South Africa's Vocational Colleges Struggle to Do Their Job

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Ryan

2012-01-01

With youth unemployment in South Africa hovering around 50 percent and close to half the population living in poverty, a university degree has come to be seen by many as the only way out. And universities are straining under the burden: This admissions cycle, the University of Johannesburg alone rejected more than 70,000 applicants in filling an…

Diversity and Contested Social Identities in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banda, Felix; Peck, Amiena

2016-01-01

We draw on Rampton's "Crossing: Language and Ethnicity Among Adolescents" (2014. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge) notion of "crossing" to explore contestations in ethnolinguistic, cultural and racial affiliations at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), a university built for "Coloureds" in apartheid South Africa, but…

Race Is Nowhere and Race Is Everywhere: Narratives from Black and White South African University Students in Post-Apartheid South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Melanie

2005-01-01

This paper examines the life history narratives of a group of 12 black and white male and female undergraduate students at a historically white Afrikaans medium university, now undergoing its own transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. Conceptualizations of identity and discourse across four elements of context, setting, situated activity…

Exploring Important Issues through Keypal Connections: South Africa and the USA.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eastmond, Nick; Lester, Olivia

2001-01-01

Focuses on a class at Utah State University on race and communication issues in the United States and the New South Africa, which included an "email pen pal" correspondence. Highlights include: setting the stage; analysis and results; race and communication issues; economic and social conditions in South Africa; white privilege; pride in…

Regional, Continental, and Global Mobility to an Emerging Economy: The Case of South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jenny J.; Sehoole, Chika

2015-01-01

This study examined mobility within the understudied region of southern Africa and particularly, the factors that drive and shape educational migration toward South Africa as a regional, continental, and global destination. Based on a survey administered to international students across seven South African universities, the findings revealed…

New Spaces for Researching Postgraduate Education Research in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pillay, Daisy; Karlsson, Jenni

2013-01-01

Universities in South Africa during apartheid reflected the racialised politics of the period. This gave rise to divisive descriptors such as "historically white/black"; "English/Afrikaans-speaking" institutions and "Bantustan'' universities. These descriptors signal a hierarchy of social status and state funding. We start…

The Politicisation of the University in South Africa and Its Consequent Demise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgs, P.

2010-01-01

In the light of transformational discourses in higher education in South Africa, it has become necessary to pose the question--what is a university? Such a question requires that the idea of the university, as well as its role in society be reflected upon critically. This author contends that much of present day transformational discourse in…

HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Perception of Knowledge and Sources of Information among University Students in USA, Turkey, South Africa and Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abiona, Titilayo; Balogun, Joseph; Yohannes, Eden; Adefuye, Adedeji; Yakut, Yavuz; Amosun, Seyi; Frantz, Jose

2014-01-01

Objective: To examine HIV/AIDS knowledge, perceptions of knowledge and sources of HIV information among university students in four countries with different HIV prevalence rates. Methods: A survey was completed by 2,570 randomly selected university students from the USA, Turkey, South Africa and Nigeria. Logistic regression analysis was used to…

Institutional Trial Quality Audit of the University of South Africa (UNISA)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Commonwealth of Learning, 2007

2007-01-01

This report presents the findings of the Trial Audit Panel (TAP) after studying a range of documentation before and during the audit and discussing issues with a wide range of University of South Africa (Unisa) staff during their visit to the University in June 2007. The original intention was to produce two reports, one in the format and…

Entrepreneurial Education in a Tertiary Context: A Perspective of the University of South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amadi-Echendu, Anthea P.; Phillips, Magaret; Chodokufa, Kudakwashe; Visser, Thea

2016-01-01

South Africa is characterised by high unemployment levels, a low Total Early Stage Entrepreneurial Activity rate, and a high small business failure rate. Entrepreneurship and small business development is seen as a solution to end unemployment in South Africa. A study to understand how to improve small business support was conducted at the…

Edinburgh, the Scottish pioneers of anatomy and their lasting influence in South Africa.

PubMed

Correia, J C; Wessels, Q; Vorster, W

2013-11-01

The history of the origin of anatomy education in South Africa is the history of an arduous journey through time. The lasting influence of Edinburgh came in the form of Robert Black Thomson. He was a student and assistant of Sir William Turner who gave rise to the first chair of anatomy and the establishment of a department at the South African College, known today as University of Cape Town. Thomson was later succeeded by Matthew Drennan, a keen anthropologist, who was revered by his students. This Scottish link prevailed over time with the appointment of Edward Philip Stibbe as the chair of anatomy at the South African School of Mines and Technology, which later became the University of the Witwatersrand. Stibbe's successor, Raymond Arthur Dart, a graduate of the University of Sydney, was trained in an anatomy department sculpted on that of Edinburgh by Professor James Thomas Wilson. Wilson's influence at the University of Sydney can be traced back to Edinburgh and William Turner through Thomas Anderson Stuart. Both Dart and Robert Broom, another Scot, were considered as Africa's wild men by the late Professor Tobias. Here, the authors explore the Scottish link and origins of anatomy pedagogy in South Africa.

Organizing the University-Industry Relationship: A Case Study of Research Policy and Curriculum Restructuring at the North-West University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boersma, F. K.; Reinecke, C. J.; Gibbons, M.

2008-01-01

A major requirement for transformation contained in the new education policy in South Africa is that the graduate outputs of the higher education system should match the needs of a modernizing economy. This paper addresses the organizational aspect of university-industry relationships that is an element of the transformation. In empirical terms,…

University Multilingualism: A Critical Narrative from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antia, Bassey E.

2015-01-01

This article offers a narrative of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, from the prism of the duality of language as a co-modality (with people, protest, policy and practices) for constituting the institution in whole or in part and as a reflection of its co-modalities. For its framing, the narrative eclectically draws on language…

Academic Freedom and Racial Injustice: South Africa's Former "Open Universities"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Y.; Taylor, R.

2010-01-01

The article critically re-interrogates three high profile cases of white racism at South Africa's former "open universities" to highlight the way in which existing debates around academic freedom fail to come to terms with questions of racial injustice after apartheid. The cases covered are the Makgoba affair at Wits, the Mamdani affair…

Promoting Sustainable Development Implementation in Higher Education: Universities in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Awuzie, Bankole; Emuze, Fidelis

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study aims to review the zeal exhibited by universities in South Africa towards aligning institutional mandates of teaching, learning, research and community engagement to the sustainable development (SD) agenda. The implementation of the SD agenda across higher education institutions (HEIs) continues to draw attention from the wider…

Rural-Based Universities in South Africa: Albatrosses or Potential Nodes for Sustainable Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nkomo, Mokubung; Sehoole, Chika

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on how two rural-based universities in South Africa can contribute towards sustainable development especially in their immediate rural communities. It addresses the following questions what conditions or policy frameworks exist that can engender a sustainable development trajectory? How can…

Entrepreneurial Knowledge and Aspirations of Dentistry Students in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brijlal, Pradeep; Brijlal, Priscilla

2013-01-01

An investigation of the intentions and knowledge of entrepreneurship of final-year university dentistry students is reported, with particular regard to the factors of gender and race. A questionnaire survey was used with final-year dentistry students, over two years, at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. The findings show that…

IT Implementation in ITE in the Limpopo Province (South Africa): A Dream or Reality?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monobe, Ratau John

2011-01-01

This paper describes the results of a survey about the most critical issues facing the implementation of IT (information technology) ITE (initial teacher education) in all the HBUs (historically black universities) in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Over 250 responses were received and both universities in the Limpopo Province were…

Making Sense of the University Environment in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Administrators in the Executive Management Team

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dominguez-Whitehead, Yasmine

2010-01-01

Higher education in post-apartheid South Africa has experienced a relatively rapid changing landscape (Cloete, Maassen, Fehnel, & Moja, 2006). As such, the organizational environment in which university administrators operate is an increasingly important area of study. This study is grounded in organizational theory and adopts an open systems…

Formative Reflections of University Recreation Science Students in South Africa as Catalyst for an Adapted Service-Learning Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goslin, Anneliese; van der Klashorst, Engela; Kluka, Darlene A.; van Wyk, Johannes G. U.

2016-01-01

Community-university partnerships through service-learning have progressively developed as part of institutions of higher education's mission statements. This paper explores the qualitative reflections of 410 undergraduate students enrolled in an academic recreation science course on a first time service-learning experience in South Africa. The…

Cervical cancer screening among university students in South Africa: a theory based study.

PubMed

Hoque, Muhammad Ehsanu; Ghuman, Shanaz; Coopoosmay, Roger; Van Hal, Guido

2014-01-01

Cervical cancer is a serious public health problem in South Africa. Even though the screening is free in health facilities in South Africa, the Pap smear uptake is very low. The objective of the study is to investigate the knowledge and beliefs of female university students in South Africa. A cross sectional study was conducted among university women in South Africa to elicit information about knowledge and beliefs, and screening history. A total of 440 students completed the questionnaire. The average age of the participants was 20.39 years (SD  = 1.71 years). Regarding cervical cancer, 55.2% (n = 243) had ever heard about it. Results indicated that only 15% (22/147) of the students who had ever had sex and had heard about cervical cancer had taken a Pap test. Pearson correlation analysis showed that cervical cancer knowledge had a significantly negative relationship with barriers to cervical cancer screening. Susceptibility and seriousness score were significantly moderately correlated with benefit and motivation score as well as barrier score. Self-efficacy score also had a moderate correlation with benefit and motivation score. Students who had had a Pap test showed a significantly lower score in barriers to being screened compared to students who had not had a Pap test. This study showed that educated women in South Africa lack complete information on cervical cancer. Students who had had a Pap test had significantly lower barriers to cervical cancer screening than those students who had not had a Pap test.

Telerehabilitation in South Africa - is there a way forward?

PubMed

Mars, Maurice

2011-01-01

South Africa, like the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, has a disproportionate burden of disease and a shortage of health professionals. Telemedicine has been identified as a possible way of overcoming part of the problem but telemedicine has not been widely adopted. In the public sector hospitals in South Africa which serve 82% of the population there are 2.5 physiotherapists and 2 occupational therapists per 100,000 people served. The extent of telerehabilitation in South Africa is unknown. A literature review of telerehabilitation found no papers from South Africa. A survey of the heads of university departments of physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language pathology revealed limited knowledge of telerehabilitation. Telerehabilitation services are confined to follow-up of patients at some institutions by telephone, fax or email. There is need to raise awareness among therapists if telerehabilitation is to become a reality in South Africa. Future actions are outlined.

Telerehabilitation In South Africa – Is There A Way Forward?

PubMed Central

Mars, Maurice

2011-01-01

South Africa, like the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, has a disproportionate burden of disease and a shortage of health professionals. Telemedicine has been identified as a possible way of overcoming part of the problem but telemedicine has not been widely adopted. In the public sector hospitals in South Africa which serve 82% of the population there are 2.5 physiotherapists and 2 occupational therapists per 100,000 people served. The extent of telerehabilitation in South Africa is unknown. A literature review of telerehabilitation found no papers from South Africa. A survey of the heads of university departments of physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language pathology revealed limited knowledge of telerehabilitation. Telerehabilitation services are confined to follow-up of patients at some institutions by telephone, fax or email. There is need to raise awareness among therapists if telerehabilitation is to become a reality in South Africa. Future actions are outlined. PMID:25945178

Multi-Institutional Partnerships for Higher Education in Africa: A Case Study of Assumptions of International Academic Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Semali, Ladislaus M.; Baker, Rose; Freer, Rob

2013-01-01

Public and private universities in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, and elsewhere in Africa, were experiencing all time high enrollments since the late 1990s. To address these demands, university administrators sought partnerships with universities of the global North to facilitate the necessary educational reform and curriculum…

Teaching Business Ethically in the "New" South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nkomo, Stella M.

2003-01-01

Describes the author's experience teaching a course on leadership and organizational dynamics to master of business administration students at the Graduate School of Business Leadership, University of South Africa. Considers how the structures of apartheid that permeated all sectors of South African society are only gradually being dismantled. (SG)

Implications of the University of South Africa's (UNISA) Shift to Open Distance e-Learning on Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ngubane-Mokiwa, Sindile A.

2017-01-01

This conceptual and exploratory article seeks to explore the implications of the University of South Africa's (Unisa) shift from open distance learning (ODL) to open distance e-learning (ODeL) on Teacher Education. In addition, the article problematizes the shift as a policy imperative. Unisa's mandate to provide teacher education opportunities to…

Enacting Identity and Transition: Public Events and Rituals in the University (Mexico and South Africa)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pansters, Wil G.; van Rinsum, Henk J.

2016-01-01

On the basis of ethnographic and historical material this article makes a comparative analysis of the relationship between public events, ceremonies and academic rituals, institutional identity, and processes of transition and power at two universities, one in Mexico and the other in South Africa. The public events examined here play a major role…

Student Wellbeing at a University in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Comparison with a British University Sample Using the GP-CORE Measure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Charles; Campbell, Megan

2014-01-01

This article provides GP-CORE norms for a South African university sample, which are compared to published data obtained from a United Kingdom university sample. The measure appears to be both reliable and valid for this multilingual and multicultural South African sample. The profiles of the psychological distress reported by white South African…

Is Entrepreneurial Education at South African Universities Successful? An Empirical Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mentoor, E. R.; Friedrich, C.

2007-01-01

After more than ten years of democracy in South Africa, many of the previously disadvantaged segments of the community, especially Blacks, would have hoped that a new economic order would have been created. Instead, South Africa still has very high unemployment and even young Black South Africans with a degree are not guaranteed a job. The purpose…

Principles of Pedagogy in Teaching in a Diverse Medical School: The University of Capetown South Africa Medical School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothenberg, Julia Johnson; Holland, Errol

This paper describes a 2-month project developed by the Sage Colleges (New York) and the University of Capetown Medical School in South Africa to help the medical faculty at the Capetown Medical School teach its newly diverse student body. The program is intended to improve student retention and it emphasizes the need for faculty to assure…

On Medium of Instruction and African Scholarship: The Case of isiZulu at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamwendo, Gregory; Hlongwa, Nobuhle; Mkhize, Nhlanhla

2014-01-01

After the demise of apartheid in South Africa in 1994, 11 languages (English, Afrikaans and 9 indigenous African languages) were given official status. In the higher education landscape, English remains the dominant language of scholarship. At the University of KwaZulu-Natal, English is the main medium of instruction but the institution's language…

Looking Back at Doctoral Education in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, Chaya

2017-01-01

This article provides a quantitative picture of doctoral education in South Africa up to 2010, from the time the first doctorate was awarded in 1899. It identifies the different institutional profiles and emphases of doctoral graduation in South African universities at various periods of time in the context of economic, political and social…

Report on Portfolio Companies with Operations in South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA.

The activities of portfolio companies in South Africa are reviewed in this report from the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility of Harvard University. A brief review of recent South African political and economic events includes a discussion of the nation's leadership, long-term social and political projections, labor policies, and the…

"The Fire Below": Towards a New Study of Literatures and Cultures (in English?)--A Letter from a Literary Scholar in a South African University in Transition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collis-Buthelezi, Victoria J.

2016-01-01

This letter was first read as a seminar paper in the Institute for the Humanities in Africa at the University of Cape Town in which I offer a series of provocations about what our current moment asks of us. It is concerned with the future of literary and cultural studies (in English) at that university and in South Africa in the wake of the…

The Nurse in the University: A History of University Education for South African Nurses: A Case Study of the University of the Witwatersrand

PubMed Central

Horwitz, Simonne

2011-01-01

This paper charts the history and debates surrounding the introduction of academic, university-based training of nurses in South Africa. This was a process that was drawn out over five decades, beginning in the late 1930s. For nurses, university training was an important part of a process of professionalization; however, for other members of the medical community, nursing was seen as being linked to women's service work. Using the case-study of the University of the Witwatersrand, one of South Africa's premier universities and the place in the country to offer a university-based nursing program, we argue that an historical understanding of the ways in which nursing education was integrated into the university system tells us a great deal about the professionalization of nursing. This paper also recognises, for the first time, the pioneers of this important process. PMID:21994840

Marketing University Education: The Southern African Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maringe, Felix; Foskett, Nick

2002-01-01

Examined the perceptions of university marketers in southern Africa. Found a varying awareness of the significance of marketing, with more mature institutions exhibiting more developed marketing orientations. Strategies ranged from marketing as public relations to marketing as sales, with universities in South Africa the only ones demonstrating a…

Factors Influencing the Career Choice of Undergraduate Students at a Historically Disadvantaged South African University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrahams, Fatima; Jano, Rukhsana; van Lill, Burger

2015-01-01

During the apartheid years in South Africa, career guidance amongst disadvantaged learners was largely absent and, for many, career choices were limited and governed by politics. Despite South Africa having celebrated 20 years of democracy, this situation has improved only slightly. Therefore, the aims of the study were to determine the factors…

African South of the Sahara: An Objective Test for Secondary Schools. A World Regions Perception Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA.

Designed by Project Africa of Carnegie-Mellon University, these two test instruments have been used to discover what selected American secondary school students know or believe about Africa and other regions of the world. The first instrument, a 30-minute objective test, "Africa South of the Sahara," is comprised of 60 multiple-choice…

An Ambivalent Community: International African Students in Residence at a South African University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weber, Everard

2016-01-01

This is a qualitative case study of the experiences and perceptions of South African and especially international, African students living in university residences in South Africa. The concept, community, is used to interpret interview data. This community was characterised by ambivalent social relations: There was discrimination by South Africans…

Towards a Cosmopolitan African University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waghid, Y.

2009-01-01

In this article I offer a defence of cosmopolitanism as an enabling condition for university education in Africa. Recent xenophobic outbursts in South Africa suggests that the enactment of defensible virtues in societies remain distant from the practices of many people. My contention is that university education ought to take seriously the…

Dealing with Divestment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coons, Christopher A.

1986-01-01

Policy standards and actions that U.S. colleges and universities can follow concerning South Africa-related investment are discussed, based on a survey of 175 colleges. Investment policy standards include: not investing in companies unless they provide information to shareholders about their business activities in South Africa, not investing in…

Deliberating A Contract Type Based Risk Mitigation Strategy For South African Defense Acquisitions

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

University of Pretoria, South Africa Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION...Capability RSA-MIL-STD-3 Military Standard 3 SA South Africa SANDF South African National Defence Force SDP Strategic Defence Package SDR...There are two broad categories of contract types namely, Fixed and Cost reimbursement type contract. The two categories are further divided into more

International Students' Cocurricular Involvement at a University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naik, Sapna; Wawrzynski, Matthew R.; Brown, Joelle

2017-01-01

Despite a growing body of literature on international student involvement, international students in the South African context have remained understudied. In this quantitative study, we examined international students' cocurricular involvement and associated learning and development in a South African university. Participants included 198…

Family medicine training in sub-Saharan Africa: South-South cooperation in the Primafamed project as strategy for development.

PubMed

Flinkenflögel, Maaike; Essuman, Akye; Chege, Patrick; Ayankogbe, Olayinka; De Maeseneer, Jan

2014-08-01

Health-care systems based on primary health care (PHC) are more equitable and cost effective. Family medicine trains medical doctors in comprehensive PHC with knowledge and skills that are needed to increase quality of care. Family medicine is a relatively new specialty in sub-Saharan Africa. To explore the extent to which the Primafamed South-South cooperative project contributed to the development of family medicine in sub-Saharan Africa. The Primafamed (Primary Health Care and Family Medicine Education) project worked together with 10 partner universities in sub-Saharan Africa to develop family medicine training programmes over a period of 2.5 years. A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis was done and the training development from 2008 to 2010 in the different partner universities was analysed. During the 2.5 years of the Primafamed project, all partner universities made progress in the development of their family medicine training programmes. The SWOT analysis showed that at both national and international levels, the time is ripe to train medical doctors in family medicine and to integrate the specialty into health-care systems, although many barriers, including little awareness, lack of funding, low support from other specialists and reserved support from policymakers, are still present. Family medicine can play an important role in health-care systems in sub-Saharan Africa; however, developing a new discipline is challenging. Advocacy, local ownership, action research and support from governments are necessary to develop family medicine and increase its impact. The Primafamed project showed that development of sustainable family medicine training programmes is a feasible but slow process. The South-South cooperation between the ten partners and the South African departments of family medicine strengthened confidence at both national and international levels. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Computer Applications in Information Systems. Proceedings of a Workshop (Cape Town, South Africa, November 26-27, 1985). Continuing Education Series Number 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bleimschein, Sue, Ed.

Sixteen papers from a workshop on computer applications sponsored by the University of Cape Town (South Africa) School of Librarianship are presented in this volume: (1) "Introduction to the Use of Information Technology" (Sue Bleimschein); (2) "Searching Remote Databases" (Steve Rossouw); (3) "SABINET [South African Bibliographic and Information…

An overview of South African psychology.

PubMed

Cooper, Saths; Nicholas, Lionel

2012-01-01

This overview of psychology in South Africa presents a concise and historical account of its science and practice, from its early origins in the late nineteenth century to the present, and traces seminal influences on the discipline. It is a review of how psychology in South Africa developed over more than a century to become one of the most popular subjects in universities and an established and recognized profession, whose members play a variety of roles in the South African polity and larger society. The impact that apartheid racism had on key aspects of psychology's development is traversed, and the influences that previous ruling party politics had on professional psychological organizations are delineated. The unification of psychology under the Psychological Society of South Africa, a few months before the advent of democracy in South Africa, is explicated. The protection of the title of psychologist in law and certain other changes in the legislative environment, enabling a greater role for psychologists, are reported. The primary research sites for psychology and its funding and the main university psychology programs are described, as are the requirements for registration and licensure. The genesis and the importance of the work of internationally acclaimed South African psychologists, such as J. Wolpe and A. A. Lazarus, are contextualized. With the increased participation of progressive black psychologists in leadership and research in the past two decades, a transformed psychology has the potential to play a significant role in addressing human issues confronting South Africa.

Institutional Audits: A Comparison of the Experiences of Three South African Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Botha, Jan; Favish, Judy; Stephenson, Sandra

2008-01-01

South Africa's external quality assurance agency, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), commenced its first cycle of institutional audits in 2004. During 2005, three public higher education institutions were audited, namely the University of Cape Town, the University of Stellenbosch and Rhodes University. The process of preparing for and…

Perceptions of Organizational Functioning in Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowles, Steven; Louw, Johann; Myers, Bronwyn

2011-01-01

Directors' and treatment staff's perceptions of organizational functioning within substance abuse treatment facilities in four provinces in South Africa were examined via the Texas Christian University's Organizational Readiness for Change instrument. Forty-four treatment facilities (out of 89) participated in the study. Results indicated that…

Distance Education in Southern Africa Conference, 1987. Papers 7: Late Submissions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adey, David, Comp.; And Others

Ten papers and four abstracts of papers from the University of South Africa's Conference on Distance Education are presented. They include: "Access to Higher Education and Training in the South Pacific: The Role of Telecommunications and Distance Education" (Som Naidu); "Distance Education in Japan" (Takashi Sakamoto);…

Challenges Facing Students Entering Higher Education in South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Catherine

2000-01-01

States that institutions of higher education in South Africa are in a process of redressing apartheid inequalities. Discusses how the University of Port Elizabeth in particular has addressed post-apartheid issues such as student under-preparedness, widening access, instability on campus, high student debt levels, declining enrollments, and…

Late Departures from Paper-Based to Supported Networked Learning in South Africa: Lessons Learned

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kok, Illasha; Beter, Petra; Esterhuizen, Hennie

2018-01-01

Fragmented connectivity in South Africa is the dominant barrier for digitising initiatives. New insights surfaced when a university-based nursing programme introduced tablets within a supportive network learning environment. A qualitative, explorative design investigated adult nurses' experiences of the realities when moving from paper-based…

Promotion of Biotechnology amongst Students by University Departments in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boshoff, N.; Treptow, R. F.

2011-01-01

University departments (including schools and centres) with a direct or indirect link to biotechnology were identified. Representatives at these entities were surveyed to establish what measures South African universities are undertaking to promote biotechnology amongst students. Of the 168 departments identified, 55 submitted usable…

What healthcare financing changes are needed to reach universal coverage in South Africa?

PubMed

McIntyre, Diane

2012-03-02

The national health insurance proposed for South Africa aims to achieve a universal health system. The best way to identify the financing mechanism that is best suited to achieving this goal is to consider international evidence on funding in universal health systems. The evidence from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries and a number of middle-income countries that have achieved universal coverage clearly indicates that mandatory pre-payment financing mechanisms (i.e. general tax funding, in some cases supplemented by mandatory health insurance) must dominate, with a clearly specified, complementary role for voluntary or private health insurance.

Contradictory Transformations: Observations on the Intellectual Dynamics of South African Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheehan, Helena

2009-01-01

What sort of expectations of transformation of higher education have been aroused by liberation movements? Has the new South Africa fulfilled such expectations? This paper explores the promises and processes that have enveloped South African universities in recent decades. It focuses on the underlying assumptions shaping academic disciplines in…

The implementation of inclusive education in South Africa: Reflections arising from a workshop for teachers and therapists to introduce Universal Design for Learning.

PubMed

Dalton, Elizabeth M; Mckenzie, Judith Anne; Kahonde, Callista

2012-01-01

South Africa has adopted an inclusive education policy in order to address barriers to learning in the education system. However, the implementation of this policy is hampered by the lack of teachers' skills and knowledge in differentiating the curriculum to address a wide range of learning needs. In this paper we provided a background to inclusive education policy in South Africa and a brief exposition of an instructional design approach, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that addresses a wide range of learning needs in a single classroom. We reported on a workshop conducted with teachers and therapists in South Africa as a first attempt to introduce UDL in this context. Knowledge of UDL was judged to be appropriate and useful by the course participants in the South African context as a strategy for curriculum differentiation in inclusive classrooms. Furthermore, knowledge of the UDL framework facilitates dialogue between teachers and therapists and provides a relatively simple and comprehensive approach for curriculum differentiation. We therefore conclude that there is potential for this approach that can be expanded through further teacher training.

The implementation of inclusive education in South Africa: Reflections arising from a workshop for teachers and therapists to introduce Universal Design for Learning

PubMed Central

Dalton, Elizabeth M.; Kahonde, Callista

2012-01-01

South Africa has adopted an inclusive education policy in order to address barriers to learning in the education system. However, the implementation of this policy is hampered by the lack of teachers’ skills and knowledge in differentiating the curriculum to address a wide range of learning needs. In this paper we provided a background to inclusive education policy in South Africa and a brief exposition of an instructional design approach, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that addresses a wide range of learning needs in a single classroom. We reported on a workshop conducted with teachers and therapists in South Africa as a first attempt to introduce UDL in this context. Knowledge of UDL was judged to be appropriate and useful by the course participants in the South African context as a strategy for curriculum differentiation in inclusive classrooms. Furthermore, knowledge of the UDL framework facilitates dialogue between teachers and therapists and provides a relatively simple and comprehensive approach for curriculum differentiation. We therefore conclude that there is potential for this approach that can be expanded through further teacher training. PMID:28729974

Experiences of Master's Students Regarding Clinical Supervision in an Applied Psychology Programme in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nel, Lindi; Fouche, Paul

2017-01-01

This study explored and described the experiences regarding clinical supervision of master's students in professional psychology programmes in South Africa. Four participants were purposively selected from four different universities. The participants engaged in reflective writings and in-depth interviews over a one-year span. Data were analysed…

Servant Leadership, Africanization, and Disruptive Innovation as Conditions for Effective Leadership at UNISA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Clayton; Gardner, J. Clark

2012-01-01

This article discusses effective leadership in educational environments and in particular focuses on the current situation at the University of South Africa (UNISA). The end of Apartheid in South Africa has brought many opportunities but also some challenges especially in education. Three conditions that contribute to ensuring strong distance…

Place, Race and Exclusion: University Student Voices in Post-Apartheid South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higham, Rob

2012-01-01

The slogan "no education without representation" symbolised a belief in the anti-apartheid movement that without a democratic government, South Africa's people could not receive an inclusive education. Since the end of official apartheid in 1994, the education system has faced new transformative aims focused on ending racial separation…

Electronic Communication in Africa--the Promotion of Animal Health Information Dissemination.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Westhuizen, Erica E.; Miller, E. Stan

1995-01-01

Discusses how the Veterinary Science Library at the University of Pretoria (South Africa) promotes electronic communication through various Internet and other network links. Provides a sample of online information sources available to veterinary teams and animal health workers, and a list of electronic addresses for South African libraries and…

Education Policy Studies in South Africa, 1995-2006

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deacon, Roger; Osman, Ruksana; Buchler, Michelle

2010-01-01

This article reports on findings pertaining to scholarship in education policy drawn from a wider study on all education research in South Africa from 1995 to 2006. This study, which defined education research as broadly pertaining to teaching and/or learning, obtained extensive data from a wide range of sources, including universities, public…

Cooperative Policies and African International Students: Do Policy Spirits Match Experiences?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLellan, Carlton E.

2009-01-01

This paper explores the policy implications of experiences of African international students (AIS) studying at post-apartheid South Africa universities. It argues that given the spirit and tone of continental, regional, and domestic policies to which South Africa has committed that at the very least there is an implicit expectation of…

Folk Theories of Happiness: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Conceptions of Happiness in Germany and South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pflug, Jan

2009-01-01

Although happiness as a state of mind may be universal, its meaning takes culture-specific forms. Drawing on the concept of folk theories, this study attempted to uncover lay beliefs about the nature of happiness in Germany and South Africa. To that end, 57 German and 44 black South African students wrote free-format essays in response to the…

Curriculum Contestation in a Post-Colonial Context: A View from the South

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luckett, Kathy

2016-01-01

This paper was motivated by student protests at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where the Rhodes Must Fall collective called for the "decolonisation" of the university's curriculum. I deliberately adopt a "decolonial gaze" to re-describe the structural and cultural conditioning of the post-colonial university and the…

Are African Flagship Universities Preparing Students for Citizenship?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kgosithebe, Lucky; Luescher, Thierry M.

2015-01-01

This article investigates the contribution of higher education to democratisation in Africa by studying the political attitudes of undergraduate students at four African flagship universities in Botswana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. It analyses students' attitudes against those of youths without higher education and mass publics in their…

The Status of Teaching as a Profession in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Wet, Corene

2016-01-01

Using ten universally accepted criteria for a profession and following the Structural-Functional Model of professionalism, this study evaluates the status of teaching as a profession in South Africa. The study found that policies and structures have been put in place since the beginning of the new millennium to enhance the professional status of…

Teaching Gender Studies via Open and Distance Learning in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Jessica; Byrne, Deirdre; Koenig-Visagie, Leandra

2013-01-01

The University of South Africa (UNISA) has recently redesigned its honors degree in Gender Studies. The course design team members have been mindful of three key factors while redesigning this degree. First, we are aligning our course design with the demands of open and distance learning (ODL) and UNISA's institutional move to online delivery of…

Higher Education Student Learning beyond the Classroom: Findings from a Community Music Service Learning Project in Rural South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrop-Allin, Susan

2017-01-01

Inspired by local arts community engagement initiatives and community music interventions internationally, Wits University (in Johannesburg, South Africa) developed a model of service learning that links the intentions, methodologies and purposes of these domains to promote student learning and benefit communities. This paper examines the quality…

Financing Higher Education in South Africa: Public Funding, Non-Government Revenue and Tuition Fees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wangenge-Ouma, G.; Cloete, N.

2008-01-01

The funding of public higher education is currently a moot issue in South Africa. Public funding has been declining and opportunities for winning non-government revenue remain limited. The frequent raising of tuition fees, which is one of the main strategies public universities have resorted to mitigate declining state funding is not without…

"Until We Get up Again to Fight": Education Rights and Participation in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thapliyal, Nisha; Vally, Salim; Spreen, Carol Anne

2013-01-01

This article reflects on the possibilities for democratic and direct participation that have emerged through socially engaged research on education rights in South Africa. The Education Rights Project is located in a university-based research and advocacy center for education rights and social justice that has been working with township…

Understanding Gaps between Student and Staff Perceptions of University Study in South Africa: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaffer, Faeeqa; Garraway, James

2016-01-01

"Under-preparedness" of students entering higher education is an issue that many academic institutions in South Africa are currently trying to address. Such students are seen as disadvantaged, lacking the skills, knowledge and/or language proficiency to navigate their way to success in higher education. This paper seeks to identify…

Wellness and Academic Outcomes among Disadvantaged Students in South Africa: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris-Paxton, Angela A.; Van Lingen, Johanna M.; Elkonin, Diane

2017-01-01

Objective: The aim of this study was to measure possible impacts of a salutogenic lifestyle education programme on wellness and academic outcomes in a group of socioeconomically disadvantaged students in the first year of higher education. Setting: University in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was…

A Comparative Analysis of Sexual Harassment Policies at Selected Higher Education Institutions in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilken, E. C.; Badenhorst, J. W.

2003-01-01

This article investigates sexual harassment issues by means of an in depth literature review and by analyzing and comparing the sexual harassment policies of selected universities in South Africa. Various alternatives that categorize sexual harassment are proposed in order to form a clear perspective on the different viewpoints that currently…

Supporting At-Risk Learners at a Comprehensive University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayet, Razia

2016-01-01

This paper reports on a study done within the Learning Development Unit (LDU) at a South African university. It addresses the issue that many students who arrive at university lack the requisite academic skills needed for success in higher education which increases the time taken to graduate. One of the multiple reasons for this is the…

Promoting Sustainable Development through Whole School Approaches: An International, Intercultural Teacher Education Research and Development Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shallcross, Tony; Loubser, Callie; Le Roux, Cheryl; O'Donoghue, Rob; Lupele, Justin

2006-01-01

This paper focuses on a British Council funded Higher Education Link project involving three institutions--Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) in the UK and two South African institutions, the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Rhodes University. The link is a research and development project that has three main research strands:…

Distance Education in Southern Africa Conference, 1987. Papers 6: Systems and Strategies in Distance Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adey, David, Comp.; And Others

Eighteen papers from the University of South Africa's Conference on Distance Education are presented. They include: "Effective Second Language Reading in a Cross-Cultural Society" (Irma Zaslansky); "A BA Degree in Social Sciences at the Israel Open University" (Ruth Beyth-Marom); "Establishing a Theological Education by…

Achieving universal health coverage in South Africa through a district health system approach: conflicting ideologies of health care provision.

PubMed

Fusheini, Adam; Eyles, John

2016-10-07

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has emerged as a major goal for health care delivery in the post-2015 development agenda. It is viewed as a solution to health care needs in low and middle countries with growing enthusiasm at both national and global levels. Throughout the world, however, the paths of countries to UHC have differed. South Africa is currently reforming its health system with UHC through developing a national health insurance (NHI) program. This will be practically achieved through a decentralized approach, the district health system, the main vehicle for delivering services since democracy. We utilize a review of relevant documents, conducted between September 2014 and December 2015 of district health systems (DHS) and UHC and their ideological underpinnings, to explore the opportunities and challenges, of the district health system in achieving UHC in South Africa. Review of data from the NHI pilot districts suggests that as South Africa embarks on reforms toward UHC, there is a need for a minimal universal coverage and emphasis on district particularity and positive discrimination so as to bridge health inequities. The disparities across districts in relation to health profiles/demographics, health delivery performance, management of health institutions or district management capacity, income levels/socio-economic status and social determinants of health, compliance with quality standards and above all the burden of disease can only be minimised through positive discrimination by paying more attention to underserved and disadavantaged communities. We conclude that in South Africa the DHS is pivotal to health reform and UHC may be best achieved through minimal universal coverage with positive discrimination to ensure disparities across districts in relation to disease burden, human resources, financing and investment, administration and management capacity, service readiness and availability and the health access inequalities are consciously implicated. Yet ideological and practical issues make its achievement problematic.

Talk or text to tell? How young adults in Canada and South Africa prefer to receive STI results, counseling, and treatment updates in a wireless world.

PubMed

Labacher, Lukas; Mitchell, Claudia

2013-01-01

Young adults often lack access to confidential, long-lasting, and nonjudgmental interactions with sexual health professionals at brick-and-mortar clinics. To ensure that patients return for their STI test results, post-result counseling, and STI-related information, computer-mediated health intervention programming allows them to receive sexual health information through onsite computers, the Internet, and mobile phone calls and text messages. To determine whether young adults (age: M = 21 years) prefer to communicate with health professionals about the status of their sexual health through computer-mediated communication devices, 303 second-year university students (183 from an urban North American university and 120 from a periurban university in South Africa) completed a paper-based survey indicating how they prefer to communicate with doctors and nurses: talking face to face, mobile phone call, text message, Internet chat programs, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. Nearly all students, and female students in South Africa in particular, prefer to receive their STI test results, post-results counseling, and STI-related information by talking face to face with doctors and nurses rather than communicating through computers or mobile phones. Results are clarified in relation to gender, availability of various technologies, and prevalence of HIV in Canada and in South Africa.

"Mindless Medicals".

PubMed

Michell, Karen Elizabeth; Rispel, Laetitia C

2017-03-01

This article explores stakeholders' perceptions of the quality of occupational health service (OHS) delivery in South Africa. Using a purposive sampling technique, 11 focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted in three provinces. Focus group participants ( n = 69) were recruited through professional organizations of occupational physicians and occupational health nurses as well as employer representatives of major industries in South Africa. Transcriptions of FGDs were analyzed using thematic content analysis. South Africa has diverse models of OHS delivery with varying quality. Focus group participants criticized the outsourced model of service delivery and the excessive focus on physical examinations to achieve legal compliance. These problems are exacerbated by a perceived lack of employer emphasis on occupational health, insufficient human and financial resources, and lack of specific quality of care standards for occupational health. Improvement in the quality of OHS delivery is essential to realize South Africa's quest for universal health coverage.

Genograms and Family Sculpting: An Aid to Cross-Cultural Understanding in the Training of Psychology Students in South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchetti-Mercer, Maria C.; Cleaver, Glenda

2000-01-01

Describes a specific training method developed in a family therapy course at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where genograms and family sculpting were used to improve cross-cultural understanding among psychology masters students. Discusses the theoretical implications of the group training process for the training of psychologists in…

Physical Access to Schooling in South Africa: Mapping Dropout, Repetition and Age-Grade Progression in Two Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Motala, Shireen; Dieltiens, Veerle; Sayed, Yusuf

2009-01-01

The Education for All and Millennium Development Goals commit national governments, international agencies and civil society to ensure that all children are provided with basic education. In South Africa this would mean full attendance in Grades (1-9). The achievement of universal primary education and gender equity across low-income countries are…

University versus Practice: A Pilot Study to Identify Skills Shortages That Exist in First-Year Trainee Accountants in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Romburgh, Henriëtte; van der Merwe, Nico

2015-01-01

This study aims to determine the skills shortages in first-year trainee accountants entering practice in South Africa and to recommend ways to address and overcome those shortages. Questionnaires were administered to registered audit firms in Gauteng Province to gather the perceptions of senior trainees, managers and partners on the skills…

Working-Class High School Learners' Challenge to Change: Insights from the "Equal Education" Movement in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robins, Steven Lance; Fleisch, Brahm

2016-01-01

Hargreaves (2002) suggested that vigorous social movements have the potential to improve the quality of (and increase the equity in) public education. This paper explores the role of Equal Education, an education social movement in South Africa led by university students and secondary school learners, in the process of educational change. Drawing…

Resilience of Vulnerable Students Transitioning into a South African University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Breda, Adrian D.

