Jan Botha, André Müller, Leon Eygelaar, Desmarie Meintjies Division for Institutional Research and Planning STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY Changing the face of success by facing the success of change

Jan Botha, André Müller, Leon Eygelaar, Desmarie Meintjies Division for Institutional Research and Planning STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY Changing the face of success by facing the success of change

Changing the face of success            First years’ pass rate Graduate throughput

Changing the face of success                      Strategic Framework for the turn of the century and beyond Vision 2012 and Vision 2015 Hope project NQF, SAQA, HEQC

Changing the face of success                                 research role-players in Africa global citizenship diversity sustainability multilingual

Changing the face of success  by facing the success of change RESEARCH PROBLEM Are we successful at transforming our identity? Are we changing the face of success? Do we have a broadened understanding of success? Are we changing for the better? RESEARCH FOCUS Curriculum transformation as measurement instrument Both small and significant changes are made to the curriculum every year Annual yearbook changes are complicated to analyse (due to the number and type) The most significant curriculum changes happen when new programmes are introduced More than 90 new programmes have been introduced since 2001 RESEARCH QUESTION To what extent does an analysis of new programmes yield useful answers to the question of curriculum transformation at SU?

Curriculum transformation as a measurement instrument for student success Has there been sufficient responsiveness to the changing contexts of the new millennium? To what extent are new programmes indicative of curriculum transformation? Can we compare the university’s identity in 2001 with its identity in 2010? HYPOTHESIS New programmes: one entry point to understand institutional change National HE and institutional policies: prompt and steer New qualification types (PGDip, structured M): significantly change identity UG: limited success i.t.o. diversity (race, nationality) vs. PG shift

Historic overview of institutional identity National instruments Three identities of SU: 1.“Athens” 2.“Berlin” 3.“New York” The story of Stellenbosch University

Historic overview of institutional identity National instruments Three identities of SU: 1.“Athens” 2.“Berlin” 3.“New York” The story of Stellenbosch University

New programmes introduced at Stellenbosch University during FACULTY№ Arts and Social Sciences18 Natural Sciences1 Education2 Economic and Management Sciences25 Health Sciences34 Agri-Sciences4 Law0 Engineering3 Theology1 Military Sciences4

New programmes introduced in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (18) PROGRAMME TYPE№ Pre graduate3 First bachelor1 Professional bachelor / 4y bachelor- Postgraduate Diploma1 Honours bachelor4 Masters – MA3 – MPhil4 Doctoral2

New programmes introduced in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (25) PROGRAMME TYPE№ Pre graduate- First bachelor3 Professional bachelor / 4y bachelor- Postgraduate Diploma6 Honours bachelor4 Masters – MAcc and MComm4 – MPhil6 Doctoral2

New programmes introduced in the Faculty of Health Sciences (34) PROGRAMME TYPE№ Pre graduate- First bachelor- Professional bachelor / 4y bachelor1 Postgraduate Diploma4 Honours bachelor4 Masters – MMed4 – MSc / MedSci8 – MPhil10 Doctoral3

Programmes selected for further analysis 1.Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics 2.Bachelor of Commerce in Psychology 3.Bachelor of Science in Conservation Ecology 4.Master of Philosophy in HIV/AIDS Management 5.Master in Development Finance 6.Master of Philosophy in Cultural Tourism and Heritage Studies 7.Master of Philosophy in Intercultural Communication 8.Master of Philosophy in Sustainable Development 9.Master of Philosophy in Visual Arts 10.Master of Philosophy in Life Writing

Enrolment and diversity figures for the Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics EXAMPLE: Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics EXAMPLE: Undergraduate programme

Enrolment and diversity figures for the Master of Philosophy in HIV/Aids Management EXAMPLE: Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics EXAMPLE: Structured Master’s programme

Enrolment and diversity figures for the Master in Development Finance EXAMPLE: Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics EXAMPLE: Structured Master’s programme

Survey completed by programme coordinators EXAMPLE: Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics Simple survey questions on: Programme design Student recruitment and selection Staff and infrastructure Teaching, Learning, assessment Open question on transformation EXAMPLE: Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics

Qualitative data for all the programmes EXAMPLE: Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics

Qualitative data for all the programmes EXAMPLE: Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics

FINDINGS Undergraduate programmes 1. Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics 2. Bachelor of Commerce in Psychology 3. Bachelor of Science in Conservation Ecology All three programmes are: popular and exceed the estimated enrolment numbers responsive to stakeholder needs perpetuating the volksuniversiteit identity lacking diversity in terms of race and nationality transformative in terms of teaching and learning methods

FINDINGS Postgraduate programmes 1. Master of Philosophy in HIV/AIDS management 2. Master of Development Finance 3. Master of Philosophy in Sustainable development 4. Master of Philosophy in Intercultural communication 5. MPhil in Life Writing, Visual Art, and Cultural Tourism and Heritage studies  Focusing on the other M’s, they all: contribute significantly to diversity (race and nationality) are responsive to national and institutional directives can be classified as promoting the “PG school” identity face challenges in terms of the research supervision workload All the Health Sciences programmes can be classified as promoting the SET identity

Summary of FINDINGS The new programmes introduced since 2001 illustrates that the university has greatly shifted its identity in terms of academic offering from being an undergraduate volksuniversiteit to being a SET research focused university. Also growing, but to a lesser extent, is the University of Stellenbosch’s identity as a postgraduate school with structured Master’s degrees for emerging first- generation students who are often working professionals. In terms of teaching and learning, more innovative blended teaching methods are being employed, transforming the way in which the content is taught, in cases where content is not always “new”.

                    

To change the face of success                                 research role-players in Africa global citizenship diversity sustainability multilingual you should face the success of change

Thank you! Dankie! Enkosi!

DANKIE THANK YOU ENKOSI KAHKULU

Conclusion 1.The introduction of programmes provides one entry point to the understanding of institutional change 2.National policy contexts, in particular the national mechanisms related to academic qualifications and programmes play a role to prompt curriculum (programme) changes) and to steer changes 3.New qualification types – the PGDip and structured Master’s programmes contribute significantly to a changing identity (face) of SU 4.When two indicators of change (diversity profile and international students) are investigated, it indicate that SU has: a. limited success at UG level to attract new faces b. reasonable success at PG level

Further topics Impact of NQF to prompt and steer transformation Institutional identity theories Instruments for measuring curriculum renewal trends