Primarashni Gower
Guest Author
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/ 23 November 2007

Plan to pump up graduate numbers

The education department plans to increase the university student population to 820 000 by 2010, 82 000 more students than in 2005. It also plans to increase the number of graduates from 120 000 to 150 000 a year by 2010. In a report to the portfolio committee for education Education Minister Naledi Pandor outlined the student enrolment and output plans for the period to 2010.

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/ 14 November 2007

New leader for Council on Higher Education

Professor Chabani Manganyi has been appointed chairperson of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) for a five-year term by Education Minister Naledi Pandor. Manganyi takes over from Saki Macozoma whose term of office ended in August. The CHE is an independent, statutory body that advises the minister on matters relating to higher education policy.

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/ 17 October 2007

Bringing brains back

Heads of universities and their senior staff will converge in Tripoli, Libya, later this month to discuss issues under the theme, "The African Brain Drain — Managing the Drain: Working with the Diaspora". This is the biennial conference of rectors, vice-chancellors and presidents of African universities of the Association of African Universities.

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/ 17 October 2007

Student exchanges: East meets South

The flow of students between South Africa and China is set to increase following a high-level meeting between Education Minister Naledi Pandor and her Chinese counterpart in Beijing a few weeks ago. An offshoot of the tighter bilateral cooperation between the two countries will be a R180million injection from China into modernising three further education and training colleges.

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/ 15 October 2007

Sure we believe you, Mr President

As I lay face down next to my husband, David, with our hands and feet tied up, I thanked him for six years of marriage and three children. Despite pleading with Thabang* not to harm my family, I feared he could still shoot my three-year-old son, who was sleeping on the bed, my mother and my five-year-old twins, all of whom I could see. Thabang, still wielding his silver gun, told Jabu* where to find our ATM cards, while he dialled a number on his cellphone.

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/ 3 October 2007

Two big deals

The all-things-to-all-people BEE codes are resulting in deals that aim to do all things for all people. Take the two über-deals announced in September: Anglo Platinum and Sasol. Both are geared to bring on board leading business people, empower inside the company and benefit grassroots communities. Both also include employee share ownership schemes as part of the effort to ensure that those who build a company’s wealth benefit.

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/ 15 August 2007

Overcoming the thesis hurdle

Erika Jacobs knew that by attaining an MBA degree she would be better equipped to start her own business, so she registered for the Unisa MBL. She wanted to acquire strategic information on markets, labour issues, legislation and interest rates. Jacobs had to produce a research thesis, which turned out to be a roller coaster ride. As a BCom accounting graduate, she did not have much experience in writing essays of an academic nature.

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/ 15 August 2007

Leading the pack 101

Tailored car insurance for women; special gymnasiums for women; and now, business education programmes for women — “because we’re worth it” — (with a nod to L’Oreal Paris cosmetics). Women are becoming targets for business education programmes as universities latch on to this niche market, in which only 13,1% of directors of companies are women.

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/ 15 August 2007

Mandarin the flavour of the moment

The teaching of foreign languages at South African universities is looking peachy, with Mandarin being the flavour of the moment as China flexes its economic muscle in the rest of the world. British media reports indicate that in the past five years the number of non-Chinese people learning Mandarin Chinese has catapulted to 30-million.