2018-01-01

Youth transitioning into university face numerous life challenges, particularly in South Africa with its high levels of poverty and inequality. This article, recognising the vulnerability of many students, sets out to identify the resilience processes that facilitate the resilient outcomes of life satisfaction and academic progress. Using a sample…

Why Academic Depth and Rigour in University-Based Coursework Matters for Prospective Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rusznyak, Lee; Balfour, Robert; Van Vollenhoven, Willie; Sosibo, Lungi

2016-01-01

This special issue of "Perspectives in Education" arises from a symposium entitled "Academic depth and rigour in initial teacher education" jointly organised by four universities in South Africa. The symposium, held in October 2014, attracted 125 delegates from 18 South African higher education institutions (HEIs).…

Using Teacher Stories to Reveal Quality Educational Practice: An Eastern Cape Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paige, Kathryn; Chartres, Mike; Kenyon, Alan

2008-01-01

The University of Fort Hare Distance Education Project set out to improve qualifications of primary teachers in rural and township schools in the Eastern Cape of the Republic of South Africa. At the culmination of an 11-year AUSAid collaboration between the University of Fort Hare and University of South Australia a research project to reveal…

Entering University Studies: Identifying Enabling Factors for a Successful Transition from School to University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGhie, Venicia

2017-01-01

The South African higher education sector is faced with high attrition and low retention rates. Studies conducted by the Council on Higher Education in South Africa have found that 50% of black students who access university study drop out, and the majority of dropouts occurred in the first year of study. While these studies revealed what the…

Meeting the Knowledge Needs of the Academy and Industry: A Case Study of a Partnership between a University and a Large Energy Company in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cele, Mlungisi Gabriel

2005-01-01

This case study examines the evolution of the 21-year research partnership between the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African Coal Oil and Gas Corporation (SASOL). The study finds that an individual academic has played a significant role in steering transformation research activities and culture in the university?s Chemical…

Factors facilitating and inhibiting the use of female condoms among female university students in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

PubMed

Mahlalela, Nomsa Brightness; Maharaj, Pranitha

2015-01-01

The study aimed to explore the factors facilitating and inhibiting female condom use among female university students in South Africa. This qualitative study drew on 15 individual, in-depth interviews with female university students in Durban, South Africa. The results of the study highlight several factors that facilitate and inhibit female condom use. Protection from sexually transmitted infections (including HIV/AIDS) and prevention of pregnancy facilitated use of the device among female students. In addition, students expressed positive attitudes towards the female condom and preferred it to hormonal contraceptives because it offered them dual protection. Absence of side effects and greater power and autonomy to initiate safer sex were other factors that facilitated use. Inadequate availability, partner objection, stigma, insertion difficulties and lack of awareness served as significant barriers to consistent female condom use. Although the female condom can protect female students from infections and pregnancy, there are several barriers to its use. Interventions should aim to increase availability of the female condom, and male involvement should be increased to facilitate consistent use of the method.

Complex Alliances: The Institutionalization of Comparative Education in South Africa in the Context of Apartheid and the Cold War

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergh, Anne-Marie; Soudien, Crain

2006-01-01

This article is an expansion of an earlier investigation that the authors undertook in the wake of the democratization process in South Africa while universities were struggling to redefine their aims, roles, and identities toward the end of the twentieth century. The authors' research commenced in 1994 as a genealogy, tracing individuals on an…

Designing to Promote Access, Quality, and Student Support in an Advanced Certificate Programme for Rural Teachers in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fresen, Jill W.; Hendrikz, Johan

2009-01-01

This paper reports on the re-design of the Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) programme, which is offered by the University of Pretoria through distance education (DE) to teachers in rural South Africa. In 2007, a team re-designed the programme with the goal of promoting access, quality, and student support. The team included an independent…

Teaching medical ethics to undergraduate students in post‐apartheid South Africa, 2003–2006

PubMed Central

Moodley, Keymanthri

2007-01-01

The apartheid ideology in South Africa had a pervasive influence on all levels of education including medical undergraduate training. The role of the health sector in human rights abuses during the apartheid era was highlighted in 1997 during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) subsequently realised the importance of medical ethics education and encouraged the introduction of such teaching in all medical schools in the country. Curricular reform at the University of Stellenbosch in 1999 presented an unparalleled opportunity to formally introduce ethics teaching to undergraduate students. This paper outlines the introduction of a medical ethics programme at the Faculty of Health Sciences from 2003 to 2006, with special emphasis on the challenges encountered. It remains one of the most comprehensive undergraduate medical ethics programmes in South Africa. However, there is scope for expanding the curricular time allocated to medical ethics. Integrating the curriculum both horizontally and vertically is imperative. Implementing a core curriculum for all medical schools in South Africa would significantly enhance the goals of medical education in the country. PMID:17971474

Teaching medical ethics to undergraduate students in post-apartheid South Africa, 2003 2006.

PubMed

Moodley, Keymanthri

2007-11-01

The apartheid ideology in South Africa had a pervasive influence on all levels of education including medical undergraduate training. The role of the health sector in human rights abuses during the apartheid era was highlighted in 1997 during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) subsequently realised the importance of medical ethics education and encouraged the introduction of such teaching in all medical schools in the country. Curricular reform at the University of Stellenbosch in 1999 presented an unparalleled opportunity to formally introduce ethics teaching to undergraduate students. This paper outlines the introduction of a medical ethics programme at the Faculty of Health Sciences from 2003 to 2006, with special emphasis on the challenges encountered. It remains one of the most comprehensive undergraduate medical ethics programmes in South Africa. However, there is scope for expanding the curricular time allocated to medical ethics. Integrating the curriculum both horizontally and vertically is imperative. Implementing a core curriculum for all medical schools in South Africa would significantly enhance the goals of medical education in the country.

Web-based Teaching Radio Interferometer for Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carignan, Claude; Libert, Yannick

2016-10-01

This presentation describes the web-based Teaching Radio Interferometer being built on the campus of the University of Cape Town, in South Africa, to train the future users of the African VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) Network (AVN).

Universities, Professional Capabilities and Contributions to the Public Good in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Melanie

2012-01-01

The generation of a public-good, capabilities-based approach to professional education in South African universities is outlined and proposed as a contribution to wider social transformation. The relevance and importance of understanding what Amartya Sen describes as "capability failure" in the lives of people living in poverty is…

Academic Freedom Is Eroding in South Africa, Critics Say

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindow, Megan

2007-01-01

A spate of recent dismissals and disciplinary actions taken by South African universities against outspoken faculty members signals a broad erosion of academic freedom in higher education, academics and civil-society groups say. Much of the negative attention lately has focused on the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where academics say they face…

Tertiary Educators' Voices in Australia and South Africa: Experiencing and Engaging in African Music and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joseph, Dawn

2015-01-01

Music tertiary educators can foster positive experiences that promote diversity, enhance intercultural and cross-cultural understanding through our teaching. Through findings of interview data of tertiary music educators' understandings of multicultural music practice at two South African universities and at an Australia university, I used…

Memorandum: The Legal Implications of University Investments in Companies Doing Business in South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reidhaar, Donald L.

1980-01-01

Legal issues important in considering divestment of securities held in South African-related companies are considered. The University of California's considerations are reviewed as applied to retirement, endowment, and miscellaneous funds with unexpended balances for current or plant purposes and reserves for revenue bond debt retirement. (MSE)

Bridging the Digital Divide and the Use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in South African Universities: A Comparison Study among Selected Historically Black Universities (HBUs) and Historically White Universities (HWUs)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osunkunle, Oluyinka Oludolapo

2006-01-01

It has become common place for students in historically white universities (HWUs) in South Africa to have 24 hour access to computers, the Internet, e-learning facilities, check results online and even register online. However, historically black universities (HBUs) are still battling to have access to these facilities. On a macro level, the issue…

The (Dis)ownership of English: Language and Identity Construction among Zulu Students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parmegiani, Andrea

2014-01-01

This paper explores the role English and isiZulu play in the identity construction of a group of black South African university students from disadvantaged backgrounds enrolled in a bridge programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. I will discuss how, in post-apartheid South Africa, language practices continue to foster inequality, despite a…

A Selection of Abstracts Presented at the 44th Annual Conference of the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA), May 8-11, 2016, Bloem Spa Hotel and Conference Centre, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa.

PubMed

2018-02-23

In memory of Professor Willie Vorster who was a long-standing member of ASSA and served on the Council for many years. He was a devoted teacher of Anatomy and Embryology at various tertiary institutions in South Africa, and the founding member of the School of Medicine at the University of Namibia where he served as the first Professor in Anatomy. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The challenges of developing computational physics: the case of South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salagaram, T.; Chetty, N.

2013-08-01

Most modern scientific research problems are complex and interdisciplinary in nature. It is impossible to study such problems in detail without the use of computation in addition to theory and experiment. Although it is widely agreed that students should be introduced to computational methods at the undergraduate level, it remains a challenge to do this in a full traditional undergraduate curriculum. In this paper, we report on a survey that we conducted of undergraduate physics curricula in South Africa to determine the content and the approach taken in the teaching of computational physics. We also considered the pedagogy of computational physics at the postgraduate and research levels at various South African universities, research facilities and institutions. We conclude that the state of computational physics training in South Africa, especially at the undergraduate teaching level, is generally weak and needs to be given more attention at all universities. Failure to do so will impact negatively on the countrys capacity to grow its endeavours generally in the field of computational sciences, with negative impacts on research, and in commerce and industry.

The Practice of Conservation of Library Materials in Sub-Saharan Africa. Monograph on Africana Librarianship No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ojo-Igbinoba, M. E.

This document is concerned with the practice of conservation of library materials in African university libraries south of the Sahara and north of the Limpopo. Data were collected using a questionnaire mailed to 42 university libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Responses were received from 27 libraries for a 64% response rate. Data analysis was…

Distance Education in Southern Africa Conference, 1987. Papers 2: Issues in Education and Distance Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adey, David, Comp.; And Others

Eighteen papers from the University of South Africa's Conference on Distance Education are presented on issues in education and distance education. They include: "Distance Education in Africa's Educational Development: The Case of Ghana" (Joe K. Ansere); "Distance Education: A Solution to the Economic Problems of Education in…

Addressing the needs of the telecoms industry for optical fibre communication in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leitch, Andrew W. R.; Conibear, Ann B.

2005-10-01

We report on a successful partnership between the Department of Physics at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) and Telkom, South Africa's national telecommunications company, to train physics students in the important fields related to optical fibre technology. The partnership, which began in 2001 and forms part of Telkom's Centre of Excellence program in South Africa, is currently being extended to other countries in Africa. The training being conducted in the Physics Department has as one of its main goals an increased understanding of polarisation mode dispersion (PMD), an effect that will ultimately limit the transmission speeds through optical fibre.

Family medicine training in sub-Saharan Africa: South–South cooperation in the Primafamed project as strategy for development

PubMed Central

Flinkenflögel, Maaike; Essuman, Akye; Chege, Patrick; Ayankogbe, Olayinka; De Maeseneer, Jan

2014-01-01

Background. Health-care systems based on primary health care (PHC) are more equitable and cost effective. Family medicine trains medical doctors in comprehensive PHC with knowledge and skills that are needed to increase quality of care. Family medicine is a relatively new specialty in sub-Saharan Africa. Objective. To explore the extent to which the Primafamed South–South cooperative project contributed to the development of family medicine in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods. The Primafamed (Primary Health Care and Family Medicine Education) project worked together with 10 partner universities in sub-Saharan Africa to develop family medicine training programmes over a period of 2.5 years. A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis was done and the training development from 2008 to 2010 in the different partner universities was analysed. Results. During the 2.5 years of the Primafamed project, all partner universities made progress in the development of their family medicine training programmes. The SWOT analysis showed that at both national and international levels, the time is ripe to train medical doctors in family medicine and to integrate the specialty into health-care systems, although many barriers, including little awareness, lack of funding, low support from other specialists and reserved support from policymakers, are still present. Conclusions. Family medicine can play an important role in health-care systems in sub-Saharan Africa; however, developing a new discipline is challenging. Advocacy, local ownership, action research and support from governments are necessary to develop family medicine and increase its impact. The Primafamed project showed that development of sustainable family medicine training programmes is a feasible but slow process. The South–South cooperation between the ten partners and the South African departments of family medicine strengthened confidence at both national and international levels. PMID:24857843

The Management of isiZulu as a Language of Teaching and Learning at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's College of Humanities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ndebele, Hloniphani; Zulu, Nogwaja S.

2017-01-01

Over the past few decades, there has been an increased awareness of the strategic role of indigenous African languages in multilingual South Africa. This article discusses the strategic role that indigenous languages could and should play in the promotion of multilingual South Africa. The article pays attention to bilingual education and the…

Issues of Identity and African Unity Surrounding the Introduction of an Exogenous African Language, Swahili, at Tertiary Level in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wildsmith-Cromarty, Rosemary; Conduah, Aloysius N.

2014-01-01

This paper reports on a study that examines the attitudes of university students and immigrants to the introduction of Swahili at a tertiary institution in South Africa. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey and interviews with questions that covered the domains in which Swahili could be most useful, who should learn it and the reasons…

Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education.

PubMed

Chiwandire, Desire; Vincent, Louise

2017-01-01

South Africa's Constitution guarantees everyone, including persons with disabilities, the right to education. A variety of laws are in place obliging higher education institutions to provide appropriate physical access to education sites for all. In practice, however, many buildings remain inaccessible to people with physical disabilities. To describe what measures South African universities are taking to make their built environments more accessible to students with diverse types of disabilities, and to assess the adequacy of such measures. We conducted semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews with disability unit staff members (DUSMs) based at 10 different public universities in South Africa. Challenges with promoting higher education accessibility for wheelchair users include the preservation and heritage justification for failing to modify older buildings, ad hoc approaches to creating accessible environments and failure to address access to toilets, libraries and transport facilities for wheelchair users. South African universities are still not places where all students are equally able to integrate socially. DUSMs know what ought to be done to make campuses more accessible and welcoming to students with disabilities and should be empowered to play a leading role in sensitising non-disabled members of universities, to create greater awareness of, and appreciation for, the multiple ways in which wheelchair user students continue to be excluded from full participation in university life. South African universities need to adopt a systemic approach to inclusion, which fosters an understanding of inclusion as a fundamental right rather than as a luxury.

Teaching veterinary parasitology.

PubMed

Verster, A

1994-08-01

The history of parasitology and the teaching of veterinary parasitology in South Africa are reviewed briefly. Courses in veterinary parasitology are presented at the faculties of veterinary science at the University of Pretoria and the Medical University of South Africa as well as at the Pretoria Technicon. At the University of Pretoria, the three disciplines of veterinary parasitology, entomology, helminthology and protozoology, are covered in 330 core lectures; from 13 to 40% of the contact time is devoted to practical classes. Teaching veterinary parasitology is both labour intensive and costly, viz. R1700 (US$570) per student per annum. Such costs are justified by the R148.8 million (US$49.6 million) spent every year in South Africa on anthelmintics, ectoparasiticides and vaccines to control parasites. Veterinary parasitology is a dynamic subject and the curriculum must be revised regularly to incorporate new information. Because the parasite faunas are so diverse no single textbook can satisfy the requirements of the various institutions worldwide which teach the subject, with the result that extensive use is made of notes. In Australia and in Europe, ticks and tick-borne diseases are less important than they are in Africa; consequently insufficient space is devoted to them in textbooks to satisfy the requirements of the subject in African countries. Parasite control under extensive and intensive conditions is dealt with adequately at the University of Pretoria, but increasing emphasis will be given to small-scale farming systems, particularly if alternative food animals are to be kept.

Beyond Divestment: The Moral University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pifer, Alan

1986-01-01

Issues in university divestment of stock in American corporations doing business in South Africa, in protest of apartheid, are discussed in light of the American experience with discrimination. Divestment options are examined. (MSE)

Perceptions of Computer Science at a South African University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galpin, Vashti C.; Sanders, Ian D.

2007-01-01

First year students at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, were surveyed about their perceptions of Computer Science before and towards the end of their first year courses. The aim of this research was to investigate how the students' attitudes changed during these courses and to assess the impact of the innovative…

Going Wide, Not Wild: Varying Conceptualizations of Internationalization at a University of Technology in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meda, Lawrence; Monnapula-Mapesela, Mabokang

2016-01-01

Internationalization has become a buzzword in universities today. As a result of the breadth of the term the concept lends itself to many interpretations. There is a view that South African higher education does not have a customized national framework of internationalization, which raises questions about whether the intended outcomes are…

Emerging Concept of Internationalisation in South African Higher Education: Conversations on Local and Global Exposure at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cross, Michael; Mhlanga, Ehpraim; Ojo, Emmanuel

2011-01-01

Rather than paying attention to the specific approaches emerging from different contexts, current debates tend to privilege Western-universalizing concepts of internationalisation, unproblematically accepted as globally established truths. In South Africa, where the legacy of isolation and the dominance of Eurocentricism in academia have inspired…

Designing a Social Work Online Self-Coaching Program: Integrated Support and Joint Ownership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van de Heyde, Valentino; Stoltenkamp, Juliet; Siebrits, André

2017-01-01

The paper explores critical success factors (CSFs) in relation to the support structure for an online self-coaching pilot project, by the Centre for Innovative Education and Communication Technologies of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa, in collaboration with UWC's Social Work Department and the University of South Africa…

IWRM: What should we teach? A report on curriculum development at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jonker, Lewis

In South Africa, the national government has taken deliberate steps to ensure that tertiary education programmes help to meet societal and economic needs. This article reports on the process of developing a programme in Integrated Water Resources Management at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) that speaks directly to current government policy. It describes two different approaches to curriculum development an eclectic approach that takes as its starting point courses already on offer, and a framework development approach that takes as its starting point identification of particular needs and deliberately builds a curriculum around these needs. The article illustrates how seemingly unrelated policy processes in education and water management could impact on curriculum development. The article suggests that, while curriculum development is a first key step, challenges remain in fine-tuning the IWRM M.Sc. programme so that graduates are equipped with skills that may contribute to equitable and sustainable development in the evolving context of 21st century South Africa.

Postgraduate Students' Experiences and Attitudes Towards isiZulu as a Medium of Instruction at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nkosi, Zinhle Primrose

2014-01-01

IsiZulu is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa and has the highest number of speakers in the country. While the South African Language Policy for Higher Education (2002) emphasizes the need to use African languages at universities, not many universities' isiZulu-speaking students prefer to be taught in isiZulu. Research has revealed…

The Case of isiZulu for Non-Mother Tongue Speakers at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa--Is the Compulsory Language Module Promoting Social Cohesion?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naidoo, Shamila; Gokool, Roshni; Ndebele, Hloniphani

2018-01-01

The Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande's, call on the 5th of April 2011 for South African universities to implement a policy which saw all university graduates exiting with a credit in an African language was the catalyst for the University of KwaZulu-Natal's decision to implement a compulsory isiZulu module for all non-mother tongue…

Increasing diversity in the geosciences through the AfricaArray geophysics field course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vallejo, G.; Emry, E.; Galindo, B. L.; Carranza, V.; Gomez, C. D.; Ortiz, K.; Castro, J. G.; Guandique, J.; Falzone, C.; Webb, S. J.; Manzi, M.; Mngadi, S. B.; Stephens, K.; Chinamora, B.; Whitehead, R.; de Villiers, D. P.; Tshitlho, K.; Delhaye, R. P.; Smith, J. A.; Nyblade, A.

2014-12-01

For the past nine years, the AfricaArray diversity program, sponsored by industry, the National Science Foundation, and several partnering universities have supported outstanding U.S. STEM underrepresented minority undergraduates to gain field experience in near-surface geophysical techniques during an 8-week summer program at Penn State University and the University of Witwatersrand (Wits). The AfricaArray geophysics field school, which is run by Wits, has been teaching field-based geophysics to African students for over a decade. In the first 2-3 weeks of the program, the U.S. students are given basic instruction in near-surface geophysics, South African geology, and South African history and culture. The students then join the Wits AfricaArray geophysics field school - working alongside Wits students and students from several other African universities to map the shallow subsurface in prospective areas of South Africa for platinum mining. In addition to the primary goals of collecting and interpreting gravity, magnetic, resistivity, seismic refraction, seismic reflection, and EM data, students spend time mapping geologic units and gathering information on the physical properties of the rocks in the region (i.e. seismic velocity, density, and magnetic susceptibility). Subsurface targets include mafic dikes, faults, the water table, and overburden thickness. Upon returning to the U.S., students spend 2-3 weeks finalizing their project reports and presentations. The program has been effective at not only providing students with fundamental skills in applied geophysics, but also in fostering multicultural relationships, preparing students for graduate work in the geosciences, and attracting STEM students into the geosciences. Student presenters will discuss their experiences gained through the field school and give their impressions about how the program works towards the goal of increasing diversity in the geosciences in the U.S.

Astronomy for teachers: A South African Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Witt, Aletha; West, Marion; Leeuw, Lerothodi; Gouws, Eldrie

2015-08-01

South Africa has nominated Astronomy as a “flagship science” and aims to be an international Astronomy hub through projects such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the South African Large Telescope (SALT). These projects open up career opportunities in maths, science and engineering and therefore offers a very real door for learners to enter into careers in science and technology through Astronomy. However, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS), the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) and Annual National Assessment (ANA) have highlighted that South Africa’s Science and Mathematics education is in a critical condition and that South African learners score amongst the worst in the world in both these subjects. In South Africa Astronomy is generally regarded as the worst taught and most avoided Natural Science knowledge strand, and most teachers that specialised in Natural Sciences, never covered Astronomy in their training.In order to address these issues a collaborative project between the University of South Africa (UNISA) and the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) was initiated, which aims to assist teachers to gain more knowledge and skills so that they can teach Astronomy with confidence. By collaborating we aim to ensure that the level of astronomy development will be raised in both South Africa and the rest of Africa.With the focus on Teaching and Learning, the research was conducted within a quantitative paradigm and 600 structured questionnaires were administered to Natural Science teachers in Public primary schools in Gauteng, South Africa. This paper reports the findings of this research and makes recommendations on how to assist teachers to teach Astronomy with confidence.

Coping with Change: United States Policy Toward South Africa,

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-01-01

Division, Directorate of Plans, Headquarters US Air Force. Colonel Fisher designed and introduced the Sub-"aharan African history program at the US...He also holds M.A. and C. Phil. degrees in Sub- Saharan African history from the University of California at Los Angel63. Colonel Fisher is a...not only fundamentally reorder South Africa but will also affect the entire African continent. Both the history and demography of the United States

South African Universities and Human Development: Towards a Theorisation and Operationalisation of Professional Capabilities for Poverty Reduction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Melanie; McLean, Monica; Dison, Arona; Peppin-Vaughan, Rosie

2009-01-01

This paper reports on a research project investigating the role of universities in South Africa in contributing to poverty reduction through the quality of their professional education programmes. The focus here is on theorising and the early operationalisation of multi-layered, multi-dimensional transformation based on ideas from Amartya Sen's…

Perceptions of Academic Staff towards Accommodating Students with Disabilities in a Civil Engineering Undergraduate Program in a University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayat, Nafisa; Amosun, Seyi Ladele

2011-01-01

This study explored the perceptions of academic staff towards admission of students with disabilities, and their accommodation once accepted into an undergraduate Civil Engineering program in a South African university. Qualitative responses relating to the perceptions of five academic staff were obtained through semi-structured interviews. The…

Specific Remedy for Specific Problem: Measuring Service Quality in South African Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Jager, Johan; Gbadamosi, Gbolahan

2010-01-01

This study commences a process of developing a scale for the measurement of service quality in higher education in South Africa and also examines the relationship between the measures of service quality on the one hand and some other related variables such as intention to leave the university, trust in management of the university and the overall…

Using Decision Tree Analysis to Understand Foundation Science Student Performance. Insight Gained at One South African University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirby, Nicola Frances; Dempster, Edith Roslyn

2014-01-01

The Foundation Programme of the Centre for Science Access at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa provides access to tertiary science studies to educationally disadvantaged students who do not meet formal faculty entrance requirements. The low number of students proceeding from the programme into mainstream is of concern, particularly…

Rotavirus vaccination within the South African Expanded Programme on Immunisation.

PubMed

Seheri, L Mapaseka; Page, Nicola A; Mawela, Mothahadini P B; Mphahlele, M Jeffrey; Steele, A Duncan

2012-09-07

Diarrhoeal diseases are ranked the third major cause of childhood mortality in South African children less than 5 years, where the majority of deaths are among black children. Acute severe dehydrating rotavirus diarrhoea remains an important contributor towards childhood mortality and morbidity and has been well documented in South Africa. As the preventive strategy to control rotavirus diarrhoea, South Africa became the first country in the WHO African Region to adopt the rotavirus vaccine in the national childhood immunisation programme in August 2009. The rotavirus vaccine in use, Rotarix, GSK Biologicals, is given at 6 and 14 weeks of age, along with other vaccines as part of Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI). Studies which facilitated the introduction of rotavirus vaccine in South Africa included the burden of rotavirus disease and strain surveillance, economic burden of rotavirus infection and clinical trials to assess the safety and efficacy of vaccine candidates. This paper reviews the epidemiology of rotavirus in South Africa, outlines some of the steps followed to introduce rotavirus vaccine in the EPI, and highlights the early positive impact of vaccination in reducing the rotavirus burden of disease based on the post-marketing surveillance studies at Dr George Mukhari hospital, a sentinel site at University of Limpopo teaching hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, which has conducted rotavirus surveillance for >20 years. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A profile of students receiving counselling services at a university in post-apartheid South Africa.

PubMed

Bowman, Brett; Payne, Jarrod

2011-12-01

The purpose of this study was to describe a profile of students seeking counselling at a racially diverse university in post-apartheid South Africa as a means to demonstrate the importance of routinely collecting and analysing student counselling data at university-based centres across the country. Student data were extracted from the only two counselling centres based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg that provided services to 831 students during 2008. The 26 243 students that did not seek counselling during this period formed the comparison group. These data were analysed using logistic regression. Black, female and students within the 21-25 year age category were more likely to receive counselling, and presenting problems varied by population group. Given the country's past and continued levels of social asymmetry, we argue that the development of standardised university-based reporting systems able to describe the characteristics and presenting problems of students seeking counselling across South African universities should be prioritised by its higher education sector. Timely access to information of this kind is crucial to the generation of evidence-based mental health interventions in a population that is especially important to the country's development vision.

Screening and brief interventions for hazardous and harmful alcohol use among university students in South Africa: results from a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Pengpid, Supa; Peltzer, Karl; van der Heever, Hendry; Skaal, Linda

2013-05-21

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) for alcohol problems among university students in South Africa. The study design for this efficacy study is a randomized controlled trial with 6- and 12-month follow-ups to examine the effects of a brief alcohol intervention to reduce alcohol use by hazardous and harmful drinkers in a university setting. The unit of randomization is the individual university student identified as a hazardous or harmful drinker attending public recruitment venues in a university campus. University students were screened for alcohol problems, and those identified as hazardous or harmful drinkers were randomized into an experimental or control group. The experimental group received one brief counseling session on alcohol risk reduction, while the control group received a health education leaflet. Results indicate that of the 722 screened for alcohol and who agreed to participate in the trial 152 (21.1%) tested positive for the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) (score 8 or more). Among the 147 (96.7%) university students who also attended the 12-month follow-up session, the intervention effect on the AUDIT score was -1.5, which was statistically significant (P = 0.009). Further, the depression scores marginally significantly decreased over time across treatment groups, while other substance use (tobacco and cannabis use), self-rated health status and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) scores did not change over time across treatment groups. The study provides evidence of effective brief intervention by assistant nurses with hazardous and harmful drinkers in a university setting in South Africa. The short duration of the brief intervention makes it a realistic candidate for use in a university setting.

Engaging Diverse Students Through International Collaboration and Professional Preparation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feineman, M. D.; Nyblade, A.; Webb, S. J.

2016-12-01

The AfricaArray-Bushveld REU is a partnership between the Pennsylvania State University and the University of the Witwatersrand. The primary goal is to engage a diverse cohort of students in international scientific collaboration through a program of training, field work, and laboratory and/or computational analysis. At least 50% of the student participants each year are from under-represented minorities. Students spend 2-3 weeks at Penn State, then 3 weeks in South Africa, followed by another 2-3 weeks in the US. The introductory 2-3 week session at Penn State is devoted to ethics and safety training, the human history, culture, and geologic history of South Africa, and Earth Science Literacy. Upon arriving in South Africa, the students are placed into field groups with students, post-docs, and faculty from Wits and other African nations participating in the AfricaArray Geophysics Field School. Each disciplinary group includes at least 1 mentor from the US and 1 from South Africa. Students spend time collecting rock samples for geochemical analysis, installing and servicing seismometers, and/or collecting data from the shallow subsurface using a variety of geophysical techniques. All students attend lectures by faculty at Wits, receive training in proper use and maintenance of scientific instrumentation, and interact with industry representatives. The culmination of this part of the REU is a day of oral presentations, where all students (REU and AfricaArray Geophysics Field School) share their experiences and data. After returning to the US, students engage in geochemical analysis, processing of seismic data, and modeling geophysical data. In addition to faculty mentors, the students work closely with graduate students and post-docs. All participate in mentor-led discussions about future career paths and graduate school options. As a capstone to the REU, each student writes a conference abstract and gives a poster presentation of their research. Each abstract includes co-authors from the US and South Africa, and these have been presented by students at SACNAS, NABG, GSA, and AGU meetings. At the end of the REU, students participating in anonymous surveys report feeling more confident in their ability to contribute to an international scientific collaboration and to complete a graduate degree in geosciences.

Priority Health Behaviors among South African Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porter, Kandice; Johnson, Ping Hu; Petrillo, Jane

2009-01-01

This study examined the priority health behaviors of South African youth by administering a questionnaire to 635 undergraduate students enrolled in a large metropolitan university in South Africa. Results indicate that 65.5% of the participants tried cigarettes at least once during their lifetime, over 15.2% had their first cigarette and 31.2% had…

Storytelling and the Web in South African Museums.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodnow, Katherine J.; Natland, Yngvar

The Iziko museums in Cape Town, South Africa in collaboration with the International Museums Studies Programme at the University of Bergen, Norway, have jointly developed a Web-based concept that combines oral storytelling with new technology to connect schools in the South and North. Awaiting funding at the time of publication, this project was…

Life skills as a behaviour change strategy in the prevention of HIV and AIDS: Perceptions of students in an open and distance learning institution.

PubMed

Mohapi, B J; Pitsoane, E M

2017-12-01

The prevention of HIV and AIDS, especially amongst young people, is very important, as they are the future leaders. South Africa carries a high burden of the HIV and AIDS disease, and efforts at the prevention of the disease need to be intensified. University students are also at risk, and prevention efforts need to be intensified to ensure that students graduate and enter the world of work to become productive citizens. Failure to pay attention to preventative behaviour amongst university students may have negative socio-economic consequences for the country. The paper presents a quantitative study undertaken amongst students at the University of South Africa, an Open and Distance Learning Institution in South Africa. The aim of the study was to explore the perceptions of students regarding life skills as a behaviour change strategy at Unisa. The study was conducted in the three regions of the University: Midlands region, Gautengregion and Limpopo region. Data were collected by means of self-administered questionnaires and were analysed by using the Statistical Programme for Social Sciences. The findings revealed that students have a need to attend life skills workshops, which are facilitated by trained student counsellors since they believe that the life skills training will assist them to be assertive and practise behaviours which will not make them vulnerable to the HIV and AIDS infection.

First Year Master of Education (M.Ed.) Students' Experiences of Part-Time Study: A South African Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chikoko, V.

2010-01-01

This article reports on a study of how a group of first year M.Ed. students in the Faculty of Education of the University of KwaZulu-Natal experienced part-time study. Literature suggests that each year, South Africa suffers significant student departures from universities without completing their studies. Apart from the cost and manpower…

Opening up Spaces for Social Transformation: Critical Citizenship Education in a Post-Conflict South African University Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costandius, Elmarie; Bitzer, Eli

2014-01-01

In post-conflict countries such as South Africa, some university students to know anything about the conflict-ridden past. As in other parts of the world that suffered from pasts of discrimination and conflict, it is easier for some students than others to argue like this since an unfortunate past does not concretely affect them any longer. Many…

Beyond the Entrepreneurial University: The Potential Role of South Africa's Historically Disadvantaged Institutions in Reconstruction and Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subotzky, George

1999-11-01

The author identifies two tendencies affecting higher education. On the one hand, universities and colleges are under pressure to become more market-oriented and to respond to rapid changes in information technology and knowledge production. On the other hand, there is a growing concern that they should work for the benefit of society, promoting social equity and responding to community needs. The author argues that partnerships between the community and institutions of higher education are an effective way of contributing to community development. He describes the potential of South Africa's historically disadvantaged institutions to contribute to reconstruction and development in the aftermath of apartheid.

Reframing Vulnerability: Mozambican Refugees’ Access to State-Funded Pensions in Rural South Africa

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Researchers at the South African Medical Research Council/University of the Witwatersrand Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) fieldsite in rural South Africa consider Mozambican residents more vulnerable than others in the local population. These self-settled refugees, many of whom are still not South African citizens, primarily came to South Africa in the 1980s during the Mozambican Civil War. This perceived economic vulnerability is rooted in their difficulties in accessing social grants, until recently legally available only to those with South African citizenship documentation. This paper focuses on semi-structured interviews with 30 ‘older’ women of Mozambican-descent living in the Agincourt area. These interviews highlight three important aspects of vulnerability; the respondents: (1) perceive a risk of deportation despite their having lived in the country for 20 years, (2) are unable to easily access social grants, namely the state-funded old-age pension, and (3) struggle to make ends meet when faced with daily needs and crisis situations. All three of these vulnerabilities were mediated to some extent by these women’s resourcefulness. They generated ties to South Africa through obtaining identification-documents, used these documents to access pensions, and used the pensions to help them sustain their multigenerational households. PMID:19142721

Addressing Dualisms in Student Perceptions of a Historically White and Black University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carolissen, Ronelle; Bozalek, Vivienne

2017-01-01

Normative discourses about higher education institutions may perpetuate stereotypes about institutions. Few studies explore student perceptions of universities and how transformative pedagogical interventions in university classrooms may address institutional stereotypes. Using Plumwood's notion of dualism, this qualitative study analyses…

Planning for district mental health services in South Africa: a situational analysis of a rural district site.

PubMed

Petersen, Inge; Bhana, Arvin; Campbell-Hall, Victoria; Mjadu, Sithembile; Lund, Crick; Kleintjies, Sharon; Hosegood, Victoria; Flisher, Alan J

2009-03-01

The shift in emphasis to universal primary health care in post-apartheid South Africa has been accompanied by a process of decentralization of mental health services to district level, as set out in the new Mental Health Care Act, no. 17, of 2002 and the 1997 White Paper on the Transformation of the Health System. This study sought to assess progress in South Africa with respect to deinstitutionalization and the integration of mental health into primary health care, with a view to understanding the resource implications of these processes at district level. A situational analysis in one district site, typical of rural areas in South Africa, was conducted, based on qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and the World Health Organization's Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS). The findings suggest that the decentralization process remains largely limited to emergency management of psychiatric patients and ongoing psychopharmacological care of patients with stabilized chronic conditions. We suggest that, in a similar vein to other low- to middle-income countries, deinstitutionalization and comprehensive integrated mental health care in South Africa is hampered by a lack of resources for mental health care within the primary health care resource package, as well as the inefficient use of existing mental health resources.

Exploring the barriers to implementing National Health Insurance in South Africa: The people's perspective.

PubMed

Passchier, R V

2017-09-22

This article explores the challenges of implementing the proposed National Health Insurance for South Africa (SA), based on the six building blocks of the World Health Organization Health System Framework. In the context of the current SA health system, leadership, finance, workforce, technologies, information and service delivery are explored from the perspective of the people at ground level. Through considerations such as these, the universal health coverage goals of health equity, efficiency, responsiveness and financial risk protection, might be realised.

The missing link: Finding space for gerontology content into university curricula in South Africa.

PubMed

Tanyi, Perpetua Lum; Pelser, André

2018-02-07

The rapid increase in the global elderly population has been widely documented in both demographic and popular literature in recent decades. Population estimates produced by the national statistical service of South Africa in 2017 show that the proportion of elderly (60 years and older) in South Africa is growing fast, reaching 8.1% of the total population in 2017. The country is set to experience a doubling of the population over the age of 65 by the year 2020. Similar to their counterparts in the developed world, tertiary institutions throughout Africa too are faced with the challenge of training professionals capable of understanding and responding to the socioeconomic consequences, social priorities, and complex needs of an increasing aging population. The right set of policies can equip individuals, families, and societies to address the challenges of an aging population. After conducting an extensive literature review, we recommend that policy-makers in South Africa should look into ways that will enable them to meet the many challenges of an aging population in the coming decades. One way to address this issue would be to include gerontology content into the curricula of programs in the humanities and social sciences.

Fostering Disciplinary Literacy? South African Physics Lecturers' Educational Responses to Their Students' Lack of Representational Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linder, Anne; Airey, John; Mayaba, Nokhanyo; Webb, Paul

2014-01-01

Recently, the South African Institute of Physics undertook a major review of university physics education. The report highlighted the necessity for further transformation of the teaching of physics, particularly in relation to the teaching of under-prepared students. In this article we examine how physics lecturers in South Africa reported how…

A Qualitative Comparison of South Africa's Geomatics Professional Body's Academic Model against Industry's Understanding of SDI Knowledge and Skills Requirements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coetzee, Serena; Rautenbach, Victoria; du Plessis, Heindrich

2015-01-01

The South African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SASDI) was established in 2003.Registration of geographical information science (GISc) practitioners by the South African geomatics professional body followed in 2004 and accreditation of university GISc programmes in 2012. In 2010, the Committee for Spatial Information identified inadequate knowledge…

Identity, Institutions and Systemic Change: The Case of Higher Education in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruth, Damian

2006-01-01

This article reports findings related to race, ethnicity and institutional type from a more extensive study on the perceptions of South African academics on academic workload. An attempt in a South African university department to distribute workload fairly indicated this task involved personal and sensitive concerns, which often had to do with…

Political Studies: An Entry into "Social Science Thought" in the South African Academy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tselapedi, Thapelo

2016-01-01

This paper briefly examines the epistemic orientation of the Politics discipline in South Africa, and specifically in "formerly white universities". The focus is to expose the disparity between this epistemic orientation and the South African locale that it finds itself in; that is, a locale whose history is different from its…

"Making a Difference in the Research Community": South Africa's Library Academy Experience and the Researcher-Librarian Relationship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darch, Colin; de Jager, Karin

2012-01-01

The paper analyzes problems of theorizing and evaluating a short series of "Library Academy" events within a Carnegie Corporation-funded project to improve library service to researchers in six South African universities. (Contains 1 table.)

Sexual orientation and quality of life among university students from Cuba, Norway, India, and South Africa.

PubMed

Traeen, Bente; Martinussen, Monica; Vittersø, Joar; Saini, Sunil

2009-01-01

This article explores quality-of-life aspects among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and straight male and female students in Havana (Cuba), Tromsø (Norway), Hisar (India), and Cape Town (South Africa). In the period 2004-2005, a questionnaire survey on sexuality, happiness, and life satisfaction was undertaken among 339 students from the University of Havana, 144 students from the University of Tromsø, 200 students from Guru Jambheswar University, and 189 students from the University of the Western Cape. The majority of the participants were straight and, in Hisar and Cape Town, few of those who regarded themselves as gay/lesbian/bisexual had engaged in sex with a person of the same gender. In all cities, straight men and women scored higher than gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons on the quality-of-life measures. Quality of life among gay/bisexual men and lesbian/bisexual women was higher in cultures with accepting attitudes toward homosexuality than in cultures with restrictive attitudes.

