Teaching and Learning at the NWU

1Integrated Report 2018

Teaching and Learning at the NWU

2018 Integrated Report

NORTH-WEST UNIVERSITYNOORDWES-UNIVERSITEIT

YUNIBESITI YA BOKONE-BOPHIRIMA

®

iIntegrated Report 2018

TABLE OFCONTENTS

List of Abbreviations And Acronyms ii

Foreword by the Vice-Chancellor iii

Introduction 1

Teaching and Learning at Nwu 5

Centre for Teaching and Learning 13Student Academic Development and Support 15Teaching and Learning Environment Development and Support 21Curriculum Design and Development Support 25Academic Professional Development 31

Departments Supporting Teaching And Learning 39Qualification and Academic Programme Planning 40Unit for Continuing Education 43

Library and Information Service 45Career Centre 50Academic Grants Administration 57

Teaching and Learning in Faculties 61Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences 62Faculty of Education 70Faculty of Engineering 81Faculty of Health Sciences 88Faculty of Humanities 95Faculty of Law 103Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences 111Faculty of Theology 120

Final Word 128

ii Teaching and Learning

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS APS Admission Point ScoreARWU Global Academic Ranking of World UniversitiesCEE Centre for Engineering EducationCHPE Centre of Health Professions EducationCTL Centre for Teaching and LearningDBE Department of Basic EducationDHET Department of Higher Education and TeachingECSA Engineering Council of South AfricaFITLP Faculty Integrated Teaching and Learning PlanFTE Full-time EquivalentGSU Georgia State UniversityHEQSF HigherEducationQualificationSub-frameworkICT Information and Communication TechnologyIK IndigenousKnowledgeIKS IndigenousKnowledgeSystemsLIS Library and Information Servicen-GAP NewGenerationofAcademicsProgrammeNQF NationalQualificationsFrameworkNUST National University of Science and Technology of

ZimbabweNWU North-West University

ODL Open Distance LearningOER Open Education ResourcesPQM ProgrammeandQualificationMixQ&APP QualificationandAcademicProgrammePlanningREFA Rethinking Economics for AfricaSADC Southern African Development CommunitySAICA South African Institute for Chartered

AccountantsSAPC South African Pharmacy CouncilSAVC South African Veterinary CouncilSoTL Scholarship of Teaching and LearningSTARS Student Academic Readiness SurveyUCDG University Capacity Development GrantUCDP University Capacity Development ProgrammeUCE Unit for Continuing EducationUNAM University of NamibiaUNESCO UnitedNationsEducational,ScientificandCultural

OrganisationUnisa University of South AfricaUP University of PretoriaWits UniversityoftheWitwatersrand

iiiIntegrated Report 2018

Our Teaching and Learning Integrated Report for 2018 is a record of howourTeaching and Learning Strategy has been translatedintoactiontofulfilourpurpose,whichis“toexcelininnovativelearningandteaching, and cutting-edge research, thereby benefittingsocietythroughknowledge”.

Both from the support departments and fromthefaculties,thereisafocusonhowwecan innovatively improve key performance indicatorsrelatingtoaccessandsuccess.Ourstrategyis“totransformandtopositionthe North-West University (NWU) as a unitary institutionofsuperioracademicexcellence,withacommitmenttosocialjustice”.Accessandsuccessmustbeunderstoodwithinthecontextofourcommitmenttosocialjustice.Our context demands thatwe promoteequityofoutcomes,aswellasopportuni-tiestoaccesshighereducation,withintheambit of an education that is innovative and academically relevant, while beingresponsivetotheneedforsocialjustice.

Wehaverecentlyrestructuredthewholeuniversity to enable the implementation of our strategy. This report reflects on

FOREWORD PROF DAN

KGWADI

VICE-CHANCELLOR:Prof Dan Kgwadi

DEPUTY VICE- CHANCELLOR: TEACHING AND LEARNINGProf Robert J. Balfour

ADVISOR TO THE DEPUTY VICE- CHANCELLOR: Dr Franciska Bothma

this restructuring and repurposing of our teaching and learning resources to bemoreeffective,inattainingourdreamand purpose, and also responding to the nationalcontext.

I recommend the report to you and trust thatyouwillgaingreaterinsightintohowwehavealignedourTeachingandLearningStrategy to our University Strategy, so that education, the student teaching-learning experience, and staffing developmentcoheretowardsthetransformationofourcurriculum.


