspective underpinning the thesis, and a description of the methodology employed in the research. Ethical considerations are noted. There then follows a brief indication of the scope and intention of each of the papers, and the rationale behind the order in which they appear in the thesis. This brief introductory section concludes with speculation on what the significance of this study might be. Paper 1, Notions of ‘community engagement’ appropriate to a Community-University Partnership Programme (CUPP) in a South African rural-based comprehensive university – Siyanibona!, seeks to tease out contested understandings of the notions of ‘identity’, ‘community’ and ‘engagement’. In so doing it explores three particular ideas, taken up in later papers, namely: the notion of ‘relationships of fate’ needing to transform into ‘partnerships of choice’; the link between the circumstances of a particular university’s birth, and its acceptance or otherwise of its responsibility to its locale; and the need for all stakeholders in the community-university engagement endeavour to know more about each other at a level deeper than simply the institutional or organisational. Paper 2, From pillars to people: Reconceptualising the integration of teaching, research and community engagement in higher education, addresses the struggle community engagement has faced in achieving par with higher education’s other core activities of teaching-and- learning and research in a way which chooses not to look at teaching, research and community engagement as activities or objects, but from the perspective of the individual stakeholders (staff, students and community members) engaged in those activities. The exploration of this idea picks up on the distinction between ‘relationships of fate’ and ‘partnerships of choice’ first articulated in Paper I and expands the concept of ‘engagement’ to encompass the relationships between staff and students (not just those between the university and community members), and discusses ways in which staff, students and communities might more usefully interact with each other. Paper 3, SMMEs and higher education: Possibilities for partnership? homes in on a particular sector of the business community, to ascertain the extent to which the sector might be able to partner with the University to their mutual benefit. Using data from a questionnaire and interviews the study reveals that opportunities for work experience for students in micro and survivalist enterprises are limited but that the University could be doing more to ‘reach out’ to its communities by making them aware of who the university is, what it can offer, how it can assist, and perhaps most importantly, how it can be accessed. Paper 4, ProAct: An integrated model of action research and project management for capacitating universities and their communities in the co-production of useful knowledge, tells the story of the evolution of a hybrid model of action research and project management (ProAct) which takes account of the need for research in the university-community context to be accomplished democratically, but within specific parameters of time and other resources by grafting selected project management tools onto the basic action research cycle. The model gives practical and concrete form to the conceptual and theoretical constructs of other researchers who have considered the linking of action research and project management. Paper 5, A comprehensive university and its local communities: Establishing a framework for engagement, addresses the overarching question of how to establish a framework for engagement between a university and its communities. The paper employs the well-used ‘building construction’ metaphor, identifying the management and governance building blocks (including institutional self-identity, unequivocal support from institutional executive leadership, plans, policies, structures, and funding), and the ‘cement’ for holding the framework together (including familiarity with communities and knowing how to interact with them, changing mindsets and building capacity). The paper offers the opinion that the necessary foundation for the edifice is the institutional belief that engaging with communities is actually an integral and enhancing enabler of the higher education learning experience, not something which one is empowered to do after having been prepared exclusively in the lecture hall. The paper avers that if an institution does not come close to holding the view that the purpose of higher education is to provide something useful to society, starting with the communities that surround them, community engagement will always struggle to be accepted by the academy. In considering the significance of this whole study the thesis identifies the key ‘realisations’ which have given food for thought and which other researchers might find worthwhile exploring further too. These are: the significance of how institutional and community identities are established, by choice, fate or fiat; re-thinking the concept of ‘engagement’ to focus not on the activities per se of teaching, research and community engagement but on all of the stakeholders working as willing partners; the need for institutions and communities to embrace the belief that university-community interaction is one of the purposes of higher education, and the belief that community engagement is a vehicle for staff, student, curriculum and institutional development. In concluding, the thesis additionally notes the significance to the author himself of having taken this research journey. As a consequence he feels he is in a better position to promote a more integrated model of teaching, research and community engagement to his university, community colleagues, students, and community engagement peers in other universities. However, the author indicates that in furthering the cause of community engagement in higher education he will need to explore alternative paradigms, notably complexity science, and systemic action research.
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    Service learning as a pedagogical approach for the enhancement of employability skills in BCom students
    (University of the Free State, 2016-06) Myburgh, Elanie; Van Tonder, S. P.; Erasmus, M. A.
    English: The study has been undertaken against the background of the effect that a service learning module might have on BCom students’ employability skills and the students’ awareness in this regard. In this day and age, a qualification alone is not enough for graduates to secure a job. Employers are looking for graduates with a complete skills set, namely work experience, practical application of knowledge, communication skills, leadership, working with diverse people and computer skills, to name a few. With the current economic situation globally and in South Africa, there is no guarantee for graduates to be employed after graduation. Nevertheless, many students enrol in higher education institutions in the hope of not only obtaining a degree, but also a golden ticket to enter the world of work. Community engagement is one of the three pillar responsibilities of higher education institutions. In turn, service learning is one of the spheres embedded within community engagement. Service learning differs from the traditional mode of teaching and learning due to the fact that students have to visit a community partner, work on a specific project where they share their academic knowledge, and at the same time learn from the community partner. Service learning students therefore are empowered to experience the application of knowledge during their service learning hours and thus gain an understanding of the world of work. Students also are exposed to entrepreneurship during their service learning experiences and they might venture into this field if they do not find a suitable job. In 2013 all the second-year BCom students in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Free State were enrolled for a service learning module. The main aim of this study was to investigate the mentioned second-year BCom students’ experiences and perceptions of their service learning opportunities and the influence or impact it had on their own employability skills. For this purpose, the researcher first had to investigate, through a literature review, current local and global perspectives on employability skills, service learning as a pedagogical approach and how service learning links with employability skills in the context of higher education. The literature review formed the basis for the subsequent empirical investigation. The empirical investigation entailed a qualitative, explorative case study design with multiple sources of information and only limited quantitative enhancement. The 2013 data set was obtained from responses of students’ assessment tasks in the module, namely pre- and post-implementation questionnaires, a letter to a friend explaining the student’s understanding of service learning, as well as a PowerPoint presentation task in which students had to explain what they had learned from the relevant service learning module, and whether they considered themselves to be more employable after their service learning experiences or not. The second set of data was collected in 2015 by means of five follow-up focus group interviews conducted with students from the same population (i.e. students who were enrolled in 2013 for the relevant module), who responded to an SMS invitation to take part. Each focus group eventually included eight participants from the five departments within the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, respectively. This enabled the researcher to explore the students’ experiences and perceptions of service learning as pedagogy, which employability skills these students believed their service learning projects fostered, and which evidence existed of a relationship between service learning and employability skills. Through a method of comparison, and the interpretation of the literature and empirical research findings, the researcher not only identified the implications of the research findings, but also formulated a number of recommendations for further action in response to these implications. The major outcome of the study is the construction of a proposed framework of guidelines for planning and implementing a service learning module or programme that would enhance the development of employability skills in Economic and Management Sciences students. The value of the study is found in the presentation of the final framework with a set of guidelines for ease of implementation. The study confirms that service learning and employability skills could complement each other and thus together enable, foster, create and impact a student’s learning experiences and perceptions regarding the world of work and the need for lifelong learning.