University Access for Social Justice: A Capabilities Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson-Strydom, Merridy

2011-01-01

The closely related, but often contradictory, issues of increasing access to university and improving students' chances of success in their university studies have been and continue to be an important research focus within higher education studies and policy in South Africa and beyond. More recently, the challenge of underpreparedness of students…

Nation Building and the Role of the University: A Critical Reflection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgs, P.

2002-01-01

Asserts that in South Africa, political and economic discourse has to a large extent perceived the social role of the university in terms of nation building. Suggests instead that the basis for the university's service to society lies in its character as a community of reason. (EV)

Exploring Entrepreneurial Activity at Cape Town and Stellenbosch Universities, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jafta, Rachel; Uctu, Ramazan

2013-01-01

Entrepreneurial activity at universities, especially spin-off formation, has emerged as an important mechanism for accelerating the transfer of technology and knowledge to commercial markets. With some exceptions, such as China, studies on university entrepreneurship have tended to concentrate on the experiences of developed countries. Perhaps…

On the "Africanization" of English Studies in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cornwell, Gareth

2006-01-01

The article is an exploration of current trends within, and the desired destiny of, the humanities discipline of English Studies in the context of calls for the "Africanization" of South African universities. The essay advocates the embrace of a non-universalist, emancipationist humanism. (Contains 8 notes.)

Racial Desegregation and the Institutionalisation of "Race" in University Governance: The Case of the University of Cape Town

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luescher, Thierry M.

2009-01-01

The racial desegregation of the student bodies of historically white universities in South Africa has had significant political implications for student politics and university governance. I discuss two key moments in the governance history of the University of Cape Town (UCT) critically. The first involves the experience of racial parallelism in…

The Public University in South Africa: Philosophical Remarks on the Notion of "Elitist Knowledge" Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waghid, Yusef

2009-01-01

In my remarks about elitist knowledge production, I firstly try to adjust the perspective from which the university could be analysed; I specifically explore the functions of the university in relation to Habermas's categorisation of knowledge. Secondly, with reference to Derrida's reflections on the university, I reformulate a conception of the…

Development of a portfolio of learning for postgraduate family medicine training in South Africa: a Delphi study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Within the 52 health districts in South Africa, the family physician is seen as the clinical leader within a multi-professional district health team. Family physicians must be competent to meet 90% of the health needs of the communities in their districts. The eight university departments of Family Medicine have identified five unit standards, broken down into 85 training outcomes, for postgraduate training. The family medicine registrar must prove at the end of training that all the required training outcomes have been attained. District health managers must be assured that the family physician is competent to deliver the expected service. The Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) require a portfolio to be submitted as part of the uniform assessment of all registrars applying to write the national fellowship examinations. This study aimed to achieve a consensus on the contents and principles of the first national portfolio for use in family medicine training in South Africa. Methods A workshop held at the WONCA Africa Regional Conference in 2009 explored the purpose and broad contents of the portfolio. The 85 training outcomes, ideas from the WONCA workshop, the literature, and existing portfolios in the various universities were used to develop a questionnaire that was tested for content validity by a panel of 31 experts in family medicine in South Africa, via the Delphi technique in four rounds. Eighty five content items (national learning outcomes) and 27 principles were tested. Consensus was defined as 70% agreement. For those items that the panel thought should be included, they were also asked how to provide evidence for the specific item in the portfolio, and how to assess that evidence. Results Consensus was reached on 61 of the 85 national learning outcomes. The panel recommended that 50 be assessed by the portfolio and 11 should not be. No consensus could be reached on the remaining 24 outcomes and these were also omitted from the portfolio. The panel recommended that various types of evidence be included in the portfolio. The panel supported 26 of the 27 principles, but could not reach consensus on whether the portfolio should reflect on the relationship between the supervisor and registrar. Conclusion A portfolio was developed and distributed to the eight departments of Family Medicine in South Africa, and the CMSA, to be further tested in implementation. PMID:22385468

Development of a portfolio of learning for postgraduate family medicine training in South Africa: a Delphi study.

PubMed

Jenkins, Louis; Mash, Bob; Derese, Anselme

2012-03-03

Within the 52 health districts in South Africa, the family physician is seen as the clinical leader within a multi-professional district health team. Family physicians must be competent to meet 90% of the health needs of the communities in their districts. The eight university departments of Family Medicine have identified five unit standards, broken down into 85 training outcomes, for postgraduate training. The family medicine registrar must prove at the end of training that all the required training outcomes have been attained. District health managers must be assured that the family physician is competent to deliver the expected service. The Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) require a portfolio to be submitted as part of the uniform assessment of all registrars applying to write the national fellowship examinations. This study aimed to achieve a consensus on the contents and principles of the first national portfolio for use in family medicine training in South Africa. A workshop held at the WONCA Africa Regional Conference in 2009 explored the purpose and broad contents of the portfolio. The 85 training outcomes, ideas from the WONCA workshop, the literature, and existing portfolios in the various universities were used to develop a questionnaire that was tested for content validity by a panel of 31 experts in family medicine in South Africa, via the Delphi technique in four rounds. Eighty five content items (national learning outcomes) and 27 principles were tested. Consensus was defined as 70% agreement. For those items that the panel thought should be included, they were also asked how to provide evidence for the specific item in the portfolio, and how to assess that evidence. Consensus was reached on 61 of the 85 national learning outcomes. The panel recommended that 50 be assessed by the portfolio and 11 should not be. No consensus could be reached on the remaining 24 outcomes and these were also omitted from the portfolio. The panel recommended that various types of evidence be included in the portfolio. The panel supported 26 of the 27 principles, but could not reach consensus on whether the portfolio should reflect on the relationship between the supervisor and registrar. A portfolio was developed and distributed to the eight departments of Family Medicine in South Africa, and the CMSA, to be further tested in implementation.

The Birth of a South African Child Development Center for 2- to 6-Year-Olds: An International Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeMarie, Darlene; Cherian, Lily

2012-01-01

Providing high-quality education and care for young children at a historically Black university in rural South Africa was a challenging task. But despite many obstacles, two teacher educators (an American and a South African) worked together, partnered with a surprising collection of others, seized every possible opportunity, and persisted, seeing…

Learning to Act in L2 English: An Ethnographic Comparison of the Experience of Two Students in a South African University Drama Department.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banning, Yvonne

2003-01-01

Documents a pilot study of the perceptions of two L1 Xhosa acting students and their teachers about learning to act in L2 English in an L1 English university drama department in South Africa. Seeks to identify perceptions of "good acting," and the degree to which these are contingent on perceptions of "good English" in theatre…

The Politics of Student Housing: Student Activism and Representation in the Determination of the User-Price of a Public-Private Partnership Residence on a Public University Campus in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mugume, Taabo; Luescher, Thierry M.

2015-01-01

South African universities have been facing a critical shortage in the provision of student housing for several years now, and the establishment of public--private partnerships (PPPs) is seen as part of the solution to address the shortage (Rensburg, 2011). This article investigates the effectiveness of the Students' Representative Council (SRC)…

Assessment of Internet-based tele-medicine in Africa (the RAFT project).

PubMed

Bagayoko, Cheick Oumar; Müller, Henning; Geissbuhler, Antoine

2006-01-01

The objectives of this paper on the Réseau Afrique Francophone de Télémédecine (RAFT) project are the evaluation of feasibility, potential, problems and risks of an Internet-based tele-medicine network in developing countries of Africa. The RAFT project was started in Western African countries 5 years ago and has now extended to other regions of Africa as well (i.e. Madagascar, Rwanda). A project for the development of a national tele-medicine network in Mali was initiated in 2001, extended to Mauritania in 2002 and to Morocco in 2003. By 2006, a total of nine countries are connected. The entire technical infrastructure is based on Internet technologies for medical distance learning and tele-consultations. The results are a tele-medicine network that has been in productive use for over 5 years and has enabled various collaboration channels, including North-to-South (from Europe to Africa), South-to-South (within Africa), and South-to-North (from Africa to Europe) distance learning and tele-consultations, plus many personal exchanges between the participating hospitals and Universities. It has also unveiled a set of potential problems: (a) the limited importance of North-to-South collaborations when there are major differences in the available resources or the socio-cultural contexts between the collaborating parties; (b) the risk of an induced digital divide if the periphery of the health system in developing countries is not involved in the development of the network; and (c) the need for the development of local medical content management skills. Particularly point (c) is improved through the collaboration between the various countries as professionals from the medical and the computer science field are sharing courses and resources. Personal exchanges between partners in the project are frequent, and several persons received an education at one of the partner Universities. As conclusion, we can say that the identified risks have to be taken into account when designing large-scale tele-medicine projects in developing countries. These problems can be mitigated by fostering South-South collaboration channels, by the use of satellite-based Internet connectivity in remote areas, the appreciation of local knowledge and its publication on-line. The availability of such an infrastructure also facilitates the development of other projects, courses, and local content creation.

Mental Health in Higher Education: A Comparative Stress Risk Assessment at an Open Distance Learning University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poalses, Jacolize; Bezuidenhout, Adéle

2018-01-01

Universities depend on committed efforts of all staff members to function effectively. However, where occupational demands outweigh occupational resources, challenging work becomes stressful, followed by an exhausted, disengaged workforce. It is unlikely that disengaged university staff will provide adequate care and service to geographically…

An Integrated Decision Support System for Planning and Measuring Institutional Efficiency. AIR 1992 Annual Forum Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minnaar, Phil C.

This paper presents a model for obtaining and organizing managment information for decision making in university planning, developed by the Bureau for Management Information of the University of South Africa. The model identifies the fundamental entities of the university as environment, finance, physical facilities, assets, personnel, and…

A Balancing Act: Facilitating a University Education Induction Programme for (Early Career) Academics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reddy, Sarasvathie; Searle, Ruth L.; Shawa, Lester B.; Teferra, Damtew

2016-01-01

This article examines the University Education Induction Programme (UEIP), an academic development programme, delivered at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The authors, who developed and now facilitate the UEIP, deliver the programme to early career academics and senior academics as per a senate-mandated requirement. Drawing on…

Confessional Theology and Contestation in a Secular University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malcolm, Matthew R.; O'Donoghue, Tom

2016-01-01

Issues arising from relationships between academic departments in universities and external stakeholders are numerous and complex. The matter is illustrated in this paper by focusing on a dispute in the theology department at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, which came to a head from 2004 to 2007. The dispute itself is detailed and…

Managing University Research Microdata Collections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woolfrey, Lynn; Fry, Jane

2015-01-01

This article examines the management of microdata collections in a university context. It is a cross-country analysis: Collection management at data services in Canada and South Africa are considered. The case studies are of two university sub-contexts: One collection is located in a library; the other at a Faculty-based Data Service. Stages in…

Black Women Scientists: Outliers in South African Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liccardo, Sabrina; Bradbury, Jill

2017-01-01

Black women scientists are living in an important time in South Africa as the socio-political landscape is changing rapidly, effecting changes in many dimensions of identification, particularly "race", gender and class. This paper draws data from in-depth interviews with a cohort (n = 10) of Science scholarship students to explore…

Managing Tensions in a Service-Learning Programme: Some Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maistry, S. M.; Ramdhani, J.

2010-01-01

Service learning as a strategy for raising awareness amongst university students of their responsibilities to the community is rapidly gaining currency in higher education institutions in South Africa. High levels of unemployment and striking economic inequality have been an unfortunate feature of South African society for several decades. Since…

US (ARS)-South African (UP) collaboration on combustion reduction integrated pyrolysis system (CRIP)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the principal intramural research arm of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and University of Pretoria, South Africa, have entered into a Non-funded Cooperative Research Agreement (NFCA) for 2 years (ending July 31, 2012) to develop an energy...

Analysing Policy Contexts as a Political Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pillay, Krishnavani Shervani

2014-01-01

The transformation of South Africa from a deeply iniquitous apartheid regime to a more inclusive democratic dispensation remains a huge challenge for all South Africans and its social institutions. The university remains one institution that is under severe pressure to transform. This pressure is exacerbated by the deeply entrenched apartheid…

Closing the mental health treatment gap in South Africa: a review of costs and cost-effectiveness.

PubMed

Jack, Helen; Wagner, Ryan G; Petersen, Inge; Thom, Rita; Newton, Charles R; Stein, Alan; Kahn, Kathleen; Tollman, Stephen; Hofman, Karen J

2014-01-01

Nearly one in three South Africans will suffer from a mental disorder in his or her lifetime, a higher prevalence than many low- and middle-income countries. Understanding the economic costs and consequences of prevention and packages of care is essential, particularly as South Africa considers scaling-up mental health services and works towards universal health coverage. Economic evaluations can inform how priorities are set in system or spending changes. To identify and review research from South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa on the direct and indirect costs of mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders and the cost-effectiveness of treatment interventions. Narrative overview methodology. Reviewed studies indicate that integrating mental health care into existing health systems may be the most effective and cost-efficient approach to increase access to mental health services in South Africa. Integration would also direct treatment, prevention, and screening to people with HIV and other chronic health conditions who are at high risk for mental disorders. We identify four major knowledge gaps: 1) accurate and thorough assessment of the health burdens of MNS disorders, 2) design and assessment of interventions that integrate mental health screening and treatment into existing health systems, 3) information on the use and costs of traditional medicines, and 4) cost-effectiveness evaluation of a range of specific interventions or packages of interventions that are tailored to the national context.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Africa.

PubMed

Adnams, Colleen M

2017-03-01

This review aims to summarize data published in the scientific literature and available on official websites on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in Africa. There is a paucity of published literature and evidence-based information on prenatal exposure to alcohol in the African continent and the majority of the continent's literature on FASD emanates from South Africa. A small number of scientific publications document FASD and drinking in pregnancy in other Sub-Saharan African countries and these findings provide evidence that FASD occurs across the continent. Further evidence shows that the world's highest reported rates of FASD occur in South Africa and that this confers a significant public health and neurodevelopmental disability burden on the region. There is an established body of epidemiological, diagnostic, neurobehavioral and neuroscientific knowledge from studies in South Africa. Universal and indicated case method preventions are effective in reducing maternal alcohol consumption in high-risk areas. Throughout Africa, a policy and service implementation gap exists that impedes translation of generated knowledge into effective prevention and intervention strategies. FASD is likely a widely occurring and largely unrecognized neurodevelopmental disability in Africa. A key future direction for global agencies and research partnerships is to collaboratively address evidence gaps and knowledge translation through scalable approaches and strategies that aim to ameliorate the burden of FASD in African and other countries.

Reflections on Divestment of Stock: An Open Letter to the Harvard Community.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bok, Derek C.

The proposal that Harvard University sell its stock in American corporations in South Africa is discussed by the university's president. The proposal is based on the desire that the university respond as part of a pressure group using the leverage of purchases, endowment, and prestige as a university to push for social or political ends. Many…

Distance Education in Southern Africa Conference, 1987. Papers 4.2: Professional Education and Practical Training at a Distance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adey, David, Comp.; And Others

Fifteen papers from the University of South Africa's Conference on Distance Education are presented on professional education and practical training. They include: "The Art Work: From Concept to Realization" (Leon du Plessis and Koos van der Watt); "Distance Education for Industrial, Professional, and Practical Training" (Jacob…

'One Man Can': shifts in fatherhood beliefs and parenting practices following a gender-transformative programme in Eastern Cape, South Africa.

PubMed

van den Berg, Wessel; Hendricks, Lynn; Hatcher, Abigail; Peacock, Dean; Godana, Patrick; Dworkin, Shari

2013-02-01

'One Man Can' (OMC) is a rights-based gender equality and health programme implemented by Sonke Gender Justice in South Africa. It has been featured as an example of best practice by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, and the UN Population Fund, and translated into nearly a dozen languages and implemented all across Africa. South Africa has strong gender and HIV-related policies, but the highest documented level of men's violence against women in the world, and the largest number of people living with HIV. In this context, OMC seeks to improve men's relationships with their partners, children, and families, reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS, and reduce violence against women, men, and children. To understand whether and how OMC workshops brought about changes in men's attitudes and practices related to parenting, an academic-non-government organisation partnership was carried out with the University of California at San Francisco, the University of Cape Town, and Sonke. The workshops appear to have contributed powerfully to improved parenting and more involved and responsible fathering. This article shares our findings in more detail and discusses the promises and challenges of gender-transformative work with men, underscoring the implications of this work for the health and well-being of women, children, and men.

‘One Man Can’: shifts in fatherhood beliefs and parenting practices following a gender-transformative programme in Eastern Cape, South Africa

PubMed Central

van den Berg, Wessel; Hendricks, Lynn; Hatcher, Abigail; Peacock, Dean; Godana, Patrick; Dworkin, Shari

2013-01-01

‘One Man Can’ (OMC) is a rights-based gender equality and health programme implemented by Sonke Gender Justice in South Africa. It has been featured as an example of best practice by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, and the UN Population Fund, and translated into nearly a dozen languages and implemented all across Africa. South Africa has strong gender and HIV-related policies, but the highest documented level of men’s violence against women in the world, and the largest number of people living with HIV. In this context, OMC seeks to improve men’s relationships with their partners, children, and families, reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS, and reduce violence against women, men, and children. To understand whether and how OMC workshops brought about changes in men’s attitudes and practices related to parenting, an academic–non-government organisation partnership was carried out with the University of California at San Francisco, the University of Cape Town, and Sonke. The workshops appear to have contributed powerfully to improved parenting and more involved and responsible fathering. This article shares our findings in more detail and discusses the promises and challenges of gender-transformative work with men, underscoring the implications of this work for the health and well-being of women, children, and men. PMID:24000276

Silence, Voice, and "Other Languages": Digital Storytelling as a Site for Resistance and Restoration in a South African Higher Education Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Kristian D.; Ivala, Eunice

2017-01-01

In order to investigate the composing practices of digital storytellers in a South African context, a qualitative case study, set within a university of technology in South Africa and framed by literature stemming from the disciplines of digital storytelling and composition and rhetoric, was implemented as part of a larger dissertation project…

The Contours of Inequality: The Links between Socio-Economic Status of Students and Other Variables at the University of Johannesburg

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Zyl, André

2016-01-01

The low level of student success in South Africa is an intractable problem, with levels of success differing between the various groups that make up South African society. One of the major constraints influencing student success involves the socio-economic status (SES) of newly entering students. In the South African context, with its very high…

Research capacity building: a US–South African partnership

PubMed Central

Airhihenbuwa, Collins O.; Shisana, Olive; Zungu, Nompumelelo; BeLue, Rhonda; Makofani, Daisy M.; Shefer, Tammy; Smith, Edward; Simbayi, Leickness

2012-01-01

Research capacity building engenders assets that allow communities (and, in this case, student fellows) to respond adequately to health issues and problems that are contextual, cultural and historical in nature. In this paper, we present a US–South African partnership that led to research training for 30 postgraduate students at two South African universities. We begin by exploring the nature of research capacity building in a partnership research project designed to promote HIV and AIDS-related stigma reduction. We examine methodological issues and their relevance to training of postgraduate students in South Africa. We conclude with recommendations for a successful model of partnership for building capacity of health researchers in Africa with the goal of developing research that informs policies and helps to bridge the health inequity gap globally. PMID:21596937

Assessing the Impact of Academic Support: University of the Witwatersrand First-Year Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Onsongo, W. M.

2006-01-01

On average the B.Sc. (Eng.) degree programmes in South Africa universities graduate about 50-60 per cent of the students admitted. Generally, the highest dropout occurs in the first year of registration. This article reviews admission and graduation statistics at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and assesses the impact of recent academic…

Developing a Strategic Approach to Social Responsiveness at the University of Cape Town, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Favish, Judith; McMillan, Janice; Ngcelwane, Sonwabo V.

2012-01-01

Collaborative community-engaged scholarship has roots in many parts of the world, and engaged practitioners and researchers are increasingly finding each other and sharing resources globally. This article focuses on a "social responsiveness" initiative at the University of Cape Town. Its story, told here by three University of Cape Town…

Evaluating the Success of a Science Academic Development Programme at a Research-Intensive University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engelbrecht, Johann; Harding, Ansie; Potgieter, Marietjie

2014-01-01

Academic development (AD) programmes for students not complying with the entrance requirements of mainstream programmes in science have been running at a number of universities in South Africa. In this study we contribute to the debate on criteria for the success of AD programmes, specifically in the context of research-intensive universities in…

Tracking data from nine free-roaming Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) collared in the Thabazimbi area, Limpopo Province, South Africa.

PubMed

Marnewick, Kelly; Page-Nicholson, Samantha; Roxburgh, Lizanne; Somers, Michael J

2017-01-01

In partnership with the University of Pretoria, the Endangered Wildlife Trust's Carnivore Conservation Programme collared six male and three female free-roaming Cheetahs ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in the Thabazimbi area in Limpopo Province, South Africa. This study was undertaken to determine the spatial ecology of free-roaming Cheetahs that occur outside of formal protected areas on private ranchland, where they frequently come into conflict with, and are sometimes killed by, private landowners. The data were collected between September 2003 and November 2008, resulting in a total of 3165 location points (65 points from VHF collars and 3100 from GPS collars) for nine individual Cheetahs. This dataset provides distribution information about this Vulnerable species occurring outside of protected areas within South Africa. The dataset has been published to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (www.GBIF.org) and provides the largest dataset on Cheetahs thus far, and, although it is spatially limited to a relatively small region on the African continent, it is the first study of its kind within South Africa. Also of significance is that the fate of 6 of the 9 collared Cheetahs is known, all except one of which died of anthropogenic causes.

New species of the Afrotropical spider genus Cheiramiona Lotz & Dippenaar-Schoeman (Araneae: Eutichuridae).

PubMed

Lotz, L N

2015-07-02

Twenty-three new species of the Afrotropical sac spider genus Cheiramiona Lotz & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1999 are described: C. baviaan sp. nov. (♀, South Africa), C. boschrandensis sp. nov. (♀, South Africa), C. debeeri sp. nov. (♂, South Africa), C. haddadi sp. nov. (♂, South Africa), C. hlathikulu sp. nov. (♂, South Africa), C. hogsbackensis sp. nov. (♀, ♂, South Africa), C. ibayaensis sp. nov. (♂, Tanzania), C. jakobsbaaiensis sp. nov. (♂, South Africa), C. kirkspriggsi sp. nov. (♀, ♂, South Africa), C. kivuensis sp. nov. (♀, ♂, Democratic Republic of Congo & Rwanda), C. lamorali sp. nov. (♂, Namibia), C. lindae sp. nov. (♂, South Africa), C. malawiensis sp. nov. (♀, ♂, Malawi), C. mkhambathi sp. nov. (♀, ♂, South Africa), C. mohalensis sp. nov. (♀, Lesotho), C. musosaensis sp. nov. (♀, Democratic Republic of Congo), C. nyungwensis sp. nov. (♂, Rwanda), C. plaatbosensis sp. nov. (♀, ♂, South Africa), C. qachasneki sp. nov. (♂, South Africa), C. robinae sp. nov. (♂, South Africa), C. saniensis sp. nov. (♀, ♂, South Africa), C. tembensis sp. nov. (♂, South Africa) and C. upperbyensis sp. nov. (♀, South Africa). The females of C. lajuma Lotz, 2002 and C. mlawula Lotz, 2002 are described for the first time.

Democracy and Higher Education in South Africa: A Dialogue in Tension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soudien, Crain

2006-01-01

This article is a critical overview of the symposium on the contribution of the quality assurance process to democracy recently held at the University of Stellenbosch. It argues that recent symposia and colloquia in which South Africans themselves have attempted to stake out their intellectual credentials are extremely important and that the…

The Professoriate in South Africa: Potentially Risking Status Inflation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bitzer, E. M.

2008-01-01

Being appointed or promoted to the position of "professor" resonates with notions of a relatively high academic standing in the realms of higher education. Or does it? This article poses the question: Is it not true that some South African universities suffer from professorial status inflation on the basis that professorial positions…

Measuring Service Quality in Higher Education: A South African Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Paul

2014-01-01

The goal of this paper is to report on the SERVQUAL gap which causes unsuccessful service delivery at a University of Technology in South Africa. Using a quantitative research design, the study adopts a SERVQUAL model adapted to a tertiary environment containing five dimensions of service quality (tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, and…

Successful Students' Negotiation of Township Schooling in Contemporary South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kapp, Rochelle; Badenhorst, Elmi; Bangeni, Bongi; Craig, Tracy S.; van Rensburg, Viki Janse; Le Roux, Kate; Prince, Robert; Pym, June; van Pletzen, Ermien

2014-01-01

This article draws on data from a larger longitudinal qualitative case study which is tracking the progress of students over the course of their undergraduate degrees at a South African university. For this paper, we used background questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with 62 first-year students from working-class, township schools who…

The Potential Skills Contribution of International Students to South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aloyo, N.; Wentzel, A.

2011-01-01

There has been a significant increase in the number of international students, especially in those from other African countries, at South African universities over the last ten years. This has elicited some research, notably from Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999); Hall (2004); and Snowball and Antrobus (2005; 2006). However, none of these…

Instructional Technologies in Social Science Instruction in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Louw, Johann; Brown, Cheryl; Muller, Johan; Soudien, Crain

2009-01-01

This study describes the results of a survey and a description of instructional technologies in place in the social sciences in South African Universities. Lecturers in the social sciences reported a well-established practice of information and communication technologies (ICTs) use for general purposes (although frequent use tended to be for email…

HIV Vaccine Trial participation in South Africa - an ethical assessment.

PubMed

Moodley, Keymanthri

2002-04-01

Trial participation in the proposed HIV Vaccine Trials in South Africa is discussed in the context of the ethical tension that exists between international ethical research standards and local standards of care and cultural norms in the Third World. The important concepts of informed consent, risk-benefit ratio and fair treatment of trial participants are interpreted differently in traditional, rural African communities, where a moderate form of communitarianism referred to as "Ubuntu" or "communalism" is still prevalent. Research is an altruistic endeavor that benefits communities and societies as a result of risks taken by individuals. Universal ethical guidelines that are highly individualistic and fail to emphasize communalism may represent serious problems for the sort of research needed in Africa today.

Exploring a Systems Approach to Mainstreaming Sustainability in Universities: A Case Study of Rhodes University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Togo, Muchaiteyi; Lotz-Sisitka, Heila

2013-01-01

This paper explores the use of systems theory to inform the mainstreaming of sustainability in a university's functions as it responds to sustainable development challenges in its local context. Offering a case study of Rhodes University, the paper shows how the use of systems models and concepts, underpinned by a critical realist ontology and an…

Regionalism as a Principle for Curriculum Relevance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blunt, R. J. S.

1998-01-01

Examines the rhetoric of a curriculum development proposal at the University of Port Elizabeth (South Africa) which uses the concept of regionalism as a principal for curriculum development. The regionalist approach is then examined in light of two different approaches to the function of the university. It is concluded that postmodern universities…

Campus Life: The Impact of External Factors on Emotional Health of Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogel, Dalena

2012-01-01

This research explored the perceptions of students at a university campus in Gauteng South Africa on external factors that may contribute to their emotional (psychological) and academic functioning. During a preliminary investigation, three students at a residential university voluntary came for psychological counseling sessions because of stress…

Symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety as predictors of suicidal ideation among South African university students.

PubMed

Bantjes, Jason R; Kagee, Ashraf; McGowan, Taryn; Steel, Henry

2016-01-01

To investigate the 2-week prevalence of suicidal ideations and their associations to symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety among South African university students. Data were collected from 1,337 students between May and August 2013. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between suicidal ideation and symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. Rates of suicidal ideation are higher among university students in South Africa than among the general population of the country and student populations in other parts of the world. Symptoms of depression and exposure to trauma predict suicidal ideation Conclusions: Findings bring into focus the high rates of suicidal ideation among a sample of university students in South African and the need for more research to investigate the psychosocial correlates of this phenomena within the cultural context of the country, especially given the correlation between suicidal ideation and other poor health outcomes.

Closing the mental health treatment gap in South Africa: a review of costs and cost-effectiveness

PubMed Central

Jack, Helen; Wagner, Ryan G.; Petersen, Inge; Thom, Rita; Newton, Charles R.; Stein, Alan; Kahn, Kathleen; Tollman, Stephen; Hofman, Karen J.

2014-01-01

Background Nearly one in three South Africans will suffer from a mental disorder in his or her lifetime, a higher prevalence than many low- and middle-income countries. Understanding the economic costs and consequences of prevention and packages of care is essential, particularly as South Africa considers scaling-up mental health services and works towards universal health coverage. Economic evaluations can inform how priorities are set in system or spending changes. Objective To identify and review research from South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa on the direct and indirect costs of mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders and the cost-effectiveness of treatment interventions. Design Narrative overview methodology. Results and conclusions Reviewed studies indicate that integrating mental health care into existing health systems may be the most effective and cost-efficient approach to increase access to mental health services in South Africa. Integration would also direct treatment, prevention, and screening to people with HIV and other chronic health conditions who are at high risk for mental disorders. We identify four major knowledge gaps: 1) accurate and thorough assessment of the health burdens of MNS disorders, 2) design and assessment of interventions that integrate mental health screening and treatment into existing health systems, 3) information on the use and costs of traditional medicines, and 4) cost-effectiveness evaluation of a range of specific interventions or packages of interventions that are tailored to the national context. PMID:24848654

Sub-Saharan African university students' beliefs about condoms, condom-use intention, and subsequent condom use: a prospective study.

PubMed

Heeren, G Anita; Jemmott, John B; Mandeya, Andrew; Tyler, Joanne C

2009-04-01

Whether certain behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs predict the intention to use condoms and subsequent condom use was examined among 320 undergraduates at a university in South Africa who completed confidential questionnaires on two occasions separated by 3 months. Participants' mean age was 23.4 years, 47.8% were women, 48.9% were South Africans, and 51.1% were from other sub-Saharan African countries. Multiple regression revealed that condom-use intention was predicted by hedonistic behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs regarding sexual partners and peers, and control beliefs regarding condom-use technical skill and impulse control. Logistic regression revealed that baseline condom-use intention predicted consistent condom use and condom use during most recent intercourse at 3-month follow-up. HIV/STI risk-reduction interventions for undergraduates in South Africa should target their condom-use hedonistic beliefs, normative beliefs regarding partners and peers, and control beliefs regarding technical skill and impulse control.

Social solidarity and civil servants' willingness for financial cross-subsidization in South Africa: implications for health financing reform.

PubMed

Harris, Bronwyn; Nxumalo, Nonhlanhla; Ataguba, John E; Govender, Veloshnee; Chersich, Matthew; Goudge, Jane

2011-01-01

In South Africa, anticipated health sector reforms aim to achieve universal health coverage for all citizens. Success will depend on social solidarity and willingness to pay for health care according to means, while benefitting on the basis of their need. In this study, we interviewed 1330 health and education sector civil servants in four South African provinces, about potential income cross-subsidies and financing mechanisms for a National Health Insurance. One third was willing to cross-subsidize others and half favored a progressive financing system, with senior managers, black Africans, or those with tertiary education more likely to choose these options than lower-skilled staff, white, Indian or Asian respondents, or those with primary or less education. Insurance- and health-status were not associated with willingness to pay or preferred type of financing system. Understanding social relationships, identities, and shared meanings is important for any reform striving toward universal coverage.

In-Service Training in South African Libraries. A Brief Review Based on a Thesis for the M.Bibl. Degree of the University of Pretoria.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vink, C. M.

A study was undertaken to ascertain the position of inservice training for librarians in South Africa and to determine what adjustments were necessary for inservice training practice in South African libraries. An examination of the literature on inservice training revealed current trends, and the literature in the field of library science was…

Security and skills: the two key issues in health worker migration

PubMed Central

Bidwell, Posy; Laxmikanth, Pallavi; Blacklock, Claire; Hayward, Gail; Willcox, Merlin; Peersman, Wim; Moosa, Shabir; Mant, David

2014-01-01

Background Migration of health workers from Africa continues to undermine the universal provision of quality health care. South Africa is an epicentre for migration – it exports more health workers to high-income countries than any other African country and imports health workers from its lower-income neighbours to fill the gap. Although an inter-governmental agreement in 2003 reduced the very high numbers migrating from South Africa to the United Kingdom, migration continues to other high-income English-speaking countries and few workers seem to return although the financial incentive to work abroad has lessened. A deeper understanding of reasons for migration from South Africa and post-migration experiences is therefore needed to underpin policy which is developed in order to improve retention within source countries and encourage return. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 South African doctors and nurses who had migrated to the United Kingdom. Interviews explored factors influencing the decision to migrate and post-migration experiences. Results Salary, career progression, and poor working conditions were not major push factors for migration. Many health workers reported that they had previously overcome these issues within the South African healthcare system by migrating to the private sector. Overwhelmingly, the major push factors were insecurity, high levels of crime, and racial tension. Although the wish to work and train in what was perceived to be a first-class care system was a pull factor to migrate to the United Kingdom, many were disappointed by the experience. Instead of obtaining new skills, many (particularly nurses) felt they had become ‘de-skilled’. Many also felt that working conditions and opportunities for them in the UK National Health Service (NHS) compared unfavourably with the private sector in South Africa. Conclusions Migration from South Africa seems unlikely to diminish until the major concerns over security, crime, and racial tensions are resolved. However, good working conditions in the private sector in South Africa provide an occupational incentive to return if security did improve. Potential migrants should be made more aware of the risks of losing skills while working abroad that might prejudice return. In addition, re-skilling initiatives should be encouraged. PMID:25079286

Security and skills: the two key issues in health worker migration.

PubMed

Bidwell, Posy; Laxmikanth, Pallavi; Blacklock, Claire; Hayward, Gail; Willcox, Merlin; Peersman, Wim; Moosa, Shabir; Mant, David

2014-01-01

Migration of health workers from Africa continues to undermine the universal provision of quality health care. South Africa is an epicentre for migration--it exports more health workers to high-income countries than any other African country and imports health workers from its lower-income neighbours to fill the gap. Although an inter-governmental agreement in 2003 reduced the very high numbers migrating from South Africa to the United Kingdom, migration continues to other high-income English-speaking countries and few workers seem to return although the financial incentive to work abroad has lessened. A deeper understanding of reasons for migration from South Africa and post-migration experiences is therefore needed to underpin policy which is developed in order to improve retention within source countries and encourage return. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 South African doctors and nurses who had migrated to the United Kingdom. Interviews explored factors influencing the decision to migrate and post-migration experiences. Salary, career progression, and poor working conditions were not major push factors for migration. Many health workers reported that they had previously overcome these issues within the South African healthcare system by migrating to the private sector. Overwhelmingly, the major push factors were insecurity, high levels of crime, and racial tension. Although the wish to work and train in what was perceived to be a first-class care system was a pull factor to migrate to the United Kingdom, many were disappointed by the experience. Instead of obtaining new skills, many (particularly nurses) felt they had become 'de-skilled'. Many also felt that working conditions and opportunities for them in the UK National Health Service (NHS) compared unfavourably with the private sector in South Africa. Migration from South Africa seems unlikely to diminish until the major concerns over security, crime, and racial tensions are resolved. However, good working conditions in the private sector in South Africa provide an occupational incentive to return if security did improve. Potential migrants should be made more aware of the risks of losing skills while working abroad that might prejudice return. In addition, re-skilling initiatives should be encouraged.

Paying for and receiving benefits from health services in South Africa: is the health system equitable?

PubMed

Ataguba, John E; McIntyre, Di

2012-03-01

There is a global challenge for health systems to ensure equity in both the delivery and financing of health care. However, many African countries still do not have equitable health systems. Traditionally, equity in the delivery and the financing of health care are assessed separately, in what may be termed 'partial' analyses. The current debate on countries moving toward universal health systems, however, requires a holistic understanding of equity in both the delivery and the financing of health care. The number of studies combining these aspects to date is limited, especially in Africa. An assessment of overall health system equity involves assessing health care financing in relation to the principles of contributing to financing according to ability to pay and benefiting from health services according to need for care. Currently South Africa is considering major health systems restructuring toward a universal system. This paper examines together, for both the public and the private sectors, equity in the delivery and financing of health care in South Africa. Using nationally representative datasets and standard methodologies for assessing progressivity in health care financing and benefit incidence, this paper reports an overall progressive financing system but a pro-rich distribution of health care benefits. The progressive financing system is driven mainly by progressive private medical schemes that cover a small portion of the population, mainly the rich. The distribution of health care benefits is not only pro-rich, but also not in line with the need for health care; richer groups receive a far greater share of service benefits within both public and private sectors despite having a relatively lower share of the ill-health burden. The importance of the findings for the design of a universal health system is discussed.

Religion-related stigma and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students at a South African rural-based university.

PubMed

Mavhandu-Mudzusi, Azwihangwisi Helen; Sandy, Peter Thomas

2015-01-01

This paper reports on the stigma and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students at a rural university in South Africa. Twenty lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students recruited through snowball sampling participated in this study. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used as a framework for data analysis. Findings indicate that religion-related stigma and discrimination are common at a rural-based university in South Africa. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students are typically ascribed a range of labels, including 'sinners', 'devils' and 'demon possessed'. They are also exposed to a number of discriminatory acts, such as the denial of financial and healthcare services and threats of and/or actual rape. Study participants reported attempts to convert lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students' sexual orientation which involved the use of intervention in the form of prayers. Derogatory labelling and associated discriminatory acts, for example the threat of rape, led many students to conceal their sexual identity, not attend specific classes, terminate their studies and even attempt suicide. Universities should develop policies to promote greater social inclusion and the acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. Policies should also specify the steps or approaches to be taken in addressing discriminatory practices.

Equity and Excellence: The Emergence, Consolidation and Internalization of Education Development at the University of Natal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odendaal, Marie; Deacon, Roger

2009-01-01

Education development in South Africa emerged during the transition from apartheid to democracy, in a context especially marked by political and financial pressures. This case study of the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal) demonstrates how a strategy combining equity with excellence aimed to facilitate increased access to…

University Education in a Developing Country: The Revolution in the Role of a Department Head. AIR Annual 1984 Forum Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strydom, Andries H.; Bitzer, Elias M.

