UWCScholar :: Browsing by Author "Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry"

Browsing by Author "Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry"

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Buffer for universities or agent of government? Examining the roles and functions of the Tertiary Education Council in higher education in Botswana
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Lebotse, Keitumetse G; Ouma, Gerald Wangenge; Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry
The purpose of the study is to understand the roles, functions and perceived performance of the Tertiary Education Council (TEC) in higher education governance in Botswana. The study describes the relationship between the government, the TEC and higher education institutions in Botswana. The main objectives of the study are to: a) Examine the roles and functions of the TEC in Botswana’s higher education regarding policy formulation, quality assurance and coordination in the planning and development of tertiary education. b) Explore potential tensions between the roles and functions of the TEC and those of some of its stakeholders. c) Establish the performance of the TEC in relation to the three functions of policy formulation, quality assurance and coordination in the planning and development of tertiary education. The study is located within the broader framework of higher education governance. It examines the different models of higher education governance (such as state control, state interference and state supervision models) and the relationship involved between different stakeholders in governance of higher education. Furthermore, the framework focuses on the implications of the dynamics of higher education governance on the roles and functions of buffer bodies. The study adopted a single case study approach and it was designed to allow for the use of multiple sources of evidence. Data was collected through a review of both institutional and policy documents, semi-structured interviews with eight informants from the TEC and the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, as well as a survey targeting institutional heads of higher education institutions in Botswana. The use of qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection provided useful and in-depth data and allowed for triangulation. The data was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings of the study reveal that there are differing conceptions of the TEC’s role in higher education in Botswana. Whereas the TEC sees itself as ‘middleman’ between the government and higher education institutions, the higher education institutions conceptualise the role of the TEC as an extension of government. The differing views on the TEC’s role, as either buffer or agent, result in different expectations of the roles and functions of the TEC. In addition, the study revealed that Botswana’s higher education system is characterised by fragmentation and duplication of roles, which limit the mandate of the TEC, thereby creating tensions between the TEC and other constituencies in the Botswana higher education system. The study thus contributes to the understanding of the roles and functions of the TEC in the governance of higher education in Botswana. It also contributes to the understanding of the relationship between the different stakeholders involved in the governance of higher education and the implications of this relationship on the roles and functions of buffer bodies. Overall, the study shows the complexities involved in the governance of higher education in a young and evolving system of higher education, and in a context in which the roles and functions of the key players are contested and inconsistently understood.
The contribution of student activities to citizenship education: a study of engagement at a South African research university
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Lange, Randall Stephen; Cloete, Nico; Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry
This study seeks to determine to what extent undergraduate students in a research university in South Africa are involved in activities that contribute to citizenship education. The research design involves a case study at the University of Cape Town (UCT) whereby an electronic survey, called the Student Experience at the Research University-Africa (SERU) survey, was indigenised to fit the South African context and it was conducted at UCT. The survey had a census design and all undergraduate students at the university were invited to participate. At the end of 2012 a sample of 861 surveys were analyzed using SPSS to determine the activities students were involved in during the research period.
Higher education and democracy : a study of students' and student leaders' attitudes towards democracy in Tanzania
(University of the Western Cape, 2011) Mwollo-Ntallima, Angolwisye Malaisyo; Cloete, Nico; Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry; NULL; Faculty of Education
Students in African universities have a long history of political involvement at the institutional level and in national politics. The present study investigates the political opinions of students in Tanzania with respect to (1) their attitudes towards democracy and how these attitudes could be explained, (2) student satisfaction with the way their university and their country, Tanzania, are governed, and (3) whether student leaders (SL) have more democratic attitudes than students who are not in formal student leadership positions (SNL) and if there are other relevant groups that can be identified whose political attitudes differ significantly from those of other groups. The study draws on the work of Bratton, Mattes and Gyimah-Boadi (2005) and employs a survey questionnaire adapted from the Afrobarometer. Using survey data collected at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, a number of questions are investigated, and related hypotheses are tested in order to determine the extent to which students understand and demand democracy, how they perceive the supply of democracy, and what their attitudes are towards university governance and national politics in general.