INTRODUCTION Excelling in innovative

teaching and learning at North-West University

CHAPTER 1High-quality teaching and learning plays an integral role in supporting the NWU to achieve its purpose ofexcellingininnovativeteachingandlearning,andcross-cutting research, therebybenefittingsocietythroughknowledge.Itisthuswithaspiritofservicethat we showcase the first Integrated Report onTeaching and Learning at the NWU. In 2018, theUniversitywaspleasedtoberecognisedinternation-allyinthefollowingwaysforthequalityofitsteachingandlearning.TheQSRatingAgency,aninternationaluniversityratingagency,ratedNWUasfollows:

5/5 5/5 5/5

Teaching-Learning Employability of graduates

Innovation

Learning (quality of programmes and quality of support for students)

Ourstudentsgetjobsandare quickly absorbed into employment.

This suggests strong industry links, good standing in the community andstronglinksbetweenresearch innovation and commercialisation.ItisthebestinSouthAfricabyfar.

2 Teaching and Learning

In 2018, the Global Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) rated 1 600 universities in 83 countries. The NWU’sGeography, Psychology, Environmental Sciences and Mathematics disciplines were ranked among the top 500 in theworld.PoliticsandEducationwererankedamong the top 400; Atmospheric Sciences was ranked in the top 300; HospitalityandTourismwasranked in the top200,whileMiningandMineralEngineeringwasrankedinthetop100globally.TheNWUisoneofonlytwoSouthAfricanuniversitiesto have both Atmospheric Sciences and Mathematicsrankedinthetop500.

the Global Academic Ranking of World Universities ARWU

TOTAL OF 1600UNIVERSITIES

IN 83 COUNTRIES

NWU DISCIPLINES RANKED:

TOP 500

TOP 400

TOP 300

TOP 200

TOP 100 Mining and Mineral Engineering

Hospitality and Tourism

Atmospheric Sciences

Politics and Education

Geography, Psychology, Environmental Sciencesand Mathematics


OneofNWU’s five long-termgoals is topromoteexcellentteachingandlearning,and to reposition NWU to attain the size and shape required by market direction decisions.ThesegoalslieattheheartofthecorebusinessoftheOfficeoftheDeputyVice-Chancellor:TeachingandLearning,andthenewlyimplementedunitaryeight-facultyacademicstructure.

As an institution, NWU is committed to continuously monitoring and improving on thescopeofitsacademicoffering,andonthequalityandexcellenceof itsteachingand learning activities. This will ensurethat it is able to further improve student access, retention and success in pursuit of its commitment to transformation, social justiceandanexcellentstudentexperienceforallwhocallNWUtheirhome.

Transformation and the alignment of standards is inextricably linked to thefollowingissues:

• Socialjusticeandinclusivity• Thequalityofthestudentexperience• Excellenceinteaching,learning,

research and community engagement

• TherelevanceandalignmentofNWU’sacademicoffering

• Its responsiveness to environmental, economic and political changes

• Being relevant to the current and future needs of the communities it serves

Overthepastyear,NWUhasworkedwithdiligence to continue to address these issues.

This integrated report for 2018 therefore offersanoverviewofthecontextualisa-tionofNWU’sTeachingandLearningStrategy for 2016 to 2020 from the per-spectives of the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), other departments that support teaching and learning at NWU and the eight faculties that present the institution’sacademicprogrammes.

The CTL supports, enables and enhances lecturers to support and develop students academically. It functions within fourdomains that are linked to the four strategic drivers related to teaching and learning at NWU. These domains are AcademicProfessional Development, Student

Academic Development and Support, LearningDesignandLearningEnvironment.The activities of the Centre per functional areafor2018arehighlightedinthisreport.

In addition, a number of support service departmentssupportNWU’steachingandlearningagenda.TheseincludetheQualifi-cation and Academic Programme Planning Unit, the Unit for Continuing Education, NWU’sLibraryandInformationService,itsCareer Centre and the Unit for Academic Grants Administration. The initiatives ofeach of these departments during the periodunderreviewhavecontributedtosupportingtheUniversity’sTeachingandLearning Strategy, and the achievement of itseventualsuccess.

The academic programmes of NWU are presented in eightunitary faculties. Thereports of the respective faculties in terms of their teaching and learning initiatives duringtheperiodunderreviewreflectonthegrowthoftheirenrolmentsinrelationto their enrolment plans, the composition of their student cohort in relation to the country’s demographic profile andthe profile of their staff complement.