A project to promote role change for department heads in South African universities is discussed. Unique characteristics of universities in Southern Africa are also identified, including the fact that department heads have only limited decentralized authority over issues such as admission, personnel policy, and finances. Project goals were as…

Formative Postgraduate Assessment: A Comparative Case Study Using a University in the USA and One in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedrich-Nel, Hesta; Mac Kinnon, Joyce

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate formative postgraduate assessment from an international perspective while acknowledging the two countries' differing cultures and environments. Using a case study approach, data were collected from research supervisors of postgraduate work at a university in the United States (USA) and a university in…

An Islamic University in Cape Town Grows from Roots in East Asia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindow, Megan

2007-01-01

This article features the International Peace University South Africa in Cape Town. The university, which was established in 2004, resulted from the merger of two local "madrassas", or religious colleges, yet seeks to prepare its students for success in the secular world. Its Islamic roots are not in the Middle East, but in East Asia.…

Can BRICS Build Ivory Towers of Excellence? Giving New Meaning to World-Class Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

David, Solomon Arulraj; Motala, Shireen

2017-01-01

This paper aims to map the landscape of higher education transformation in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations while exploring the status of BRICS nations in some of the global university rankings and analysing their potential to give new meaning to notions such as excellent and world-class universities. The study…

Peer-Assisted Learning Programme: Supporting Students in High-Risk Subjects at the Mechanical Engineering Department at Walter Sisulu University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Makola, Qonda

2017-01-01

The majority of the students who enroll at the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in South Africa are not equipped with the necessary academic/learning skills to cope with the university environment, especially in Mechanical Engineering. The Department of Higher Education and Training (2013, p. 17), further states that "students' support is…

Towards Measuring the Economic Value of Higher Education: Lessons from South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allais, Stephanie

2017-01-01

A crisis of student funding has led to most South African universities being closed for weeks, after protests in 2015 and again in 2016. A policy response to these events requires insight into relationships between higher education, society, and the economy. This paper interrogates the assumptions which underpin current approaches to measuring…

A Cost Benefits Analysis of International Education: A Case of Zimbabwean Students in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chimucheka, Tendai

2012-01-01

The study investigated the costs and benefits of international education to Zimbabwean students studying in South African Universities. The objectives of the study were to investigate the actual and perceived benefits of international education to students. The study also investigated the impact of international education on the lives of students,…

Necessary versus Sufficient Conditions for Using New Languages in South African Higher Education: A Linguistic Appraisal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mesthrie, Rajend

2008-01-01

This paper critically examines one particular issue against the background of changes in South Africa's higher education system consequent upon the advent of a non-racial democracy--the possibility of implementing multilingual instructional polices that include indigenous African languages in its universities. Currently, a great deal of applied…

Violence, Resilience and Solidarity: The Right to Education for Child Migrants in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hlatshwayo, Mondli; Vally, Salim

2014-01-01

This article examines the psychology of migrant learners' resilience, their right to education, and how migrant organizations and South African civil society are supporting and reinforcing the agency of migrant learners and their parents. It is based on a year-long study conducted by researchers at the University of Johannesburg's Centre for…

The Concept of "First-Generation Student" in the Literature: Implications for South African Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heymann, L.; Carolissen, R.

2011-01-01

In the United States first-generation students (FGSs), those who are the first in their families to attend university, are recognised as disadvantaged and receive government support. Amidst affirmative action debates in higher education in South Africa, an increased awareness has emerged about challenges that FGSs in this country face. A…

Equity Development Programmes: Does Mentoring Make a Difference in Individual and Social Transformation for South African WonderWomen?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geber, Hilary

2010-01-01

The equity and transformation challenge for women and black academics at universities in Post-Apartheid South Africa is enormous. Despite a marked increase in equity development programmes since the 1996 Employment Equity legislation, fewer women than expected have advanced through the academic ranks. An indigenous mentoring model for…

Visual Graphics for Human Rights, Social Justice, Democracy and the Public Good

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nanackchand, Vedant; Berman, Kim

2012-01-01

The value of human rights in a democratic South Africa is constantly threatened and often waived for nefarious reasons. We contend that the use of visual graphics among incoming university visual art students provides a mode of engagement that helps to inculcate awareness of human rights, social responsibility, and the public good in South African…

Between the "Local" and the "Global": South African Geography after Apartheid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mather, Charles

2007-01-01

South Africa's higher education system has undergone significant change since the end of apartheid. A central theme in the debates on higher education transformation has been the tension between the global imperatives of development and the need for universities to respond to the legacy of apartheid. This paper explores this tension by considering…

Initiatives in astronomy education in South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rijsdijk, Case L.

A brief review of the issues affecting the current status of science education in general, and astronomy education in particular, is given. The paper looks at the present situation at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. South Africa has unique educational problems and the initiatives by local observatories and universities at school level are described. The problems encountered by the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) Science Education Initiative (SEI) are typical, as is the SEI approach to addressing some of these. The experience of the SEI is described, as are some of the resources developed by them for primary and secondary schools. Finally a brief look is taken at future developments, in particular, ways in which the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) can contribute to astronomy and science education.

How Supplemental Instruction Benefits Faculty, Administration, and Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zerger, Sandra; Clark-Unite, Cathy; Smith, Liesl

2006-01-01

This chapter offers a case study of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa, where SI has acted as more than a student academic development program by also addressing faculty and curriculum development.

Distance learning for University Physics in South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cilliers, J. A.; Basson, I.

1997-03-01

The University of South Africa (Unisa) is one of the largest distance education universities in the world. Teaching physics at a distance is a complex and multifaceted problem which is compounded in the South African context by the diversity of educational backgrounds of the learners involved. The fact that students are distributed over a vast geographical area, presents unique problems for the incorporation of the practical component into the curriculum. Current research involves a fundamental evaluation of the aims and objectives of the introductory laboratory. The project is based on the notion that practicals, as they have been used in most physics curricula, are not particularly effective or efficient, although they are costly both financially and logistically. Design, development and delivery of efficient study material imply that there should be agreement between what the student knows and can do, and what the material offers. An in depth profile that takes into account biographic as well as cognitive characteristics of the target group, is therefore being compiled. This paper gives an overview of the specific problems and circumstances that were identified for distance education in physics in a multi-cultural society, and proposes a new model for the incorporation of the introductory laboratory into the curriculum.

A study on students' acceptance of mobile phone use to seek health information in South Africa.

PubMed

Cilliers, Liezel; Viljoen, Kim Lee-Anne; Chinyamurindi, Willie Tafadzwa

2018-05-01

In South Africa, inequitable access to healthcare information has made many young people with limited resources more vulnerable to health risks. Mobile phones present a unique opportunity to address this problem due to the high penetration of mobile phones in South Africa and the popularity of these devices among young adults. This research sought to examine the adoption of mobile phones to access health information among students at a traditional university in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. A cross-sectional survey approach was used to collect information from a convenience sample of 202 university students (58 males; 104 females), the majority (71.3%) of whom were aged between 18 and 27 years and of Black African ethnicity (75.2%). The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) framework formed the theoretical foundation for the questionnaire. A research model was developed to test the hypotheses that behavioural intention to use a mobile phone to access health information would be influenced by: perceived usefulness (PU), perceived effort, social influence (SI), attitude towards technology (AT) and mobile phone experience. Factor analyses indicated that the research model explained 36% of the variance in behavioural intention to use mobile devices to search for health-related queries, with PU being the largest predictor, followed by mobile experience, SI, and AT. Perceived effort did not make a statistically significant contribution. Using mobile phones to disseminate health information to students is a useful, convenient, and cost-effective health-promotion strategy. This research has contributed to the body of knowledge concerning the applicability of the UTAUT framework to study the adoption of technology and provided useful information to guide future research and implementation of mHealth initiatives.

Integrating Western and Indigenous Knowledge Systems: The Basis for Effective Science Education in South Africa?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Grange, Lesley

2007-11-01

This article responds to a call for rethinking the science that we teach to school learners in South Africa. Much of the debate on the nature of science and science learning is reflected in a body of literature which analyses the tensions between disparate perspectives on science education. Post-colonialists, feminists, multiculturalists, sociologists of scientific knowledge and those who refer to themselves as indigenous researchers argue that science is not universal but locally and culturally produced. Universalists on the other hand, argue that modern Western science is superior to indigenous perspectives on the natural world because of the former's advanced predictive and explanatory powers. The fact that indigenous knowledge has been included in South Africa's recently developed National Curriculum Statements invites a fresh look at the kind of science that is taught to South African school learners. In this article the author argues for a (dis)position that moves the debate beyond the binary of Western science/indigenous knowledge. Ways in which Western science and indigenous knowledge might be integrated are explored.

'Top, bottom, versatile': narratives of sexual practices in gay relationships in the Cape Metropole, South Africa.

PubMed

Henderson, Neil John

2017-07-13

Sexual practices among gay and other men who have sex with men are evolving in South Africa and heteronormative stereotypes are being contested. This paper draws from a larger qualitative study on how men construct a gay identity and negotiate their relationships within contemporary South African contexts, following constitutional and legal changes, in this respect. A feminist, social constructionist approach was used to collect and analyse data from in-depth interviews with 15 self-identified gay men, aged 20 to 46 years, drawn from a university in the larger Cape Metropole, South Africa. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic and narrative analysis. 'Bottoms' revealed being powerful in receptive sex. Other men deconstructed the binaries of masculine/feminine and resisted heteronormativity by engaging in fluid constructions in their relationships, whereby participants 'switched' or 'flipped' or did not recognise stereotypical roles when practising sex. There may be value in making these flexible and reciprocal sexual practices better known about and promoted as non-normative African models of sexual practice.

South African court rejects country's new constitution.

PubMed

1996-09-20

Fundamental principles designed to ensure that South Africa's new constitution upholds a wide range of individual rights and freedoms and establishes a responsive government with a balanced separation of powers, including recognition of the role of traditional tribal leadership, were adopted into the current interim constitution shortly before the 1994 free elections which brought Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress to power. In a judgement issued on September 6, 1996, South Africa's Constitutional Court rejected the country's new draft constitution, arguing that it failed to meet the standards of nine of the 34 principles established at the Kempton Park negotiations. The Constitutional Assembly is comprised of a joint meeting of the National Assembly and Senate. One of the court's major objections to the constitution concerned the proposed structure of rule, which was seen to give inadequate power to South Africa's nine provinces as compared with the national government. However, the bill of rights was almost entirely upheld. The bill would create a favorable environment for legalized abortion and guarantee a universal right of access to health care, including reproductive health services

A molten salt tower model used for site selection in South Africa using SAURAN meteorological data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poole, Ian Vincent; Dinter, Frank

2017-06-01

South Africa has become a hotspot for concentrating solar power (CSP) development in recent years. With an abundance of solar resource and an existing governmental framework for renewable energy development, the country has captured the attention of CSP developers worldwide. The primary limitations for CSP plants in South Africa are electrical transmission and water availability. While taking into account such infrastructure limitations, six sites were proposed. A purpose-built simulation model for a proposed 100 MWe (gross) tower plant with 12 hours of storage was developed. Using site South African Universities Radiometric Network (SAURAN) meteorological data with a resolution of up to 1 minute, each of the sites was evaluated in terms of electrical yield using the model. The investigation found that the site situated in Springbok will generate 450.8 GWhe per annum, and is the most advantageous site for the modeled plant. The most promising alternative site is situated in near Laingsburg in the Western Province. This site offered 413.7 GWhe per annum, and it is close to available transmission and surface water.

Sub-Saharan Africa Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-04-07

mother of three is no militant feminist . She trained at Stellenbosch University and qualified in social work and community develop- ment. At the same...20402. Correspondence pertaining to matters other than procurement may be addressed to Joint Publications Research Service, 10OO North Glebe Road...Accelerate SA’s Aerodynamics Research (SCIENTIAE, Mär 86) 94 Ceramic Developments at South Africa’s NIMR (SCIENTIAE, Mar 86) 99 /7310

From Human Activity to Conceptual Understanding of the Chain Rule

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jojo, Zingiswa Mybert Monica; Maharaj, Aneshkumar; Brijlall, Deonarain

2013-01-01

This article reports on a study which investigated first year university engineering students' construction of the definition of the concept of the chain rule in differential calculus at a University of Technology in South Africa. An APOS (Action-Process-Objects-Schema) approach was used to explore conceptual understanding displayed by students in…

Adult Education: Issues for the Future. Proceedings of the University-Based Adult Education Conference (Stellenbosch, South Africa, April 14-16, 1993).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

University of the Western Cape, Bellville (South Africa). Centre for Adult and Continuing Education.

These proceedings contain 18 presentations on these main themes: adult education policy, role of universities/adult education centers, affirmative action, accreditation of courses, curriculum, and rural adult education. "Welcome and Introduction" and "Introducing Professor Marjorie Mbilinyi" (Walters) precede the keynote…

Students' Perceptions of a University Access (Bridging) Programme for Social Science, Commerce and Humanities: Research Article

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quayle, Michael; Essack, Zaynab

2007-01-01

Universities in South Africa face the challenge of redressing past (and continuing) inequalities in higher education by increasing accessibility to previously (and currently) disadvantaged students. One means of doing so is through 'access' or 'bridging' programmes. This article explores successful students' perceptions of one such programme at…

Mind and Inferiority: Reflections on "English" as a University Discipline in a Black Context.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aitken, Richard

1987-01-01

The social/political issues facing university English departments in South Africa include problems of identity and definition, the need for instruction within the context of social and political history, the problems of cultural relativism, the corrosive implications of Black subordination, and the complex alternatives of private and public…

Bridging the Hemispheres through the Use of Technology: International Collaboration in Social Work Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rautenbach, John Victor; Black-Hughes, Christine

2012-01-01

The social work programs of the University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa, and Minnesota State University, Mankato, United States, began using various technologies in 2007 to facilitate interaction. This project included conducting practicum supervision and seminars via videoconferencing (using Breeze, Adobe Connect, and Skype) and…

An APOS Analysis of Natural Science Students' Understanding of Derivatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maharaj, Aneshkumar

2013-01-01

This article reports on a study which used the APOS (action-process-object-schema) theoretical framework to investigate university students' understanding of derivatives and their applications. Research was done at the Westville Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The relevant rules for finding derivatives and their…

Postgraduate Supervision at an Open Distance E-Learning Institution in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manyike, Tintswalo Vivian

2017-01-01

Effective postgraduate supervision is a concern at universities worldwide, even under optimal conditions where postgraduate students are studying full-time. Universities are being pressured by their governments to increase the throughput of postgraduates where there is a need for supervisory guidance in order to produce quality graduates within a…

Transformation and Performativity in Universities in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, P.

2011-01-01

As the government seeks to foster a degree of self-sufficiency in terms of income generation through output, universities are forced to rely on performativity from staff to become more entrepreneurial. Following on the articles by Waghid (2009), Le Grange (2009), Reddy, Le Grange and Fataar (2010), and Smeyers and Waghid (2009) among others, this…

Joining Hands: A Survey of Non-Academic Collaboration between Commonwealth Universities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lund, Helen

This survey of 100 universities in British Commonwealth nations examined the extent of nonacademic collaborative efforts. Responses from 41 institutions in seven countries (Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom) were analyzed. The study found that the nonacademic areas which currently are the…

Exploring the Motivation Orientation and Learning Strategies of First Year University Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Mark; McSorley, Michelle; Foxcroft, Cheryl; Watson, Andrea

2004-01-01

Both internationally and within South Africa the failure rates at universities are presently high and throughput and graduation rates are low. It is thus imperative that the cognitive and non-cognitive predictors related to identifying learners who will succeed academically are explored. This paper focuses on two potentially important…

BAAL/CUP Seminars 2013/Text Trajectories--Developing Dynamic Approaches to Textual Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maybin, Janet; Lillis, Theresa

2015-01-01

This seminar took place on 19 April, 2013 at the Centre for Language and Communication, Faculty of Language and Education Studies, The Open University. The seminar was coordinated by Janet Maybin and Theresa Lillis and there were 28 participants, including four postgraduate students, from universities in Britain, Belgium and South Africa.

Open University

ScienceCinema

None

2018-05-25

Michel Pentz was born in South Africa and came to CERN in 1957 as a physicist and president of the Association of Personnel. He is also the founder of the Antiapartheid Movement in Geneva and helped found the Open University in Great Britain. He speaks about pedagogical, cultural and national contexts in which the method can be applied.

Tainted Money: The Ethics and Rhetoric of Divestment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payton, Robert L.

1988-01-01

A former college president and corporate foundation president examines moral and economic issues relating to college withdrawal of investments in South Africa, using the experiences of Harvard University and Exxon stock for illustration. (MSE)

Tracking data from nine free-roaming Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) collared in the Thabazimbi area, Limpopo Province, South Africa

PubMed Central

Marnewick, Kelly; Roxburgh, Lizanne; Somers, Michael J.

2017-01-01

Abstract Background In partnership with the University of Pretoria, the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Carnivore Conservation Programme collared six male and three female free-roaming Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in the Thabazimbi area in Limpopo Province, South Africa. This study was undertaken to determine the spatial ecology of free-roaming Cheetahs that occur outside of formal protected areas on private ranchland, where they frequently come into conflict with, and are sometimes killed by, private landowners. The data were collected between September 2003 and November 2008, resulting in a total of 3165 location points (65 points from VHF collars and 3100 from GPS collars) for nine individual Cheetahs. New information This dataset provides distribution information about this Vulnerable species occurring outside of protected areas within South Africa. The dataset has been published to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (www.GBIF.org) and provides the largest dataset on Cheetahs thus far, and, although it is spatially limited to a relatively small region on the African continent, it is the first study of its kind within South Africa. Also of significance is that the fate of 6 of the 9 collared Cheetahs is known, all except one of which died of anthropogenic causes. PMID:28325981

A partial economic evaluation of blended learning in teaching health research methods: a three-university collaboration in South Africa, Sweden, and Uganda

PubMed Central

Kumpu, Minna; Atkins, Salla; Zwarenstein, Merrick; Nkonki, Lungiswa

2016-01-01

Background Novel research training approaches are needed in global health, particularly in sub-Saharan African universities, to support strengthening of health systems and services. Blended learning (BL), combining face-to-face teaching with computer-based technologies, is also an accessible and flexible education method for teaching global health and related topics. When organised as inter-institutional collaboration, BL also has potential for sharing teaching resources. However, there is insufficient data on the costs of BL in higher education. Objective Our goal was to evaluate the total provider costs of BL in teaching health research methods in a three-university collaboration. Design A retrospective evaluation was performed on a BL course on randomised controlled trials, which was led by Stellenbosch University (SU) in South Africa and joined by Swedish and Ugandan universities. For all three universities, the costs of the BL course were evaluated using activity-based costing with an ingredients approach. For SU, the costs of the same course delivered with a classroom learning (CL) approach were also estimated. The learning outcomes of both approaches were explored using course grades as an intermediate outcome measure. Results In this contextually bound pilot evaluation, BL had substantially higher costs than the traditional CL approach in South Africa, even when average per-site or per-student costs were considered. Staff costs were the major cost driver in both approaches, but total staff costs were three times higher for the BL course at SU. This implies that inter-institutional BL can be more time consuming, for example, due to use of new technologies. Explorative findings indicated that there was little difference in students’ learning outcomes. Conclusions The total provider costs of the inter-institutional BL course were higher than the CL course at SU. Long-term economic evaluations of BL with societal perspective are warranted before conclusions on full costs and consequences of BL in teaching global health topics can be made. PMID:27725076

A partial economic evaluation of blended learning in teaching health research methods: a three-university collaboration in South Africa, Sweden, and Uganda.

PubMed

Kumpu, Minna; Atkins, Salla; Zwarenstein, Merrick; Nkonki, Lungiswa

2016-01-01

Novel research training approaches are needed in global health, particularly in sub-Saharan African universities, to support strengthening of health systems and services. Blended learning (BL), combining face-to-face teaching with computer-based technologies, is also an accessible and flexible education method for teaching global health and related topics. When organised as inter-institutional collaboration, BL also has potential for sharing teaching resources. However, there is insufficient data on the costs of BL in higher education. Our goal was to evaluate the total provider costs of BL in teaching health research methods in a three-university collaboration. A retrospective evaluation was performed on a BL course on randomised controlled trials, which was led by Stellenbosch University (SU) in South Africa and joined by Swedish and Ugandan universities. For all three universities, the costs of the BL course were evaluated using activity-based costing with an ingredients approach. For SU, the costs of the same course delivered with a classroom learning (CL) approach were also estimated. The learning outcomes of both approaches were explored using course grades as an intermediate outcome measure. In this contextually bound pilot evaluation, BL had substantially higher costs than the traditional CL approach in South Africa, even when average per-site or per-student costs were considered. Staff costs were the major cost driver in both approaches, but total staff costs were three times higher for the BL course at SU. This implies that inter-institutional BL can be more time consuming, for example, due to use of new technologies. Explorative findings indicated that there was little difference in students' learning outcomes. The total provider costs of the inter-institutional BL course were higher than the CL course at SU. Long-term economic evaluations of BL with societal perspective are warranted before conclusions on full costs and consequences of BL in teaching global health topics can be made.

The Role of Postgraduate Students in Co-Authoring Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Inclusion: A Case Study at the University of Cape Town

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodgkinson-Williams, Cheryl; Paskevicius, Michael

2012-01-01

Like many universities worldwide, the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa has joined the open educational resources (OER) movement, making a selection of teaching and learning materials available through its OER directory, UCT OpenContent. However, persuading and then supporting busy academics to share their teaching materials as OER…

Equity in financing and use of health care in Ghana, South Africa, and Tanzania: implications for paths to universal coverage.

PubMed

Mills, Anne; Ataguba, John E; Akazili, James; Borghi, Jo; Garshong, Bertha; Makawia, Suzan; Mtei, Gemini; Harris, Bronwyn; Macha, Jane; Meheus, Filip; McIntyre, Di

2012-07-14

Universal coverage of health care is now receiving substantial worldwide and national attention, but debate continues on the best mix of financing mechanisms, especially to protect people outside the formal employment sector. Crucial issues are the equity implications of different financing mechanisms, and patterns of service use. We report a whole-system analysis--integrating both public and private sectors--of the equity of health-system financing and service use in Ghana, South Africa, and Tanzania. We used primary and secondary data to calculate the progressivity of each health-care financing mechanism, catastrophic spending on health care, and the distribution of health-care benefits. We collected qualitative data to inform interpretation. Overall health-care financing was progressive in all three countries, as were direct taxes. Indirect taxes were regressive in South Africa but progressive in Ghana and Tanzania. Out-of-pocket payments were regressive in all three countries. Health-insurance contributions by those outside the formal sector were regressive in both Ghana and Tanzania. The overall distribution of service benefits in all three countries favoured richer people, although the burden of illness was greater for lower-income groups. Access to needed, appropriate services was the biggest challenge to universal coverage in all three countries. Analyses of the equity of financing and service use provide guidance on which financing mechanisms to expand, and especially raise questions over the appropriate financing mechanism for the health care of people outside the formal sector. Physical and financial barriers to service access must be addressed if universal coverage is to become a reality. European Union and International Development Research Centre. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Essential medicines lists for children of WHO, India, South Africa, and EML of China: A comparative study.

PubMed

Liu, Dan; Cheng, Jing; Zhang, Ling-Li; Li, You-Ping; Zeng, Li-Nan; Zhang, Chuan; Gui, Ge

2017-11-01

Comparing the essential medicine lists for children and China national essential medicine list 2012, to provide the evidence for establishing essential medicine list for children in China. Search the official websites of WHO and some other countries' ministry of health to get essential medicine lists for children (EMLc) that have already established. Compare the situation of updating, the number and classification of medicines, and the dosage forms in essential medicine lists for children and China national essential medicine list 2012. By December 2013, the WHO, India, and South Africa have established EMLc. The list of China was for people in all ages, so the number of medicines ranked first in four lists. WHO, India, and China classified the medicines by pharmacologic action, South Africa classified by ATC classification. Except for WHO, India, South Africa, and China did not have specific medicines for neonatal care or medicines for diseases of joints. The main administration routes in these four lists were oral administration, injection, and topical application. There were medicine restrictions in lists of WHO and India, but there were no medicine restrictions in the lists of South Africa and China. Compared with EMLs for children, the 2012 National Essential Medicine List for China is not suitable for children in China. Development of Chinese EMLc should be based on the burden of diseases for children, and should select applicable dosage forms and specifications. © 2016 Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

The 'medical humanities' in health sciences education in South Africa.

PubMed

Reid, S

2014-02-01

A new masters-level course, 'Medicine and the Arts" will be offered in 2014 at the University of Cape Town, setting a precedent for interdisciplinary education in the field of medical humanities in South Africa. The humanities and social sciences have always been an implicit part of undergraduate and postgraduate education in the health sciences, but increasingly they are becoming an explicit and essential component of the curriculum, as the importance of graduate attributes and outcomes in the workplace is acknowledged. Traditionally, the medical humanities have included medical ethics, history, literature and anthropology. Less prominent in the literature has been the engagement with medicine of the disciplines of sociology, politics, philosophy, linguistics, education, and law, as well as the creative and expressive arts. The development of the medical humanities in education and research in South Africa is set to expand over the next few years, and it looks as if it will be an exciting inter-disciplinary journey.

The Alignment of Software Testing Skills of IS Students with Industry Practices--A South African Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Elsje; Zadirov, Alexander; Feinberg, Sean; Jayakody, Ruwanga

2004-01-01

Software testing is a crucial component in the development of good quality systems in industry. For this reason it was considered important to investigate the extent to which the Information Systems (IS) syllabus at the University of Cape Town (UCT) was aligned with accepted software testing practices in South Africa. For students to be effective…

Education for Responsibility: Possibilities of a Derridian Text for University Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgs, Philip

2004-01-01

The reform of the higher education system in South Africa has been well-documented in recent years.* The reform process it is stated, is directed at the establishment of one higher education system that will contribute to the social, economic and political development of the South African society. In this article I explore the possibilities that a…

Teacher as Learner: A Personal Reflection on a Short Course for South African University Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clowes, Lindsay

2013-01-01

Higher education is understood to play a critical role in ongoing processes of social transformation in post-apartheid South Africa through the production of graduates who are critical and engaged citizens. A key challenge is that institutions of higher education are themselves implicated in reproducing the very hierarchies they hope to transform.…

Occupational Mobility and Wage Differentiation: A Qualitative Study. HSRC Investigation into Manpower Issues: Manpower Studies No. 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Human, Linda; And Others

This study, the third of three undertaken by the School of Business Leadership at the University of South Africa, involves an analysis of wage differentiation and occupational mobility at the microlevel among blacks in a number of South African companies. The report argues that the political, legal, economic and social factors which impinge on…

Students' Food Acquisition Struggles in the Context of South Africa: The Fundamentals of Student Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dominguez-Whitehead, Yasmine

2015-01-01

This article situates food at the heart of the fundamentals of student development, based on qualitative case study research. Food acquisition and food-related struggles in the context of the South African university are examined. Three overarching themes emerged from the analysis of the data, and are discussed in detail: depletion of food funds,…

Interrogating the Nature of the "Universal" in South Africa's New Educational Order

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soudien, Crain

2011-01-01

This paper examines the relationship between the South African knowledge enterprise and citizenship in terms of the ontologies it authorises. It is especially interested in how education comes to be used in particular settings to privilege particular ways of being. In relation to this it asks what notions of the subject and his or her relation to…

Mt. Kilimanjaro expedition in earth science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparrow, Elena; Yoshikawa, Kenji; Narita, Kenji; Brettenny, Mark; Yule, Sheila; O'Toole, Michael; Brettenny, Rogeline

2010-05-01

Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain is 5,895 meters above sea level and is located 330 km south of the equator in Tanzania. In 1976 glaciers covered most of Mt. Kilimanjaro's summit; however in 2000, an estimated eighty percent of the ice cap has disappeared since the last thorough survey done in 1912. There is increased scientific interest in Mt. Kilimanjaro with the increase in global and African average temperatures. A team of college and pre-college school students from Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya, teachers from South Africa and the United States, and scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the United States and Akita University in Japan, climbed to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in October 2009. They were accompanied by guides, porters, two expedition guests, and a videographer. This expedition was part of the GLOBE Seasons and Biomes Earth System Science Project and the GLOBE Africa science education initiative, exploring and contributing to climate change studies. Students learned about earth science experientially by observing their physical and biological surroundings, making soil and air temperature measurements, participating in discussions, journaling their experience, and posing research questions. The international trekkers noted the change in the biomes as the altitude, temperature and conditions changed, from cultivated lands, to rain forest, heath zone, moorland, alpine desert, and summit. They also discovered permafrost, but not at the summit as expected. Rather, it was where the mountain was not covered by a glacier and thus more exposed to low extreme temperatures. This was the first report of permafrost on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Classrooms from all over the world participated in the expedition virtually. They followed the trek through the expedition website (http://www.xpeditiononline.com/) where pictures and journals were posted, and posed their own questions which were answered by the expedition and base camp team members. This was an opportunity for South African, Tanzanian and Kenyan students to work side by side with scientists, experience the wonder of summiting Africa's tallest mountain, and to learn hands-on earth science at a remote location. For students worldwide, it was an opportunity to share in the exciting earth science learning experience of going to the top of Africa without leaving their classrooms.

Exposure to domestic violence and identity development among adolescent university students in South Africa.

PubMed

Makhubela, Malose S

2012-06-01

This study examined the relationship between exposure to domestic violence and identity development in a sample of 108 undergraduate students with an average age of 18.7 yr. from University of Limpopo in South Africa. There were more women (n = 64; 58.7%) in the study than men (n = 45; 41.3%). Participants were classified into high and low domestic violence exposure groups on the basis of a median split in physical violence scores from the Child Exposure to Domestic Violence Scale (CEDV). Exposure was then compared with identity development as measured by the Ochse and Plug Erikson scale. The results indicated a significant mean difference between the two groups on identity development. Furthermore, exposure to domestic violence was significantly associated with lower scores for identity development as represented by subscales measuring trust, autonomy, initiative and other Eriksonian constructs. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Implementing Electronic Conferencing within a Distance-Based University: University of South Africa Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kritzinger, E.; Padayachee, K.; Tolmay, M.

2010-01-01

The outcome of this paper is primarily to survey and analyse student interactions with electronic conferencing systems and to reflect on the impact of such a system on the students' learning within an open distance learning context. This pilot study is articulated within action research methodology to generate critical reflection on collaborative,…

First-Year Seminar Intervention: Enhancing First-Year Mathematics Performance at the University of Johannesburg

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Melanie; Pretorius, Estherna

2016-01-01

South Africa has opened up access to higher education over the past 20 years. The massive increase in enrolments (with almost 70% first-generation students) substantially affects progress and graduation rates in Science programmes in higher education. First-year students in Science realise that university mathematics requires knowledge and skills…

Mitigating the Mathematical Knowledge Gap between High School and First Year University Chemical Engineering Mathematics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basitere, Moses; Ivala, Eunice

2015-01-01

This paper reports on a study carried out at a University of Technology, South Africa, aimed at identifying the existence of the mathematical knowledge gap and evaluating the intervention designed to bridge the knowledge gap amongst students studying first year mathematics at the Chemical Engineering Extended Curriculum Program (ECP). In this…

An APOS Analysis of Natural Science Students' Understanding of Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maharaj, Aneshkumar

2014-01-01

This article reports on a study which used the APOS (action-process-object-schema) Theory framework and a classification of errors to investigate university students' understanding of the integration concept and its applications. Research was done at the Westville Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The relevant rules for…

Generating evidence to narrow the treatment gap for mental disorders in sub-Saharan Africa: rationale, overview and methods of AFFIRM.

PubMed

Lund, C; Alem, A; Schneider, M; Hanlon, C; Ahrens, J; Bandawe, C; Bass, J; Bhana, A; Burns, J; Chibanda, D; Cowan, F; Davies, T; Dewey, M; Fekadu, A; Freeman, M; Honikman, S; Joska, J; Kagee, A; Mayston, R; Medhin, G; Musisi, S; Myer, L; Ntulo, T; Nyatsanza, M; Ofori-Atta, A; Petersen, I; Phakathi, S; Prince, M; Shibre, T; Stein, D J; Swartz, L; Thornicroft, G; Tomlinson, M; Wissow, L; Susser, E

2015-06-01

There is limited evidence on the acceptability, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of task-sharing interventions to narrow the treatment gap for mental disorders in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this article is to describe the rationale, aims and methods of the Africa Focus on Intervention Research for Mental health (AFFIRM) collaborative research hub. AFFIRM is investigating strategies for narrowing the treatment gap for mental disorders in sub-Saharan Africa in four areas. First, it is assessing the feasibility, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of task-sharing interventions by conducting randomised controlled trials in Ethiopia and South Africa. The AFFIRM Task-sharing for the Care of Severe mental disorders (TaSCS) trial in Ethiopia aims to determine the acceptability, affordability, effectiveness and sustainability of mental health care for people with severe mental disorder delivered by trained and supervised non-specialist, primary health care workers compared with an existing psychiatric nurse-led service. The AFFIRM trial in South Africa aims to determine the cost-effectiveness of a task-sharing counselling intervention for maternal depression, delivered by non-specialist community health workers, and to examine factors influencing the implementation of the intervention and future scale up. Second, AFFIRM is building individual and institutional capacity for intervention research in sub-Saharan Africa by providing fellowship and mentorship programmes for candidates in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Each year five Fellowships are awarded (one to each country) to attend the MPhil in Public Mental Health, a joint postgraduate programme at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University. AFFIRM also offers short courses in intervention research, and supports PhD students attached to the trials in Ethiopia and South Africa. Third, AFFIRM is collaborating with other regional National Institute of Mental Health funded hubs in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, by designing and executing shared research projects related to task-sharing and narrowing the treatment gap. Finally, it is establishing a network of collaboration between researchers, non-governmental organisations and government agencies that facilitates the translation of research knowledge into policy and practice. This article describes the developmental process of this multi-site approach, and provides a narrative of challenges and opportunities that have arisen during the early phases. Crucial to the long-term sustainability of this work is the nurturing and sustaining of partnerships between African mental health researchers, policy makers, practitioners and international collaborators.

Socio-economic gradients in prevalent tuberculosis in Zambia and the Western Cape of South Africa.

PubMed

Yates, Tom A; Ayles, Helen; Leacy, Finbarr P; Schaap, A; Boccia, Delia; Beyers, Nulda; Godfrey-Faussett, Peter; Floyd, Sian

2018-04-01

To describe the associations between socio-economic position and prevalent tuberculosis in the 2010 ZAMSTAR Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey, one of the first large tuberculosis prevalence surveys in Southern Africa in the HIV era. The main analyses used data on 34 446 individuals in Zambia and 30 017 individuals in South Africa with evaluable tuberculosis culture results. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios for prevalent TB by two measures of socio-economic position: household wealth, derived from data on assets using principal components analysis, and individual educational attainment. Mediation analysis was used to evaluate potential mechanisms for the observed social gradients. The quartile with highest household wealth index in Zambia and South Africa had, respectively, 0.55 (95% CI 0.33-0.92) times and 0.70 (95% CI 0.54-0.93) times the adjusted odds of prevalent TB of the bottom quartile. College or university-educated individuals in Zambia and South Africa had, respectively, 0.25 (95% CI 0.12-0.54) and 0.42 (95% CI 0.25-0.70) times the adjusted odds of prevalent TB of individuals who had received only primary education. We found little evidence that these associations were mediated via several key proximal risk factors for TB, including HIV status. These data suggest that social determinants of TB remain important even in the context of generalised HIV epidemics. © 2018 The Authors. Tropical Medicine & International Health Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Tele-Education in South Africa

PubMed Central

Mars, Maurice

2014-01-01

Introduction: Telemedicine includes the use of information and communication technology for education in the health sector, tele-education. Sub-Saharan Africa has an extreme shortage of health professionals and as a result, doctors to teach doctors and students. Tele-education has the potential to provide access to education both formal and continuing medical education. While the uptake of telemedicine in Africa is low, there are a number of successful and sustained tele-education programs. The aims of this study were (i) to review the literature on tele-education in South Africa, (ii) describe tele-education activities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZ-N) in South Africa, and (iii) review the development of these programs with respect to current thinking on eHealth project implementation. Method: A literature review of tele-education in South Africa was undertaken. The development of the tele-education services at UKZ-N from 2001 to present is described. The approaches taken are compared with current teaching on eHealth implementation and a retrospective design-reality gap analysis is made. Results: Tele-education has been in use in South Africa since the 1970s. Several forms of tele-education are in place at the medical schools and in some Provincial Departments of Health (DOH). Despite initial attempts by the National DOH, there are no national initiatives in tele-education. At UKZ-N, a tele-education service has been running since 2001 and appears to be sustainable and reaching maturity, with over 1,400 h of videoconferenced education offered per year. The service has expanded to offer videoconferenced education into Africa using different ways of delivering tele-education. Conclusion: Tele-education has been used in different forms for many years in the health sector in South Africa. There is little hard evidence of its educational merit or economic worth. What it apparent is that it improves access to education and training in resource constrained settings. The development of local and international tele-education at the UKZ-N has not followed what is currently considered to be best practice but shows how programs can develop if there is a real need and the solution assists in meeting the need. Further work is required to analyze the economics of these tele-education endeavors. PMID:25405146

Africa's present and future needs in toxicology education: Southern African perspective.

PubMed

Gulumian, Mary; Ginsburg, Carren; Stewart, Michael J

2005-09-01

Degrees and diplomas as well as certificates that are granted by universities and technikons in South Africa in scientific disciplines, such as forensic medicine, pharmacology, marine and veterinary sciences, environmental health, and occupational hygiene, include toxicology as one of the subjects in their overall syllabus. However, aspects of toxicology included in each of these courses are biased towards that particular subdiscipline and basic level of toxicology may be taught. Educational needs in toxicology in South Africa can be summarized as follows: (a) recognition of toxicology as a discipline in its own right at these tertiary education institutions and (b) creation of opportunities to study and obtain higher degrees in one or more of the many subdisciplines of toxicology. The results from a survey conducted on the toxicology syllabi offered at these tertiary education institutions are used to substantiate these needs.

Interest in and willingness to use complementary, alternative and traditional medicine among academic and administrative university staff in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

PubMed

van Staden, Anna Maria; Joubert, Georgina B A

2014-01-01

Healthcare systems worldwide are changing and the use of complementary, alternative and traditional medicine (CAM) form part of this transformation. South Africa has a large number of CAM practitioners, but they are not included in the official healthcare system. The aim of this study was to determine the perception and usage of CAM among the academic and administrative staff of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein, South Africa. A questionnaire was compiled and sent electronically to all the academic and administrative staff of the UFS who had a university email address, to be completed online. The response rate was 5.5%, with most of the respondents from the Faculty of Health Sciences. The respondents (n=165) were mainly women of 41-60 years of age with more than one tertiary qualification. Most of the respondents were in good health and considered CAM as moderately helpful and mostly safe. Most of the CAM recommendations were not from a medical physician. The respondents wanted alternatives to certain medications, such as antibiotics. They also had good previous experience with CAM and felt that conventional treatment was not always effective to treat their problems. They identified a need for CAM in the health system. The study has limitations due to the data collection method and the low response rate. The results showed that the respondents favored a more integrated healthcare system including different CAM therapies, and that conventional doctors should be better informed about these therapies and its uses.

Progress towards universal health coverage in BRICS: translating economic growth into better health.

PubMed

Rao, Krishna D; Petrosyan, Varduhi; Araujo, Edson Correia; McIntyre, Diane

2014-06-01

Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa--the countries known as BRICS--represent some of the world's fastest growing large economies and nearly 40% of the world's population. Over the last two decades, BRICS have undertaken health-system reforms to make progress towards universal health coverage. This paper discusses three key aspects of these reforms: the role of government in financing health; the underlying motivation behind the reforms; and the value of the lessons learnt for non-BRICS countries. Although national governments have played a prominent role in the reforms, private financing constitutes a major share of health spending in BRICS. There is a reliance on direct expenditures in China and India and a substantial presence of private insurance in Brazil and South Africa. The Brazilian health reforms resulted from a political movement that made health a constitutional right, whereas those in China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa were an attempt to improve the performance of the public system and reduce inequities in access. The move towards universal health coverage has been slow. In China and India, the reforms have not adequately addressed the issue of out-of-pocket payments. Negotiations between national and subnational entities have often been challenging but Brazil has been able to achieve good coordination between federal and state entities via a constitutional delineation of responsibility. In the Russian Federation, poor coordination has led to the fragmented pooling and inefficient use of resources. In mixed health systems it is essential to harness both public and private sector resources.

