The Impact of a University’s Language Policy on Its Library’s Print Collections

Mousaion ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siviwe Bangani ◽  
Glenda Makate ◽  
Boitumelo Masilo ◽  
Mathew Moyo
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
African Language ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
North West ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
The North ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this study was to establish the impact of the North-West University’s language policy on its library’s print collections. It analyses the languages represented by books held by the North-West University Library and Information Services. The article further established the strategies used by the libraries to develop, preserve and promote African languages in support of the university’s language policy. The paper employed bibliometrics and focus group interviews to gather data. The findings revealed that books in African languages that were recognised by the university were difficult to get on the market. As a result, the majority of books accessioned by the libraries were in English, followed by Afrikaans, and relatively few books in Setswana, and Sesotho. The study is the first of its kind focusing on language policy and academic libraries in South Africa. It is valuable to both policy makers and librarians in their endeavours to develop sizeable African language collections in support of the curricula and research. Among the recommendations is that African language departments at various universities should collaborate with libraries to start open access African language journals, and publish them through the institutional repositories.

African Language Material in Institutional Repositories: Visibility and Scholarly Impact

Mousaion ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siviwe Bangani ◽  
Mathew Moyo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Citation Impact ◽  
National Development ◽  
Public University ◽  
African Language ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
Scholarly Impact ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

Various international organisations such as the United Nations and the African Union recognise the value of language in development, peacebuilding and reconciliation. Language is also recognised in planning policies of countries such as South Africa where the National Development Plan of the country seeks to ensure that every citizen learns at least one African language by 2030. This paper sought to determine the availability, impact and visibility of African language material hosted by institutional repositories (IRs) at public universities in South Africa. Informetrics methods were applied using data obtained from DSpace, Google Scholar and ResearchGate to determine the impact and visibility. The most important findings were that 65.2 per cent of public university IRs had at least one African language document in their IRs. Overall, only 0.16 per cent of documents in public university IRs were in African languages. A total of 16 per cent of African language documents hosted by these IRs are in ResearchGate. This study appears to be the first to determine the visibility of African language documents hosted by IRs in South Africa in ResearchGate and their citation impact in Google. This study will add value to the literature on the role of academic libraries in preserving indigenous languages, knowledge, and culture.

scholarly journals Health education training needs of educators at Makapanstad schools in the North West province

Curationis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M.D. Peu ◽  
L. Napoles ◽  
F. Wenhold ◽  
K. Mostert-Wentzel ◽  
N. Seane
Keyword(s):  
Health Education ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Analysis Process ◽  
North West Province ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The University

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the health education needs of educators at health promoting schools in Makapanstad in North West Province. Methodology: Qualitative, exploratory and descriptive paradigm was conducted. The population consisted of educators, at Makapanstad schools, who were directly involved with learners. The participants were purposively selected. Focus group interviews were conducted to collect relevant data from the participants. Tesch data analysis process was used to reach the findings of the research.Findings: The following categories were identified and theoretically confirmed: The need for the support by the University for the training of educators; The need for the University’s acknowledgement of educators’ responsibilities; The need for basic knowledge of health promotion; Common health needs of learners; and indirect health problems.Recommendation: It was recommended that a health education package be developed to assist in empowering learners in Makapanstad schools.