Furthermore, each faculty considered the alignment and development of their academic offerings during the period under review, initiatives focusedon thetransformation of their curricula, and the graduationratesineachrespectivefaculty.Finally, each faculty reported on activities

relatedtointernationalisation,exceptionalstudentandstaffperformance,communityengagementandwork-integratedlearning,andexceptionalacademicofferingsinthefaculty.

By reflecting on the highlights and achievements in teaching and learning duringtheperiodunderreview,itisclearthatNWUiscommittedto“transformingand positioning itself as a unitary institution of superior academic excellencewith acommitmenttosocialjustice”,inaccordancewithitsstrategystatement.

Throughthisintegratedreport,theOfficeof theDeputyVice-Chancellor:Teachingand Learning acknowledges that, whileNWU has embarked upon the process of curriculumtransformation,thatjourneyisdevelopmentalandnevercomplete.TheUniversity recognises the need to respond to and address pertinent issues, such as thedecolonisationof itscurricula,whileremaininginternationallyrelevant.Futurechallenges include creating the appropriate space for the student voice to be heard to enhance a culture of caring and support;

findingtheidealblendbetweenface-to-faceand technology-mediated and online learning(inthecontextoftheUniversity’sverydifferentmarketsegmentsintermsof its student body in the contact and distance learning environments); planning for the implementation of the Council- approved2018LanguagePolicy(inwhichmultilingualsupporttostaffandstudentsfinds expression in the teaching andlearning space); and listening to industry, theUniversity’salumniandotherexternalstakeholders to enhance its graduates’work-readiness.

By remaining focused on innovative methods of teaching and learning, supported by an effective system of programme planning and development, the recruitment, development and retentionoftalentedstaff,acommitmentto student success, curriculum transforma-tionandrenewal,andtheestablishmentof an enabling learning environment, the NWUwillnotfalterinitsgoalofbecomingan internationally recognised university in Africa that is characterised by high-quality teachingandlearning.

Strategic drivers related to teaching and learning:• Academic Professional

Development• Student Academic Development

and Support• Learning Design• Learning Environment

Departments that support the teaching and learning agenda:• QualificationandAcademic

Programme Planning• Unit for Continuing Education• Library and Information Service• Career Centre• Academic Grants Administration


TEACHING AND LEARNINGAt North-West University

CHAPTER 2ThesuccessofNWU’sTeachingandLearningStrategy can be measured by evaluating the datarelatedtothefollowingkeyperformanceareas: student enrolments, graduates,graduation rate, undergraduate success rate (according to mode of provision, undergradu-

ate or postgraduate enrolments, gender and race),aswellastheUniversity’sacademicstaffandsupportstaffcomplement (percampusaccording to gender and race). The figuresthatfollowillustrateitsperformanceineachoftheseareas.


STUDENT ENROLMENTS

According to gender

21 249

39 963

Undergraduate& postgraduate

49 972

11 240

Unknown

African

Coloured

Indian/Asian

White

According to race

90

40 024

2 839

627

17 632

Total students: 61 212

Contact vs distance

43 418

17 794

Figure 2.1: Student enrolments In 2018, the NWU delivered 15 350 graduates, 10493withfirstdegreesand4857withpostgraduatedegrees.Thegraduationratewasat25.08%,whichcomparedfavourablywithnationalgraduationrates.Theunder-graduate success rate for both contact and distanceprovisionamountedto80.3%.

Our student-to-academic staff full-time equivalent(FTE)ratiois32.44:1.Thismeansthatoneacademicstaffmemberisavailableforevery32full-timeequivalentstudents.OurstaffcomplementaccordingtogenderandracepercampusisdepictedinFigure2.3.

Our first-time entrant dropout rate for contactdegreesdecreased from11.11%in2017to9%in2018.Thisshowsthatourinvestment in academic support is yielding substantialvalue.

Figure2.2showsthedetailsofthenumberof graduates according to gender and race, aswellastheNWU’sgraduationratesandundergraduatesuccessrates.

Our student body is a crucial input into our value chain. Figure 2.1 shows thecomposition and size of the student body in 2018 according to mode of provision, undergraduate and postgraduate enrolmentsaligned toNWU’s strategy,andalsoaccordingtogenderandrace.The NWU is committed to transforming its student body to meet proper equity targetsinlinewithitsenrolmentplanandtowidenaccesstostudentswithworkandfamilyresponsibilitieswhocanonlystudyviathedistancemodeofprovision.