Progress towards universal health coverage in BRICS: translating economic growth into better health

PubMed Central

Petrosyan, Varduhi; Araujo, Edson Correia; McIntyre, Diane

2014-01-01

Abstract Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa – the countries known as BRICS – represent some of the world’s fastest growing large economies and nearly 40% of the world’s population. Over the last two decades, BRICS have undertaken health-system reforms to make progress towards universal health coverage. This paper discusses three key aspects of these reforms: the role of government in financing health; the underlying motivation behind the reforms; and the value of the lessons learnt for non-BRICS countries. Although national governments have played a prominent role in the reforms, private financing constitutes a major share of health spending in BRICS. There is a reliance on direct expenditures in China and India and a substantial presence of private insurance in Brazil and South Africa. The Brazilian health reforms resulted from a political movement that made health a constitutional right, whereas those in China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa were an attempt to improve the performance of the public system and reduce inequities in access. The move towards universal health coverage has been slow. In China and India, the reforms have not adequately addressed the issue of out-of-pocket payments. Negotiations between national and subnational entities have often been challenging but Brazil has been able to achieve good coordination between federal and state entities via a constitutional delineation of responsibility. In the Russian Federation, poor coordination has led to the fragmented pooling and inefficient use of resources. In mixed health systems it is essential to harness both public and private sector resources. PMID:24940017

University students as recipients of and contributors to information on climate change: insights from South Africa and implications for well-being.

PubMed

El Zoghbi, Mona Betour; El Ansari, Walid

2014-06-01

This study aimed to enhance the in-depth understanding of the contextual dimensions that shape the relationships between climate change communication approach and youth well-being. The study focused on university students who constitute the key stakeholders and future decision-makers and leaders for managing the long-term climate risks. A total of 10 focus group interviews were conducted with 117 undergraduate and graduate South African university students from over 12 universities located in different provinces of South Africa. In addition, another 16 interviews were also undertaken with university students, 10 interviews with key experts, and 3 youth national events were attended as participant-observation. As recipients of information on climate change, students' well-being was negatively affected by the media's pessimism of communicating risks and the inadequate or restricted networking of communicating solutions and strategies. As contributors to information on climate change, students faced key barriers to their efficacy and agency that entailed socio-cultural inequalities (e.g. race and language) and a lack of formal forums for community recognition, policy consultation and collaboration. In addition, for some students (e.g. journalism students), the lack of sufficient knowledge and skills on climate change and sustainability issues limited their ability to effectively communicate these issues to their audience. Platforms for interactive and reflective discussions, access to innovative technologies and social media, and opportunities for multi-stakeholder partnerships are keys to the success of youth-targeted and youth-initiated communication on climate change.

Neuropsychology in South Africa: confronting the challenges of specialist practice in a culturally diverse developing country.

PubMed

Watts, Ann D; Shuttleworth-Edwards, Ann B

2016-11-01

This was an invited paper on the history and current status of neuropsychology in South Africa. Information was gathered from literature searches, personal communication, and the authors' experiences while occupying relevant professional and academic positions for over 30 years. Since its origins in the 1950s, the development of neuropsychology in South Africa has faced numerous challenges, against a background of extreme sociocultural and socioeconomic disparity in the country that is on-going. The creation of the South African Clinical Neuropsychological Society in the 1980s, a credentialing and training body, gave impetus to the discipline. In the absence of a neuropsychology category within the South African professional framework, university instruction has been ad hoc with vastly different levels of competency depending on the institution involved. The small number of practitioners and/or academics involved in neuropsychology includes mainly masters, and some doctoral level psychologists registered in clinical, counseling or educational categories. A prime emphasis of neuropsychological research has been local norming of psychometric tests to facilitate valid assessment practices in the country. South Africa is on the cusp of achieving a hard-won neuropsychology professional register. It is anticipated that this development will provide impetus to the discipline by promoting training programs, the creation of neuropsychology posts, wider service delivery, and increased research funding. Despite significant challenges in a culturally diverse, developing country, neuropsychology has evolved sufficiently to warrant the creation of a separate category in the professional framework. This development will facilitate training, research, and services in the country.

Tropospheric Carbon Monoxide Measurements from the Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder on 7 September 2000 in Southern Africa during SAFARI 2000

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McMillan, W. W.; McCourt, M. L.; Revercomb, H. E.; Knuteson, R. O.; Christian, T. J.; Doddridge, B. G.; Hobbs, P. V.; Lukovich, P. C.; Novelli, P. C.; Piketh, S. J.

2003-01-01

Retrieved tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) column densities are presented for more than 9000 spectra obtained by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWis) Scanning High-Resolution Interferometer Sounder (SHIS) during a flight on the NASA ER-2 on 7 September 2000 as part of the Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) dry season field campaign. Enhancements in tropospheric column CO were detected in the vicinity of a controlled biomass burn in the Timbavati Game Reserve in northeastern South Africa and over the edge of the river of smoke in south central Mozambique. Relatively clean air was observed over the far southern coast of Mozambique. Quantitative comparisons are presented with in situ measurements from five different instruments flying on two other aircraft: the University of Washington Convair-580 (CV) and the South African Aerocommander JRB in the vicinity of the Timbavati fire. Measured tropospheric CO columns (extrapolated from 337 to 100 mb) of 2.1 x 10(exp 18) per square centimeter in background air and up to 1.5 x 10(exp 19) per square centimeter in the smoke plume agree well with SHIS retrieved tropospheric CO columns of (2.3 plus or minus 0.25) x 10(exp 18) per square centimeter over background air near the fire and (1.5 plus or minus 0.35) x 10(exp 19) per square centimeter over the smoke plume. Qualitative comparisons are presented with three other in situ CO profiles obtained by the South African JRA aircraft over Mozambique and northern South Africa showing the influence of the river of smoke.

"Not Tainted by the Past": Re-Constructions and Negotiations of Coloured Identities among University Coloured Students in Post-Apartheid South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nikolaeva, Sardana

2013-01-01

The South African coloured identity is a profoundly complex construction that, on the one hand, is interpreted as an ambiguous and "in-between" identity and, on the other hand, its own ambiguity and complexity provides multiple means and strategies of production and articulation within various contexts. This dissertation seeks to examine…

Black doctors and discrimination under South Africa's apartheid regime.

PubMed

Digby, Anne

2013-04-01

This article discusses an under-researched group and provides an analytical overview of the comparative experiences of African, Indian and Coloured doctors at South African universities during the apartheid era. It probes diversity of experience in training and practice as well as gendered differentiation amongst black students before going on to discuss the careers and political activism of black doctors as well as the impact of recent transformational change on their position. It briefly assesses how singular this South African experience was.

Focus on South Africa. Varieties of English Around the World, Volume 15.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Klerk, Vivian, Ed.

Essays on English in South Africa and its neighboring countries include: "A History of English in South Africa" (Len Lanham); "English in South African Society: A Preliminary Overview" (Bill Branford); "Black English in South Africa" (David Gough); "Language Contact, Transmission, Shift: South African Indian…

Perceptions about Authentic Leadership Development: South African Occupational Therapy Students' Camp Experience

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background Twenty-three years into democracy, concern is deepening regarding the slow progress of Occupational Therapy (OT) in South Africa, especially with regard to diversity and inclusion within OT. Methods This study explores authentic leadership development primarily among Black OT students attending a pilot Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa (OTASA) National Student Leadership Camp. It seeks to ascertain their perceptions on leadership and leadership development. This descriptive pilot study employs in-depth interviews and subsequent content analysis, with 12 OT students from six university OT programs in South Africa. Findings Four categories of participant perceptions on authentic leadership development emerged from the analysis: (1) perceptions about oneself as a leader based on personal narrative, self-awareness, self-control, and psychological capital; (2) perceptions about others, specifically current leaders, with regard to their moral crisis, including continuing inequality, insincerity, greed, and selfishness; (3) goals and aspirations for leadership development via student camps; and (4) effects of leadership on the system. Conclusions Recommendations for future practice include promotion of storytelling as a means of personal reflection for authentic leadership development and focused investment in camps for developing student leadership skills and building authentic leadership knowledge. PMID:29770106

Perceptions about Authentic Leadership Development: South African Occupational Therapy Students' Camp Experience.

PubMed

Hendricks, Fatima; Toth-Cohen, Susan

2018-01-01

Twenty-three years into democracy, concern is deepening regarding the slow progress of Occupational Therapy (OT) in South Africa, especially with regard to diversity and inclusion within OT. This study explores authentic leadership development primarily among Black OT students attending a pilot Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa (OTASA) National Student Leadership Camp. It seeks to ascertain their perceptions on leadership and leadership development. This descriptive pilot study employs in-depth interviews and subsequent content analysis, with 12 OT students from six university OT programs in South Africa. Four categories of participant perceptions on authentic leadership development emerged from the analysis: (1) perceptions about oneself as a leader based on personal narrative, self-awareness, self-control, and psychological capital; (2) perceptions about others, specifically current leaders, with regard to their moral crisis, including continuing inequality, insincerity, greed, and selfishness; (3) goals and aspirations for leadership development via student camps; and (4) effects of leadership on the system. Recommendations for future practice include promotion of storytelling as a means of personal reflection for authentic leadership development and focused investment in camps for developing student leadership skills and building authentic leadership knowledge.

Early Childhood Development in South Africa--Progress Since the End of Apartheid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atmore, Eric

2013-01-01

In April 1994, South Africa held its historic first democratic election. The African National Congress overwhelmingly triumphed and Nelson Mandela became the first president of a free and democratic South Africa. In this review, the situation of South Africa's young children under apartheid and the context of young children in South Africa in 2012…

Exposing the illegal trade in cycad species (Cycadophyta: Encephalartos) at two traditional medicine markets in South Africa using DNA barcoding.

PubMed

Williamson, J; Maurin, O; Shiba, S N S; van der Bank, H; Pfab, M; Pilusa, M; Kabongo, R M; van der Bank, M

2016-09-01

Species in the cycad genus Encephalartos are listed in CITES Appendix I and as Threatened or Protected Species in terms of South Africa's National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM:BA) of 2004. Despite regulations, illegal plant harvesting for medicinal trade has continued in South Africa and resulted in declines in cycad populations and even complete loss of sub-populations. Encephalartos is traded at traditional medicine markets in South Africa in the form of bark strips and stem sections; thus, determining the species traded presents a major challenge due to a lack of characteristic plant parts. Here, a case study is presented on the use of DNA barcoding to identify cycads sold at the Faraday and Warwick traditional medicine markets in Johannesburg and Durban, respectively. Market samples were sequenced for the core DNA barcodes (rbcLa and matK) as well as two additional regions: nrITS and trnH-psbA. The barcoding database for cycads at the University of Johannesburg was utilized to assign query samples to known species. Three approaches were followed: tree-based, similarity-based, and character-based (BRONX) methods. Market samples identified were Encephalartos ferox (Near Threatened), Encephalartos lebomboensis (Endangered), Encephalartos natalensis (Near Threatened), Encephalartos senticosus (Vulnerable), and Encephalartos villosus (Least Concern). Results from this study are crucial for making appropriate assessments and decisions on how to manage these markets.

The Integration of Quality Management Functions within a University: A Systems Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brits, H. J.

2011-01-01

According to a recent study, institutions of higher learning in South Africa fail to a great extent to integrate the key management functions that are fundamental to effective quality management. This article argues that the effective promotion of quality of a university's core business depends to a large extent on the ability of an institution's…

The Role of Foundation Programmes in Science Education: The UNIFY Programme at the University of Limpopo, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mabila, T. E.; Malatje, S. E.; Addo-Bediako, A.; Kazeni, M. M. M.; Mathabatha, S. S.

2006-01-01

Since its inception in 1992, the University of the North's, Science Foundation Year (UNIFY) Programme has provided access to higher education to over 1500 previously disadvantaged students. However, there has always been doubt about whether the concept of a foundation programme is a worthwhile endeavour. To date, government has not yet fully…

International Education Partnerships: A Case Study of Two Universities in the United States and South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stinson, Barry L.

2010-01-01

As globalization continues to shape the world, higher education is one of many arenas that have been broadly impacted. As U.S. universities expand their reach across the globe in an attempt to internationalize their campuses, one approach open to them is a strategic alliance, or partnership, with another international institution of higher…

Effects of Identity Processing Styles on Academic Achievement of First Year University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seabi, Joseph; Payne, Jarrod

2013-01-01

Purpose: Academic achievement of first year university students in the international arena, as well as in South Africa, has been a point of concern for all stakeholders because of high failure and dropout rates. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of identity processing styles on academic achievement in first year university…

A Taxonomy of Factors to Promote Quality Web-Supported Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fresen, Jill

2007-01-01

This article reports on a case study of the e-learning production unit at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Phase 1 of the study, completed in 2003, was the design and development of a process-based quality management system for web-supported learning (WSL) using a basic ISO 9000 approach (University of Pretoria, 2003). The second phase,…

University Student's Perspectives on Using Cell Phones in Classrooms--Are They Dialing up Disaster?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernandez, Simon

2018-01-01

Mobile phones are one of the fastest growing technologies in this century all over the world and these devices are extremely influencing the adolescents. The present study was sought to establish students' views on cell phones usage in university classrooms in an educational district in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study employed…

The Color of Leadership. Essays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jansen, Jonathan D.

2005-01-01

On July 1, 2000, the author became the first black dean of Education in the almost 100 year existence of the formidable University of Pretoria, South Africa. This essay offers a set of meditations on being a black dean in a white university at the birth of a post-apartheid democracy. There are many sides to this narrative. It is a story of leading…

Student Levels of Engagement in Learning: A Case Study of Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivala, Eunice; Kioko, Joseph

2013-01-01

South Africa is currently faced with the challenge of undesirably low through put rates in higher education. The need to keep students interested and motivated to succeed are key objectives of many lecturers and institutions. Empirical studies have shown that one of the factors influencing student success at university is student engagement. This…

A Comparative Study of Cooperative Education and Work-Integrated Learning in Germany, South Africa, and Namibia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reinhard, Karin; Pogrzeba, Anna; Townsend, Rosemary; Pop, Carver Albertus

2016-01-01

The Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University was the first higher education institution in Germany to combine on-the-job training and academic studies. The study model integrates theory and practice, both being components of cooperative education. The success of this university is based on its cooperation with over 10,000 companies.…

Grounding Adult Education Research in Rural Areas: Reflections on the Development of a Research Program at the University of Limpopo in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeelen, Jacques; Rampedi, Makgwana; van der Linden, Josje

2014-01-01

Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surrounding communities. Often this service does not reach beyond lip service. This article puts into context the experience of developing an adult education research program responding to the needs of the surrounding community in a historically disadvantaged…

The Possibilities for University-Based Public-Good Professional Education: A Case-Study from South Africa Based on the "Capability Approach"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLean, Monica; Walker, Melanie

2012-01-01

The education of professionals oriented to poverty reduction and the public good is the focus of the article. Sen's "capability approach" is used to conceptualise university-based professional education as a process of developing public-good professional capabilities. The main output of a research project on professional education in…

Astronomy in Mozambique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ribeiro, Valério A. R. M.; Paulo, Cláudio M.

2015-03-01

We present the state of Astronomy in Mozambique and how it has evolved since 2009 following the International Year of Astronomy. Activities have been lead by staff at University Eduardo Mondlane and several outreach activities have also flourished. In 2010 the University introduced its first astronomy module, Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics, for the second year students in the Department of Physics. The course has now produced the first students who will be graduating in late 2012 with some astronomy content. Some of these students will now be looking for further studies and those who have been keen in astronomy have been recommended to pursue this as a career. At the university level we have also discussed on the possibility to introduce a whole astronomy course by 2016 which falls well within the HCD that the university is now investing in. With the announcement that the SKA will be split between South Africa with its partner countries (including Mozambique), and Australia we have been working closely with the Ministry of Science and Technology to make astronomy a priority on its agenda. In this respect, an old telecommunications antenna is being converted by the South Africa SKA Project Office, and donated to Mozambique for educational purposes. It will be situated in Maluana, Mozambique.

The role of the Jotello F. Soga Library in the digital preservation of South African veterinary history.

PubMed

Breytenbach, Amelia; Lourens, Antoinette; Marsh, Susan

2013-04-26

The history of veterinary science in South Africa can only be appreciated, studied, researched and passed on to coming generations if historical sources are readily available. In most countries, material and sources with historical value are often difficult to locate, dispersed over a large area and not part of the conventional book and journal literature. The Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Pretoria and its library has access to a large collection of historical sources. The collection consists of photographs, photographic slides, documents, proceedings, posters, audio-visual material, postcards and other memorabilia. Other institutions in the country are also approached if relevant sources are identified in their collections. The University of Pretoria's institutional repository, UPSpace, was launched in 2006. This provided the Jotello F. Soga Library with the opportunity to fill the repository with relevant digitised collections of diverse heritage and learning resources that can contribute to the long-term preservation and accessibility of historical veterinary sources. These collections are available for use not only by historians and researchers in South Africa but also elsewhere in Africa and the rest of the world. Important historical collections such as the Arnold Theiler collection, the Jotello F. Soga collection and collections of the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research and the Journal of the South African Veterinary Association are highlighted. The benefits of an open access digital repository, the importance of collaboration across the veterinary community and other prerequisites for the sustainability of a digitisation project and the importance of metadata to enhance accessibility are covered.

Astronomy Education & Outreach in South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Throop, Henry B.

2015-11-01

Although South Africa has evolved greatly in the 20 years since the end of apartheid, it remains a very divided country. The highest-performing students are comparable in ability to those in the US and Europe, but nearly all of these students are from priveleged Afrikaaner (European) backgrounds. The vast majority of students in the country are native African, and school standards remain very low across the country. It is common that students have no textbooks, teachers have only a high school education, and schools have no telephones and no toilets. By high school graduation, the majority of students have never used a web browser -- even students in the capital of Johannesburg. And while a few students are inspired by home-grown world-class projects such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), most remain unaware of their existence.Despite the poor state of education in the country, students work hard, are curious, and desire information from the outside world. Astronomy is one subject in which students in rural Africa often show exceptional interest. Perhaps astronomy serves as a 'gateway science,' linking the physically observable world with the exotic and unknown.Here I report on many visits I have made to both rural and urban schools in South Africa during the 2013-2015 period. I have interacted with thousands of grade 7-12 students at dozens of schools, as well as taught students who graduated from this system and enrolled in local universities. I will present an assessment of the state of science education in South Africa, as well as a few broader suggestions for how scientists and educators in developed countries can best make an impact in Southern Africa.

The role of small satellites in the development of the South African space programme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez, Peter

In the 1990s a team of scientists and engineers at Stellenbosch University built the first South African satellite to fly in space, the 64-kg Sunsat. This university-based satellite programme took advantage of the skills and facilities developed in the previous South African space programme of the 1980s and early 1990s, which had developed a much larger satellite (Greensat), but was cancelled in the mid-1990s prior to launch. Sunsat incorporated a number of novel capabilities for a microsatellite platform, and interest was shown in these technologies by other groups developing similar satellites. As the University was not the ideal environment to develop the commercial potential of these microsatellite technologies, a company called Sunspace was later established, thus creating industrial capacity in South Africa in a niche area of space technology. This new industrial capability, together with the infrastructure from the previous space programme, have created a foundation upon which to build the new South African space programme. This paper discusses the historical, current and possible future roles of small satellites in the development of the South African space programme.

Qualitative exploration of the career aspirations of rural origin health science students in South Africa.

PubMed

Diab, Paula N; Flack, Penny S; Mabuza, Langalibalele H; Reid, Stephen J Y

2012-01-01

There is evidence in the literature that rural background significantly encourages eventual rural practice. Given the shortage of healthcare providers in rural areas, we need to explore ways of ensuring throughput and success of rural-origin students in health sciences. It is therefore important to understand who these students are, what motivates them and the factors involved in the formation of their career choices. The aim of this study is to understand the aspirations of undergraduate health science students of rural origin with regard to their future career plans. The objectives of the study include to explore and identify the key issues facing rural-origin students with regard to their future career plans. Individual interviews were conducted with 15 health science students from two South African universities. Transcriptions were analyzed with the aid of Nvivo v8 (www.qsrinternational.com). The findings suggest health science students of rural origin studying at universities in the South African context face specific challenges related to the nature of the contrast between rural and urban life, in addition to the more generic adaptations that confront all students on entering tertiary education. In order to support rural students in their studies, academic, financial, emotional and social stressors need to be addressed. Universities should strengthen existing support structures as well as aid the development of further support that may be required.Key words: career plan, health science, rural background, South Africa.

Africa's present and future needs in toxicology education: Southern African perspective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gulumian, Mary; Ginsburg, Carren; Stewart, Michael J.

2005-09-01

Degrees and diplomas as well as certificates that are granted by universities and technikons in South Africa in scientific disciplines, such as forensic medicine, pharmacology, marine and veterinary sciences, environmental health, and occupational hygiene, include toxicology as one of the subjects in their overall syllabus. However, aspects of toxicology included in each of these courses are biased towards that particular subdiscipline and basic level of toxicology may be taught. Educational needs in toxicology in South Africa can be summarized as follows: (a) recognition of toxicology as a discipline in its own right at these tertiary education institutions and (b) creationmore » of opportunities to study and obtain higher degrees in one or more of the many subdisciplines of toxicology. The results from a survey conducted on the toxicology syllabi offered at these tertiary education institutions are used to substantiate these needs.« less

Effect of Active Learning Techniques on Students' Choice of Approach to Learning in Dentistry: A South African Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khan, S.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to report on empirical work, related to a techniques module, undertaken with the dental students of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. I will relate how a range of different active learning techniques (tutorials; question papers and mock tests) assisted students to adopt a deep approach to learning in…

My Fulbright Experience in South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capps, Ken

2009-08-01

As part of the Fulbright Scholar Program, the author lectured in general chemistry courses and assisted with curriculum development at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The educational systems and the students in general are compared with the author's experiences teaching in Florida, USA.

75 FR 59744 - Stainless Steel Plate From Belgium, Italy, Korea, South Africa, and Taiwan

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-28

... (Second Review)] Stainless Steel Plate From Belgium, Italy, Korea, South Africa, and Taiwan AGENCY: United... Africa and the antidumping duty orders on stainless steel plate from Belgium, Italy, Korea, South Africa... revocation of the countervailing duty orders on stainless steel plate from Belgium and South Africa and the...

Leveraging ongoing research to evaluate the health impacts of South Africa's salt reduction strategy: a prospective nested cohort within the WHO-SAGE multicountry, longitudinal study

PubMed Central

Charlton, Karen; Menyanu, Elias; Biritwum, Richard Berko; Naidoo, Nirmala; Pieterse, Chiné; Madurai, Savathree (Lorna); Baumgartner, Jeannine; Asare, George A; Thiele, Elizabeth; Schutte, Aletta E; Kowal, Paul

2016-01-01

Introduction Attempting to curb the rising epidemic of hypertension, South Africa implemented legislation in June 2016 mandating maximum sodium levels in a range of manufactured foods that contribute significantly to population salt intake. This natural experiment, comparing two African countries with and without salt legislation, will provide timely information on the impact of legislative approaches addressing the food supply to improve blood pressure in African populations. This article outlines the design of this ongoing prospective nested cohort study. Methods and analysis Baseline sodium intake was assessed in a nested cohort of the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (WHO-SAGE) wave 2 (2014–2015), a multinational longitudinal study on the health and well-being of adults and the ageing process. The South African cohort consisted of randomly selected households (n=4030) across the country. Spot and 24-hour urine samples are collected in a random subsample (n=1200) and sodium, potassium, creatinine and iodine analysed. Salt behaviour and sociodemographic data are captured using face-to-face interviews, alongside blood pressure and anthropometric measures. Ghana, the selected control country with no formal salt policy, provided a nested subsample (n=1200) contributing spot and 24-hour urine samples from the SAGE Ghana cohort (n=5000). Follow-up interviews and urine collection (wave 3) in both countries will take place in 2017 (postlegislation) to assess change in population-level sodium intake and blood pressure. Ethics and dissemination SAGE was approved by the WHO Ethics Review Committee (reference number RPC149) with local approval from the North-West University Human Research Ethics Committee and University of the Witwatersrand Human Research Ethics Committee (South Africa), and University of Ghana Medical School Ethics and Protocol Review Committee (Ghana). The results of the study will be published in peer-reviewed international journals, presented at national and international conferences, and summarised as research and policy briefs. PMID:27903563

Nursing education reform in South Africa – lessons from a policy analysis study

PubMed Central

Blaauw, Duane; Ditlopo, Prudence; Rispel, Laetitia C.

2014-01-01

Background Nursing education reform is identified as an important strategy for enhancing health workforce performance, and thereby improving the functioning of health systems. Globally, a predominant trend in such reform is towards greater professionalisation and university-based education. Related nursing education reform in South Africa culminated in a new Framework for Nursing Qualifications in 2013. Objective We undertook a policy analysis study of the development of the new Nursing Qualifications Framework in South Africa. Design We used a policy analysis framework derived from Walt and Gilson that interrogated the context, content, actors, and processes of policy development and implementation. Following informed consent, in-depth interviews were conducted with 28 key informants from national and provincial government; the South African Nursing Council; the national nursing association; nursing academics, managers, and educators; and other nursing organisations. The interviews were complemented with a review of relevant legislation and policy documents. Documents and interview transcripts were coded thematically using Atlas-ti software. Results The revision of nursing qualifications was part of the post-apartheid transformation of nursing, but was also influenced by changes in the education sector. The policy process took more than 10 years to complete and the final Regulations were promulgated in 2013. The two most important changes are the requirement for a baccalaureate degree to qualify as a professional nurse and abolishing the enrolled nurse with 2 years training in favour of a staff nurse with a 3-year college diploma. Respondents criticised slow progress, weak governance by the Nursing Council and the Department of Health, limited planning for implementation, and the inappropriateness of the proposals for South Africa. Conclusions The study found significant weaknesses in the policy capacity of the main institutions responsible for the leadership and governance of nursing in South Africa, which will need to be addressed if important nursing education reforms are to be realised. PMID:25537941

Nursing education reform in South Africa--lessons from a policy analysis study.

PubMed

Blaauw, Duane; Ditlopo, Prudence; Rispel, Laetitia C

2014-01-01

Nursing education reform is identified as an important strategy for enhancing health workforce performance, and thereby improving the functioning of health systems. Globally, a predominant trend in such reform is towards greater professionalisation and university-based education. Related nursing education reform in South Africa culminated in a new Framework for Nursing Qualifications in 2013. We undertook a policy analysis study of the development of the new Nursing Qualifications Framework in South Africa. We used a policy analysis framework derived from Walt and Gilson that interrogated the context, content, actors, and processes of policy development and implementation. Following informed consent, in-depth interviews were conducted with 28 key informants from national and provincial government; the South African Nursing Council; the national nursing association; nursing academics, managers, and educators; and other nursing organisations. The interviews were complemented with a review of relevant legislation and policy documents. Documents and interview transcripts were coded thematically using Atlas-ti software. The revision of nursing qualifications was part of the post-apartheid transformation of nursing, but was also influenced by changes in the education sector. The policy process took more than 10 years to complete and the final Regulations were promulgated in 2013. The two most important changes are the requirement for a baccalaureate degree to qualify as a professional nurse and abolishing the enrolled nurse with 2 years training in favour of a staff nurse with a 3-year college diploma. Respondents criticised slow progress, weak governance by the Nursing Council and the Department of Health, limited planning for implementation, and the inappropriateness of the proposals for South Africa. The study found significant weaknesses in the policy capacity of the main institutions responsible for the leadership and governance of nursing in South Africa, which will need to be addressed if important nursing education reforms are to be realised.

An exploratory study of the need for curriculum review of Master of Public Health Degree at a Rural-based University in South Africa

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Background Master of Public Health (MPH) training programmes were developed worldwide in response to the crisis in human resources for health. Aim To determine whether the MPH programme at the selected rural-based university in South Africa enabled students to achieve the MPH core competencies relevant for Lower Middle Income Countries. Setting The study was carried out at a rural-based University in South Africa. The target population was the 2011 first-year cohort of MPH students who by the beginning of 2014 had just completed their coursework. Methodology A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive research design was adapted. Eighty-five students were randomly selected to participate in the study. A structured questionnaire comprising seven competency clusters was developed. The selected students completed a self-administered questionnaire. Only those students who signed consent forms participated in this study. The questionnaire was tested for construct validity and reliability using 10 students with similar characteristics to those sampled for the study. Microsoft Excel software was used to analyse the data descriptively in terms of frequency and percentages. Results The students were confident of their competencies regarding public health science skills. Amongst these were analytical assessment, communication, community and inter-sectorial competencies as well as ethics. However, the students lacked confidence in context-sensitive issues, planning and management, research and development, and leadership competencies. Yet the latter is the backbone of public health practice. Conclusion and recommendation There is a need for revamping public health curricula. In this respect, a follow-up study that builds a deeper understanding of the subject is needed. PMID:27380845

Astronomy Landscape in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nemaungani, Takalani

2015-01-01

The vision for astronomy in Africa is embedded in the African Space Policy of the African Union in early 2014. The vision is about positioning Africa as an emerging hub for astronomy sciences and facilities. Africa recognized the need to take advantage of its natural resource, the geographical advantage of the clear southern skies and pristine sites for astronomy. The Pan African University (PAU) initiative also presents an opportunity as a post-graduate training and research network of university nodes in five regions of Africa and supported by the African Union. The Southern African node based in South Africa concentrates on space sciences which also includes astronomy. The PAU aims to provide the opportunity for advanced graduate training and postgraduate research to high-performing African students. Objectives also include promoting mobility of students and teachers and harmonizing programs and degrees.A number of astronomy initiatives have burgeoned in the Southern African region and these include the Southern Africa Largest Optical Telescope (SALT), HESS (High Energy Stereoscopic System), the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) and the AVN (African Very Long Baseline Interferometer Network). There is a growing appetite for astronomy sciences in Africa. In East Africa, the astronomy community is well organized and is growing - the East African Astronomical society (EAAS) held its successful fourth annual conference since 2010 on 30 June to 04 July 2014 at the University of Rwanda. Centred around the 'Role of Astronomy in Socio-Economic Transformation,' this conference aimed at strengthening capacity building in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science in general, while providing a forum for astronomers from the region to train young and upcoming scientists.

From Contradictions to Complementarities: A Social Realist Analysis of the Evolution of Academic Development within a Department

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Case, Jennifer M.; Heydenrych, Hilton; Kotta, Linda; Marshall, Delia; McKenna, Sioux; Williams, Kevin

2017-01-01

Academic development is a recent project in the university, intended to enable the university to respond to the needs of a more diverse student body. In South Africa, such work arose during late apartheid, and has now moved to a more central institutional position advocating responsiveness in the light of the educational disparities that are the…

University Students Use of Computers and Mobile Devices for Learning and Their Reading Speed on Different Platforms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mpofu, Bongeka

2016-01-01

This research was aimed at the investigation of mobile device and computer use at a higher learning institution. The goal was to determine the current use of computers and mobile devices for learning and the students' reading speed on different platforms. The research was contextualised in a sample of students at the University of South Africa.…

Ongoing Initiatives to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Medicine Use within the Public Healthcare System in South Africa; A Preliminary Study

PubMed Central

Meyer, Johanna C.; Schellack, Natalie; Stokes, Jacobus; Lancaster, Ruth; Zeeman, Helecine; Defty, Douglas; Godman, Brian; Steel, Gavin

2017-01-01

Introduction: South Africa has an appreciable burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases as well as high maternal, neonatal, and child morbidity. In recent years there have been significant strides with improving the public health system, and addressing current inequalities, with the right to health a constitutional provision in South Africa. Initiatives include the introduction of National Health Insurance, programmes to enhance access to medicines for patients with chronic diseases, as well as activities to improve care in hospitals, including improving pharmacovigilance. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to review ongoing initiatives within the public healthcare sector in South Africa and their influence to provide future direction. Method: Principally a structured review of current and planned activities. Results: There have been a number of major activities and initiatives surrounding the availability and access to medicines in the public system in recent years in South Africa. This includes a National Surveillance Centre and an innovative early warning system for the supply of medicines as well as the development of a National Health Care Pricing Authority and initiatives to improve contracting. There have also been developments to improve the supply chain including instigating Medicine Procurement Units in the provinces and enhancing forecasting capabilities. Access to medicines is improving though the instigation of stable chronic disease management initiatives to increase the number of external pick-up points for medicines. There are also ongoing programmes to enhance adherence to medicines as well as enhance adherence to the Standard Treatment Guidelines and the Essential Medicines List with their increasing availability. In addition, there is a movement to enhance the role of health technology assessment in future decision making. Hospital initiatives include increased focus on reducing antimicrobial resistance through instigating stewardship programmes as well as improving adverse drug reaction reporting and associated activities. Conclusion: Overall, there are an appreciable number of ongoing activities within the public healthcare system in South Africa attempting to ensure and sustain universal healthcare. It is too early to assess their impact, which will be the subject of future research. PMID:29163151

Ongoing Initiatives to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Medicine Use within the Public Healthcare System in South Africa; A Preliminary Study.

PubMed

Meyer, Johanna C; Schellack, Natalie; Stokes, Jacobus; Lancaster, Ruth; Zeeman, Helecine; Defty, Douglas; Godman, Brian; Steel, Gavin

2017-01-01

Introduction: South Africa has an appreciable burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases as well as high maternal, neonatal, and child morbidity. In recent years there have been significant strides with improving the public health system, and addressing current inequalities, with the right to health a constitutional provision in South Africa. Initiatives include the introduction of National Health Insurance, programmes to enhance access to medicines for patients with chronic diseases, as well as activities to improve care in hospitals, including improving pharmacovigilance. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to review ongoing initiatives within the public healthcare sector in South Africa and their influence to provide future direction. Method: Principally a structured review of current and planned activities. Results: There have been a number of major activities and initiatives surrounding the availability and access to medicines in the public system in recent years in South Africa. This includes a National Surveillance Centre and an innovative early warning system for the supply of medicines as well as the development of a National Health Care Pricing Authority and initiatives to improve contracting. There have also been developments to improve the supply chain including instigating Medicine Procurement Units in the provinces and enhancing forecasting capabilities. Access to medicines is improving though the instigation of stable chronic disease management initiatives to increase the number of external pick-up points for medicines. There are also ongoing programmes to enhance adherence to medicines as well as enhance adherence to the Standard Treatment Guidelines and the Essential Medicines List with their increasing availability. In addition, there is a movement to enhance the role of health technology assessment in future decision making. Hospital initiatives include increased focus on reducing antimicrobial resistance through instigating stewardship programmes as well as improving adverse drug reaction reporting and associated activities. Conclusion: Overall, there are an appreciable number of ongoing activities within the public healthcare system in South Africa attempting to ensure and sustain universal healthcare. It is too early to assess their impact, which will be the subject of future research.

PREFACE: International Workshop on Discovery Physics at the LHC (Kruger2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cleymans, Jean

2015-06-01

The third biannual conference on 'Discovery Physics at the LHC' was held on December 1-6 2014 at the Kruger Gate Hotel in South Africa. Over 100 participants attended from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. The latest results from the Large Hadron Collider as well the latest theoretical insights were presented. With the majestic Kruger National Park in the background this led to a very stimulating conference with many exchanges taking place. The proceedings reflect the high level of the conference. The financial contributions from the SA-CERN programme, the UCT-CERN Research Centre, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand and iThemba L.A.B.S. are gratefully acknowledged. Local Organizing Committee: Z. Buthelezi J. Cleymans (chair) S. H. Connell A. S. Cornell T. Dietel S. Förtsch N. Haasbroek A. Hamilton W. A. Horowitz B. Mellado Z. Z. Vilakazi S. Yacoob

Perceived images of disability: the reflections of two undergraduate medical students in a university in South Africa on life in a wheelchair.

PubMed

Amosun, Seyi L; Volmink, Lauren; Rosin, Rainer

2005-08-19

The purpose of this manuscript is to document the experiences of two undergraduate medical students at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who registered for a 4-week special study module titled "Images of Disability", as part of the medical training programme. The objective of the module was to foster the development of positive attitudes toward persons with physical disability through role-playing. The special study module required that the students assumed they had mobility impairments and were physically confined to wheelchairs. The students were required to document their personal experiences of life in a wheelchair for five consecutive working days. The students had to deal with their perceptions of the attitudes of individuals they interacted with, which resulted in feeling of inferiority and lowered self-esteem. The students also identified obstacles in the environment which hindered integration. The students reported significant positive changes in their attitudes towards persons with disabilities.

Introduction: the realities of antiretroviral therapy rollout: overcoming challenges to successful programmatic implementation.

PubMed

Ojikutu, Bisola

2007-12-01

In 2006, 2 million human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected people living in low- to middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Although this is an improvement over previous years, significant operational challenges have inhibited progress toward universal access to HIV care and treatment. Despite these challenges, the intense efforts focused on addressing the HIV epidemic present an opportunity for overall health systems improvement in developing nations. In October 2006, Harvard University's Centers for AIDS Research, the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, the Department of Health of KwaZulu-Natal, and the Medical Research Council of South Africa held a conference entitled "The Realities of Antiretroviral Therapy Rollout: Challenges to Successful Programmatic Implementation" in Durban, South Africa. The goal of the meeting was to bring together international and local leadership, including policy makers, health care workers, and funders, to propose an agenda that would address the challenges to more expeditious provision of HIV care and treatment in resource-limited settings.

Problems encountered by BA Cur graduates and recommendations for enhancing learner support.

PubMed

Ehlers, V

2000-12-01

Distance education is becoming ever more important in providing continuing post basic, and especially postgraduate, education to practising professional persons, including nurses. As more and more institutions in the Republic of South Africa offer distance education courses to nurses, it is essential to take note of the positive and negative experiences of successful graduates of these programmes, in order to enhance the learning opportunities, and the success rate of nurses pursuing such distance education courses. A brief historical overview is provided about the University of South Africa (Unisa) and about the Department of Advanced Nursing Sciences at this distance education university. This background information should assist the reader in contextualising the research findings. Questionnaires were posted to all Unisa's 1998 BA Cur graduates. The research report focuses on the 1998 BA Cur (nursing) graduates' biographic data, their experiences of pursuing distance education post basic nursing courses, their positive and negative perceptions of these experiences and their recommendations for enhancing other students' success.

The Development of Computational Biology in South Africa: Successes Achieved and Lessons Learnt

PubMed Central

Mulder, Nicola J.; Christoffels, Alan; de Oliveira, Tulio; Gamieldien, Junaid; Hazelhurst, Scott; Joubert, Fourie; Kumuthini, Judit; Pillay, Ché S.; Snoep, Jacky L.; Tastan Bishop, Özlem; Tiffin, Nicki

2016-01-01

Bioinformatics is now a critical skill in many research and commercial environments as biological data are increasing in both size and complexity. South African researchers recognized this need in the mid-1990s and responded by working with the government as well as international bodies to develop initiatives to build bioinformatics capacity in the country. Significant injections of support from these bodies provided a springboard for the establishment of computational biology units at multiple universities throughout the country, which took on teaching, basic research and support roles. Several challenges were encountered, for example with unreliability of funding, lack of skills, and lack of infrastructure. However, the bioinformatics community worked together to overcome these, and South Africa is now arguably the leading country in bioinformatics on the African continent. Here we discuss how the discipline developed in the country, highlighting the challenges, successes, and lessons learnt. PMID:26845152

The Development of Computational Biology in South Africa: Successes Achieved and Lessons Learnt.

