Nicole Turner
As the government battles to stem the brain-drain of professionals from rural areas to urban centres, South Africa’s youngest and fastest-growing university is improving the skills of thousands of rural teachers from disadvantaged backgrounds every year.
Vista University’s Distance Education Campus (Vudec) in Pretoria enrolled 10 079 students last year, all of them teachers trying to upgrade their qualifications. While Vudec also trains urban teachers, many of its students live in some of South Africa’s most isolated rural areas – and work in its poorest schools.
“What makes us unique is that all our students are working teachers who want to upgrade their qualifications. I can say that all our students are black and all of them come from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Vudec director Benjamin Mokhaba.
The Northern Province has the highest concentration of Vista distance-learning students, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, and Vudec has earned a reputation for accessibility to rural students.
“In places such as Giyani, deep in the Northern Province, we have good numbers of students. The problem is that once people have acquired additional qualifications, they can be enticed to work elsewhere where their prospects are better.
“But the point is that distance education provides opportunities for everybody, wherever they are,” said Mokhaba.
Ironically, Vista was established in 1982 to serve township communities. It experienced the fastest growth of any South African university between 1982, when it opened with 300 distance-education students, and 1995, when enrolment peaked at more than 35 000, making it the second-largest university in the country after Unisa.
Part of Vudec’s appeal is the high priority it places on its community orientation. Programmes are developed to meet needs identified by staff and students, and exhaustive efforts are made to recruit staff from surrounding communities.
“When I was appointed in 1995 I paid courtesy visits to all nine MECs. We saw that principals and vice-principals needed special skills to manage their schools. Most of them were promoted according to their ability to teach well, not for their management skills,” Mokhaba said.
The response was a further diploma in education management which equips principals, vice-principals, heads of department and prospective leaders with management skills.
“Another important community development has been the mushrooming of teachers’ unions. You need to give education managers the skills and confidence to face the unions,” Mokhaba said.
A 1996 report by the South African Institute for Distance Education noted that the majority of teachers had attained only three years of post-matric education. Vista moved to offer further diplomas and degree courses.
The report also identified a need to develop critical thinking. So Vudec opened a pilot programme this year offering students a further diploma in education cognitive studies.
In response to the need to supply interactive student centres and study material,Vudec decided to enhance distance learning with contact sessions where students would receive face-to-face tuition.
In areas where there is a concentration of Vudec students, learner-support centres have been established with the co-operation of local colleges. There are presently 12 such centres, but Vudec aims to have 30 in place by the end of this year.
“Students attend on Saturdays because we don’t want to take them away from their pupils. With learner-support centres we can reach the community. Teachers can attend workshops … we have visiting lectures and they can share their information with the community through our unique structure which is open to the public,” Mokhaba said.
Vudec is also looking at ways to utilise new technology, especially the Internet, to enhance distance learning. “We have submitted a proposal to management asking for funds and permission to run a pilot project next year. We want to reinforce and help our tutors with technology.
“Through technology our lecturers here in Pretoria will be able to help in those areas where our tutors find it difficult to teach, and keep them informed on new developments.”
With its wide geographical spread, firm location in disadvantaged communities and clear focus on community development, Vudec seems well placed to assist in the restructuring of tertiary education nationally.
“The responsibility of a university is to teach, to undertake research and to be involved in community projects. Our unique position lends itself easily to be of help to our community. We hope to strengthen that role in the future,” said Mokhaba.