scholarly journals The impact of brief quality improvement (QI) projects by medical students in primary care in Gauteng or the North West Province, South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Van Deventer ◽  
Nontsikelelo Sondzaba
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
North West Province ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Background: The Integrated Primary Care (IPC) rotation is undertaken over six weeks by final year medical students at the University of Witwatersrand. Students are placed in either rural or urban primary health care centres based in Gauteng or the North West Province. As part of the IPC rotation, students undertake short quality improvement (QI) projects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the QI projects undertaken over the period stretching from 2006 to 2010. Methods: An observational study of QI reports done by students. Project reports assessed and compared to site marks, indicators of learning assessed and individual and group marks compared.Results: Of 274 projects undertaken, 223 (81.4%) were available for evaluation. Geographical placements and QI themes were categorised. Management issues were most frequently identified as being problematic followed by chronic illnesses. Understanding and applying the principles of QI was partially achieved and gaps were identified for future projects. The most common intervention was training of personnel and design and distribution of posters or pamphlets.Conclusions: Most QI projects were well thought out and relevant to the chosen setting. In the majority of cases, a great deal of effort and creativity went into the process and skills other than clinical skills were employed such as writing, presentation of data in graphs and tables. Integration of theory and practice was achieved only partially.

scholarly journals Recurrent drought in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality of the North West Province in South Africa: An environmental justice perspective

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Van Riet
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
North West ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
The North ◽  
North West Province ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The Impact

This article adopts an environmental justice approach to recurrent drought in the North-West Province of South Africa. It is based on a secondary data analysis of a study – of which the author was a research team member – conducted in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality in February 2007, which assessed the impact of drought on older people. The methodology used during the initial study included observation, individual interviews, focus group interviews and participatory research. The author of the present article suggests, however, that discourses of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and ’legislative compliance’, as in many other South African contexts, have not yet been a particularly useful framing for issues of disaster and drought. The author suggests that environmental justice discourses might offer a more useful framing or conceptualisation for those concerned with the issue of recurrent drought in the study area or similar contexts.

scholarly journals NEW APPROACHES TO TEACHING FOREIGN INFORMATION RESOURCES AT THE UNIVERSITY

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-180
Author(s):  
V. A. Vasilyeva ◽  
V. S. Vasilyeva
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
First Year ◽  
North West ◽  
New Methods ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
The North ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Purpose. The present work investigates the impact of the pedagogy approaches in the teaching e-resource of low-motivated students.Materials and Methods. The pilot study involves about 1000 first-year undergraduates of the North-West Institute of Management of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (NWIM RANEPA). Introductory part of the lecture is traditional. “Motivational” part varies depending on e-resource and includes a demonstration of all possible advantages for target audience — uniqueness, quality, advantages over open resources. In addition, the material is organized so as to provide multiple entries into the interface.Results. We studied statistics of visits to e-resources for 2 calendar years (before the introduction of new methods in 2016 and after — in 2017), and conducted surveys of students at the end of training. We got the apparent increase of visits when the pedagogical approach and the methods of training are changed.Discussion and conclusions. Research findings have illustrated the importance of support to the low-motivated students in their educational process by new approaches to the training. The librarian-teacher in this role is the link between the e-resource and the consumer, and their role is important for achieving the best results for both the organization and students. The authors are conscious that the interest in subscription resources would probably decline in the future. The keeping this interest is beyond the scope of this study. The data obtained and the conclusions made can be useful at all stages of the students’ training at any year of study. 

scholarly journals Experiences and attitudes of Setswana speaking teachers in using an indigenous African language on an online assessment platform

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. S1-S11
Author(s):  
Maglin Moodley ◽  
Reuben Dlamini
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
African Language ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Language Play ◽  
North West ◽  
African Languages ◽  
The North ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
The Status

Education in the 21st century must have a vision that will support and empower teachers to face the demands of the digital age. The use of information communication technology (ICT) in education can serve this end but ensuring access to digital resources will not address the digital disparity. Culture and language play an equally important role in exacerbating and maintaining the digital disparity as the traditional factor of access. In the study reported on here we investigated the experiences and attitudes of Setswana-speaking teachers in 3 primary schools in the North West province, South Africa, as they were exposed to online software in Setswana, an indigenous African language. Purposive sampling was used to select 7 teachers for the study. Two research questions were answered using systematic self-observation (SSO) instruments, the participant observation (PO) instrument and the in-depth interview (IDI) instrument to determine the experiences and attitudes of the teachers. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data. It was found that accuracy of translation was key for adopting and using software in an African language. The teachers felt that English was the language of ICT and that African languages were not intellectual languages and did not have the capacity to be used in ICT. It is, therefore, recommended that more must be done to translate software into African languages and an effort must be made to raise the status of African languages in academic and technical fields.