Total graduates: 15 350

Unknown

African

Coloured

Indian/Asian

White

Graduation rate: 25.08%Success rate: 25.08%

According to gender

4 825

10 525


10 493

4 857

According to race

17

9 666

665

132

4 870

Contact vs distance

10 650

4 700

According to gender

22.71%

26.34%


21.12%

43.21%

Unknown

African

Coloured

Indian/Asian

White

According to race

18.89%

24.15%

23.42%

21.05%

27.62%

Contact vs distance

24.53%

26.41%

UNDERGRADUATEGRADUATION RATETOTAL GRADUATES

According to gender

81.57%

88.66%

Unknown

African

Coloured

Indian/Asian

White

According to race

84.25%

83.47%

79.67%

90.92%

90.20%

Contact vs distance

86.69%

74.00%

SUCCESS RATE

Figure 2.2: Student profile


Total academic sta�: 1 873 Total support sta�: 6 432

According to gender

947

926

According to campus

Mafikeng

Potchefstroom

Vaal Triangle

NWU

426

1051

286

110

According to race

African

Coloured

Indian/Asian

White

576

60

27

1210

According to gender

2594

3838

According to campus

Mafikeng

Potchefstroom

Vaal Triangle

NWU

486

2530

3 221

393

According to race

African

Coloured

Indian/Asian

White

2988

306

83

3055

ACADEMIC STAFF COMPLEMENT SUPPORT STAFF COMPLEMENT

Figure 2.3: Staff profile


COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATIONAsan institution,weare committed tocontinuously monitor and improve on the scopeofouracademicofferingandonthequalityandexcellenceofourteachingandlearningactivities.Thisisinanendeavourto further improve student access and success in pursuit of our commitment to transformation,social justiceandanexcellentstudentexperienceforallwhocallNWUtheirhome.

Transformation,aswellasthealignmentofstandardswithintheNWUcontext, isinextricablylinkedtothefollowingissues:

• Socialjusticeandculturalinclusivity• Qualityofthestudentexperience• Excellenceinteaching,learning,

research and community engagement• Relevance and alignment of our academicofferings

• Responsiveness to environmental, economic and political changes

• Being relevant to the current and futureneedsofthecommunitiesweserve

Over the past five years the NWU has workeddiligentlytostartaddressingtheaboveissues.Wearebynomeanswherewewanttobe;wearestillverymuchintheprocessoftransforming.Thisentailsgrapplingwithissuessuchasthedecol-onisationofourcurricula,whileensuringthat our curricula remain internationally relevant.Furthermore,wearecreatingtheappropriate space for the student voice to be heard to enhance a culture of caring andsupport.Intheprocess,wearefindingtheperfectblendbetween face-to-faceand technology-mediated learning, and ensuringalanguagepolicythatbenefitsourculturallydiversestudentandstaffbody.Wearealso listening to industry,alumniandotherexternalstakeholdersto enhance the work-readiness of ourgraduates. Thiswill allultimatelybe tothebenefitofour internalandexternalstakeholders.

The NWU is committed to the transforma-tion of teaching, learning and the curriculum aspartofitscommitmenttosocialjustice,

and ensuring an equivalent quality student experience. This is irrespective of thecampusonwhichourstudentschoosetocompletetheirstudies.Todirectanddrivethe transformation and quality student experienceagenda,anumberofinitiativeshavebeeninstituted.Facultieshaveeachdrafted a Faculty Integrated Teaching and LearningPlan.Thesenotonlyindicatethedirection and focus of a faculty regarding its transformation and development agenda,butalsooffervaluable insightsfrom an integrated planning perspective regarding the direction the Faculty intends to take to further enhance the quality and responsiveness of its teaching, learning andacademic offering, theprofession-alisation of university teaching, and the graduateness and employability of its studentsoverthenextfiveyears.


NWU GENDER AWARENESS WEEKAt NWU,Women’sMonth is always anopportunity for its three campuses to focusonwomenandrelatedaspirationsof the NWU in terms of equity, inclusion and social justice. In 2017, MarketingandCorporateCommunicationsprofiledAugustasWomen’sMonthbymarketingaseries of events organised by faculties and the University at large to celebrate National Women’sDay. This commemorates theimportantrolethatwomenhaveplayedinthestruggleforfreedominSouthAfrica.On9August1956,approximately20000womenmarched topetitionspecificallyagainstthecountry’spasslaws,inwhichraceidentificationwasrequiredintermsofthePopulationRegistrationAct.Since1994,9August,togetherwiththemonthof August, have been marked nationally and at NWU, and are celebrated to focus onwomenintermsoftheirachievements,continuing struggles and issues stemming from a society that is still characterised by patriarchy. In2018,CorporateRelationsand Marketing ran a campaign similar to theonein2017featuringfemalestudents

and employees. This is aligned to thebroader theme of the Universities South Africa (USAf) 2018CommonCampaign:socialinclusionandwellbeing.

