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Student Support through Extended Programmes at South African Universities

Student Support through Extended Programmes at South African Universities Prof AJM(Maritz) Snyders Director: Centre for Extended Studies. 23 rd First-year experience conference Hawaii. Presentation outline. South Africa South African Higher Education System Port Elizabeth

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Student Support through Extended Programmes at South African Universities

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  1. Student Support through Extended Programmes at South African Universities Prof AJM(Maritz) Snyders Director: Centre for Extended Studies 23rd First-year experience conference Hawaii

  2. Presentation outline • South Africa • South African Higher Education System • Port Elizabeth • Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University • Alternative Access programmes at NMMU • Foundation Programmes • Extended Programmes • Evaluation of programmes • Conclusion

  3. Port Elizabeth, South Africa

  4. South Africa • Population of SA about 50 million in 2009 • 80% African, divided in 8 major indigenous groups with Xhosa and Zulu the largest • 10% White • 9 Provinces • 11 Official languages – only 17% English home language • Capital Pretoria • Parliament in Cape Town • First Democratic election in 1994; ANC; President Nelson Mandela; Jacob Zuma

  5. South African Higher Education • 39 Universities and Technikons before 1994 • Historically divided on racial grounds • Access to all opened after 1994 • Reduced though mergers in 2004/5 to 23, divided in 3 categories (political rather than educational reasons): • Traditional universities offering general formative and professional degrees up to Doctoral level • Universities of Technologies offering diplomas and certificates with a strong vocational focus • Comprehensive universities offering both degrees and diplomas

  6. South African Higher Education • Typical Diploma structure: 3-year qualification including: • 2 years academic and practical work on campus • 1 year experiential learning in a workplace situation • Typical degree structure: • 3-year undergraduate formative Bachelors • 1-year specialized Honours • Or 4-year professional Bachelors eg Pharmacy, Engineering • Masters and Doctors • Current debates around extending the formal undergraduate time by 1 year by including foundational support to improve retention and graduation rates

  7. Problems in SA HE • Unequal schooling system with learners from township and rural schools unprepared for Higher Education studies • Low participation rate of certain population groups – pressure on universities to increase access • High drop-out rates • Low retention and graduation rates • Skewed level of performance between different population groups

  8. NATIONAL PARTICIPATION RATE IN HIGHER EDUCATION Gross participation rate: All HE participants as % of 20-24 age-group National HE participation rate was 17% in 2008

  9. Graduation in regulation time • If we omit distance education students, only a minority of the intake (about a third or fewer) graduate in 4 years, even though most programmes are formally 3 years or less.

  10. Graduation within 5 years (excl distance) • General academic first B-degrees (3-year programmes)

  11. Attempted solutions • Variety of support programmes outside the curriculum since mid 1990’s, but no special financial support from government • Alternative access programmes • Earmarked foundational provision funding since 2004 in 3 year cycles for: • One-year Foundation Programmes (only until 2006), and • Extended Curriculum programmes • Debates about increasing minimum time of first qualifications

  12. Port Elizabeth, South Africa

  13. Port Elizabeth • Port Elizabeth the largest city in Eastern Cape • About R1.2m people • Major automotive industry • Part of larger Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area • Host city for FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup • Known as “Die Baai – The Bay”, “The Windy City” or “The Friendly City” • Only one university in the Metropolitan area, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), also known as the No More Money University

  14. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

  15. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University • Comprehensive university formed in 2005 through the merger of: • University of Port Elizabeth • Port Elizabeth Technikon (University of Technology) • Port Elizabeth campus of Vista University • 22 000 students – 56% Black, 27% White, 52% Female • 5 campuses in Port Elizabeth and 1 in George • English used as Language of Teaching & Learning • About 26% with English as home language – 40% Xhosa; 15% Afrikaans – more than 30 diff home languages • Eastern Cape worst school performance of all provinces

  16. GEOGRAPHIC SPREAD OF ALL 2009 NMMU ENROLLED STUDENTS

  17. NMMU • 7 Faculties (Colleges or Schools): • Sciences, Health Sciences, Arts, Business & Economic Sciences, Law and Engineering, the Built Environment and Information Technology • Higher Education Access and Development Services (HEADS) • Centre for Extended Studies (CES) • Centre for Teaching, Learning and Media • Student Counselling • Centre for Admission Assessment and Research

  18. Alternative Access Programmes • Pre-merger: • One year foundation programmes at UPE (since 1999) & PET (since 1997) • 4-yr Science degree at UV (since 2001) • Post merger • One-year Foundation Programmes until end of 2006 • Replaced from 2007 by series of extended degree, diploma and certificate programmes • Decision to changed due to financial reasons and not educational reasons • Current debates about ownership and management

