Live your life. Create your destiny.

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Live your life. Create your destiny.
MERGER CONFERENCE
PROF LR VAN STADEN DVC TEACHING,
LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
OUTLINE

• AIM OF THE PAPER
• TUT IN CONTEXT
• PROBLEM STATEMENTS
• RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• KEY DEFINITIONS
• LITERATURE REVIEW
• STRUCTURE FOLLOWS STRATEGY
• DATA ANALYSES 2001 2008
• FINDINGS
• RECOMMENDATIONS

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
PRE AND POST- MERGER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT
SUCCESS RATES AT TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
MERGER CHALLENGES (AIM) ACCESS SUCCESS
QUALITY EQUITY EFFICIENCY
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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
TUT IN CONTEXT

• 7 Faculties and 56 departments (3 provinces)
• Single site faculty model
• Enrolment target of 56 000 (4 000 distance
  education)
• 436 academic programmes (20 masters and 15
  doctorate)
• 1 000 permanent academic posts
• 100 academic development posts
• R700 million academic budget (Salary, OPEX and
  CAPEX)

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
PURPOSE OF THE PAPER

• The paper was guided by the following research
  questions (objectives)
• Did the merger of the three former technikons
  have an impact on the
  
  
  undergraduate success rates at the Tshwane
  University of Technology?
• Would the rendering of comprehensive academic
  development and support services play a
  fundamental role in the improvement of
  undergraduate success rates at the Tshwane
  University of Technology?

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

• The research approach followed in this study
  included both a literature study and an empirical
  investigation.

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
KEY DEFINITIONS

• Undergraduate programmes in this context are
  National Certificates, National Higher
  Certificates, National Diplomas and BTech degrees
  
• The term success rates refers to the total
  number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) subjects
  passed divided by the total number of FTE
  subjects enrolled for a particular year

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES AND SUCCESS RATES
(LITERATURE)

• Preparedness for higher education a complex
  phenomenon
• Growing body of knowledge of factors affecting
  success rates
• Key issue in SA is level of achieved education
  prior higher education
• Teaching and learning takes place in groups
  notwithstanding learner diversity
• Success rate patterns will not change
  spontaneously
• Curriculum development is a never ending
  activity and is pivotal to improving
• success rates
• Academic development and support is a field of
  research and practice that aims to
• enhance success rates

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT Pre-merger
The three former institutions differed widely in
their philosophy and approach to academic
development, as well as in their strategic
positioning and institutional reporting lines.
The pre-merger period was characterized by
fragmentation, a lack of integration and
coherence and therefore, a lack of common vision
and framework for academic development.
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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
DIRECTORATE STUDENT DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT
7 FACULTIES
DIRECTORATE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT
DIRECTORATE TEACHING AND LEARNING WITH
TECHNOLOGY
DIRECTORATE CO-OPERATIVE EDUCATION

• FIGURE 1 PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN HEDS AND
  DIRECTORATES

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
Table 2 pre-merger undergraduate
success rates and headcounts
(2001 2003)
TECHNIKONS 2001 2001 2002 2002 2003 2003
NORTHERN GAUTENG 65,08 10 030 64,63 10 950 65,82 11 218
NORTH-WEST 62,67 4 689 66,24 4 371 66,25 4 528
PRETORIA 67,21 25 793 65,69 28 415 64,67 29 622
Average Total Average Total Average Total
64,98 40 512 65,59 43 736 65,12 45 368
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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
TABLE 3 UNDERGRADUATE SUCCESS RATES
AND HEADCOUNTS (2003 2008)
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Success rates 64,98 65,59 65,12 64,68 67,09 70,25 70,78 72,0
Headcount enrolments 40 512 43 736 45 368 50 933 49 785 48 168 47 942 49 852

• DoE directives set by DoE for TUT (2010)
• 70 undergraduate success rates
• 94 (52 640) undergraduate enrolment
• 6 (3 360) postgraduate enrolment

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
FINDINGS

• Undergraduate success rates increased with 7,32
  since 2003
• Surpassed DoE target set for TUT of 70 by 2010
  with 2 in 2008
• Undergraduate headcount enrolment increased with
  4 647 since 2003
• Link between improvement of success rates and
  rendering of comprehensive academic development
  support services

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DVC TEACHING, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
RECOMMENDATIONS

• Paper is developmental and topic should be
  further researched
• Disaggregation of success rates at faculty,
  departmental levels and sites
• Determine the impact of academic development
  interventions at selected levels

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Co-operative Education Curriculum Development and
Support Student Development and Support Teaching
and Learning with Technology