The abovementioned plans have given rise to the institution of an annual NWU Gender AwarenessWeek,thefirstofwhichtookplacefrom2to8August2018.Thepurposeofthisweekistopromoteanawarenessofgenderinsociety,intheworkplaceorincommunities,andtolookathowgenderis representedandconstructed,aswellastheintersectionalitiesinbetween;e.ggender and religion, gender and race, gender and other identity-markers (such asclass),orresearchongender.GenderAwarenessWeek is one of theways inwhichNWUismakingitscommitmenttosocialjusticetangiblethroughaseriesofevents and opportunities that aspire to raiseawarenessandenrichourconscious-ness of the role that gender plays in the construction and impact of difference.Genderisalsoanindispensablepartofwhoweareaspeople.Giventhat–aspeople–

http://www.nwu.ac.za/gender-awareness-weekGet the program for all the events here!

Type of events to expect...Seminars for sta� and students, Queer educational and Art Workshops, Art Gallery Exhibition, Music Concert, Library exhibitions, Poetry crafting and reading workshop.

2 - 8 AUGUST 2018

We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love.

That's who we are and it's okay- Laverne Cox

®

Gender Awareness week poster


weareasdifferentaswearesimilar,itmadesensetoofferaswidearangeofopportunitiesaspossibleforallourstudentstoengageinonallthreeourcampuses.Theseopportunitiesranged from panel discussions on love, gender and family, toartworkshops,workshopsonpoetry,andworkshopsonqueer theory and its implications for the creation of inclusive classrooms.Bookexhibitionswerealsopresented,aswellasaspecialconcertcelebratinglesbian,gay,bisexualandtransgender(LGBT)andwomencomposers.

OneofthehighlightswastheseriesofartworkshopspresentedbyUmceboDesign.ThisinvolvedpeoplecreativelyacrossallthreeNWUcampuses,whodesignedasinglepublicartpieceina collaborativeeffort.UmceboDesigndevelopeda “blockproject”,whichsawstudents,communityleadersandartistscome togetherat threeworkshops (at theVaalTriangleCampus on 3 August, the Potchefstroom Campus on

4AugustandtheMafikengCampuson5August2018).Duringthethree-hourworkshops,eachparticipantwasprovidedwithapre-cutpieceofprimedwood.Theywererequestedtoreflectontheirowngenderandbroadergenderissues,andtopainttheblocksdepictingtheirreflections.Alltheblockswereultimatelycombinedintoasinglepublicartpiece,whichwaslaunchedonattheUniversityGalleryon6August2018.Thesinglepieceistrulyaworkofart.

All the blocks which were combined into a single public art piece


CENTRE FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

Supporting and enabling teaching staff to develop students academically

CHAPTER 3The Centre for Teaching and Learning is one of the support divisions in the portfolio of the Deputy Vice- Chancellor:TeachingandLearning.TheCentre’spurpose is to support, enable and enhance lecturersasuniversityteachers,aswellasto

supportanddevelopstudentsacademically.TheCentrefunctionswithinthefollowingfourdomains,whicharelinkedtothestrategicdriversrelatedtoteachingandlearningatNWU:


Academic Professional DevelopmentDriver 4: Recruitment, development and retention of talented staff:

This domain strives to provide expertsupport with a hands-on approach tostudentsandlecturers.Itsultimategoalistoinspireacademicstafftoenhancetheirskills in terms of both teaching and learning, andtoprovideallstudentswithacademicsupporttoachieveacademicsuccess.

Student Academic Development and Support Driver 5: Access retention and success:

This domain renders various programmes to students in all the faculties at NWU.Programmes includes the Student Academic Readiness Survey, Student Orientation Programme, Supplemental Instruction, tutoring, mentoring, reading development and individual student support or academic advising.

