scholarly journals Castells in Africa: Universities and Development

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Muller ◽  
Nico Cloete ◽  
François van Schalkwyk
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Reflective Practitioners ◽  
Manuel Castells ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time

Castells in Africa: Universities and Development collects the papers produced by Manuel Castells on his visits to South Africa, and publishes them in a single volume for the first time. The book also publishes a series of empirically-based papers which together display the multi-faceted and far-sighted scope of his theoretical framework, and its fecundity for fine-grained, detailed empirical investigations on universities and development in Africa. Castells, in his afterword to this book, always looking forward, assesses the role of the university in the wake of the upheavals to the global economic order. He decides the universitys function not only remains, but is more important than ever. This book will serve as an introduction to the relevance of his work for higher education in Africa for postgraduate students, reflective practitioners and researchers.

scholarly journals Embodying human rights in #FeesMustFall? Contributions from an indecent theology

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Grassow ◽  
Clint Le Bruyns
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The University

This article focuses on the #FeesMustFall (FMF) movement and the question of a human rights culture. It provides evidence from the specific context of FMF at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, which exposes human rights abuses and violence to the dignity of protesting students. To advance a human rights culture within the higher education sector in the context of FMF, the article highlights the role of theology – ‘indecent theology’ (as espoused by Marcella Althaus-Reid) – in revealing the problem and promise of higher education institutions in the quest for a more liberating and responsible society. It is only through interrogating the narratives that sustain the current university structures – and continue to oppress the poor and the marginalised – that South Africa will be able to begin to construct a society that is respective of the rights of all.

The role of Language Planning Agencies in higher education in South Africa - comparing two cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-193
Author(s):  
Theodorus du Plessis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Language Planning ◽  
Relative Effectiveness ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
African Context ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
The University

AbstractThe question about the role of Language Planning Agencies (LPAs) in higher education is very relevant within the South African context. A range of policy provisions regarding language in higher education are characterised by the use of language policy and planning (LPP) jargon found in the Framework for Language Planning Goals, pointing to the need for a range of LPAs to be involved in this language domain. Since such involvement has been documented in the case of the institutionalisation of Afrikaans as alternative language of higher education during the period 1910-1961, it provides the basis for a comparison with post-1994 initiatives regarding the elevation of the Sintu languages and the extension of their use in this language domain. Such comparison is undertaken on the basis of a Typology of LPAs that is developed from earlier insights that evolved during the International Research Project on Language Planning Processes at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s, essentially distinguishing between LPAs involved in regulatory, productive and promotional language planning functions. Evidence on the work of LPAs involved during the two periods is collected from secondary sources documenting the cases and analysed in terms of this typology. The results of the study provide insights into the role of LPAs in each case and in their relative effectiveness in aiding the institutionalisation of the designated languages. The article concludes by suggesting the “ideal” LPA mix for the realisation of LPP goals in higher education in South Africa.

scholarly journals Determinants of the Digital Divide among French Higher Education Teachers

2021 ◽  
pp. 10-28
Author(s):  
Mounir Dahmani
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
University Environment ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Digital Divides ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time

The widespread use of technology in daily life, and particularly in education in higher education institutions has devoted growing attention to the nature of ICT usages by Higher Education Teachers which has seen as an increasingly important factor for the successful integration of these technologies. This study aims to analyze the determining factors of the various uses of ICT by teachers in the university environment and to characterize their variety and intensity. For this end, we conducted a survey of a sample of 2,079 teachers from public universities in France. Our approach consisted in measuring the intensity of use of ICT in academia in order to appreciate the resulting digital divides between different groups of teachers. Multinomial logistic regression shows that the differences in the use of ICT are linked to the differences in initial digital skills between teachers. Furthermore, the training in ICT, age, gender and social context appear to have a manifold influence on ICT use. Our results clearly confirm the existence of digital  divides, it prompts us to analyze more precisely the role of innovative users and that   of first-time adopters when they appear to be actors involved in the diffusion of ICT within universities.

scholarly journals Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Cloete ◽  
Peter Maassen ◽  
Tracy Y. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professor Emeritus ◽  
Information Economy ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
To Come ◽  
Manuel Castells ◽  
The University

"This volume brings together excellent scholarship and innovative policy discussion to demonstrate the essential role of higher education in the development of Africa and of the world at large. Based on deep knowledge of the university system in several African countries, this book will reshape the debate on development in the global information economy for years to come. It should be mandatory reading for academics, policy-makers and concerned citizens, in Africa and elsewhere." - Manuel Castells, Professor Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley

scholarly journals A web environment linking university teaching strategies with graduate attributes

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-24
Author(s):  
Garry Hoban ◽  
◽  
Geraldine E. Lefoe ◽  
Bronwyn James ◽  
Sue Curtis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Teaching Strategies ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Graduate Attributes ◽  
Web Environment ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time

This article describes the design of a web-based environment that links teaching strategies used in different faculties with graduate attributes. Whilst graduate attributes have existed at the University of Wollongong since the 1990s, this is the first time teaching strategies that enable students to develop these attributes have been articulated and shared electronically. The strategies are the practical or tacit knowledge of university teaching. The paper provides a background for the role of graduate attributes in higher education and explains the reason for focussing on teaching strategies. It describes the website resource with some examples and outlines dissemination and evaluation plans for the initiative. It is hoped that the website will become a “growing” site as a resource for a university community to share teaching strategies across different faculties.