PubMed

Mulder, Nicola J; Christoffels, Alan; de Oliveira, Tulio; Gamieldien, Junaid; Hazelhurst, Scott; Joubert, Fourie; Kumuthini, Judit; Pillay, Ché S; Snoep, Jacky L; Tastan Bishop, Özlem; Tiffin, Nicki

2016-02-01

Bioinformatics is now a critical skill in many research and commercial environments as biological data are increasing in both size and complexity. South African researchers recognized this need in the mid-1990s and responded by working with the government as well as international bodies to develop initiatives to build bioinformatics capacity in the country. Significant injections of support from these bodies provided a springboard for the establishment of computational biology units at multiple universities throughout the country, which took on teaching, basic research and support roles. Several challenges were encountered, for example with unreliability of funding, lack of skills, and lack of infrastructure. However, the bioinformatics community worked together to overcome these, and South Africa is now arguably the leading country in bioinformatics on the African continent. Here we discuss how the discipline developed in the country, highlighting the challenges, successes, and lessons learnt.

Chikungunya: Its History in Africa and Asia and Its Spread to New Regions in 2013-2014.

PubMed

Zeller, Herve; Van Bortel, Wim; Sudre, Bertrand

2016-12-15

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and causes febrile illness with severe arthralgia in humans. There are 3 circulating CHIKV genotypes, Asia, East/Central/South Africa, and West Africa. CHIKV was first reported in 1953 in Tanzania, and up until the early 2000s, a few outbreaks and sporadic cases of CHIKV were mainly reported in Africa and Asia. However, from 2004 to 2005, a large epidemic spanned from Kenya over to the southwestern Indian Ocean region, India, and Southeast Asia. Identified in 2005, the E1 glycoprotein A226V mutation of the East/Central/South Africa genotype conferred enhanced transmission by the A. albopictus mosquito and has been implicated in CHIKV's further spread in the last decade. In 2013, the Asian CHIKV genotype emerged in the Caribbean and quickly took the Americas by storm. This review will discuss the history of CHIKV as well as its expanding geographic distribution. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Out of (South) Africa: Pretoria`s nuclear weapons experience. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Horton, R.E.

1998-04-01

The primary focus of this paper is the impact of key South African leaders on the successful developments and subsequent rollbacks of South Africa`s nuclear weapons capability. It highlights the key milestones in the development of South Africa`s nuclear weapon capability. It also relates how different groups within South Africa (scientists, politicians, military and technocrats) interacted to successfully produce South Africa`s nuclear deterrent. It emphasizes the pivotal influence of the senior political leadership to pursue nuclear rollback given the disadvantages of its nuclear means to achieve vital national interests. The conclusions drawn from flu`s effort are the South African nuclearmore » program was an extreme response to its own identity Crisis. Nuclear weapons became a means to achieving a long term end of a closer affiliation with the West. A South Africa yearning to be identified as a Western nation and receive guarantees of its security rationalized the need for a nuclear deterrent. The deterrent was intended to draw in Western support to counter a feared total onslaught by Communist forces in the region. Two decades later, that same South Africa relinquished its nuclear deterrent and reformed its domestic policies to secure improved economic and political integration with the West.« less

An overview and mapping of childhood tuberculosis: prevalence, scientific production and citation analysis.

PubMed

Alavinia, Seyed Mohammad; Khakshour, Ali; Habibi, Gholamreza; Navabi, Behdad; Mostafavi, Seyed Abolfazl; Moghadam, Mohsen Saber

2013-01-01

The study aimed to analyze publications in the field of "pediatric tuberculosis" and associate them with regional Tuberculosis (TB) profile. A schematic analysis of scientific production in the field of pediatric tuberculosis between 1990 and 2010 using ISI web of science was carried out. Terms used for searches were each as a combination of "Mycobacterium Tuberculosis", or "Tuberculos*" and "Child", or "Infant", or "New born", or "Neonatal", or "Adolescent", or "Pediatric". Features including year of publication, citation per year, country of origin, funding state, contributing university, language, leading journals and authors, and highly cited articles, main journal publishing these articles were taken into account. The search retrieved 3417 articles (of 4559 total) with an almost gradual annually progressive pattern from 20 (in 1990) to 302 (in 2009) which have been cited totally 48459 times and 14.18 times per article. The greatest contribution originated from United States of America (25.11%) followed by South Africa (12.17%), and England (11.18%). Interestingly, 82.4% of all South African articles were from Stellenbosch University and Cape Town University on contrary. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease ranked as the first with regard to the number of articles and Lancet with regard to the number of highly cited articles. Developing countries excluding South Africa despite their high prevalence scarcely contribute to the field and USA is the leading country in the field.

The influence of biological factors on students' sexual behaviour at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

PubMed

Mutinta, Given; Govender, Kaymarlin; George, Gavin; Gow, Jeff

2014-01-01

Studies in South African universities reveal that the prevalence of sexual risk behaviour is very high, putting many students at high risk of HIV infection. This study explored the biological influences on students' sexual taking behaviour at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A qualitative approach was used, comprising a total of 80 in-depth interviews and 4 focus group discussions. These were conducted between late 2008 and early 2010. The research had equal representation of male and female students, different races, two campuses and different levels of study. Factors associated with students' sexual behaviour were identified. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, and the themes identified form the basis for discussion in this paper. Students' sexual behaviour was positively associated with the influence of a range of biological factors. Factors such as age, judgement of the health of the partner by looking at appearances, pursuit of physical beauty, sexual debut, sexual fit, and search for sexual pleasure encouraged students to engage in sexual behaviour. Most students are young and lack experience in assessing the influence of biological factors on their sexual behaviours, and need education on biological factors. This poses a big challenge to controlling students' sexual behaviour, especially if HIV and sexually transmitted diseases prevention interventions are to be successful.

Mobile App to Assess Universal Access Compliance.

PubMed

Fransolet, Colette

2016-01-01

In terms of local legislation, South Africa has a handful of regulations that indirectly require Universal Access, which is then in itself largely described as facilities for people with disabilities. The most predominant set of regulations is the South African National Building Regulations, with a specific code which is deemed to satisfy standard titled South African National Standard (SANS) 10400 Part S: Facilities for Persons with Disabilities. Revised in 2011, this building regulation offers some technical guidelines specific to built infrastructure, and largely for people with functional mobility limitations. The description of the term "functional mobility limitations" in the context of this paper refers to people who make use of mobility aids to assist with their functionality in an environment, for example people who use walking aids (sticks, canes or walkers) and people who use wheelchairs. Albeit lacking in specifics around the requirements for other areas of functional limitations, including people who are blind, people who are deaf, and people with cognitive limitations, the SANS 10400 Part S is, to date, the most effective regulatory requirement in the country to assist with making facilities more accessible. With only a few experts in South Africa working in the field, the ability to offer clients Universal Access Reviews in terms of basic compliance with the SANS 10400 Part S is limited by two major factors. Firstly, the costs associated with employing experts in the field to review infrastructure is mostly too exorbitant for clients to carry. Secondly, the amount of time taken to perform reviews onsite and then collate the information into a coherent report for the client is far too long. These aspects result in a gap between clients wanting to meet the requirements, and being able to have the work completed in a reasonable amount of time. To overcome the challenge of larger institutions and organizations wanting to have their facilities reviewed in terms of compliance with National Building Regulations, within a tight budget as well as within minimal timeframes, an innovative mobile application was developed by Universal Design Africa. This App heralds the dawn of a new method to measure universal access compliance. The operation and format of this technology and its application could be adapted to meet all forms of compliance and information gathering, including international regulations and best practice.

Tilting at windmills: 20 years of Hippeastrum breeding

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Hippeastrum Herbert, amaryllis, has yielded popular large-flowered hybrids over a 200-year breeding history, with the Netherlands and South Africa currently dominating the market. The USDA breeding program is now almost ten years old, built upon a ten-year previous history at the University of Flori...

Chemistry Students' Erroneous Conceptions of Limiting Reagent.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mammen, K. J.

1996-01-01

Describes a study of 32 University of Transkei (South Africa) freshmen's conceptualization of "limiting reagent," a basic concept in chemistry, based on student responses to two written test questions and clinical interviews. Results indicated that a high percentage of students had misconceptions and could not apply the concept…

Investigating "Othering" in Visual Arts Spaces of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biscombe, Monique; Conradie, Stephané; Costandius, Elmarie; Alexander, Neeske

2017-01-01

In the political, social, cultural and economic context of South Africa, higher education spaces provide fertile ground for social research. This case study explored "othered" identities in the Department of Visual Arts of Stellenbosch University. Interviews with students and lecturers revealed interesting and controversial aspects in…

Preparation of Lead Compounds: An Exercise in Applied Chemistry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laing, Michael; And Others

1987-01-01

Describes an exercise developed at the University of Natal (South Africa) in which students visit a plant which manufactures a variety of lead compounds. Outlines the procedures for the laboratory preparation of lead compounds that students prepare with samples they collected at the plant. (TW)

The Quest for Ubuntu: Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) Partnership

PubMed Central

Boissevain, Jane; Richardson, Jeanita W; Netshandama, Vhonani; Dillingham, Rebecca

2014-01-01

Internationally, efforts to improve health in under-resourced areas of the world frequently involve coalitions, often with at least one partner from the “outside,” such as when NGOs or universities from Europe or the US work with institutions and communities in Africa or Asia. Little has been written about applying successful principles to multinational university collaborations as the unit of analysis and where challenges may be magnified by cultural differences and resource imbalances. The purpose of this article is to share the findings from an evaluation of the multi-year interdisciplinary public health Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) collaboration between the University of Venda (South Africa) and the University of Virginia (United States). We believe the learnings described easily transfer to collaborative educational endeavors because at their root they speak to the practices that enhance respectful engagement and partnership sustainability. PMID:25530712

The Quest for Ubuntu: Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) Partnership.

PubMed

Boissevain, Jane; Richardson, Jeanita W; Netshandama, Vhonani; Dillingham, Rebecca

2013-01-01

Internationally, efforts to improve health in under-resourced areas of the world frequently involve coalitions, often with at least one partner from the "outside," such as when NGOs or universities from Europe or the US work with institutions and communities in Africa or Asia. Little has been written about applying successful principles to multinational university collaborations as the unit of analysis and where challenges may be magnified by cultural differences and resource imbalances. The purpose of this article is to share the findings from an evaluation of the multi-year interdisciplinary public health Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) collaboration between the University of Venda (South Africa) and the University of Virginia (United States). We believe the learnings described easily transfer to collaborative educational endeavors because at their root they speak to the practices that enhance respectful engagement and partnership sustainability.

University of Venda's male students' attitudes towards contraception and family planning.

PubMed

Raselekoane, Nanga R; Morwe, Keamogetse G; Tshitangano, Takalani

2016-07-08

Many young men continue to disregard the importance of contraception and family planning in South Africa. The fact that even university students also do not take contraception and family planning seriously poses a serious threat to their own health and well-being. This paper aims at investigating the attitudes of male students towards contraception and the promotion of female students' sexual health rights and well-being at the University of Venda. Quantitative research method is used to determine how attitudes of 60 male students towards contraception can jeopardise the health and well-being of both male and female students. This study reveals that the majority of 60 male students at the University of Venda have a negative attitude towards contraceptives. As a result, male students at the University of Venda are not keen on using contraceptives. Male students' negative attitude and lack of interest in contraceptives and family planning also limit progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals on primary health care, especially with regard to sexual and reproductive health and well-being of female students at the University of Venda. The fact that more than half of the male students interviewed did not take contraception and family planning seriously poses a serious threat to health and well-being of students, including violation of female students' sexual and reproductive health rights in South Africa. This calls for radical health promotion and sexual and reproductive rights programmes which should specifically target male students at the University of Venda.

Research and reform are priorities for South Africa's new AIDS chiefs.

PubMed

Hambridge, M

1995-06-01

Beginning her political career as vice-president of the South Africa Students' Organization, Dr. Nkosazana Zuma has recently been appointed Minister of Health of South Africa. Zuma's appointment reflects her prominent role as an African National Congress (ANC) activist during apartheid, as well as her solid credentials and qualifications for the position. Dr. Zuma has been Director of the Health Refugee Trust, a scientist focused mainly upon AIDS at the Medical Research Council, and head of the ANC Women's League in Southern Natal over the period 1991-94. South African President Nelson Mandela has charged her with restructuring a fragmented and mainly urban-based health system so that all South Africans have access to affordable health care. To that end, Minister Zuma has thus far introduced free health care for children under six and for pregnant women, and a primary school nutrition scheme expected to reach four million children. AIDS has been given high priority. A National AIDS Plan has been adopted with regions given help in developing implementation plans. More money as well as private-public sector collaboration are, however, needed to accomplish the goals of the National Plan. Quarraisha Abdool Karim was appointed in January 1995 by Minister Zuma as the first National AIDS Director of the new South Africa. She is committed to reforming the health system and using intervention-based research as the main tool of change. Karim's extensive background in AIDS research, her involvement in the development of the National AIDS Plan, and her reputation as a campaigner for health reform make her an ideal candidate for the job. She helped draft the national AIDS strategy designed to meet the needs of women, and in 1991 helped establish an AIDS plan for KwaZulu/Natal which was subsequently integrated into the National AIDS Committee of South Africa (NACOSA). Karim's research has earned international acclaim. Among others, she also received a grant from the US National Institutes for Health in 1994 to teach at Colombia University. Finally, Karim has also worked as a consultant for the HIV/AIDS Program of the UN Development Program and the World Health Organization's Global Program on AIDS.

Using Satellite Classes to Optimise Access to and Participation in First-Year Business Management: A Case at an Open and Distance-Learning University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swanepoel, Elana; De Beer, Andreas; Muller, Helene

2009-01-01

We investigated the effect of satellite classes as a component of blended learning, to enhance student performance of the Business Management I and Management I students at an open and distance-learning university. We discuss the evolution of distance education, the interactivities promoted by open and distance learning and the concept of blended…

The Road to Free and Open Educational Resources at the University of the Western Cape: A Personal and Institutional Journey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keats, Derek

2009-01-01

Free and Open Educational Resources at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) are deeply rooted in our institutional culture, stemming from the role we played in the struggle for political freedom in South Africa. The successful development of a strategy has been influenced by this history, as well as the role of a champion in the main…

The Challenge To Be Relevant in the 21st Century: Abstracts and Full Text Documents of Papers and Demos Given at the [International Association of Technological University Libraries] IATUL Conference (Pretoria, South Africa, June 1-5, 1998), Volume 18.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Association of Technological Univ. Libraries, Gothenburg (Sweden).

This proceedings of the 1998 conference of the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL) contains the full text of the following papers: "A Library Ready for 21st Century Services: The Case of the University of Science and Technology (UST) Library, Kumasi, Ghana" (Helena Rebecca Asamoah-Hassan);…

The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights: perspectives from Kenya and South Africa.

PubMed

Langlois, Adèle

2008-03-01

In October 2005, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) adopted the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. This was the culmination of nearly 2 years of deliberations and negotiations. As a non-binding instrument, the declaration must be incorporated by UNESCO's member states into their national laws, regulations or policies in order to take effect. Based on documentary evidence and data from interviews, this paper compares the declaration's universal principles with national bioethics guidelines and practice in Kenya and South Africa. It concentrates on areas of particular relevance to developing countries, such as protection of vulnerable persons and social responsibility. The comparison demonstrates the need for universal principles to be contextualised before they can be applied in a meaningful sense at national level. The paper also assesses the 'added value' of the declaration in terms of biomedical research ethics, given that there are already well-established international instruments on bioethics, namely the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki and the CIOMS (Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences) guidelines on biomedical research. It may be that the added value lies as much in the follow-up capacity building activities being initiated by UNESCO as in the document itself.

Moving towards universal coverage in South Africa? Lessons from a voluntary government insurance scheme.

PubMed

Govender, Veloshnee; Chersich, Matthew F; Harris, Bronwyn; Alaba, Olufunke; Ataguba, John E; Nxumalo, Nonhlanhla; Goudge, Jane

2013-01-24

In 2005, the South African government introduced a voluntary, subsidised health insurance scheme for civil servants. In light of the global emphasis on universal coverage, empirical evidence is needed to understand the relationship between new health financing strategies and health care access thereby improving global understanding of these issues. This study analysed coverage of the South African government health insurance scheme, the population groups with low uptake, and the individual-level factors, as well as characteristics of the scheme, that influenced enrolment. Multi-stage random sampling was used to select 1,329 civil servants from the health and education sectors in four of South Africa's nine provinces. They were interviewed to determine factors associated with enrolment in the scheme. The analysis included both descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. Notwithstanding the availability of a non-contributory option within the insurance scheme and access to privately-provided primary care, a considerable portion of socio-economically vulnerable groups remained uninsured (57.7% of the lowest salary category). Non-insurance was highest among men, black African or coloured ethnic groups, less educated and lower-income employees, and those living in informal-housing. The relatively poor uptake of the contributory and non-contributory insurance options was mostly attributed to insufficient information, perceived administrative challenges of taking up membership, and payment costs. Barriers to enrolment include insufficient information, unaffordability of payments and perceived administrative complexity. Achieving universal coverage requires good physical access to service providers and appropriate benefit options within pre-payment health financing mechanisms.

Moving towards universal coverage in South Africa? Lessons from a voluntary government insurance scheme

PubMed Central

Govender, Veloshnee; Chersich, Matthew F.; Harris, Bronwyn; Alaba, Olufunke; Ataguba, John E.; Nxumalo, Nonhlanhla; Goudge, Jane

2013-01-01

Background In 2005, the South African government introduced a voluntary, subsidised health insurance scheme for civil servants. In light of the global emphasis on universal coverage, empirical evidence is needed to understand the relationship between new health financing strategies and health care access thereby improving global understanding of these issues. Objectives This study analysed coverage of the South African government health insurance scheme, the population groups with low uptake, and the individual-level factors, as well as characteristics of the scheme, that influenced enrolment. Methods Multi-stage random sampling was used to select 1,329 civil servants from the health and education sectors in four of South Africa's nine provinces. They were interviewed to determine factors associated with enrolment in the scheme. The analysis included both descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. Results Notwithstanding the availability of a non-contributory option within the insurance scheme and access to privately-provided primary care, a considerable portion of socio-economically vulnerable groups remained uninsured (57.7% of the lowest salary category). Non-insurance was highest among men, black African or coloured ethnic groups, less educated and lower-income employees, and those living in informal-housing. The relatively poor uptake of the contributory and non-contributory insurance options was mostly attributed to insufficient information, perceived administrative challenges of taking up membership, and payment costs. Conclusion Barriers to enrolment include insufficient information, unaffordability of payments and perceived administrative complexity. Achieving universal coverage requires good physical access to service providers and appropriate benefit options within pre-payment health financing mechanisms. PMID:23364093

75 FR 81309 - Stainless Steel Plate from Belgium, Italy, Korea, South Africa, and Taiwan

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-27

... (Second Review)] Stainless Steel Plate from Belgium, Italy, Korea, South Africa, and Taiwan AGENCY: United... countervailing duty orders on stainless steel plate from Belgium and South Africa and the antidumping duty orders on stainless steel plate from Belgium, Italy, Korea, South Africa, and Taiwan. SUMMARY: The...

Bringing ‘Light, Life and Happiness’:1 British American Tobacco and musicsponsorship in sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

PATEL, PREETI; OKECHUKWU, CASSANDRA A; COLLIN, JEFF; HUGHES, BELINDA

2010-01-01

This article aims to provide a review of music sponsorship to market cigarettes in sub-Saharan Africa. Using analysis of previously secret corporate documents from British American Tobacco (BAT) and focusing on two separate case studies of sponsorship in Africa, Nigeria and South Africa, the paper illustrates how tobacco companies have sought to undermine health legislation from 1990 to 2001. Both case studies suggest that music is an important marketing tool in Africa because it can effectively target young consumers; has a universal appeal; transcends barriers to communication imposed by limited literacy and language barriers; has a long-term appeal and can be successful in undermining tobacco control measures. The case studies highlight the limitations of national regulatory efforts and reinforce the significance of the implementation of the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Africa, a critical region for the convention’s success. PMID:25737602

Bringing 'Light, Life and Happiness': British American Tobacco and musicsponsorship in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Patel, Preeti; Okechukwu, Cassandra A; Collin, Jeff; Hughes, Belinda

This article aims to provide a review of music sponsorship to market cigarettes in sub-Saharan Africa. Using analysis of previously secret corporate documents from British American Tobacco (BAT) and focusing on two separate case studies of sponsorship in Africa, Nigeria and South Africa, the paper illustrates how tobacco companies have sought to undermine health legislation from 1990 to 2001. Both case studies suggest that music is an important marketing tool in Africa because it can effectively target young consumers; has a universal appeal; transcends barriers to communication imposed by limited literacy and language barriers; has a long-term appeal and can be successful in undermining tobacco control measures. The case studies highlight the limitations of national regulatory efforts and reinforce the significance of the implementation of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Africa, a critical region for the convention's success.

On Developing Academic Literacy in the Mother Tongue for Epistemological Access: The Role of isiZulu as the LoLT in a South African University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mgqwashu, Emmanuel Mfanafuthi

2014-01-01

This paper reports on a study that examined the extent to which the development of academic literacy in isiZulu, an indigenous language spoken across all the nine provinces in South Africa, enhances opportunities for epistemological access. The focus is in relation to a pilot study of a Bachelor of Education Honours module that uses isiZulu as the…

Mobile Learning: A Kaleidoscope

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruger, Marlena; Bester, Riana

2014-01-01

CTI is an accredited private higher education institution (university) with the Higher Education Council (HEC) in South Africa. Its head office is in Fourways, Johannesburg. CTI has 12 campuses nationwide and offers higher certificates and degrees in commerce and information technology. These BCom and BSc degrees were rolled out to all 12…

SAO/NASA ADS at SAO: Mirror Sites

Science.gov Websites

, Garching, Germany Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Heidelberg, Germany Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Observatory, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics Intensive Astronomy, South Africa [ADS] ADS [CfA] CfA [NASA] NASA ads at cfa.harvard.edu

A Phenomenographic Study: First Year Chemical Engineering Students' Conceptions of Energy in Dissolution Processes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyle, Kenneth S.; Robinson, William R.

2002-01-01

Describes the work of Ebenezer and Fraser as an example of the use of phenomenographic research in categorizing concepts of the factors involved in the dissolution of ionic compounds by students entering a first-year chemical engineering course at a university in South Africa. (MM)

Leadership Development: A Lever for System-Wide Educational Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naicker, Suraiya R.; Mestry, Raj

2016-01-01

The continuous poor performance of South Africa's learners is detrimental to its developing economy. The need for education change prompted two universities to initiate a system-wide change strategy in a poorly performing school district. The leverage for change was leadership development, involving school principals and district officials. The…

A Small Experiment in Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, P.

2008-01-01

What constitutes successful practice for supervision of postgraduate students at an Open and Distance learning institution? In this article I describe a limited experiment in on-line teaching using a group of postgraduate students at the University of South Africa (Unisa). While the experiment has obvious limitations including the short time in…

Harnessing Agency: Towards a Learning Model for Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pym, June; Kapp, Rochelle

2013-01-01

This article describes a successful academic development programme in a Commerce faculty at a relatively elite, historically white university in South Africa. The writers argue that the programme has managed to achieve good results in recent years by moving away from deficit models of academic development for students from disadvantaged…

Higher Education Exports in South Africa: A Case Study of Stellenbosch University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

du Plessis, E.; Fourie, J.

2011-01-01

International trade in higher education services is one of the fastest growing tradable service sectors globally. Apart from the positive externalities international students create through knowledge mobility and spill-over, campus diversity, and local community development participation, spending by international students in the host city and…

Education for Responsible Citizenship: Conversation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waghid, Yusef

2009-01-01

There is an abundance of literature on citizenship education. This essay is an attempt to show how deliberation is used in university classroom pedagogy, to engender in students a commitment to becoming responsible citizens of a post-apartheid South Africa. Firstly, I show that controversy can be attended to through deliberation, with specific…

Coming to UCT: Black Students, Transformation and Discourses of Race

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kessi, Shose; Cornell, Josephine

2015-01-01

Since the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa, increasing numbers of black students have been enrolling at historically whites-only universities. This situation has been paralleled by a resurgence of racialising discourses that represent black students as lacking in competencies, lowering academic standards and undeserving of their places at…

Reciprocal and Scholarly Service Learning: Emergent Theoretical Understandings of the University-Community Interface in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith-Tolken, Antoinette; Bitzer, Eli

2017-01-01

This study addresses underlying principles to interpret scholarly-based service-related teaching and learning. Such principles include addressing specific concerns of communities, transforming theoretical knowledge into lived experiences for students, making the knowledge generated within communities meaningful and forging constant growth and…

Status of Librarians in Universities with Especial Reference to Developing Countries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holdsworth, Harold

Experiences in the South Pacific, Africa, and the West Indies are the basis for this examination of the professional status of librarians in developing countries, including rank and salary, faculty or comparable privileges, and opportunities for professional education. In the instances considered, factors of expatriate service, individual…

Higher Education Institution Image: A Correspondence Analysis Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivy, Jonathan

2001-01-01

Investigated how marketing is used to convey higher education institution type image in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Using correspondence analysis, revealed the unique positionings created by old and new universities and technikons in these countries. Also identified which marketing tools they use in conveying their image. (EV)

Gender, Power and Managerialism in Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Kate; Carvalho, Teresa; Riordan, Sarah

2011-01-01

This article explores the role of senior managers in consolidating and interpreting new managerialism in higher education in Australia, South Africa and Portugal, and perceptions of potential effects on gender. The impact of managerialism on decision-making in Australia was increased centralisation with the Vice Chancellor operating as a Chief…

Cultural Consumption Patterns in South Africa: An Investigation of the Theory of Cultural Omnivores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snowball, J. D.; Jamal, M.; Willis, K. G.

2010-01-01

Contrary to Bourdieu's theory ("Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste". Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press (1984)) that cultural consumption of so-called "high" versus popular culture is determined by socio-economic class, Peterson ("Poetics" 21:243-258, 1992; "Poetics"…

Negotiating Critical Literacies in Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comber, Barbara, Ed.; Simpson, Anne, Ed.

This book brings together accounts of educators who have sought to make a difference in the lives of their students through literacy education--from university classrooms in the United States, England, and South Africa, to policy and curriculum development in Singapore and Australia. The literacy classrooms explored in the book range from the…

Teaching Process Design through Integrated Process Synthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metzger, Matthew J.; Glasser, Benjamin J.; Patel, Bilal; Hildebrandt, Diane; Glasser, David

2012-01-01

The design course is an integral part of chemical engineering education. A novel approach to the design course was recently introduced at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The course aimed to introduce students to systematic tools and techniques for setting and evaluating performance targets for processes, as well as…

Music in the Life Skills Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Vuuren, Eurika Jansen; van Niekerka, Caroline

2015-01-01

Generalist educators in South Africa shy away from music in the subjects Life Skills (Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Art, Physical Education and Personal and Social Well-being) and Creative Arts (Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Art) and universities are not delivering generalist students for the subject demands. In-service educators, as well as subject…

Investigating the Effectiveness of a Study Skills Training Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sikhwari, T. D.; Pillay, J.

2012-01-01

Various studies have shown that the school system in South Africa is continually producing learners who are inadequately prepared for higher education studies, particularly schools in disadvantaged environments. The University of Venda (UNIVEN) is situated in an educationally disadvantaged environment. Most of the students who enroll at this…

Longitudinal and contemporaneous manganese exposure in apartheid-era South Africa: Implications for the past and future.

PubMed

Hess, Catherine A; Smith, Martin J; Trueman, Clive; Schutkowski, Holger

2015-03-01

Manganese is a potent environmental toxin, with significant effects on human health. Manganese exposure is of particular concern in South Africa where in the last decade, lead in gasoline has been replaced by methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT). We investigated recent historical levels of manganese exposure in urban Gauteng, South Africa prior to the introduction of MMT in order to generate heretofore non-existent longitudinal public health data on manganese exposure in urban South Africans. Cortical bone manganese concentration was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer in 211 deceased adults with skeletal material from a fully identified archived tissue collection at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. All tissues came from individuals who lived and died in urban Gauteng (Transvaal), between 1958 and 1998. Median Mn concentration within the sampled tissues was 0.3μgg -1 , which is within reported range for bone manganese concentration in non-occupationally exposed populations and significantly below that reported in individuals environmentally exposed to MMT. No significant differences were seen in bone Mn between men and women or in individuals of different ethnicity, which further suggests environmental, as opposed to occupational exposure. There were no significant temporal or geographic differences in bone Mn. The results suggest that Mn exposure was low and uniformly distributed across the whole population prior to the introduction of MMT as a gasoline additive. In addition, should manganese exposure follow the same patterns as vehicle-emitted lead, a clear pattern of exposure will emerge with individuals in the urban core facing the greatest manganese exposure. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ICT-Supported Pedagogical Policies and Practices in South Africa and Chile: Emerging Economies and Realities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howie, S. J.

2010-01-01

South Africa participated in all three of the Second International Technology in Education Study (SITES). In the first international study, South Africa was the only developing country, and therefore, stark contrasts were found in the international study between South Africa and the other participating countries. Chile participated in the SITES…

Wheatley Award 2017 Winner: How Physics Can Help Africa Transform, from a Problem to an Opportunity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turok, Neil

2017-01-01

Africa represents the world's greatest untapped pool of scientific and technical talent. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is providing outstanding postgraduate training and research opportunities to gifted students across the continent. Its alumni proceed to employment in fields ranging from epidemiology to natural resource management, information technology and mathematical finance, to engineering and pure research in physics and mathematics. Many have already had a major impact in revitalising Africa's universities, in tackling major epidemics, and in raising skills levels in industry and government. AIMS has opened six centres of excellence so far, in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, and, most recently, Rwanda, and plans to grow to a network of fifteen centres over the next decade. Its 1200 alumni are at the leading edge of Africa's transformation into a knowledge-based society.

Best practices: a review of company activity on HIV / AIDS in South Africa.

PubMed

Michael, K

1999-01-01

This article presents the 1998 survey results conducted by the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division of the University of Natal in South Africa with the goal of documenting the best practices of managing HIV/AIDS in the workplace. The five key areas of the study are: HIV prevention; managing ill health; human resource development and industrial relations; employee benefits and survivor support; monitoring and planning for change in the workplace. The research comprised 14 companies used during the case studies. A few notable cases were observed among companies attempting to create awareness about HIV/AIDS. The Best Practice Survey highlighted issues about the private sectors in South Africa and their HIV management. First, companies conceptualize AIDS as either a health or poverty problem. Second, the environment is affected by the hazards of economic downturns, labor action, and economic inflation while the AIDS problem is neglected. Third, indirect costs were not considered and most companies feel that the conversion to a defined contribution arrangement compensates against escalating payouts for benefits. Fourth, long-term plans of the companies did not utilize the ill health statistics for the past 5 years.

The YES Africa 2011 Symposium: A Key to Developing the Future Geoscience Workforce in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nkhonjera, E.

2011-12-01

Africa is facing serious challenges in geoscience education. This has been as a result of absence of or very young/small Earth Science Departments in some universities (e.g., Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Malawi): Limited capacity (staff and equipment needed for practicals) to cope with the growing number of students, compounded by brain drain of academic staffs and the fact that current tertiary programmes do not seem to produce graduates suitable for the industry are some of the contributing factors to the challenges, (UNESCO-AEON Report, 2009). As such Earth Science studies in Africa have been one of the career paths that has not been promoted or highly preferred by many students. In January 2011, the YES Network African chapter was launched through the YES Africa 2011 Symposium that took place at the University of Johannesburg South Africa in Conjunction with the 23rd Colloquium of Africa Geology from the 08-14th January 2011. The YES Africa 2011 Symposium was organized by five YES African National networks from Southern, Central, Eastern and Northern Africa to bring young geoscientists from all regions of Africa together to present their research about African geoscience topics. The symposium also included roundtable discussions about increasing the involvement of youth's participation in geoscience issues in Africa, about how to increase the number of youths in African geosciences education university programs, and about how to promote geoscience careers to university students in Africa c. Roundtable discussions revealed that many African colleges and universities do not provide adequate infrastructure and resources to support the students studying in the department. As such, most students graduate with poor preparation for geoscience careers, having gained a theoretical understanding of geology, but not the practical application of the discipline. The recommendations from the YES Africa 2011 Symposium also highlighted on the best ways of developing the geoscience workforce in Africa so that it can become competitive within the international community. International networks like the YES Network help geoscience students and early-career geoscientists to interact with their colleagues around the world and share knowledge and experiences. YES Network conferences, such as the YES Africa 2011 Symposium are a prime example of how geoscience students and early-career geoscientists are actively working together through this professional international network to provide opportunities for young scientists to present their research, share ideas about future projects, and discuss strategies for solving current scientific and career or academic pathway concerns.

Use of applied theatre in health research dissemination and data validation: a pilot study from South Africa

PubMed Central

Stuttaford, Maria; Bryanston, Claudette; Hundt, Gillian Lewando; Connor, Myles; Thorogood, Margaret; Tollman, Steve

2010-01-01

This article reports on a pilot study of the use of applied theatre in the dissemination of health research findings and validation of data. The study took place in South Africa, as part of the Southern Africa Stroke Prevention Initiative (SASPI) and was based at the University/Medical Research Council Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (also known as the Agincourt Unit). The aim of SASPI was to investigate the prevalence of stroke and understand the social context of stroke. It was decided to use an applied theatre approach for validating the data and disseminating findings from the anthropological component of the study. The pilot study found that applied theatre worked better in smaller community groups. It allowed data validation and it elicited ideas for future interventions resulting from the health research findings. Evaluation methods of the impact of applied theatre as a vehicle for the dissemination and communication of research findings require further development. PMID:16322042

The Africa South America Intercontinental Teleconnection.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, K. H.; Hsieh, J.-S.; Hagos, S. M.

2004-07-01

The influence of heating over Africa on the South American precipitation climatology, and the influence of South America on Africa, is examined through the application of GCM simulations with idealized boundary conditions and perpetual solstice (January and July) conditions.The presence of Africa is associated with a pronounced (up to 4 mm day-1) decrease in precipitation in Brazil's Nordeste region during austral summer. Low-level moisture divergence and dry-air advection associated with the downbranch of a Walker circulation induced by heating over southern Africa is amplified over the Nordeste due to the response of the land surface. The response is much smaller during austral winter due to differences in the heat source over Africa and a reduced sensitivity in the surface heat balance over tropical South America. Forcing from South America in January shifts the position of the South Indian convergence zone (SICZ) to the southwest over southern Africa in association with the formation of the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ). In July, a Rossby wave train generated over South America induces a response in the surface temperature of Africa that leads to stronger precipitation in central and western Africa.This study suggests a zonal mode of variability for South American and African circulation and precipitation fields. The resulting perturbations depend as much on land surface atmosphere interactions as on the direct forcing from the adjacent continent, and the mechanisms are highly nonlinear.

State of Transition: Post-Apartheid Educational Reform in South Africa. Monographs in International Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harber, Clive

This book reviews the major dimensions of post-apartheid educational change and continuity in South Africa since 1994. It sets educational reform in the context of the nature of the anti-apartheid struggle inside South Africa and in the global economic environment in which South Africa re-entered the world stage as a legitimate actor. Recognizing…

The Economic Burden of Violence against Children in South Africa.

PubMed

Fang, Xiangming; Zheng, Xiaodong; Fry, Deborah A; Ganz, Gary; Casey, Tabitha; Hsiao, Celia; Ward, Catherine L

2017-11-22

The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic burden of violence against children in South Africa. We assembled summative estimates of lifetime prevalence, calculated the magnitude of associations with negative outcomes, and thereby estimated the economic burden of violence against children. According to our calculations, 2.3 million and 84,287 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost in South Africa in 2015 were attributable to nonfatal and fatal violence against children, respectively. The estimated economic value of DALYs lost to violence against children (including both fatal and nonfatal) in South Africa in 2015 totalled ZAR173 billion (US $13.5 billion)-or 4.3% of South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015. In addition, the reduced earnings attributable to childhood physical violence and emotional violence in South Africa in 2015 were ZAR25.2 billion (US $2.0 billion) and ZAR9.6 billion (US $750 million), respectively. In addition, South Africa spent ZAR1.6 billion (US $124 million) on child care and protection in fiscal year 2015/2016, many of which costs are directly related to violence against children. This study confirms the importance of prioritising violence against children as a key social and economic concern for South Africa's future.

Attitudes and Intentions Regarding Abortion Provision Among Medical School Students in South Africa

PubMed Central

Wheeler, Stephanie B.; Zullig, Leah L.; Reeve, Bryce B.; Buga, Geoffrey A.; Morroni, Chelsea

2018-01-01

CONTEXT Although South Africa liberalized its abortion law in 1996, significant barriers still impede service provision, including the lack of trained and willing providers. A better understanding is needed of medical students’ attitudes, beliefs and intentions regarding abortion provision. METHODS Surveys about abortion attitudes, beliefs and practice intentions were conducted in 2005 and 2007 among 1,308 medical school students attending the University of Cape Town and Walter Sisulu University in South Africa. Bivariate and multivariate analyses identified associations between students’ characteristics and their general and conditional support for abortion provision, as well as their intention to act according to personal attitudes and beliefs. RESULTS Seventy percent of medical students believed that women should have the right to decide whether to have an abortion, and large majorities thought that abortion should be legal in a variety of medical circumstances. Nearly one-quarter of students intended to perform abortions once they were qualified, and 72% said that conscientiously objecting clinicians should be required to refer women for such services. However, one-fifth of students believed that abortion should not be allowed for any reason. Advanced medical students were more likely than others to support abortion provision. In multivariate analyses, year in medical school, race or ethnicity, religious affiliation, relationship status and sexual experience were associated with attitudes, beliefs and intentions regarding provision. CONCLUSIONS Academic medical institutions must ensure that students understand their responsibilities with respect to abortion care—regardless of their personal views—and must provide appropriate abortion training to those who are willing to offer these services in the future. PMID:23018137

Assuming too much? Participatory water resource governance in South Africa.

PubMed

Brown, Julia

2011-01-01

This paper argues that participation in natural resource management, which is often coupled with moves for more local ownership of decision making, is based on three sets of assumptions: about the role of the state, the universality of application of such approaches and the transformatory potential of institutional reform. The validity of these assumptions requires investigation in view of the rapid institutionalisation and scaling-up of participatory approaches, particularly in developing country contexts. Post-apartheid South Africa is widely recognised as a pioneer of participatory and devolutionary approaches, particularly in the field of water resources. It is 12 years since the promulgation of the forward-thinking 1998 National Water Act, and thus an opportune moment to reflect on South Africa's experiences of participatory governance. Drawing on empirical research covering the establishment of the first Catchment Management Agency, and the transformation of existing Irrigation Boards into more inclusive Water User Associations in the Inkomati Water Management Area, it emerges that there may be fundamental weaknesses in the participatory model and underlying assumptions, and indeed such approaches may actually reinforce inequitable outcomes: the legacy of long-established institutional frameworks and powerful actors therein continues to exert influence in post-apartheid South Africa, and has the potential to subvert the democratic and redistributive potential of the water reforms. It is argued that a reassessment of the role of the state is necessary: where there is extreme heterogeneity in challenging catchments more, rather than less, state intervention may be required to uphold the interests of marginalised groups and effect redistribution.