Learning DesignDriver 6: Curriculum transformation and renewal:

StaffmembersoftheCTLwereintroducedtothe Carpe Diem curriculum transformation processduringDecember2017.Atwo-dayCarpe Diem workshop was developedin February and March 2018 that wasspecifically contextualised forNWU. Thepurposeofthisworkshopwastodrivetrans-formationinthecurriculum.

Learning Environment Driver 7: An enabling learning environment:

This domain is committed to the development and continuing support of a teaching and learningenvironmentinwhichtechnologyisusedtoprovideallstudentswithalearningexperience that makes optimal use offace-to-faceande-learningapproaches.

During2018,CTLunderwentastreamliningprocess to create a new streamlinedfunctionalstructurefortheCentre.Thiswouldbe implemented from1 January2019withmultidisciplinaryteamsvisiblyworkinginthefaculties.Furthermore,theCentre for Higher Education Development andResearchwillbeestablishedtofacilitatethe research initiatives and outputs of the CTL and enhance the professional status ofitspractitioners.Thefollowingsectionsof the report highlights the activities of the Centreperfunctionalareafor2018.

CHIEF DIRECTOR: CENTRE FOR TEACHING AND LEARNINGProf Willie J. van Vollenhoven


STUDENT ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT Student Academic Development and Support strives to support and develop students on the Mafikeng, Vaal Triangle and Potchefstroom campuses of NWU on their path to academic success. The unit’s activities for 2018 were focused on offering support to students through Supplemental Instruction, academic peer mentoring, tutoring programmes, reading development, academic advising and individual student support. It was furthermore supported in its objectives by the implementation of two successful initiatives: the Student Academic Readiness Survey (STARS) and the First-year Navigator.

SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION Supplemental Instruction is an internation-ally recognised student academic support programmewithanon-remedialapproachtolearning.Itsupportsstudents’academicsuccessbyintegrating“whattolearn”with“howtolearn.”SupplementalInstructionconsists of regular, voluntary, out-of-class group study sessions that are driven by students’ needs. Trained peer leaders,whoutilisecollaborativeactivitiestoensurepeer-to-peer interaction in small groups, facilitate the sessions. SupplementalInstruction is implemented in high-risk courses in consultation with academicstaff,anda trainedsupervisorsupportsandevaluatestheprocess.

The NWU’s Supplemental Instructionprogrammehasbeenrunningfor15years.It is the largest programme of its kind in the world,anditservesover14000studentsinNWU’seightfacultiesannually.Theinterna-tional Supplemental Instruction community considersitaflagshipprogrammeandithas received international recognition for excellence, continued dedication,research and contributions to the larger SupplementalInstructioncommunity.

Research that has been conducted on the advantages of taking part in the Supplemental Instruction programme showsthatparticipatingstudentsbenefit

in terms of their motivation and social, cognitive andmetacognitive behaviour.Studentswhoattendthesesessionshaveshownconsistent improvement in theiracademic performance throughout the year,withanaverageperformanceincreaseofbetween10%and15%.

Duringtheperiodunderreview,theunitsucceeded in training over 1 000 facilitators acrossalmost450modules.Furthermore,ithostedover600activefacilitators,whilemorethan400lecturersandmorethan970studentsparticipatedintheprogramme.Almost440sessionswereheldover2018 (seeFigure3.1).

DIRECTOR: FACULTY TEACHING AND LEARNING SUPPORTProf Mamolahluwa Mokoena


Figure 3.1: Faculty participation in facilitation instruction in 2018

Facilitatorstrained

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

Activefacilitators

Participatinglecturers

Number of modules

Attendingstudents Sessions

HumanitiesNatural andAgriculturalSciences

Education TheologyEconomic andManagementSciences

HealthSciences Law


Students participating in Supplemental Instruction facilitation sessions.

ACADEMIC PEER MENTORING Adjustingtouniversitylifecanbeoverwhelmingforanyfirst-yearstudent. Theunit’s academic peermentors support first-yearstudents’ transitionandadjustment to tertiaryeducationandensure that they connect to the NWU community, their academic programme,theirschool,theirfacultyandtheirpeers.

The programme focuses on the academic processes, resources andskillsthatarerequiredtofunctionandexcelintheuniversityenvironment.In2018,StudentAcademicDevelopmentandSupporttrained 56 academic peer mentors at both undergraduate and postgraduatelevelacrossNWU’sthreecampuses.