  19. NMMU Foundation and extended ‘04 to ‘10 • Merger in 2005, but started to cooperate in this area in 2004 • 2004 to 2006: • Foundation for degrees in Science, Commerce, Pharmacy, Nursing, Liberal Arts and Law • Foundation for diplomas in Science, Engineering, Commerce, Art and Health • 2007 onwards: • 4-yr degrees in Science, Commerce, Liberal Arts • 5-yr degrees in Pharmacy, Law, Nursing • 4-yr diplomas in Chemistry, Accountancy, Art, Engineering, Management

  20. Foundation vs Extended

  21. Foundation vs Extended

  22. Special support given in Found & Ext progs • Holistic approach • Academic and Life management programme • Language development • Career guidance • Mentoring – individual and group • Integration • Skills and content • Vertical between Foundational and mainstream • Horizontal between different components • Dedicated staff – teachers rather than lecturers • Small groups (25 to 30) & out of classroom consultations

  23. Success of foundation and extended • Ultimate measure of success is the number of students obtaining a qualification • Formative impact on the lives of student, even if they do not qualify can unfortunately not be measured • Can only trace the performance of students staying at own university – often looses best students to other places, and are reflected as drop-outs • Too early to determine graduation rates of extended programme students as first intake of students in 2007 – first graduants end of 2010

  24. Programme Evaluations • Quantitative evaluations: • Course pass rates • Annual reports to government • Comparison with mainstream students • Comparison of retention rates of Found & Ext • Graduation rates of Found • Qualitative evaluations: • Annual survey of student experiences while in programmes • Focus groups with students 2/3 years after leaving programmes • Survey of perceptions about extended programmes

  25. Access and retention rates degrees

  26. Access and retention rates diplomas

  27. Conclusion about access and retention • Include students continuing in same programme and change to other qualifications • Greater levels of access provided through Foundation (2061) than through Extended (1550) • Drop out much higher at end of first year in Foundation than in Extended • Retention as a percentage of those who “survived” first year similar in two types, although slightly higher for Foundation • Slightly larger numbers expected to graduate from Foundation than from Extended

  28. Retention & graduation rates Foundation

  29. Deductions from tables • Comparing apples with pears: group of high risk and underprepared learners is compared with a group including top performers • Retention rates in foundation programmes higher • A total of 1191 entered degrees and diplomas after doing foundation in 2004, 2005 and 2006: • 373 obtained degrees or diplomas • 495 still busy with 1st qualification • 20 also obtained post-graduate qualifications • 85 currently registered for post-graduate qualifications • Many individual success stories/anecdotes of top performance in academics and leadership

  30. Perceptions and practices in Ext progs Survey done in 2009 to: • To determine practices followed by SA Universities and to compare these with what NMMU is doing • To determine the perceptions of various stakeholders about extended programmes

  31. Research methodology • Survey questionnaire to lecturers teaching foundational modules at NMMU – 27/48 responses received • Survey questionnaire to managers of academic units at NMMU – 15/30 responses received • Survey questionnaire to selected extended programme administrators at universities – 7/9 responses received • Informal discussions with programme administrators at 7 other universities regarding management of programmes • Directed interviews with senior managers at NMMU: Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic); SD: HEADS (now Dean of Teaching and learning) and Executive Deans of Faculties

  32. Why offer Extended Programmes • 100% agree that there is a need for extended programmes • Lecturers and managers: Social responsibility to address inequalities and need to improve throughput rates chosen as most important • Senior managers: Provision of access and increased throughput rates • Universities: Social responsibility towards learners and increased pass rates

  33. Structure of programmes Is there still a place for one year foundation programmes and should it be funded: • 40% of lecturers and 47% of managers have no opinion • Most of remaining lecturers and managers believe there should be FP’s in addition to ext programmes • 4 of 7 universities believe FP’s should be funded and 3 not • All senior manager believe FP’s has a place along ext progs and should be funded • Reasons given: • For FP’s: One year foundation programmes are seen to target a different group of students • Against FP’s: Should be on FET level, not HE

  34. Management of extended programmes Models: • Fully Centralized (0) • Matrix with central unit as primary driver (7) • Matrix with faculty or department as primary driver (2) • Fully Decentralized (4)

  35. Conclusion • Extended Programmes can both make a contribution towards address issues of access, retention and graduation rates. • More inter-institutional cooperation is needed • A lot more research is needed • Current practices is probably too diverse to draw clear conclusions about best practices • All eyes on the national debate regarding the minimum period of undergraduate studies, to see if the extended format may become the norm

  36. References • Scott, I et al. “A Case for Improving Teaching and Learning in Higher Education”, in the Higher Education Monitor of the CHE, 2007. • Sheppard, Charles. Presentation to NMMU management on cohort throughput, retention and graduation rates, May 2008 • Snyders, Maritz. Research report: Extended programmes: Practices and Perceptions, August 2009

  37. THANK YOU!!!! maritz.snyders@nmmu.ac.za www.nmmu.ac.za/ces

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