Higher education and democracy in Botswana: Attitudes and behaviours of students and student leaders towards democracy
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Kgosithebe, Lucky; Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry; Cloete, Nico
This study investigates the attitudes of students and student leaders towards democracy in terms of their demand for democracy, their perception of the supply of democracy, and their awareness of and participation in politics. Existing literature does not provide any conclusive explanation as to how and to what extent higher education contributes to democracy. Mattes and Mughogho (2010) argue that the contribution of higher education to support for democracy in Africa is limited while other scholars such as Bloom et al. (2006), Hillygus (2005), and Evans and Rose (2007a, 2007b) maintain that higher education impacts positively on support for democracy. The study follows the conceptualisation and methodology of previous studies based on the Afrobarometer public opinion surveys into the political attitudes of African mass publics (Bratton, Mattes and Gyimah-Boadi, 2005; Mattes and Bratton, 2003; 2007), and of students in African universities (Luescher-Mamashela et al., 2011; Mwollo-Ntalimma, 2011). The survey uses a stratified random sample of third-year undergraduate students at the University of Botswana. Furthermore, it isolates the subgroup of student leaders to investigate whether active participation in student politics influences support for democracy
Learning for the future, earning for now : students' experiences of the work-study programme at the University of the Western Cape
(University of the Western Cape, 2015) Mohlakoana, Refiloe Moratuoa Cynthia; Wangenge-Ouma, Gerald; Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry
This study does an in-depth exploration of how students experience full-time study and part-time employment, focusing on participants in the work-study programme of the University of the Western Cape. By means of the work-study programme, the university provides on-campus term-work opportunities for students in teaching, research, administration and other support services. In particular this study looks at: the reasons why students partake in the work-study programme and the benefits they gain; the type of work that students do; how demanding the work is; the number of hours they work; and the way this impacts on students' experience of higher education. It further looks at the kinds of challenges students face while participating in the work-study programme and the strategies that they use in order to balance working and studying. Student employment is not a new phenomenon but there is limited knowledge available on the students' experiences of campus employment. According to Metcalf (2003:316), research into part-time work of full-time students is important because of the "potential impact [of term-work] on the nature and effectiveness of higher education and equality of provision of higher education". Existing research shows that students who take part in part-time work are as diverse as the situations that compel them to work and study. It further highlights that students of all genders, ages and class have been observed as taking part in part-time work while pursuing full-time studies. Moreover, there are diverse reasons why students take part in term-work: to pay tuition fees and for their subsistence; to maintain their lifestyle; or to gain work experience. The literature also shows that students experience various challenges because of term-work, mainly due to their multiple time commitments. The effect is that working students may find it difficult to meet academic demands and succeed at the same level as non-working students. As a way of studying student experiences on the UWC work-study programme, this study will use quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection by means of a two-stage methodology. The first stage will involve an electronic survey that will provide baseline data on the students in the programme. This stage lays the ground for the second, qualitative stage of the methodology where the researcher will conduct in-depth interviews with some students involved in the programme. The findings show that students’ reasons for participating in the work-study programme are not necessarily about addressing their financial needs, but also about gaining work experience which puts them a step ahead of their peers. Students from the work-study programme worked varying hours. The number of hours was influenced by students’ classes, and also by the number of hours they were allowed to work, as the work timetable is designed around their academic work. The challenges that students experienced were both positive and negative, depending on their personal situation. Furthermore, the students reported many ways of coping and balancing working, studying and maintaining a social life. In terms of benefits, students indicated that they thought that both the students and the university were benefiting from the work-study programme. After the data was collected, analysed and discussed, a student experience typology in relation to the students on the programme was created. The empirical findings in this study provide a new understanding concerning students who are employed on campus. The study found that students, depending on various variables, were finding ways to manage academic demands, social lives and working part-time on campus. Taken together, the findings suggest an added role for work-study programmes in enhancing students’ university experience As a way of studying student experiences on the UWC work-study programme, this study will use quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection by means of a two-stage methodology. The first stage will involve an electronic survey that will provide baseline data on the students in the programme. This stage lays the ground for the second, qualitative stage of the methodology where the researcher will conduct in-depth interviews with some students involved in the programme. The findings show that students’ reasons for participating in the work-study programme are not necessarily about addressing their financial needs, but also about gaining work experience which puts them a step ahead of their peers. Students from the work-study programme worked varying hours. The number of hours was influenced by students’ classes, and also by the number of hours they were allowed to work, as the work timetable is designed around their academic work. The challenges that students experienced were both positive and negative, depending on their personal situation. Furthermore, the students reported many ways of coping and balancing working, studying and maintaining a social life. In terms of benefits, students indicated that they thought that both the students and the university were benefiting from the work-study programme. After the data was collected, analysed and discussed, a student experience typology in relation to the students on the programme was created. The empirical findings in this study provide a new understanding concerning students who are employed on campus. The study found that students, depending on various variables, were finding ways to manage academic demands, social lives and working part-time on campus. Taken together, the findings suggest an added role for work-study programmes in enhancing students' university experience.
Racial desegregation and the institutionalisation of ‘race’ in university governance: The case of the University of Cape Town
(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2009-12) Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry
The racial desegregation of the student bodies of historically white universities in South Africa has had significant political implications for student politics and university governance. I discuss two key moments in the governance history of the University of Cape Town (UCT) critically. The first involves the experience of racial parallelism in student governance in the late 1980s and early 1990s, making specific reference to the re-conceptualisation of the UCT Students’ Representative Council (SRC) as a ‘NUSAS-SRC’, along with the recognition of the political salience of race in the student body. The second traces the origins of the demographic representivity rule in the university’s statute to student demands for the dissolution of the UCT Council, and its replacement by a Transformation Forum in the early 1990s. I thus show that the recognition of race as politically significant in university governance is the outcome of a deliberate struggle, by students in general, and black students in particular, to de-privatise and politicise any sense of racial/racist marginalisation, and therefore to open up race as a topic for deliberation in the political realm of the post-apartheid university. Thus, the institutionalisation of race has come to serve the interests of the struggle for non-racialism.