TUTORING PROGRAMMES Theunit’stutoringprogrammewasopenedtoallthefacultiesinAugust2018.Atotalof122tutorsweretrainedandappointedin67modulesthatserved4446studentsacrossNWU.TheUniversityCapacityDevelopmentGrant(UCDG)madethisinitiativepossible.Inmoduleswhere tutoring is possible, tutors assist studentsoutsidetheclassroominastructuredgrouporindividualsession.The tutoring programme coordinator trains tutors, and tutoring sessionsarecloselymonitoredaccordingtolecturedcontent.Whenalectureridentifiesaproblemareainaspecificmodule,atutorwillcoverthismatterduringastructuredsession.

Duringtheperiodunderreview,67modulesweretutoredacrossNWU’sthreecampuses:22ontheMafikengCampus,29onthePotchefstroomCampusand16ontheVaalTriangleCampus.

Academic peer mentors welcoming first-year students in 2018 at Potch Campus.


READING DEVELOPMENT As reading forms the basis of all learning, students’readingproficiencyisconsideredapriorityatNWU.Mostuniversitycoursesrequire a great deal of reading, and studentswithwell-developedreadingskillsfind iteasier tocopewith thedemandsof higher education. The unit’s readingdevelopment centres provide enrichment withacomputerisedreadingprogrammethatbuildsfluency.

The reading development centres administer the reading development component of the compulsory academic literacy modules (ALDA 112 and ALDE 122)forallfirst-yearstudentsandotherstudentswhoregisteratNWUforthefirsttime. In2018, the readingdevelopmentcentres provided reading development coursesto10784first-yearstudents.Ofthesestudents,84%passedthereading

componentofNWU’scompulsoryacademicliteracymodules(seeFigure3.2).Readingdevelopment and enrichment courses are alsoofferedtoseniorstudentswhowanttorefreshtheirreadingproficiency.

Figure 3.2: The student pass rates of the reading component of the compulsory academic literacy modules

A tutoring session in progress.

100

80

60

40

20

0

Economicand

ManagementSciences

Education HealthSciences Humanities Law

Natural andAgricultural

SciencesTheology

Did not complete(percentage)

Pass(percentage)


ACADEMIC ADVISING AND INDIVIDUAL STUDENT SUPPORT Individual students seek academic assistance oftheirownaccordorarereferredtotheacademic advisors by various role-players on campus. These academic advisorsaccommodate students during one-on-one or groupconsultations.Thesesessionsareaimed

atenhancingstudents’ learningstrategies,revision techniques, time management skills, motivation, resilience, memory rehearsal strategies, note-taking and reading techniques,testandexaminationpreparation,criticalthinkingandproblem-solvingskills.

Duringtheperiodunderreview,morethan340studentsconsultedtheunit’sacademicadvisors on the various campuses for individualadviceandsupport.

STUDENT ACADEMIC READINESS SURVEY TheStudentAcademicReadinessSurvey (STARS)wasdevelopedtomeasuretheacademicreadinessoffirst-yearstudents.In2018, 7530first-yearstudentsfromallfacultiesacrossNWUcompletedtheSTARSduringtheRegistrationandOrientationProgramme.Outofthissample,6505recordswereretainedfordataanalysis.Followingthedata analysis and construction of a STARS results dashboard, reports weregeneratedperfaculty,andaninstitutionalreportwassubmittedtoSenateinApril2018.Thesesurveyresultswillbeusedasfollows:

• To address the needs of individual students• To identify generic academic and non-cognitive issues and

proactively address them at institutional and faculty level• To provide indicators of potentially at-risk students so that inter-

ventions can be planned for retention and success

Figure3.3depictstheresponsesontheSTARSdashboardtothequestion:“Towhatextentdoyouthinkyouwillneedmoresupportwiththefollowingskillstobesuccessfulatyourstudiesthisyear?”.This illustrates the value of the STARS in identifying students in need ofsupport. Figure 3.3: An example of the STARS dashboard

Studyskills

Readingskills

Writingskills

1 500

1 000

500

0

Not at all To someextent

To a greatextent

“To what extent do you think you will need more support with the following skills to be successful at your studies this year?”


FIRST-YEAR NAVIGATORTheNWU’s First-yearExperience (FYE) isa comprehensive initiative comprising differentcomponentsthatincreaseacademicperformance and student persistence, assist in the transition to university, facilitate a sense of commitment to the university, and improvepersonaldevelopment.

Duringtheperiodunderreview,StudentAcademic Development and Support embarkedonanewinitiativetodesignanddevelop an electronic environment on the

learning management system, eFundi, to improvefirst-yearstudents’experience.ItisknownastheFirst-yearNavigator.Thissite was developed for each individualcampus, and it contains both general and campus-specificinformation.

