Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T11:10:49.412Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

54 - Undergraduate Research in South Africa

Understanding the Quandary

from Part IV.2 - Africa & Middle East

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2022

Harald A. Mieg
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Elizabeth Ambos
Affiliation:
Council on Undergraduate Research, Washington DC
Angela Brew
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
Dominique Galli
Affiliation:
Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis
Judith Lehmann
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Get access

Summary

There are concerns that the South African higher education system is not producing sufficient graduates to meet national needs in respect of economic and social development. Systemic reform such as strengthening the undergraduate teaching and research relationship, which is inextricably tied to curriculum structure, is necessary to meet the goals of equity and development and enhancing graduate quality. This can potentially widen the pipeline into postgraduate studies and produce the next generation of academics. The main argument of this chapter is the need to profoundly change the manner in which teaching is structured in South Africa, in order to shift the prevailing culture of undergraduate students as receivers to one in which they are inquirers. This requires pedagogies that enable inquiry-led learning to be developed, to actively engage students in the research process and for them to make the linkage to their discipline-specific practice. An increased focus on building an undergraduate research culture through pedagogical reforms is still needed.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arimoto, A. (2014). The teaching and research nexus in the third wave age. In Shin, J. C., Arimoto, A., Cummings, W. K., & Teichler, U. (Eds.), Teaching and research in contemporary higher education: Systems, activities and rewards (pp. 1533). Springer Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Backhouse, J. (2010). Importance of research driven approaches to improving undergraduate success. Presented at the Council on Higher Education’s Second Colloquium on Improving Undergraduate Success. www.ufs.ac.za/docs/librariesprovider42/sasse-documents/workshops-documents/importance-of-research-driven-approaches-to-improving-undergraduate-success-34-eng.pdfGoogle Scholar
Case, J. M., Marshall, D., McKenna, S., & Mogashana, D. (2018). Going to university – The influence of higher education on the lives of young South Africans. African Minds Higher Education Dynamics Series, Vol. 3. www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/9781928331698_web.pdfGoogle Scholar
Centre for Teaching and Learning. (2019). South African survey of student engagement: Durban University of Technology institutional report 2018.Google Scholar
Cloete, N., Bunting, I., & van Schalkwyk, F. (2018). Research universities in Africa. www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Research-Universities-in-Africa-WEB-25102018-OPT.pdfCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Council on Higher Education. (2004). South African higher education in the first decade of democracy. CHE Press.Google Scholar
Council on Higher Education. (2013). A proposal for undergraduate curriculum reform in South Africa: The case for a flexible curriculum structure. CHE Press.Google Scholar
Council on Higher Education. (2018). VitalStats: Public higher education 2016. CHE Press.Google Scholar
Council on Higher Education. (2019). Report on the CHE colloquium: Enhancing student engagement for good decision-making and governance in higher education institutions. CHE Press. www.che.ac.za/sites/default/files/publications/BS%209_The%20consequences%20of%20increasing%20student%20alienation%20in%20higher%20education%20institutions.pdfGoogle Scholar
Duthie, S. R., & Freeman, L. (2015). From marginal to mainstream: An argument for locating education development in the academic department. South African Journal of Higher Education, 29(6), 7892.Google Scholar
Hall, E. E., Walkington, H., Shanahan, J. O., Ackley, E., & Stewart, K. A. (2018). Mentor perspectives on the place of undergraduate research mentoring in academic identity and career development: An analysis of award winning mentors. International Journal for Academic Development, 23(1), 1527. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2017.1412972Google Scholar
Knight, S. E., Ross, A. J., & Mahomed, O. (2017). Developing primary health care and public health competencies in undergraduate medical students. South African Family Practice, 59(3), 103109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruss, G., & Visser, M. (2017). Putting university–industry interaction into perspective: A differentiated view from inside South African universities. Journal of Technology Transfer, 42(4), 884908.Google Scholar
Larson, S., Partridge, L., Walkington, H., Wuetherick, B., & Moore, J. L. (2018). An international conversation about mentored undergraduate research and inquiry and academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 23(1), 614. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2018.1415033Google Scholar
Marais, D. L., Kotlowitz, J., Willems, B., Barsdorf, N. W., & van Schalkwyk, S. (2019). Perceived enablers and constraints of motivation to conduct undergraduate research in a faculty of medicine and health sciences: What role does choice play? PLoS One, 14(3), e0212873. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212873CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morin, E. (1999). Seven complex lessons in education for the future. www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_a/img/03_sevenlessons.pdfGoogle Scholar
Morrow, W. (2009). Bounds of democracy: Epistemological access in higher education. HSRC Press.Google Scholar
Republic of South Africa. (1997, December 19). Higher Education Act of the Republic of South Africa, No. 101 of 1997 (as amended). Government Gazette, 390(18515). www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a101-97.pdfGoogle Scholar
Republic of South Africa. (2012). National development plan 2030: Our future – Make it work. www.poa.gov.za/news/Documents/NPC%20National%20Development%20Plan%20Vision%202030%20-lo-res.pdfGoogle Scholar
Scott, I., Yeld, N., & Hendry, J. (2007). Higher education monitor – A case for improving teaching and learning in South African higher education. CHE Press.Google Scholar
Singh, M. (2008). Valuing differentiation as a qualified good: The case of South African higher education. Higher Education Policy, 21(2), 245263. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2008.8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taruvinga, A., & Prasadam-Halls, B. (2019). Generating talent: Transforming support for the research landscape in South Africa. Association of Commonwealth Universities. www.acu.ac.uk/news/generating-talent-transforming-support-for-the-research-landscape-in-south-africa/Google Scholar
Universities South Africa. (2019). Welcome to USAF. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from www.usaf.ac.za/Google Scholar
University of the Free State. (2014). South African survey of student engagement (SASSE): Intentional report 2014.Google Scholar
Vahed, A., & Cruickshank, G. (2018). Integrating academic support to develop undergraduate research in dental technology: A case study in a South African university of technology. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 55(5), 566574. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2017.1279068Google Scholar
van Wyk, B. (2009). Universities as organisations or institutions? The culture debate and one institution. In Bitzer, E. (Ed.), Higher education in South Africa: A scholarly look behind the scenes (pp. 331347). SUN Press.Google Scholar
Walker, M. (2015). Student perceptions of employability and inclusive development: South Africa. British Council. www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/2.5_student-perceptions-of-employability-inclusivity.pdfGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×