Primarashni Gower

Senior researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council, Moeketsi Letseka, hits the nail on the head when he says that historically disadvantaged universities are not doing enough to market themselves or to change how the labour market regards them.

The labour market discriminates against graduates from historically disadvantaged institutions. These graduates have a higher unemployment rate than those from historically white institutions. In addition, African graduates find it harder to secure employment than their white counterparts and they earn less than other race groups.

University vice-chancellors will engage in discussions with President Thabo Mbeki and education decision-makers about the viability of a four-year undergraduate degree that addresses students’ academic shortcomings and prepares them for the working world.

Japanese and South African universities are expected to formulate joint projects in science and technology at a high-level meeting in Cape Town later this month. From these meetings a South Africa-Japan Universities’ Forum was set up to identify priority collaborative areas that would be of benefit to both countries.

A one-man commission appointed to investigate issues around the submission of a document on academic freedom to the senate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal has been questioned by some of the university’s academics. Vice-chancellor Professor Malegapuru Makgoba said he cannot comment because he is bound by the senate’s confidentiality.

In the past four years, several universities and private providers of higher education have been quality audited by the council on higher education’s subcommittee, the higher education quality committee (HEQC). The audits follow a worldwide trend and enable the HEQC to have a national picture of quality arrangements in higher education and to monitor system- and sector-level quality improvement.

Universities should use the quality audit as a developmental tool and can make it work for them, says a senior manager who was involved in the audit process of a Gauteng university. She says: “People hear the word ‘audit’ and they think high stakes, big consequence or that it’s a financial audit."

‘Get out of here. You are not one of us. You do not understand our culture,” said the angry man while pointing his firearm at Roy Naicker, who was sitting in his car. The gunman pulled the trigger, the gun clicked, but no bullet emerged. Naicker escaped harm. This was his welcome as the new principal of Nonhlevu Secondary School in Groutville on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal in January 1999

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Some of South Africa’s universities are still struggling to fill senior management positions that have become vacant. The universities of Cape Town, Fort Hare and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University are searching for new vice-chancellors, while a few others are looking for deputy vice-chancellors.

Some universities have expressed concern about the loss of teaching time in the recent public servants’ strike in which teachers participated. They believe that if a catch-up plan is not implemented effectively, it might affect this year’s matric pass rate. There is concern that weaker matric learners who are borderline university candidates might fail the exam, resulting in a low university intake.

Investigations by Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) into how a bogus diploma in traumatology was offered without it being registered with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) are continuing. The course was cancelled after administrators discovered that it was not registered.

Eight years ago academic Dr Derrick Swartz was pondering a change in workplace scenery. The University of Fort Hare was on the verge of economic collapse: it had a R90-million student debt, while cash flow problems meant late staff salary payments. The 1999 Saunders Commission of Inquiry disclosed that management was not strong enough to steer the university on to a sustainable path.

The best way to teach a language to children is to make it as lively and fun as possible, says Veronique Tadjo, an award-winning writer and newly appointed head of French studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Tadjo, who was born in the Ivory Coast, was awarded the Grand Prize for African Literature — 2005 for her book, Reine Pokou.

University of Fort Hare vice­chancellor Professor Derrick Swartz has announced that he will step down from his position at the end of this year. The university council accepted his resignation a few days ago. Swartz was appointed acting vice-chancellor in 1999 and has turned the university around from the brink of financial ruin to one that has been making a surplus in the past four years.

Higher education institutions have increased research output in the recent past. The latest figures show an increase of 8,6% (2004 to 2005). Primarashni Gower spoke to Dr Anette van der Mescht of Mangosuthu Technikon about the creation of a research culture at the institution.