Building local capacity for genomics research in Africa: recommendations from analysis of publications in Sub-Saharan Africa from 2004 to 2013.

PubMed

Adedokun, Babatunde O; Olopade, Christopher O; Olopade, Olufunmilayo I

2016-01-01

The poor genomics research capacity of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) could prevent maximal benefits from the applications of genomics in the practice of medicine and research. The objective of this study is to examine the author affiliations of genomic epidemiology publications in order to make recommendations for building local genomics research capacity in SSA. SSA genomic epidemiology articles published between 2004 and 2013 were extracted from the Human Genome Epidemiology (HuGE) database. Data on authorship details, country of population studied, and phenotype or disease were extracted. Factors associated with the first author, who has an SSA institution affiliation (AIAFA), were determined using a Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis. The most commonly studied population was South Africa, accounting for 31.1%, followed by Ghana (10.6%) and Kenya (7.5%). About one-tenth of the papers were related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer (6.1%) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) (4.3%). Fewer than half of the first authors (46.9%) were affiliated with an African institution. Among the 238 articles with an African first author, over three-quarters (79.8%) belonged to a university or medical school, 16.8% were affiliated with a research institute, and 3.4% had affiliations with other institutions. Significant disparities currently exist among SSA countries in genomics research capacity. South Africa has the highest genomics research output, which is reflected in the investments made in its genomics and biotechnology sector. These findings underscore the need to focus on developing local capacity, especially among those affiliated with SSA universities where there are more opportunities for teaching and research.

Beyond al-Qaeda. Part 2. The Outer Rings of the Terrorist Universe

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

Islam, it is possible for all followers of different religions to live in peace and with security over their person, property, and rights. In the...the third-largest religion in South Africa (after Protestant and Catholic). Thus, Muslims are a significant part of South African society—a central...Trying Times for Islamists,” Al-Ahram Weekly Online, January 10–16, 2002. De Silva, K. M., Religion , Nationalism and the State in Modern Sri Lanka, Tampa

Rupture politique et enseignement de l'histoire en Afrique du Sud: Les manuels de l'enseignement primaire. (Political rupture and the teaching of history in South Africa: Handbooks of primary-level teaching.)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carpentier, Claude

2000-01-01

Analyzes the content of South African history text books from the primary level upwards and from the 1980s to the most recent publications. The considerable changes in the content of these books seem to be based on two different theoretical models: the multicultural model and the notion of the universality of humanity. (Contains 40 references.)…

BKCASE(TM) Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-28

Lawson, Lawson Konsult AB, Sweden Johann Amsenga, Eclipse RDC, South Africa Alex Lee , Defence Science and Technology Agency, Singapore Erik Aslaksen...Engineering Division, US Tim Ferris, University of South Australia and INCOSE, Australia Jean-Claude Roussel, EADS, France Kevin Forsberg, Center for...Systems Management and INCOSE, US Sven-Olaf Schulze, Berner & Mattner Systemtechnik GmbH, Germany Richard Freeman, Air Force Center for Systems

Collagen Ialpha1 and vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms in South African whites, blacks and Indians.

PubMed

Ojwang, P J; Pegoraro, R J; Rom, L; Lanning, P

2001-11-01

To determine whether polymorphic differences exist between black, white and Indian South Africans in genes associated with bone mineral density and osteoporosis. Genes selected were the vitamin D receptor (Apa I and Taq I polymorphisms) and collagen (Sp I transcription factor polymorphism) using standard molecular biology techniques. Department of Chemical Pathology, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa. Healthy male and female blood donors living in the Durban metropolitan region, South Africa. The group comprised black Africans (n=264), white Caucasians (n=247) and Asians of Indian origin (n=194). No significant differences in genotypes were seen between white and Indian subjects. Blacks had a significantly higher frequency of the TT Taq I genotype and a significantly lower frequency of the Ss Sp I genotype. No ss genotype was detected in blacks. The very low frequency of the collagen Sp I s allele and higher frequency of the VDR T allele in blacks may be associated with the lower incidence of osteoporosis in this ethnic group.

Impact of a Gender-Transformative HIV and Antiviolence Program on Gender Ideologies and Masculinities in Two Rural, South African Communities.

PubMed

Dworkin, Shari L; Hatcher, Abigail M; Colvin, Chris; Peacock, Dean

2013-06-01

"One Man Can" (OMC) is a rights-based gender equality and health program implemented by Sonke Gender Justice Network (Sonke) in South Africa. The program seeks to reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS and reduce violence against women and men. To understand how OMC workshops impact masculinities, gender norms, and perceptions of women's rights, an academic/non-governmental organization (NGO) partnership was carried out with the University of Cape Town, the University of California at San Francisco, and Sonke. Sixty qualitative, in-depth interviews were carried out with men who had completed OMC workshops and who were recruited from Sonke's partner organizations that were focused on gender and/or health-related services. Men were recruited who were over age 18 and who participated in OMC workshops in Limpopo and Eastern Cape Provinces, South Africa. Results reveal how men reconfigured notions of hegemonic masculinity both in terms of beliefs and practices in relationships, households, and in terms of women's rights. In the conclusions, we consider the ways in which the OMC program extends public health research focused on masculinities, violence, and HIV/AIDS. We then critically assess the ways in which health researchers and practitioners can bolster men's engagement within programs focused on gender equality and health.

Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Background South Africa’s Constitution guarantees everyone, including persons with disabilities, the right to education. A variety of laws are in place obliging higher education institutions to provide appropriate physical access to education sites for all. In practice, however, many buildings remain inaccessible to people with physical disabilities. Objectives To describe what measures South African universities are taking to make their built environments more accessible to students with diverse types of disabilities, and to assess the adequacy of such measures. Method We conducted semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews with disability unit staff members (DUSMs) based at 10 different public universities in South Africa. Results Challenges with promoting higher education accessibility for wheelchair users include the preservation and heritage justification for failing to modify older buildings, ad hoc approaches to creating accessible environments and failure to address access to toilets, libraries and transport facilities for wheelchair users. Conclusion South African universities are still not places where all students are equally able to integrate socially. DUSMs know what ought to be done to make campuses more accessible and welcoming to students with disabilities and should be empowered to play a leading role in sensitising non-disabled members of universities, to create greater awareness of, and appreciation for, the multiple ways in which wheelchair user students continue to be excluded from full participation in university life. South African universities need to adopt a systemic approach to inclusion, which fosters an understanding of inclusion as a fundamental right rather than as a luxury. PMID:28936420

Social accountability and nursing education in South Africa.

PubMed

Armstrong, Susan J; Rispel, Laetitia C

2015-01-01

There is global emphasis on transforming health workforce education in support of universal health coverage. This paper uses a social accountability framework, specifically the World Health Organization's six building blocks for transformative education, to explore key informants' perspectives on nursing education in South Africa. Using a snowballing sampling technique, 44 key informants were selected purposively on the basis of their expertise or knowledge of the research area. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the key informants after informed consent had been obtained. The interviews were analysed using template analysis. South Africa has strategic plans on human resources for health and nursing education, training, and practice and has a well-established system of regulation and accreditation of nursing education through the South African Nursing Council (SANC). Key informants criticised the following: the lack of national staffing norms; sub-optimal governance by both the SANC and the Department of Health; outdated curricula that are unresponsive to population and health system needs; lack of preparedness of nurse educators; and the unsuitability of the majority of nursing students. These problems are exacerbated by a perceived lack of prioritisation of nursing, resource constraints in both the nursing education institutions and the health training facilities, and general implementation inertia. Social accountability, which is an essential component of transformative education, necessitates that attention be paid to the issues of governance, responsive curricula, educator preparedness, and appropriate student recruitment and selection.

Children and Poverty in South Africa: The Right to Social Security

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Du Plessis, Pierre; Conley, Lloyd

2007-01-01

Poverty is one of the major threats to the realization of children's rights worldwide and in South Africa. Currently, 66% of South African children live in severe poverty. This places all other rights at risk; the rights guaranteed by the South African Constitution and by the UN Convention. Poverty and inequality in South Africa continue to…

Food insecurity among students living with HIV: Strengthening safety nets at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa.

PubMed

Steenkamp, L; Goosen, A; Venter, D; Beeforth, M

2016-12-01

The HIV prevalence in South Africa among students at higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2008 was reported to be 3.4%, with the highest HIV prevalence found in the Eastern Cape Province. Students at these facilities are also increasingly affected by socio-economic constraints that may impact on food security. Little is known about the impact of food insecurity on HIV-infected students in HEIs in South Africa. The purpose of this paper is to describe food insecurity and the nutritional status among HIV-infected students on the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University campuses in South Africa, as well as current initiatives to strengthen the safety nets for food-insecure students. This descriptive, cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of known HIV-infected, registered students (n = 63), older than 18 years of age and managed as part of the Campus Health Service antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee (NMMU) and participants were included in the sample after providing written, informed consent. Findings indicate that food insecurity was common with more than 60% of the sample reporting food insecurity at the household level during the previous month. Of the sample, 51% were classified as being either overweight or obese. Although food insecurity did not contribute to weight loss in our sample, food-insecure students were more likely to consume inadequate amounts of vitamins and minerals, especially antioxidants that are important in supporting the immune system. Food insecurity has been identified as affecting the majority of HIV-infected students in this study, especially regarding their difficulty in accessing nutritious foods. As overweight and obesity also seem to threaten the health and future well-being of the students, appropriate management of the overweight individuals and those with obesity should be instituted in order to prevent the development of chronic diseases of lifestyle, thus allowing for a healthier more productive life. Current intervention strategies to strengthen food security have made inroads to improve access to healthier food options.

Food insecurity among students living with HIV: Strengthening safety nets at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa

PubMed Central

Steenkamp, L.; Goosen, A.; Venter, D.; Beeforth, M.

2016-01-01

Abstract The HIV prevalence in South Africa among students at higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2008 was reported to be 3.4%, with the highest HIV prevalence found in the Eastern Cape Province. Students at these facilities are also increasingly affected by socio-economic constraints that may impact on food security. Little is known about the impact of food insecurity on HIV-infected students in HEIs in South Africa. The purpose of this paper is to describe food insecurity and the nutritional status among HIV-infected students on the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University campuses in South Africa, as well as current initiatives to strengthen the safety nets for food-insecure students. This descriptive, cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of known HIV-infected, registered students (n = 63), older than 18 years of age and managed as part of the Campus Health Service antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee (NMMU) and participants were included in the sample after providing written, informed consent. Findings indicate that food insecurity was common with more than 60% of the sample reporting food insecurity at the household level during the previous month. Of the sample, 51% were classified as being either overweight or obese. Although food insecurity did not contribute to weight loss in our sample, food-insecure students were more likely to consume inadequate amounts of vitamins and minerals, especially antioxidants that are important in supporting the immune system. Food insecurity has been identified as affecting the majority of HIV-infected students in this study, especially regarding their difficulty in accessing nutritious foods. As overweight and obesity also seem to threaten the health and future well-being of the students, appropriate management of the overweight individuals and those with obesity should be instituted in order to prevent the development of chronic diseases of lifestyle, thus allowing for a healthier more productive life. Current intervention strategies to strengthen food security have made inroads to improve access to healthier food options. PMID:27687153

University of Venda’s male students’ attitudes towards contraception and family planning

PubMed Central

Morwe, Keamogetse G.; Tshitangano, Takalani

2016-01-01

Background Many young men continue to disregard the importance of contraception and family planning in South Africa. The fact that even university students also do not take contraception and family planning seriously poses a serious threat to their own health and well-being. Aim This paper aims at investigating the attitudes of male students towards contraception and the promotion of female students’ sexual health rights and well-being at the University of Venda. Methods Quantitative research method is used to determine how attitudes of 60 male students towards contraception can jeopardise the health and well-being of both male and female students. Results This study reveals that the majority of 60 male students at the University of Venda have a negative attitude towards contraceptives. As a result, male students at the University of Venda are not keen on using contraceptives. Male students’ negative attitude and lack of interest in contraceptives and family planning also limit progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals on primary health care, especially with regard to sexual and reproductive health and well-being of female students at the University of Venda. Conclusion The fact that more than half of the male students interviewed did not take contraception and family planning seriously poses a serious threat to health and well-being of students, including violation of female students’ sexual and reproductive health rights in South Africa. This calls for radical health promotion and sexual and reproductive rights programmes which should specifically target male students at the University of Venda. PMID:27542288

Contextual Factors Influencing Student Absenteeism at a Higher Education Institution in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramchander, Manduth

2017-01-01

Student absenteeism at higher education institutions (HEIs) is a cause for concern as it has implications for students' academic performance and therefore graduation rates. Graduation rates to some extent influence funding to which universities are entitled. This study aimed to establish the contextual factors that influenced student absenteeism…

"Class-Bucks": A Motivational Tool to Encourage Active Student Participation during Lectures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Jager, T.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the influence of an extrinsic motivational tool, "class-bucks," on the possibility of improving first year student-teachers' participation in active learning at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. Research participants (n=289) were divided into four classes and engaged in this…

Consumer Learning for University Students: A Case for a Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crafford, Sharon; Bitzer, Eli

2009-01-01

This article indicates how the application of a simplified version of the analytical abstraction method (AAM) was used in curriculum development for consumer learning at one higher education institution in South Africa. We used a case study design and qualitative research methodology to generate data through semi-structured interviews with eight…

Publishing Your Database on CD-ROM for Profit: The FISHLIT and NISC Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crampton, Margaret

1995-01-01

Details the development of the FISHLIT bibliographic database at the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology Library at Rhodes University (South Africa), and the subsequent CD-ROM publication of the database by NISC (National Information Services Corporation). Discusses the advantages of CD-ROM publication, costs and information service provision,…

Offering Community Engagement Activities to Increase Chemistry Knowledge and Confidence for Teachers and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sewry, Joyce D.; Glover, Sarah R.; Harrison, Timothy G.; Shallcross, Dudley E.; Ngcoza, Kenneth M.

2014-01-01

Given the emphasis on community engagement in higher education, academic departments need to become more involved in the community. This paper discusses a number of outreach activities undertaken by the chemistry department at Rhodes University, South Africa. The activities range from service learning to community engagement with teachers and…

Masculinities and Mergers: Losing Ground through Territoriality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pillay, Venitha

2006-01-01

This paper examines the extent to which masculinity played a role in the incorporation of an education college into a university in South Africa. I adopt the theoretical stance that masculinity is not a biological phenomenon that is peculiar to males but the socially constructed behaviour of masculine subjects that is contextually driven, and that…

Undergraduate Plagiarism: A Pedagogical Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellery, Karen

2008-01-01

Student plagiarism is a pervasive and increasing problem at all levels of study in tertiary institutions. This study attempted explicitly and implicitly to address issues of plagiarism within the broad context of an academic writing framework in tutorials in a first-year module at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Despite these…

Learning Equity in a University Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Westhuizen, G. J.

2012-01-01

Since 1994, education policy documents in South Africa have prioritised the goal of equity in education, understood as increased access to programmes, more equitable staff and student profiles, and curricula that are more responsive to the needs of all students. The challenge of effecting the goal of equity at levels of teaching and learning in…

Making the Invisible Visible. On Participation and Communication in a Global, Web-Based Master's Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahlgren, Madeleine Abrandt; Larsson, Staffan; Walters, Shirley

2006-01-01

This study focuses on the discourse of an intercontinental on-line Master's programme in adult learning, using English as the lingua franca of the programme and involving four collaborating universities in Sweden, South Africa, Canada and Australia. The programme is highly interactive, emphasising communication between students. Taking the…

Intercultural Musicianship: A Collective and Participatory Form of Music Exchange across the Globe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klopper, Christopher

2010-01-01

Cultural boundaries are no longer geographically dictated. This intercultural music making initiative made provision for the social cohesion of the North-West University, South Africa Tswana students as they prepared musical artefacts for "export" that convey, confirm and explore their culture of birth. Advancement in emerging digital…

Internationalizing Higher Education: The Development of Practice and Policy in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolby, Nadine

2010-01-01

Background/Context: Internationalization has moved from the periphery to the core of many universities' policies, mission statements, and strategic plans. In contrast to earlier paradigms of internationalization, the current period is significantly shaped by the global dominance of capitalism, the rise of the audit and accountability culture, and…

Towards Community-Based Communication Intervention for Severely Handicapped Children. Report ASS/BBS-48.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alant, Erna

This report describes the development of a community-based service for the implementation of augmentative and alternative communication strategies with regard to children with severe disabilities in South Africa. The intervention process was developed by the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication of the University of Pretoria. The…

Software: University Courses versus Workplace Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liebenberg, Janet; Huisman, Magda; Mentz, Elsa

2015-01-01

There is a shortage of software developers with the right skills and knowledge, not only in South Africa but worldwide. Despite reports of gap between industry needs and software education, the gap has mostly been explored in developed countries and in quantitative studies. This paper reports on a mixed methods study of the perceptions of…

Africanising Scholarship: The Case of UDW, Natal and UKZN Postgraduate Educational Research (1995-2004)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karlsson, J.; Pillay, G.

2011-01-01

In 2004 the universities of Durban-Westville and Natal merged as part of the national restructuring of higher education in South Africa. These institutions' faculties and schools of education were, arguably, centres of excellence for research in adult education, teacher education and professional development, mathematics education and gender in…

Understanding Dishonest Academic Behaviour Amongst Business Students--The Business Leaders of the Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bagraim, Jeffrey; Goodman, Suki; Pulker, Stephanie

2014-01-01

This study applies the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to increase understanding about dishonest academic behaviour amongst undergraduate business students. A total of 579 respondents from three universities in South Africa completed an online survey about their beliefs regarding academic dishonesty, their intentions to engage in dishonest…

Journalism Students' Motivations and Expectations of Their Work in Comparative Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanusch, Folker; Mellado, Claudia; Boshoff, Priscilla; Humanes, María Luisa; de León, Salvador; Pereira, Fabio; Márquez Ramírez, Mireya; Roses, Sergio; Subervi, Federico; Wyss, Vinzenz; Yez, Lyuba

2015-01-01

Based on a survey of 4,393 journalism students in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States, this study provides much-needed comparative evidence about students' motivations for becoming journalists, their future job plans, and expectations. Findings show not only an almost universal decline in…

Student Support Gaps in an Open Distance Learning Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arko-Achemfuor, Akwasi

2017-01-01

Studying through distance education can be problematic for any student, but it can be worse for rural students for diverse reasons. To ensure that students studying through the open distance learning (ODL) system have an enduring learning experience, ODL builds student support as one of its components. The University of South Africa (Unisa)…

The Factors Influencing Mathematics Students to Choose Teaching as a Career

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

du Preez, Michelle

2018-01-01

Prompted by the poor state of mathematics education in South Africa and the shortage of competent mathematics teachers, this study sought to identify what factors influenced 40 Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students at three universities in the Western Cape Province, with Mathematics as a major subject, to choose teaching as a…

E-Learning and Technologies for Open Distance Learning in Management Accounting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kashora, Trust; van der Poll, Huibrecht M.; van der Poll, John A.

2016-01-01

This research develops a knowledge acquisition and construction framework for e-learning for Management Accounting students at the University of South Africa, an Open Distance Learning institution which utilises e-learning. E-learning refers to the use of electronic applications and processes for learning, including the transfer of skills and…

Black Dean: Race, Reconciliation, and the Emotions of Deanship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jansen, Jonathan David

2005-01-01

In this article, Jonathan Jansen describes his experiences as a Black dean in the formerly all-White University of Pretoria in South Africa. The article shows how race, gender, history, and institutional culture constitute emotional terrain in which decanal leadership plays itself out in the volatile postapartheid era. In the context of South…

Seamless Support: Technology Enhanced Learning in Open Distance Learning at NWU

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Esterhuizen, Hennie

2015-01-01

Frantic attempts of investing in technology to demonstrate willingness to educate for the knowledge society may result in failure to address the real requirements. This paper presents the main features of a framework for integrating Technology Enhanced Learning in Open Distance Learning at North-West University, South Africa. Support towards…

Facilitating Co-Authoring: Reflections of Content and Language Lecturers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, J.

2010-01-01

During a content and language project at a University of Technology (UoT) in Cape Town, South Africa, pairs of language and content lecturers, whose broad definition of integration was "the provision of linguistic access to content knowledge", co-authored ten integrated textbooks. Their intention was to assist first year learners with…

Distance Education Infrastructure for Rural Areas Using Java as a Development Tool.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ndinga, S. S.; Clayton, P.

New information technology is rapidly becoming part of the localized education process, while offering the tools and the infrastructure for the establishment of a distance education process. At Rhodes University (South Africa), an Interactive Remote Tutorial System (IRTS) was built to support distance education. IRTS will be used as an…

Blended Learning Model: Development and Implementation in a Computer Skills Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tshuma, N.

2012-01-01

South Africa's higher education policies have opened up access to university for students from diverse backgrounds, with different learning styles, levels of motivation and levels of preparedness. This has necessitated a move from the lecture style of teaching to innovative teaching styles that engage the learners and equip them with skills to…

PREFACE: International Workshop on Discovery Physics at the LHC (Kruger2012)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cleymans, Jean

2013-08-01

The second conference on 'Discovery Physics at the LHC' was held on 3-7 December 2012 at the Kruger Gate Hotel in South Africa. In total there were 110 participants from Armenia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Norway, Poland, USA, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Switzerland and South Africa. The latest results from the Large Hadron Collider, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Jefferson Laboratory and BABAR experiments, as well as the latest theoretical insights were presented. Set against the backdrop of the majestic Kruger National Park a very stimulating conference with many exchanges took place. The proceedings reflect the high standard of the conference. The financial contributions from the National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITHeP), the SA-CERN programme, the UCT-CERN Research Centre, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand and iThemba Labs—Laboratory for Accelerator Based Science are gratefully acknowledged. Jean Cleymans Chair of the Local Organizing Committee Local Organizing Committee Oana Boeriu Jean Cleymans Simon H Connell Alan S Cornell William A Horowitz Andre Peshier Trevor Vickey Zeblon Z Vilakazi Group picture

Physical Function in an Aging Population in Rural South Africa: Findings From HAALSI and Cross-National Comparisons With HRS Sister Studies.

PubMed

Payne, Collin F; Gómez-Olivé, Francesc Xavier; Kahn, Kathleen; Berkman, Lisa

2017-07-01

We use recently-collected data from the Health and Aging in Africa: a Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) cohort from Agincourt, South Africa, to describe physical functioning in this aging population, and place the overall level and age-trajectories of physical health in the context of other Health and Retirement Study (HRS) sister studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We conduct multiple regression to estimate associations of physical functioning assessed from both self-report (activities of daily living [ADL] limitation, self-reported health) and performance (grip strength, gait speed) with socio-demographic and health characteristics in HAALSI, and use fully-interacted regression models to compare age-patterns of physical functioning outcomes cross-nationally. Gender differences in self-reported health are minimal, and men had 30% higher odds of being ADL limited controlling for socio-demographic and health characteristics. Measured physical performance is closely tied with socioeconomic conditions, but self-reported measures have a much smaller or weaker socioeconomic gradient. In international age-adjusted comparisons, the HAALSI sample had lower physical performance outcomes than most comparison populations. As the first HRS sister study undertaken in Africa, HAALSI adds vital information on population aging and health in the region. Continuing waves of HAALSI data will be a key resource for understanding differences in the complex processes of disability across LMIC contexts. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

"It's Easy to Learn when You Using Your Home Language but with English You Need to Start Learning Language before You Get to the Concept": Bilingual Concept Development in an English Medium University in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paxton, Moragh Isobel Jane

2009-01-01

This article describes a multilingual glossary project in the economics department at the University of Cape Town which gave multilingual students learning economics through the medium of English, opportunities to discuss new economic concepts in their home languages in order to broaden and enrich understanding of these new concepts. The findings…

76 FR 50495 - Stainless Steel Plate From Belgium, Italy, Korea, South Africa, and Taiwan

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-15

... Review] Stainless Steel Plate From Belgium, Italy, Korea, South Africa, and Taiwan Determinations On the.... 1675(c)), that revocation of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate from South Africa... Africa, and Taiwan would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury to an...

Quantifying Channelized Submarine Depositional Systems From Bed to Basin Scale

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

Union of South Africa and South West Africa . Memoirs of the Geological Survey of South Africa , 39:177, 1944. C.D. Winker and J.R. Booth. Sedimentary ...overbank locations. Sedimentary structures, textures and facies preserved in core recovered from the Late Pliocene section of Fisk Basin are consistent...France or Tanqua, Karoo Basin, South Africa in Pickering et al. (1995)) falling well short of the desirable continuous regional exposure. As a result of

Prevalence of Arthritis in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Usenbo, Anthony; Kramer, Veronika; Young, Taryn; Musekiwa, Alfred

2015-01-01

Objective In this systematic review, we estimate the prevalence of six types of arthritis in Africa; namely rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, juvenile arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, and ankylosing spondylitis. Methods We comprehensively searched literature on 31 August 2014 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library to identify eligible studies from 1975 up to 31 July 2014. Two review authors independently selected studies, extracted data, and appraised studies. We carried out random effects meta-analysis of prevalence of arthritis and assessed heterogeneity through subgroup analyses. We performed separate analyses for population- and hospital-based studies, as well as rural and urban settings. Main Findings We included 27 cross-sectional studies (20 population-based and 7 hospital-based) from Africa reporting on the prevalence of arthritis. The majority of the studies were from South Africa (44.4%, 12/27). Rheumatoid arthritis in urban settings ranged from 0.1% in Algeria, 0.6% in the DRC, to a meta-analysis overall prevalence of 2.5% in South Africa, and in rural settings ranged from a meta-analysis overall prevalence of 0.07% in South Africa, 0.3% in Egypt, to 0.4% in Lesotho. Osteoarthritis was the most prevalent form of arthritis and in urban settings it was 55.1% in South Africa and in rural settings, all in South Africa, ranged from 29.5%, 29.7%, up to 82.7% among adults aged over 65 years. Other results include highest prevalence of 33.1% for knee osteoarthritis in rural South Africa, 0.1% for ankylosing spondylitis in rural South Africa, 4.4% for psoriatic arthritis in urban South Africa, 0.7% for gout in urban South Africa, and 0.3% for juvenile idiopathic arthritis in urban Egypt. A third of the included studies had a low risk of bias (33.3%, 9/27), 40.8% (11/27) moderate risk, and 25.9% (7/27) had a high risk of bias. Conclusions In this systematic review, we have identified the paucity of latest prevalence data on arthritis in Africa. More studies are needed to address the prevalence and the true burden of this disease in Africa. PMID:26241756

Prevalence of Arthritis in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Usenbo, Anthony; Kramer, Veronika; Young, Taryn; Musekiwa, Alfred

2015-01-01

In this systematic review, we estimate the prevalence of six types of arthritis in Africa; namely rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, juvenile arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, and ankylosing spondylitis. We comprehensively searched literature on 31 August 2014 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library to identify eligible studies from 1975 up to 31 July 2014. Two review authors independently selected studies, extracted data, and appraised studies. We carried out random effects meta-analysis of prevalence of arthritis and assessed heterogeneity through subgroup analyses. We performed separate analyses for population- and hospital-based studies, as well as rural and urban settings. We included 27 cross-sectional studies (20 population-based and 7 hospital-based) from Africa reporting on the prevalence of arthritis. The majority of the studies were from South Africa (44.4%, 12/27). Rheumatoid arthritis in urban settings ranged from 0.1% in Algeria, 0.6% in the DRC, to a meta-analysis overall prevalence of 2.5% in South Africa, and in rural settings ranged from a meta-analysis overall prevalence of 0.07% in South Africa, 0.3% in Egypt, to 0.4% in Lesotho. Osteoarthritis was the most prevalent form of arthritis and in urban settings it was 55.1% in South Africa and in rural settings, all in South Africa, ranged from 29.5%, 29.7%, up to 82.7% among adults aged over 65 years. Other results include highest prevalence of 33.1% for knee osteoarthritis in rural South Africa, 0.1% for ankylosing spondylitis in rural South Africa, 4.4% for psoriatic arthritis in urban South Africa, 0.7% for gout in urban South Africa, and 0.3% for juvenile idiopathic arthritis in urban Egypt. A third of the included studies had a low risk of bias (33.3%, 9/27), 40.8% (11/27) moderate risk, and 25.9% (7/27) had a high risk of bias. In this systematic review, we have identified the paucity of latest prevalence data on arthritis in Africa. More studies are needed to address the prevalence and the true burden of this disease in Africa.

Teacher Labour Markets in South Africa and Botswana: A Comparative Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irving, Margaret

2012-01-01

This article compares key features of the labour markets for teachers across Botswana and South Africa in order to seek possible explanations for the apparently larger teacher shortages in South Africa. It is argued that South African teachers earn relatively lower wages when compared to professionals with comparable qualifications; they have also…

Migration in southern Africa: a comparative perspective.

PubMed

Solomon, H

1994-01-01

Population movement can be described as intra-state, East-West, South-North, and South-South. About 20 million persons globally are considered displaced, of which about 4.1 million are internally displaced persons in South Africa. East-West movement occurred for over 400 million when the Iron Curtain came down. South-North movements of asylum seekers were estimated at 442,000 in 1990. South-South movement amounted to 4 million official refugees in Africa in 1989 and 4.4 million in 1990. African has the largest concentration of refugees. This article does not address the 265,825 contract migrant workers in South Africa. South African migration is the South-South type and can be characterized as "brain-drain" of well-trained professionals in neighboring states and unskilled and illegal migrants from Mozambique and Angola. Movement is pushed or pulled according to sociocultural factors, communications and technology, geographic proximity, precedent, demographic factors, environmental factors, economic factors, and political factors. The effects of migration in South Africa include increased stress on housing, political and social tension, increased costs, overcrowding, transmission of disease, and marginalization of migrants into low status and low paid jobs. For Lesotho migrants in South Africa remittances are a major source of national wealth. South Africa has also experienced racial discord against Mozambicans and Chinese. Political right wing groups mobilize around anti-immigration platforms. Migrants can become policy tools, and many are used in wars of liberation. International attention may focus on mistreatment of refugees. Management can be construed as "carrot" or "stick" approaches. Stick approaches include forced repatriation, limiting immigration, housing in survival-level camps, public campaigns run by host countries in sending countries, or greater control of national borders. South Africa has extensively used stick approaches, which have been only partially successful. Carrot approaches rely on regional integration strategies designed to reduce wage differentials and promote global cooperation. Polycentric and ethnocentric nationalism affect management of migrants as assets or as liabilities.

The Evils of Urbanization on South Africa: A Literary Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banks, Dennis N.

1994-01-01

Maintains that, with the recent elections in South Africa, interest in the study of southern Africa has increased. Compares and contrasts the images of South Africa presented in the novels of Alan Paton and Peter Abrahams. Asserts that the pictures painted by these authors are not pleasant but are necessary to understand recent events. (CFR)

South Africa/Time Running Out.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Todd, Ed.

1984-01-01

Based on the book, "South Africa: Time Running Out," a report of the Study Commission on U.S. Policy Toward Southern Africa, this 10-20 day unit of study is designed to help high school students learn about the history, geography, and present situation in South Africa and its relationship to the United States. The first of four sections…

The Emerging Role of the Republic of South Africa as a Regional Power

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-04-07

effect national power. It is written from the perspective that South Africa, even with its past of racial separation and minority rule, is overcoming...facing these issues head-on, has overcome racial diverseness, and is developing into a leading regional role. South Africa is transforming. Since 1994...that effect national power. It is written from the perspective that South Africa, even with its past of racial separation and minority rule, is

Investing in African research training institutions creates sustainable capacity for Africa: the case of the University of the Witwatersrand School of Public Health masters programme in epidemiology and biostatistics

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Improving health in Africa is a high priority internationally. Inadequate research capacity to produce local, relevant research has been identified as a limitation to improved population health. Increasing attention is being paid to the higher education sector in Africa as a method of addressing this; evidence that such investment is having the desired impact is required. A 1998 3-year investment by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) in research training at the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa was reviewed to assess its' impact. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional survey of the 70 students registered for the masters programme in epidemiology & biostatistics from 2000-2005 was conducted. Data were collected from self-administered questionnaires. Results Sixty percent (42/70) of students responded. At the time of the survey 19% of respondents changed their country of residence after completion of the masters course, 14% migrated within Africa and 5% migrated out of Africa. Approximately half (47%) were employed as researchers and 38% worked in research institutions. Sixty percent reported research output, and four graduates were pursuing PhD studies. Government subsidy to higher education institutions, investments of the University of the Witwatersrand in successful programmes and ongoing bursaries for students to cover tuition fees were important for sustainability. Conclusions Investing in African institutions to improve research training capacity resulted in the retention of graduates in Africa in research positions and produced research output. Training programmes can be sustained when national governments invest in higher education and where that funding is judiciously applied. Challenges remain if funding for students bursaries is not available. PMID:22475629

Language in South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mesthrie, Rajend, Ed.

This collection of 24 papers focuses on language and society in South Africa. Part 1, "The Main Language Groupings," includes (1) "South Africa: A Sociolinguistic Overview" (R. Mesthrie); (2) "The Khoesan Languages" (A. Traill); (3) "The Bantu Languages: Sociohistorical Perspectives" (Robert K. Herbert and…

A strategy for developing future academic leaders for South Africa in a resource-constrained environment.

PubMed

Lalloo, Umesh G; Bobat, Raziya A; Pillay, Sandy; Wassenaar, Douglas

2014-08-01

A key challenge in addressing the shortage of health care workers in resource-constrained environments is ensuring that there is optimal academic capacity for their training. South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal has placed academic and research capacity building at the heart of its program with the Medical Education Partnership Initiative in a program called ENhancing Training and REsearch capacity and Expertise (ENTREE). The program aims to increase the quantity, quality, and retention of health care graduates. It is premised on the basis that research capacity development will lead to an increase in teachers who will be essential to improving the quality and quantity of health care workers needed to meet South Africa's health challenges. This is being achieved through four components of the program: (1) infusion of the undergraduate program with research modules; (2) attraction of academically talented students in the middle of their undergraduate program into a parallel track that has research capacity as its major thrust; (3) attraction of qualified health care personnel into a supported PhD program; and (4) providing strong research ethics training and mentorship. A significant proportion of the program is being executed in rural training sites, to increase the probability that trainees will return to the sites as mentors.

National health insurance reform in South Africa: estimating the implications for demand for private health insurance.

PubMed

Okorafor, Okore Apia

2012-05-01

A recent health reform proposal in South Africa proposes universal access to a comprehensive package of healthcare services in the public sector, through the implementation of a national health insurance (NHI) scheme. Implementation of the scheme is likely to involve the introduction of a payroll tax. It is implied that the introduction of the payroll tax will significantly reduce the size of the private health insurance market. The objective of this study was to estimate the impact of an NHI payroll tax on the demand for private health insurance in South Africa, and to explore the broader implications for health policy. The study applies probit regression analysis on household survey data to estimate the change in demand for private health insurance as a result of income shocks arising from the proposed NHI. The introduction of payroll taxes for the proposed NHI was estimated to result in a reduction to private health insurance membership of 0.73%. This suggests inelasticity in the demand for private health insurance. In the literature on the subject, this inelasticity is usually due to quality differences between alternatives. In the South African context, there may be other factors at play. An NHI tax may have a very small impact on the demand for private health insurance. Although additional financial resources will be raised through a payroll tax under the proposed NHI reform, systemic problems within the South African health system can adversely affect the ability of the NHI to translate additional finances into better quality healthcare. If these systemic challenges are not adequately addressed, the introduction of a payroll tax could introduce inefficiencies within the South African health system.

Perceptions of the Principal's Role in Democratic School Governance in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mncube, Vusi

2009-01-01

This article explores governors' perceptions of the role played by school principals in the democratic governance of secondary schools in South Africa. The South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 has mandated that all public schools in South Africa must have democratically elected school governing bodies, comprised of the principal (in his or her…

ICT Policies and Strategies in Higher Education in South Africa: National and Institutional Pathways

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cross, Michael; Adam, Fatima

2007-01-01

This paper focuses on policy initiatives and strategies used to promote the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education in South Africa. It explores a wider international outlook and current debates in South Africa to map out an emerging South African perspective concerning the integration of ICT in higher…

More doctors and dentists are needed in South Africa.

PubMed

Strachan, B; Zabow, T; van der Spuy, Z

2011-07-25

BACKGROUND. An aim of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) project 'Strengthening Academic Medicine and Specialist Training' was to research the number and needs of specialists and subspecialists within South Africa. METHODS. Data were collected from several sources: Deans of the 8 Faculties of Health Sciences and the Presidents of the 27 constituent Colleges of the CMSA completed a survey; and the HPCSA's Register of Approved Registrar Posts for Faculties of Health Sciences was examined and the results tabulated. RESULTS. South Africa compares unfavourably with middle-income countries on the ratios of medical and dental professionals; many districts have limited access to specialists and subspecialists. The unacceptable ratio of doctors, dentists and other health professionals per capita needs to be remedied, given South Africa's impressive reputation for its output of health professionals, including the areas of medical training, clinical practice and clinical research. The existing output from South Africa's 8 medical schools of MB ChB and specialist graduates is not being absorbed into the public health system, and neither are other health professionals. CONCLUSION. Dynamic leadership and policy interventions are required to advocate and finance the planned increase of medical, dental and other health professionals in South Africa.

Ties That Bind: Family and Community. First Edition. Our Human Family Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clay, Rebecca

This book examines the cultural universal of family and community from a multicultural perspective. The text is written for juveniles, and includes many color photographs. Chapters include: (1) "Families Are Everywhere"; (2) "The Americas"; (3) "Africa"; (4) "Europe and the Middle East"; (5) "Asia"; and (6) "Australia and the South Pacific." The…

Using CAS to Solve a Mathematics Task: A Deconstruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berger, Margot

2010-01-01

I investigate how and whether a heterogeneous group of first-year university mathematics students in South Africa harness the potential power of a computer algebra system (CAS) when doing a specific mathematics task. In order to do this, I develop a framework for deconstructing a mathematics task requiring the use of CAS, into its primary…

Private Universities and Public Funding: Models and Business Plans. Policy Commentary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Roger

2008-01-01

The growth of private higher education has come as a surprise to most governments, which have tried to catch up in their regulatory and funding policymaking. In China, Malaysia and South Africa they have given legal recognition to previously disallowed private higher education and this has helped to fuel its subsequent growth. Some governments…

The Mandela Effect

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lincoln, Don

The Mandela effect is an idea that people move between parallel universes. Its name arises because some people have firm memories of Nelson Mandela dying in prison, when in fact he was released and went on to be President of South Africa. In this video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln explains to his pet Albert why this is such a silly idea.

Building Young Women's Knowledge and Skills in Female Condom Use: Lessons Learned from a South African Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schuyler, A. C.; Masvawure, T. B.; Smit, J. A.; Beksinska, M.; Mabude, Z.; Ngoloyi, C.; Mantell, J. E.