SEM and TEM observations of sperm development in the testis of the freshwater fish Oreochromis mossambicus

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 58-59
Author(s):  
Daryl A. Cornish ◽  
George L. Smit
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Oreochromis Mossambicus ◽  
Breeding Cycle ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Sem And Tem ◽  
Sperm Development ◽  
Ultrastructural Characteristics ◽  
The University

Oreochromis mossambicus is currently receiving much attention as a candidater species for aquaculture programs within Southern Africa. This has stimulated interest in its breeding cycle as well as the morphological characteristics of the gonads. Limited information is available on SEM and TEM observations of the male gonads. It is known that the testis of O. mossambicus is a paired, intra-abdominal structure of the lobular type, although further details of its characteristics are not known. Current investigations have shown that spermatids reach full maturity some two months after the female becomes gravid. Throughout the year, the testes contain spermatids at various stages of development although spermiogenesis appears to be maximal during November when spawning occurs. This paper describes the morphological and ultrastructural characteristics of the testes and spermatids.Specimens of this fish were collected at Syferkuil Dam, 8 km north- west of the University of the North over a twelve month period, sacrificed and the testes excised.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial intention: An analysis of the role of Student-Led Entrepreneurial Organizations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliano Sansone ◽  
Elisa Ughetto ◽  
Paolo Landoni
Keyword(s):  
Entrepreneurial Intention ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Student Entrepreneurship ◽  
Entrepreneurial Organizations ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

AbstractAlthough a great deal of attention has been paid to entrepreneurship education, only a few studies have analysed the impact of extra-curricular entrepreneurial activities on students’ entrepreneurial intention. The aim of this study is to fill this gap by exploring the role played by Student-Led Entrepreneurial Organizations (SLEOs) in shaping the entrepreneurial intention of their members. The analysis is based on a survey that was conducted in 2016 by one of the largest SLEOs in the world: the Junior Enterprises Europe (JEE). The main result of the empirical analysis is that the more time students spent on JEE and the higher the number of events students attended, the greater their entrepreneurial intention was. It has been found that other important drivers also increase students’ entrepreneurial intention, that is, the Science and Technology field of study and the knowledge of more than two foreign languages. These results confirm that SLEOs are able to foster students’ entrepreneurial intention. The findings provide several theoretical, practical and public policy implications. SLEOs are encouraged to enhance their visibility and lobbying potential in order to be recognized more as drivers of student entrepreneurship. In addition, it is advisable for universities and policy makers to support SLEOs by fostering their interactions with other actors operating in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, who promote entrepreneurship and technology transfer activities. Lastly, this paper advises policy makers to assist SLEOs’ activities inside and outside the university context.

scholarly journals Interdependance, linkage et système international : de l'analyse conceptuelle aux problèmes de politique étrangère

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-352
Author(s):  
Irnerio Seminatore
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International System ◽  
Political Context ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The North ◽  
Interdependence Theory ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Impact

The emergence and evolution of the literature dealing with interdependence in the international System is looked into. An attempt is made to show its significance and main points as well as its implications. The debates on interdependence within the North-American political context are regarded as solutions to the preceding issues on dependence. Interesting passages are dedicated to the impact of the interdependence theory on the interpretation of the international system, as illustrated by two schools of thought in foreign policy (Kissinger-Brzezinski). Linkage of the tactical and strategic aspects to the economic and political interrelation of international relations, as put forward by policy makers, has brought to the fore the difficulties and limits of negotiation in the face of competition and in the aftermath of confrontation. This paper offers subtle, yet positive, conclusions on the use of the interdependance theory in international policy.

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