The roles of higher education in the democratization of politics in Africa: survey reports from HERANA
(CODESRIA, 2012) Mattes, Robert; Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry
Against the theory on the nexus of higher education and citizenship, this article brings together the main findings and conclusions of three related studies with African mass publics, parliamentarians from African legislatures, and students from three African flagship universities, conducted by the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (HERANA). The article shows that higher education provides advantages in various measures of democratic citizenship and leadership. It plays important roles with regard to access to political information, information gathering skills, and levels of political knowledge; the ability to offer opinions and critical perspectives on politics and the economy; and levels of democratic values and democratic action. Moreover, university-educated MPs seem to make much better sense of the unique complexities of legislatures and their multiple competing functions than their less educated peers. This might reflect the knowledge and analytic skills acquired through higher education, the fact that universities are themselves highly complex institutions that they needed to negotiate as students, and the finding that students acquire extensive organisational leadership experience while at university. In light of this, the article suggests that higher education can play a crucial role in the democratisation of politics in Africa by developing “institution-builders” for state and civil society.
Student involvement in university decision-making: Good reasons, a new lens
(2011-04-04) Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry
This paper proposes a framework for understanding student involvement in different domains of university decision-making based on the various reasons brought for and against student involvement. It briefly outlines the historical origins of student participation in university governance with specific reference to student activism and the experience of university democratisation of the 1960s and early 1970s. By means of a review of scholarship, the paper then discusses various reasons for and against student involvement in university decision-making debated in academic literature: with respect to students’ political power as an organised group and stakeholders in the university; with reference to students’ role and position as users and consumers (as against notions of community membership); in relation to democratic principles and the purposes of higher education in society; and on the grounds of the potential positive consequences of involving students in university decision-making. Finally the different reasons for student involvement in university governance and related conceptions of student are modelled against different domains of university decision-making as a way of providing a new lens for understanding (and changing) the involvement of students in university decision-making. The paper concludes by illustrating the application of the framework and its transferability to other educational contexts.
Student politics and the funding of higher education in South Africa: the case of the University of the Western Cape, 1995-2005
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Cele, Mlungisi B. G.; Barnes, Teresa; Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry
This dissertation examines various ways in which the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Cape Town, South Africa, confronted the paradoxical post-apartheid higher education policy of expansion of access to historically disadvantaged students and limited funds and how students addressed the resulting problem of ‘unmet financial need’. My case study is set within the broader context of the momentous political and social change in South Africa’s first decade of democracy and the transformation of higher education in that country between 1995 and 2005. I reconsider the general topics of student activism, student participation in university governance and student funding based on relevant and accessible scholarly literature. Eventually, Wright, Taylor and Moghaddam’s framework (1990) inspires a conceptual-analytical framework to be applied in the case study analysis, consisting of a typology of four ideal types of student action, namely, normative collective student action (Type 1), non-normative collective student action (Type 2), normative individual student action (Type 3) and non-normative individual student action (Type 4). I adopt a qualitative case study approach and use a variety of data collection methods (such as interviews, official documentation and observation) to construct a case study database. Interviewees include members of the university management, university staff and students (both leaders and ordinary students). I interview diverse students in terms of their origin, race, gender, fields of study and levels of qualification, and political orientation. The interviewees include former student leaders in order to gain a historical perspective on the pre-1994 era. Staff interviews target mainly those members who were directly involved with student financial issues or who were responsible for making student funding decisions. I collected different types of documents, including Student Representative Council (SRC) annual reports, minutes, discussion documents, university annual reports, and university financial statements. I also have opportunity to observe various student activities on campus, including student meetings and workshops, where student funding concerns are discussed.
Theorising student activism in and beyond twentieth century Europe: the contribution of Philip G Altbach
Luescher-Mamashela, Thierry
For most of the second half of the twentieth century, Philip Altbach has followed, analysed and theorised student activism in Europe, North America, India and beyond, and become the foremost scholar on the topic. This chapter critically reviews Altbach’s work on student activism (1964 – 2006) and his efforts at developing a comparative theoretical understanding of student activism in terms of its causes, organisation, ideological orientation and outcomes, along with the backgrounds and identity of student activists, the importance of national and institutional contexts and historical conjunctures in the emergence of student activism and in the response of national and university governments to student protest. The chapter takes Altbach’s thinking on student politics and activism and most recent theoretical contributions on changes in European higher education governance and student representation at system and institutional level to consider four questions: Under what conditions does student activism emerge? What are the typical characteristics of student organisations/movements? What are the typical characteristics of student activists? What are the effects of student activism? In so doing, testable propositions for theorising student activism in, and beyond, twentieth century Europe are developed. The paper thereby challenges Altbach’s own assertion that “student activism lacks any overarching theoretical explanation” (1991: 247).

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