2016-01-01

Partner negotiation and insertion difficulties are key barriers to female condom (FC) use in sub-Saharan Africa. Few FC interventions have provided comprehensive training in both negotiation and insertion skills, or focused on university students. In this study we explored whether training in FC insertion and partner negotiation influenced young…

A Framework for the Integration of DVD Technology in Geography Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van der Westhuizen, Christo P.; Richter, Barry W.; Nel, Carisma

2010-01-01

This article discusses the results when integrating digital versatile disc (DVD) technology in full-time second-year geography for BEd degree students at a university in South Africa, a developing country. It proposes a framework for the integration of the DVD in geography teaching and learning, steered by students' needs, feedback and…

Students' Difficulties with Definitions in the Context of Proofs in Elementary Set Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaker, Hedieh; Berger, Margot

2016-01-01

In this paper we explore first-year students' difficulties with the use and interpretation of definitions of mathematical objects as they attempt proof construction exercises in the area of elementary set theory. The participants are students at a historically disadvantaged university in South Africa. In this study the activities and utterances of…

Financial Assistance for Study After Standard 10: First Diplomas and Bachelor's Degrees.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roodt, Joan, Comp.; And Others

This guide is a summary of bursaries, loans, and other financial assistance available for obtaining first diplomas and bachelors degrees diploma at a university, technikon or college in the Republic of South Africa (RSA), Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda or Ciskei (TBVC). Bursaries are indexed under the headings: title of the award, field of study…

Mixing Problem Based Learning and Conventional Teaching Methods in an Analog Electronics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Podges, J. M.; Kommers, P. A. M.; Winnips, K.; van Joolingen, W. R.

2014-01-01

This study, undertaken at the Walter Sisulu University of Technology (WSU) in South Africa, describes how problem-based learning (PBL) affects the first year 'analog electronics course', when PBL and the lecturing mode is compared. Problems were designed to match real-life situations. Data between the experimental group and the control group that…

Registration of spring wheat sources of the resistance genes Lr53, Lr56, Lr59 and Lr62

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm with the alien derived leaf rust (caused by Puccinia triticina Erikss) resistance genes, Lr53, Lr56, Lr59, and Lr62 has been developed with infrastructure and financial support provided consecutively by the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa), the ...

Reflections on Assessment in Open Distance Learning (ODL): The Case of the University of South Africa (UNISA)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Letseka, Moeketsi; Pitsoe, Victor

2013-01-01

The article explores the challenges of assessment in open distance learning (ODL). The authors argue that ultimately assessment should be about improving the quality of teaching and effective learning. It should be based on making expectations explicit and public, setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality, systematically…

Bringing Together Knowledge and Capabilities: A Case Study of Engineering Graduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Case, Jennifer M.; Marshall, Delia

2016-01-01

In contemporary times there is a renewed focus on the purposes of university education in science or engineering, especially in emerging economy contexts like South Africa where the massification of higher education is in its early stages. The contributions by Muller ("High Educ" 70(3):409-416, 2015) and Walker ("High Educ"…

Implementing Computer-Aided Instruction in Distance Education: An Infrastructure. RR/89-06.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kotze, Paula

The infrastructure required for the implementation of computer aided instruction is described with particular reference to the distance education environment at the University of South Africa. A review of the state of the art of online distance education in the United States and Europe is followed by an outline of the proposed infrastructure for…

Self-Assessment in Education Management Training through Distance Learning: A Critical Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steyn, G. M.; Kamper, G. D.

2006-01-01

In pursuit of quality, the learning process should be continuously improved by changing, among other things, the learning material and the way learning is facilitated. A concern for academics, teaching experience in the B.Ed. module: Personnel Management, a module offered by means of distance education at the University of South Africa, is to…

DNA Replication and Transcription: An Innovative Teaching Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fossey, Annabel; Hancock, Carolyn

2005-01-01

First-year students in genetics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, attend two general biology modules, one in each semester. Teaching involves four formal lectures per week of 45 min each, one 3-h practical, and one lecture period tutorial. These students, graduating from secondary education, are well schooled in rote learning but…

Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English: Positions, Pedagogies, and Cultural Politics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spurlin, William J., Ed.

This international collection of essays presents a contemporary overview of issues of sexual identity as they relate to teaching and learning in English from elementary through university levels. Coming from teachers in classrooms in India to North America to South Africa to Europe, the essays theorize lesbian, gay, and transgendered positions in…

Uptake of OER by Staff in Distance Education in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Hart, Kerry; Chetty, Yuraisha; Archer, Elizabeth

2015-01-01

Open Educational Resources (OER) emerged within the context of open education which is typically characterized by the sharing of knowledge and resources and the exchange of ideas. Unisa as a mega open distance learning (ODL) university has publicly communicated its intention to take part in the use and creation of OER. As global and local…

The Role of the Humanities in Decolonising the Academy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prinsloo, Estelle H.

2016-01-01

This short paper argues that the #RhodesMustFall movement, which originated at the University of Cape Town, has brought renewed attention to the need to decolonise the academy in South Africa. It further argues that the Humanities are ideally placed to engage with the intellectual problems and questions presented by the decolonisation debate. Deep…

Comparison of Urban and Rural Dropout Rates of Distance Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Hart, K. L.; Venter J. M. P.

2013-01-01

South Africa has one of the highest university dropout rates in the world. As a country, it also has a history of forced location and the withholding of resources, including quality education, from certain rural areas. This study investigates, the effect of urbanization (of the area in which a student resides) on the dropout rate of distance…

A World without Collisions: "'Master Harold'...and the Boys" in the Classroom (Reclaiming the Canon).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummings, Mark

1989-01-01

Describes how Athol Fugard's 1982 play "'Master Harold'...and the Boys" dramatizes the racial situation in South Africa by taking the concept of racism away from universal abstractions and making its causes and effects individual and concrete. Asserts that this play should be adopted in the high school curriculum. (MM)

Educating for a Plural Democracy and Citizenship--A Report on Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costandius, Elmarie; Rosochacki, Sophia

2012-01-01

This paper presents an argument for the relevance of education for critical global citizenship, with reference to a graphic design module at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa as a case study. The first part of the paper argues that tolerance, cultural diversity, democratic participation and social cohesion are prerequisites for plural…

The Self-Perception and Cultural Dimensions: Cross-Cultural Comparison

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akande, Adebowale W.

2009-01-01

The present study has been conducted with an aim to compare responses of undergraduates from Swaziland to previously reported findings with similar groups of American, Nepalese, Nigerian and Hong Kong. A total sample of 310 males and females in the age range of 20 and 21 were selected from three universities in South Africa. Self-esteem was…

The Impact of Performance Measurement on Library and Information Services: A Decade of Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willemse, John

Performance measurement at the University of South Africa (Unisa) library is integrated in its planning and review procedures and is continuously adapted and improved. This paper traces the development of performance measurement at Unisa over more than a decade. Performance measurement provides an indication of how good or bad the library is doing…

A Reflective Conversation with Kobus Maree, Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaughnessy, Michael F.; Moore, Tammy Lynne; Maree, Kobus

2013-01-01

Always regarded as somewhat of an "outsider" (the child of an English-speaking (Catholic) mother and an Afrikaans (Protestant) father in an exclusively Afrikaans milieu) and growing up extremely poor, seeing the hardship of others and realising how much talent was going to waste, Kobus Maree took a particular interest in gifted…

Future and Changing Roles of Staff in Distance Education: A Study to Identify Training and Professional Development Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Jennifer

2018-01-01

The roles of distance education teaching staff are changing, necessitating role clarity and the development of appropriate competency frameworks. This article investigates the perceptions of the teaching and research staff at the University of South Africa, regarding the current and future roles of distance educators, their own competencies in…

Household Budgets as a Social Indicator of Poverty and Inequality in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martins, Johan H.

2007-01-01

In the absence of a universally accepted method of calculating poverty, household expenditure can be used to provide an indication of inequality of wealth and serve as an indicator of poverty. Household expenditure comprises expenditure of private households on goods and services, irrespective of their durability. The portion of household budgets…

Healthcare service problems reported in a national survey of South Africans.

PubMed

Hasumi, Takahiro; Jacobsen, Kathryn H

2014-08-01

To identify common types of health service problems reported by South African adults during their most recent visit to a healthcare provider. Secondary analysis of South Africa's cross-sectional General Household Survey (GHS). Nationally representative weighted sample of households in South Africa. 23,562 household representatives interviewed during the 2010 GHS. Problems experienced during the most recent visit to the usual healthcare provider. In total, 43.8% of participants reported experiencing at least one problem during their last visit; 19.1% reported multiple problems. The most common problems experienced were a long waiting time (34.8% of household representatives), needed drugs not being available (14.1%) and staff who were rude or uncaring or turned patients away (10.1%). Of the 73.6% of participants using public providers, 54.9% reported at least one problem; of the 26.4% of participants using private providers, only 18.0% reported a problem, usually cost. Similar differences in reported problems at public and private providers were reported for all racial/ethnic groups and income groups. Black Africans reported more problems than other population groups due in large part to being significantly more likely to use public providers. Addressing commonly reported problem areas-in particular, long waiting times, unavailable medications and staff who are perceived as being unfriendly-might help prevent delayed care seeking, increase the acceptability of healthcare services and reduce remaining health disparities in South Africa. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care; all rights reserved.

Reflections on Apartheid in South Africa: Perspectives and an Outlook for the Future. A Curriculum Unit. Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar Abroad 1996 (South Africa).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warnsley, Johnnye R.

This curriculum unit is designed for students to achieve a better understanding of the South African society and the numerous changes that have recently occurred. The four-week unit can be modified to fit existing classroom needs. The nine lessons include: (1) "A Profile of South Africa"; (2) "South African Society"; (3)…

Assessment of universal health coverage for adults aged 50 years or older with chronic illness in six middle-income countries

PubMed Central

Frenz, Patricia; Grabenhenrich, Linus; Keil, Thomas; Tinnemann, Peter

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective To assess universal health coverage for adults aged 50 years or older with chronic illness in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa. Methods We obtained data on 16 631 participants aged 50 years or older who had at least one diagnosed chronic condition from the World Health Organization Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health. Access to basic chronic care and financial hardship were assessed and the influence of health insurance and rural or urban residence was determined by logistic regression analysis. Findings The weighted proportion of participants with access to basic chronic care ranged from 20.6% in Mexico to 47.6% in South Africa. Access rates were unequally distributed and disadvantaged poor people, except in South Africa where primary health care is free to all. Rural residence did not affect access. The proportion with catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure for the last outpatient visit ranged from 14.5% in China to 54.8% in Ghana. Financial hardship was more common among the poor in most countries but affected all income groups. Health insurance generally increased access to care but gave insufficient protection against financial hardship. Conclusion No country provided access to basic chronic care for more than half of the participants with chronic illness. The poor were less likely to receive care and more likely to face financial hardship in most countries. However, inequity of access was not fully determined by the level of economic development or insurance coverage. Future health reforms should aim to improve service quality and increase democratic oversight of health care. PMID:27034521

On a Divisibility Relation for Lucas Sequences

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-08

Université Bordeaux 1 & CNRS, 351 cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence, France b School of Mathematics and Statistics, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072...China c School of Mathematics , University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag X3, Wits 2050, South Africa d Instituto de Matemáticas, Universidad de...Valparaíso, Chile e Naval Postgraduate School, Applied Mathematics Department, Monterey, CA 93943-5216, USA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Concentrating Solar Power Projects in South Africa | Concentrating Solar

Science.gov Websites

belowâ€"alphabetical by project name. You can browse a project profile by clicking on the project Power | NREL South Africa Concentrating solar power (CSP) projects in South Africa are listed

Enabling Energy Efficiency in South Africa's Commercial Buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

2016-04-01

South Africa is leading a number of efforts to support a thriving economy while also reducing energy use. Increasing energy demand coupled with a highly energy intensive economy and energy inefficient industries provide the backdrop for strong government action underway in South Africa. This brochure details how the Clean Energy Solutions Center supported development of the Regulations on Allowance for the Energy Efficiency Savings legislation designed to provide a framework for effective energy efficiency regulation, incentives and energy reduction targets for South Africa's commercial buildings sector.

South-South medical tourism and the quest for health in Southern Africa.

PubMed

Crush, Jonathan; Chikanda, Abel

2015-01-01

Intra-regional South-South medical tourism is a vastly understudied subject despite its significance in many parts of the Global South. This paper takes issue with the conventional notion of South Africa purely as a high-end "surgeon and safari" destination for medical tourists from the Global North. It argues that South-South movement to South Africa for medical treatment is far more significant, numerically and financially, than North-South movement. The general lack of access to medical diagnosis and treatment in SADC countries has led to a growing temporary movement of people across borders to seek help at South African institutions in border towns and in the major cities. These movements are both formal (institutional) and informal (individual) in nature. In some cases, patients go to South Africa for procedures that are not offered in their own countries. In others, patients are referred by doctors and hospitals to South African facilities. But the majority of the movement is motivated by lack of access to basic healthcare at home. The high demand and large informal flow of patients from countries neighbouring South Africa has prompted the South African government to try and formalise arrangements for medical travel to its public hospitals and clinics through inter-country agreements in order to recover the cost of treating non-residents. The danger, for 'disenfranchised' medical tourists who fall outside these agreements, is that medical xenophobia in South Africa may lead to increasing exclusion and denial of treatment. Medical tourism in this region and South-South medical tourism in general are areas that require much additional research. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

77 FR 66616 - Application for Final Commitment for a Long-Term Loan or Financial Guarantee in Excess of $100...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-06

... export of commercial aircraft to South Africa Brief non-proprietary description of the anticipated use of... South Africa and between South Africa and nearby African countries. To the extent that Ex-Im Bank is...

Double standards: the multinational asbestos industry and asbestos-related disease in South Africa.

PubMed

McCulloch, Jock; Tweedale, Geoffrey

2004-01-01

This study documents and contrasts the development of knowledge about asbestos-related disease (ARD) in South Africa and the United Kingdom. It also contributes to the globalization debate by exploring corporate decision-making in a multinational industry. Between the 1930s and 1960s, the leading U.K. asbestos companies developed a sophisticated knowledge of ARD, though in South Africa, where the leading companies such as Turner & Newall and Cape Asbestos owned mines, there was little attempt to apply this knowledge. Asbestos mines (and their environments) in South Africa were uniquely dusty and ARD was rife. Social and political factors in South Africa, especially apartheid, allowed these companies to apply double standards, even after 1960 when the much more serious hazard of mesothelioma was identified. This shows the need for greater regulation of multinationals. Because of the lack of such regulation in the early 1960s, an opportunity was lost to prevent the current high morbidity and mortality of ARD both in South Africa and worldwide.

Barriers to the Implementation of the Health and Rehabilitation Articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in South Africa.

PubMed

Hussey, Meghan; MacLachlan, Malcolm; Mji, Gubela

2016-08-28

The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is a milestone in the recognition of the human rights of persons with disabilities, including the right to health and rehabilitation. South Africa has signed and ratified the CRPD but still has a long way to go in reforming policies and systems in order to be in compliance with the convention. This paper seeks to fill a gap in the literature by exploring what the barriers to the implementation of the health and rehabilitation articles of the CRPD are, as identified by representatives of the disability community. This investigation used a qualitative, exploratory methodology. 10 semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of representatives of disabled persons organizations (DPOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and service providers in South Africa were conducted. Participants were drawn from urban, peri-urban, and rural settings in order to reflect diverse perspectives within South Africa. Data was analysed using a multi-stage coding process to establish the main categories and relationships between them. Six main categories of barriers to the implementation of the health and rehabilitation articles of the CRPD were identified. Attitude barriers including stigma and negative assumptions about persons with disabilities were seen as an underlying cause and influence on all of the other categories; which included political, financial, health systems, physical, and communication barriers. The findings of this study have important implications for strategies and actions to implement the CRPD. Given the centrality of attitudinal barriers, greater sensitization around the area of disability is needed. Furthermore, disability should be better integrated and mainstreamed into more general initiatives to develop the health system and improve the lives of persons living in poverty in South Africa. © 2017 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Remote Sensing of Smoke, Land and Clouds from the NASA ER-2 during SAFARI 2000

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Michael D.; Platnick, Steven; Moeller, Christopher C.; Revercomb, Henry E.; Chu, D. Allen

2002-01-01

The NASA ER-2 aircraft was deployed to southern Africa between August 17 and September 25, 2000 as part of the Southern Africa Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI) 2000. This aircraft carried a sophisticated array of multispectral scanners, multiangle spectroradiometers, a monostatic lidar, a gas correlation radiometer, upward and downward spectral flux radiometers, and two metric mapping cameras. These observations were obtained over a 3200 x 2800 km region of savanna, woody savanna, open shrubland, and grassland ecosystems throughout southern Africa, and were quite often coordinated with overflights by NASA's Terra and Landsat 7 satellites. The primary purpose of this sophisticated high altitude observing platform was to obtain independent observations of smoke, clouds, and land surfaces that could be used to check the validity of various remote sensing measurements derived by Earth-orbiting satellites. These include such things as the accuracy of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) cloud mask for distinguishing clouds and heavy aerosol from land and ocean surfaces, and Terra analyses of cloud optical and micro-physical properties, aerosol properties, leaf area index, vegetation index, fire occurrence, carbon monoxide, and surface radiation budget. In addition to coordination with Terra and Landsat 7 satellites, numerous flights were conducted over surface AERONET sites, flux towers in South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia, and in situ aircraft from the University of Washington, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Seismology at the Australian National University; an interview with Anton L. Hales

USGS Publications Warehouse

Spall, H.

1980-01-01

Dr. Anton L. Hales is a leading seismologist who has just retired as Director of the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra. Prior to that, he headed the Geosciences Division at the University of Texas at Dallas, and, before that, he was Director of the Bernard Price Institute of Geophysical Research at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa. he is about to step down as President of the International Geodynamics Commission. Dr. Hales' research has involved marine geophysics, the travel times of seismic waves, and the structure of the Earth's crust and upper mantle. 

Measuring and Understanding the Well-Being of South Africans: Everyday Quality of Life in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgs, Neil T.

2007-01-01

South Africa has a Gini co-efficient of 62, one of the world's highest (Finmark: Project FinScope 2004 and 2005, FinMark Trust, Johannesburg). Hence, measures of wealth are ubiquitous social indicators in South Africa. However, a growing emphasis in government towards measurable service delivery targets and remedial action to redress the…

Using formative research to develop a nutrition education resource aimed at assisting low-income households in South Africa adopt a healthier diet.

PubMed

Everett-Murphy, K; De Villiers, A; Ketterer, E; Steyn, K

2015-12-01

As part of a comprehensive programme to prevent non-communicable disease in South Africa, there is a need to develop public education campaigns on healthy eating. Urban populations of lower socioeconomic status are a priority target population. This study involved formative research to guide the development of a nutrition resource appropriate to the budgetary constraints and information needs of poor households in the major urban centres of South Africa. Twenty-two focus groups were convened to explore the target audience's knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and practices as they related to healthy eating and their views about the proposed nutrition resource (N = 167). A brief questionnaire assessed eating and cooking practices among focus group participants. Key informant interviews with eight dieticians/nutritionists working with this population added to the focus group findings. The research identified important issues to take into account in the development of the resource. These included the need to: directly address prevalent misconceptions about healthy eating and unhealthy eating practices; increase self-efficacy regarding the purchasing and preparation of healthy food; represent diverse cultural traditions and consider the issues of affordability and availability of food ingredients. This study demonstrates the value of using formative research in the design of nutrition-related communication in a multicultural, poor, urban South African setting. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Social accountability and nursing education in South Africa

PubMed Central

Armstrong, Susan J.; Rispel, Laetitia C.

2015-01-01

Background There is global emphasis on transforming health workforce education in support of universal health coverage. Objective This paper uses a social accountability framework, specifically the World Health Organization's six building blocks for transformative education, to explore key informants’ perspectives on nursing education in South Africa. Methods Using a snowballing sampling technique, 44 key informants were selected purposively on the basis of their expertise or knowledge of the research area. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the key informants after informed consent had been obtained. The interviews were analysed using template analysis. Results South Africa has strategic plans on human resources for health and nursing education, training, and practice and has a well-established system of regulation and accreditation of nursing education through the South African Nursing Council (SANC). Key informants criticised the following: the lack of national staffing norms; sub-optimal governance by both the SANC and the Department of Health; outdated curricula that are unresponsive to population and health system needs; lack of preparedness of nurse educators; and the unsuitability of the majority of nursing students. These problems are exacerbated by a perceived lack of prioritisation of nursing, resource constraints in both the nursing education institutions and the health training facilities, and general implementation inertia. Conclusion Social accountability, which is an essential component of transformative education, necessitates that attention be paid to the issues of governance, responsive curricula, educator preparedness, and appropriate student recruitment and selection. PMID:25971402

[Matrimonial changes in Africa].

PubMed

Hertrich, V; Pilon, M

1997-01-01

A database of census and survey information on fertility and nuptiality in Africa being assembled by the French Center for Population and Development (CEPED) was the source for this analysis of changing marriage patterns. Early marriage for girls, nearly universal marriage for both sexes, rapid remarriage of reproductive-age widows and divorcees, polygamy, and a frequently large difference in the ages of the spouses are typical of African marriage. But a great variety of situations coexist. In the 1960s, the female age at first marriage was under 17.5 years on average in West Africa, while the male age was over 26. Nearly everyone married, and one-fourth to one-third of married men were polygamous. In South Africa, at the other extreme, the average age at first marriage was 20-23 for women and 26-30 for men, over 5% never married, and polygamy was rare. Nuptiality patterns were intermediate in North, Central, and East Africa. The most recent round of censuses and surveys show the geographic differences to be shrinking. Average age at first marriage for women is increasing everywhere and often exceeds 19 years. It remains lower than 17.5 in only two countries. The increase amounts to at least a half year for 30 countries and over 1 year for 15. Marriage remains nearly universal except in South Africa. Male age at marriage is rising more slowly than female age, causing the average age gap to decline. Economic difficulties and unemployment appear to play a significant role in the delay of marriage, with increased female school attendance also a factor, although secondary and higher education for females in sub-Saharan Africa is too uncommon to have perceptible effects on the national scale. In North Africa, the age at first birth has increased in tandem with increasing marriage age, but in sub-Saharan Africa the relationship has been less marked. In Lome, for example, the increasing age at first marriage for females has had no effect on age at first birth. The proportions of premarital births have increased significantly in some areas. Increasing age at first marriage is just one of the changes apparently underway in African marriage patterns, as traditions are adapted to the changing demands of modern life.

American Society of Hand Therapists

MedlinePlus

... Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the ... Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the ...

Impact of a Gender-Transformative HIV and Antiviolence Program on Gender Ideologies and Masculinities in Two Rural, South African Communities

PubMed Central

Dworkin, Shari L.; Hatcher, Abigail M.; Colvin, Chris; Peacock, Dean

2013-01-01

“One Man Can” (OMC) is a rights-based gender equality and health program implemented by Sonke Gender Justice Network (Sonke) in South Africa. The program seeks to reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS and reduce violence against women and men. To understand how OMC workshops impact masculinities, gender norms, and perceptions of women’s rights, an academic/non-governmental organization (NGO) partnership was carried out with the University of Cape Town, the University of California at San Francisco, and Sonke. Sixty qualitative, in-depth interviews were carried out with men who had completed OMC workshops and who were recruited from Sonke’s partner organizations that were focused on gender and/or health-related services. Men were recruited who were over age 18 and who participated in OMC workshops in Limpopo and Eastern Cape Provinces, South Africa. Results reveal how men reconfigured notions of hegemonic masculinity both in terms of beliefs and practices in relationships, households, and in terms of women’s rights. In the conclusions, we consider the ways in which the OMC program extends public health research focused on masculinities, violence, and HIV/AIDS. We then critically assess the ways in which health researchers and practitioners can bolster men’s engagement within programs focused on gender equality and health. PMID:24311940

HIV and tuberculosis in prisons in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Telisinghe, Lilanganee; Charalambous, Salome; Topp, Stephanie M; Herce, Michael E; Hoffmann, Christopher J; Barron, Peter; Schouten, Erik J; Jahn, Andreas; Zachariah, Rony; Harries, Anthony D; Beyrer, Chris; Amon, Joseph J

2016-09-17

Given the dual epidemics of HIV and tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa and evidence suggesting a disproportionate burden of these diseases among detainees in the region, we aimed to investigate the epidemiology of HIV and tuberculosis in prison populations, describe services available and challenges to service delivery, and identify priority areas for programmatically relevant research in sub-Saharan African prisons. To this end, we reviewed literature on HIV and tuberculosis in sub-Saharan African prisons published between 2011 and 2015, and identified data from only 24 of the 49 countries in the region. Where data were available, they were frequently of poor quality and rarely nationally representative. Prevalence of HIV infection ranged from 2·3% to 34·9%, and of tuberculosis from 0·4 to 16·3%; detainees nearly always had a higher prevalence of both diseases than did the non-incarcerated population in the same country. We identified barriers to prevention, treatment, and care services in published work and through five case studies of prison health policies and services in Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Nigeria, and Benin. These barriers included severe financial and human-resource limitations and fragmented referral systems that prevent continuity of care when detainees cycle into and out of prison, or move between prisons. These challenges are set against the backdrop of weak health and criminal-justice systems, high rates of pre-trial detention, and overcrowding. A few examples of promising practices exist, including routine voluntary testing for HIV and screening for tuberculosis upon entry to South African and the largest Zambian prisons, reforms to pre-trial detention in South Africa, integration of mental health services into a health package in selected Malawian prisons, and task sharing to include detainees in care provision through peer-educator programmes in Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa. However, substantial additional investments are required throughout sub-Saharan Africa to develop country-level policy guidance, build human-resource capacity, and strengthen prison health systems to ensure universal access to HIV and tuberculsosis prevention, treatment, and care of a standard that meets international goals and human rights obligations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding how domestic health policy is integrated into foreign policy in South Africa: a case for accelerating access to antiretroviral medicines.

PubMed

Modisenyane, Simon Moeketsi; Hendricks, Stephen James Heinrich; Fineberg, Harvey

2017-01-01

South Africa, as an emerging middle-income country, is becoming increasingly influential in global health diplomacy (GHD). However, little empirical research has been conducted to inform arguments for the integration of domestic health into foreign policy by state and non-state actors. This study seeks to address this knowledge gap. It takes the form of an empirical case study which analyses how South Africa integrates domestic health into its foreign policy, using the lens of access to antiretroviral (ARV) medicines. To explore state and non-state actors' perceptions regarding how domestic health policy is integrated into foreign policy. The ultimate goal of this study was to achieve better insights into the health and foreign policy processes at the national level. Employing qualitative approaches, we examined changes in the South African and global AIDS policy environment. Purposive sampling was used to select key informants, a sample of state and non-state actors who participated in in-depth interviews. Secondary data were collected through a systematic literature review of documents retrieved from five electronic databases, including review of key policy documents. Qualitative data were analysed for content. This content was coded, and the codes were collated into tentative categories and sub-categories using Atlas.ti v.7 software. The findings of this work illustrate the interplay among social, political, economic and institutional conditions in determining the success of this integration process. Our study shows that a series of national and external developments, stakeholders, and advocacy efforts and collaboration created these integrative processes. South Africa's domestic HIV/AIDS constituencies, in partnership with the global advocacy movement, catalysed the mobilization of support for universal access to ARV treatment nationally and globally, and the promotion of access to healthcare as a human right. Transnational networks may influence government's decision making by providing information and moving issues up the agenda.

Comparison of Kaposi Sarcoma Risk in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Adults Across 5 Continents: A Multiregional Multicohort Study.

PubMed

2017-10-15

We compared Kaposi sarcoma (KS) risk in adults who started antiretroviral therapy (ART) across the Asia-Pacific, South Africa, Europe, Latin, and North America. We included cohort data of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive adults who started ART after 1995 within the framework of 2 large collaborations of observational HIV cohorts. We present incidence rates and adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs). We included 208140 patients from 57 countries. Over a period of 1066572 person-years, 2046 KS cases were diagnosed. KS incidence rates per 100000 person-years were 52 in the Asia-Pacific and ranged between 180 and 280 in the other regions. KS risk was 5 times higher in South African women (aHR, 4.56; 95% confidence intervals [CI], 2.73-7.62) than in their European counterparts, and 2 times higher in South African men (2.21; 1.34-3.63). In Europe, Latin, and North America KS risk was 6 times higher in men who have sex with men (aHR, 5.95; 95% CI, 5.09-6.96) than in women. Comparing patients with current CD4 cell counts ≥700 cells/µL with those whose counts were <50 cells/µL, the KS risk was halved in South Africa (aHR, 0.53; 95% CI, .17-1.63) but reduced by ≥95% in other regions. Despite important ART-related declines in KS incidence, men and women in South Africa and men who have sex with men remain at increased KS risk, likely due to high human herpesvirus 8 coinfection rates. Early ART initiation and maintenance of high CD4 cell counts are essential to further reducing KS incidence worldwide, but additional measures might be needed, especially in Southern Africa. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Focus on South Africa: Time Running Out.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryan, Sam, Ed.

1983-01-01

These units of study and learning activities for use in secondary social studies classes will help students better understand the complex situation in South Africa and prepare them to make wise and effective decisions about U.S. policy toward South Africa in the crucial years ahead. (RM)

Mortality in Patients with HIV-1 Infection Starting Antiretroviral Therapy in South Africa, Europe, or North America: A Collaborative Analysis of Prospective Studies

PubMed Central

Boulle, Andrew; Schomaker, Michael; May, Margaret T.; Hogg, Robert S.; Shepherd, Bryan E.; Monge, Susana; Keiser, Olivia; Lampe, Fiona C.; Giddy, Janet; Ndirangu, James; Garone, Daniela; Fox, Matthew; Ingle, Suzanne M.; Reiss, Peter; Dabis, Francois; Costagliola, Dominique; Castagna, Antonella; Ehren, Kathrin; Campbell, Colin; Gill, M. John; Saag, Michael; Justice, Amy C.; Guest, Jodie; Crane, Heidi M.; Egger, Matthias; Sterne, Jonathan A. C.

2014-01-01

Background High early mortality in patients with HIV-1 starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to Europe and North America, is well documented. Longer-term comparisons between settings have been limited by poor ascertainment of mortality in high burden African settings. This study aimed to compare mortality up to four years on ART between South Africa, Europe, and North America. Methods and Findings Data from four South African cohorts in which patients lost to follow-up (LTF) could be linked to the national population register to determine vital status were combined with data from Europe and North America. Cumulative mortality, crude and adjusted (for characteristics at ART initiation) mortality rate ratios (relative to South Africa), and predicted mortality rates were described by region at 0–3, 3–6, 6–12, 12–24, and 24–48 months on ART for the period 2001–2010. Of the adults included (30,467 [South Africa], 29,727 [Europe], and 7,160 [North America]), 20,306 (67%), 9,961 (34%), and 824 (12%) were women. Patients began treatment with markedly more advanced disease in South Africa (median CD4 count 102, 213, and 172 cells/µl in South Africa, Europe, and North America, respectively). High early mortality after starting ART in South Africa occurred mainly in patients starting ART with CD4 count <50 cells/µl. Cumulative mortality at 4 years was 16.6%, 4.7%, and 15.3% in South Africa, Europe, and North America, respectively. Mortality was initially much lower in Europe and North America than South Africa, but the differences were reduced or reversed (North America) at longer durations on ART (adjusted rate ratios 0.46, 95% CI 0.37–0.58, and 1.62, 95% CI 1.27–2.05 between 24 and 48 months on ART comparing Europe and North America to South Africa). While bias due to under-ascertainment of mortality was minimised through death registry linkage, residual bias could still be present due to differing approaches to and frequency of linkage. Conclusions After accounting for under-ascertainment of mortality, with increasing duration on ART, the mortality rate on HIV treatment in South Africa declines to levels comparable to or below those described in participating North American cohorts, while substantially narrowing the differential with the European cohorts. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary PMID:25203931

Beyond lip service: Towards human rights-driven guidelines for South African speech-language pathologists.

PubMed

Pascoe, Michelle; Klop, Daleen; Mdlalo, Thandeka; Ndhambi, Mikateko

2018-02-01

Developed with a strong awareness of past injustices, South Africa's progressive constitution emphasises a full spectrum of human rights. While the constitution celebrates many languages and cultures, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) face challenges in translating these values into practice with a diverse clientele. Similarly, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights focuses on freedom of expression in one's language of choice, but is often perceived as a "Cinderella" right (i.e. one that is frequently neglected). This paper presents a literature review undertaken in association with the Health Professions Council of South Africa to produce guidelines to support SLPs in their practice with diverse linguistic and cultural groups. The aim was to identify key points for inclusion in a set of human rights-driven guidelines. Specific objectives were to critique: (1) current guidelines for SLPs working with diverse cultural and linguistic groups; and (2) equivalent guidelines for related professions. Content analysis of the datasets revealed key themes which formed the basis of an initial skeleton, to be further developed through a consultative process and discussion, ultimately aiming to provide supportive, practical guidelines to better equip South African SLPs to serve all the people of the country.

15 CFR 742.6 - Regional stability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain..., Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and..., South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom or the United States. (4) RS Column...

15 CFR 742.6 - Regional stability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

..., New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain..., Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and..., South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom or the United States. (4) RS Column...

15 CFR 742.6 - Regional stability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

..., New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain..., Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and..., South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom or the United States. (4) RS Column...

Stalked jellyfishes (Cnidaria: Staurozoa) of South Africa, with the description of Calvadosia lewisi sp. nov.

PubMed

Miranda, Lucília S; Branch, George M; Collins, Allen G; Hirano, Yayoi M; Marques, Antonio C; Griffiths, Charles L

2017-02-03

Stalked jellyfishes (Cnidaria: Staurozoa) are cryptic, benthic animals, known mainly from polar and temperate waters of the Northern Hemisphere. We describe a new species, Calvadosia lewisi, from South Africa and review the staurozoan fauna of the region. Three other species are previously known from South Africa: Calvadosia capensis (Carlgren, 1938); Depastromorpha africana Carlgren, 1935; and Lipkea stephensoni Carlgren, 1933, but all of these are known from very few records and have been poorly illustrated and documented to date. We provide brief descriptions and photographic illustrations for each species and a list of local and global geographical records. Two (L. stephensoni and C. lewisi), but possibly three (D. africana), of the four known South African staurozoan species are endemic from South Africa. The new species, images, and extra distributional records presented here greatly improve knowledge of the staurozoan fauna in South Africa and, consequently, of the Southern Hemisphere.

From apartheid to integration: the role of the Witwatersrand Medical library in health care services in Johannesburg, South Africa.

PubMed Central

Myers, G

1995-01-01

Adapting to change is always difficult; all the more so when changes in the administrative structure of health care are part of a national political transformation toward democracy. As South Africa moves from apartheid to integration in its health services, the Witwatersrand Medical Library (WML) will have to adopt innovative strategies to cope with increasing demands on its resources by sub-Saharan African medical libraries and with expected decreases in state funding for health and education. WML also will have to address the lack of hospital library services in the Johannesburg region by expanding its academic branches at University of the Witwatersrand Medical School's teaching hospitals to serve both hospital and academic health care staff. This article discusses these challenges in the context of rapidly changing academic health care services in Johannesburg. PMID:7703943

Phillip V. Tobias as an anatomist.

PubMed

Strkalj, Goran; Pather, Nalini

2013-05-01

The article outlines the career of the renowned South African scientist Phillip Vallentine Tobias. While he made substantial contributions to a number of scientific disciplines, Tobias spent most of his career teaching anatomy at his alma mater, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and saw himself primarily as an anatomist. The first part of this article presents Tobias' major contributions to science and demonstrates that his profound knowledge of anatomy was the basis of many of his groundbreaking research accomplishments. The second part of the article focuses on Tobias' career in anatomy and his significant contribution to anatomy teaching and administration, particularly in establishing and organizing the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa. The article also demonstrates how Tobias' academic career was constrained by the oppressive system of apartheid South Africa and how social engagement was an integral part of his intellectual activities. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Social Change and Language Shift: South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamwangamalu, Nkonko M.

2003-01-01

Examines language shift from majority African languages, such as Sotho, Xhosa, and Zulu to English in South Africa. Examines the extent to which sociopolitical changes that have taken place in South Africa have impacted everyday linguistic interaction and have contributed to language shift from the indigenous African language to English,…

The Influence of John Dewey on Curriculum Development in South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mentz, Paulus J.

The influence of John Dewey's educational theory on curriculum development in South Africa is examined in this paper. The two main streams of thinking about curriculum theory in South Africa include the traditional perspective, which is heavily influenced by the national Christianity movement, and the alternative curriculum development…

Developing Curriculum Markers for Agricultural Extension Education in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Worth, S. H.

2008-01-01

Sufficient changes have occurred in both the agricultural and educational sectors of South Africa to warrant a careful scrutiny of the agricultural education offerings in South Africa. Agricultural extension is identified as an important part of the intended transformation of the agricultural sector. Further, agricultural extension is essentially…

Addressing South Africa's Engineering Skills Gaps

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Jonathan; Sandelands, Eric

2009-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a case study of how engineering skills gaps are being addressed by Murray & Roberts in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach: The paper focuses on skills challenges in South Africa from a reflective practitioner perspective, exploring a case example from an industry leader. Findings: The paper explores…

Student Mobility and Doctoral Education in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sehoole, Chika Trevor

2011-01-01

This article analyses doctoral education programmes in South Africa with a particular focus on student mobility. It investigates pull and push factors as a conceptual framework, arguing that the patterns of student mobility in doctoral education programmes in South Africa follow the patterns of international student mobility elsewhere, which are…

Zimbabwean Teachers in South Africa: A Transient Greener Pasture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Villiers, Rian; Weda, Zenzele

2017-01-01

Zimbabwean teachers constitute the largest group of migrant teachers in South Africa (Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET), 2013). The main reason South Africa welcomes migrant teachers is to ease the country's own teacher shortage. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore Zimbabwean teachers' motives for migration to…

Echinococcus felidis in hippopotamus, South Africa.

PubMed

Halajian, Ali; Luus-Powell, Wilmien J; Roux, Francois; Nakao, Minoru; Sasaki, Mizuki; Lavikainen, Antti

2017-08-30

Hydatid cysts of Echinococcus felidis are described from the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) from Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Among six hippopotami investigated, hepatic hydatids were found in three. The identification was based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. In addition, the rostellar hook morphology was analysed. This is the first morphological description of the metacestode of E. felidis, and the first molecularly confirmed report of the intermediate host of E. felidis in South Africa. The definitive host of E. felidis in South Africa is the lion (Panthera leo). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Contested Narratives: South African and Cuban military action in Angola (1987-1988)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-26

monograph is to explore how Cuba and the Republic of South Africa used tactical actions in southern Angola to pursue their strategic objectives in the...each state’s pursuit of its strategic objectives. 15. SUBJECT TERMS South African Border War, Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, Namibia, South Africa , Cuba...Williams, US Army, 45 pages. The purpose of this monograph is to explore how Cuba and the Republic of South Africa used tactical actions in

U.S.-Related Corporate Trusts in South Africa: An Introduction and a Guide. South African Information Exchange Working Paper #5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Micou, Ann McKinstry

U.S.-related corporate trusts that are currently funding (or planning to fund) projects to promote change in South Africa are reviewed to guide support-seeking organizations in South Africa to appropriate sources of funds and to encourage donors to share information. Each write-up offers basic information on the trust's mission, objectives, board…

Education and Skills for Development in South Africa: Reflections on the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGrath, S.; Akoojee, Salim

2007-01-01

In July 2005, President Mbeki announced the launch of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), a new development strategy designed to help the South African state meet the ANC's 2004 election pledges, namely: (1) halve unemployment; (2) halve poverty; (3) accelerate employment equity; and (4) improve broad-based…