scholarly journals Decolonising the commercialisation and commodification of the university and theological education in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dumisane W. Methula
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Theological Education ◽  
Prosperity Theology ◽  
African Black ◽  
The University

This article problematises the critical subject of the decolonisation of the university and theological education in South Africa from the neo-colonisation of commercialisation and commodification. The article, written from a decolonial perspective, serves as an epistemic critique of the cultures of corporatisation, rationalisation and entrepreneurship in higher education driven by the marketisation of society by the neoliberal institutions of globalisation. The article engages the role of decolonising theological education by drawing insights from African/Black theologies, the discourse on Africanisation and liberation to counter the strangulation and dominance of the commodification and commercialisation of theological education and prosperity theology in Africa, particularly in South Africa.

scholarly journals Understanding Higher Education: Alternative Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Higher Education Policies ◽  
Social Account ◽  
The University

Drawing on the South African case, this book looks at shifts in higher education around the world in the last two decades. In South Africa, calls for transformation have been heard in the university since the last days of apartheid. Similar claims for quality higher education to be made available to all have been made across the African continent. In spite of this, inequalities remain and many would argue that these have been exacerbated during the Covid pandemic. Understanding Higher Education: Alternative Perspectives responds to these calls by arguing for a social account of teaching and learning by contesting dominant understandings of students as ‘decontextualised learners’ premised on the idea that the university is a meritocracy. This book tackles the issue of teaching and learning by looking both within and beyond the classroom. It looks at how higher education policies emerged from the notion of the knowledge economy in the newly democratic South Africa, and how national qualification frameworks and other processes brought the country more closely into conversation with the global order. The effects of this on staffing and curriculum structures are considered alongside a proposition for alternative ways of understanding the role of higher education in society.

scholarly journals Redefining the Role of Universities in a Rapidly Changing Landscape

2021 ◽  
pp. 245-248
Author(s):  
Datuk Abdul Rahim Hashim
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
The Political ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
The University ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Ministry Of Higher Education

AbstractOver the past few decades, the Malaysian higher education sector has experienced important reform, particularly guided by the Malaysia Education Blueprint for Higher Education 2015–2025 to stimulate continued excellence in the system. However, the dawn of 2020 has unfolded many challenges as COVID-19 rages across the globe bringing sudden paralysis to the whole world. Indeed, the pandemic has affected the world and greatly impacted our lives not only from a health perspective, but also from the political, economic, and social aspects. To date, universities in Malaysia have been closed for more than four months, although the Ministry of Higher Education has recently permitted postgraduate students undertaking full-time research programmes to return to the university should their research necessitate their physical presence in laboratories, workshops, design studios or to use specific equipment available only on campus. For other university students, online or virtual teaching and learning is set to continue until the end of this year, although identified groups of students will be allowed to return to the campus in stages.

scholarly journals The Role of Postgraduate International Students in the Process of Internationalization of Higher Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Qahar Sarwari ◽  
Nubli Wahab
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Internationalization Of Higher Education ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The University

This study was conducted to assess the role of interactions among international students from different nationalities on the process of internationalization of Malaysian higher education. An embedded design of mixed methods with the predominant role of the quantitative method was applied to conduct this study. The participants of this study were 118 international postgraduate students from a Malaysian public university, and based on their personal agreements, six of them were interviewed as well.  Based on the results, the presence and persuasions of students from their countries at universities and the emerging reputation of public universities in the host country were the main reasons that encouraged international students to enroll in the university. The findings of this study also illustrated that almost all participants of this study shared some information about the quality and standards of higher education in the host country with their friends in their own countries, and encouraged some students to join the mentioned university and other universities in the country. Generally, the findings of this study confirmed the positive role of foreign students in assisting the increase in the number of international students, and also on the process of internationalization of higher education. The findings of this study may help universities to reap more benefits from their international students, and also may encourage students to have better academic achievements through their interactions with their peers from different nationalities.

ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN TEACHING INFORMATION LITERACY IN ZIMBABWEAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinashe Mugwisi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Information Skills ◽  
The University

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the Internet have to a large extent influenced the way information is made available, published and accessed. More information is being produced too frequently and information users now require certain skills to sift through this multitude in order to identify what is appropriate for their purposes. Computer and information skills have become a necessity for all academic programmes. As libraries subscribe to databases and other peer-reviewed content (print and electronic), it is important that users are also made aware of such sources and their importance. The purpose of this study was to examine the teaching of information literacy (IL) in universities in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and the role played by librarians in creating information literate graduates. This was done by examining whether such IL programmes were prioritised, their content and how frequently they were reviewed. An electronic questionnaire was distributed to 12 university libraries in Zimbabwe and 21 in South Africa. A total of 25 questionnaires were returned. The findings revealed that IL was being taught in universities library and non-library staff, was compulsory and contributed to the term mark in some institutions. The study also revealed that 44 per cent of the total respondents indicated that the libraries were collaborating with departments and faculty in implementing IL programmes in universities. The study recommends that IL should be an integral part of the university programmes in order to promote the use of databases and to guide students on ethical issues of information use.

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