The site is aimed at enhancing first-year students’readinessforuniversity.Informationis available to students throughout the academicyear.Itcontainsacademic,socialandgeneralstudentsupportinformation.

The academic support page contains information on all the services of Student Academic Development and Support (academic peer mentoring, Supplemental Instruction, tutoring, reading development, student workshops, academic advisingandeFundi support). Thepage containsinformationonhowtoadjusttouniversitylife, links to calendars and university timetables, and tips on time management, plagiarism and referencing techniques, learningstrategiesandnote-taking.

The First-year Navigator


TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORTTeaching and Learning Environment Development and Support supports the academic develop-ment of staff, students and the environment. It aims to provide an enabling learning environment for students. Its activities during 2018 were focused on the virtual learning environment (eFundi), technology resource management and helpdesk support, and the capacity development of staff and students.

VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Duringtheperiodunderreview,anaverageof5349staffmembersandstudentsworkedon the virtual learning management system, eFundi, simultaneously. As illustrated inFigure3.4,thisnumberremainsrelativelyconstantcomparedtotheaveragefor2017,whichwas5656.

The number of logins to eFundi during 2018 (13 012 412) displayed an increase to those of the previous year, when 12 039 268 users logged into the learning managementsystem(seeFigure3.5).Thisincreaseindicatesthatusersfindtheonlineteaching and learning environment at NWU increasinglyenabling. Figure 3.4: The number of eFundi users in 2018

compared to 2017 Figure 3.5: The number of user logins during 2018 compared to the previous years

14 000

12 000

10 000

8 000

6 000

4 000

2 000

0

Janu

ary

Febr

uary

Mar

ch

Apr

il

May

June July

Aug

ust

Sept

embe

r

Oct

ober

Nov

embe

r

Dec

embe

r

2017 2018 14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Mill

ion

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018


The utilisation of the eFundi tools by studentsandteachingstaffwasanalysedtodeterminetheiruseduring2018.Thisanalysis was based on the number ofeventsrecordedforeachtool.Theseeventsincluded all actions performed during the year and included uploads, downloads,readsandsubmissions.

AsillustratedinFigure3.6,theresourcestoolwasfoundtobethemostpopular.Overall,the use of all the tools displayed an increase during theperiodunderreviewwith theassignmentstoolincreasingfrom452754to 902 036, the lessons tool increasing from5665747to12039810,theemailfromeFunditoolincreasingfrom989739

to 1 120 952, the resources tool increasing from20876938 to42375752,andthetests and quizzes tool increasing from 1091921to2034682.

The increase in the use of the lessons tool can be attributed to its more frequent use to createelectroniclearninginterfaces,whilethe increase in the use of the resources tool reflectsthemorepopularuseofvideostofacilitateteachingandlearning.

The number of eFundi sites created during 2018 also displayed an increase, as illustratedinFigure3.7,when8686siteswerecreated,asopposedtothe7998thatwerecreatedin2017.

During 2018, Teaching and Learning Environment Development and Support attended to the development of the followingeFunditoolsandfunctionalities:

• Enhancementstothe“exporttoEPUB3”functionality

• Enhancementstothe“importtoorexportfromMSWord”functionalityoflessons in eFundi

• Integration of Microsoft or Google educationaltoolswitheFundi

• ElectronicObjectiveAssessment(EOA)• Assignment Marker Setup (AMS)• Onscreen Marking (OSM) • E-portfolios• Peerassessmentorreview

Figure 3.6: The most used tools on eFundi during 2018

Figure 3.7: The number of eFundi sites created during 2018 compared to the previous years

10 0009 0008 0007 0006 0005 0004 0003 0002 0001 000

0

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Total 2017 2018

Assignments

50 000 000

40 000 000

30 000 000

20 000 000

10 000 000

0

Lessons Email from eFundi Resources Tests and

quizzes


TECHNOLOGY RESOURCE MANAGE-MENT AND HELPDESK SUPPORTThehelpdeskreceived2877emailrequestsand2880telephonecallsin2018.Italsoassisted1447walk-inclients.Theestimatedtime to resolveamatterwasfive to tenminutes.Periodsthatreceivedaparticularlyhigh volume of requests were betweenFebruaryandMarch,andbetweenJuneandAugust.

Helpdesk staff members performed the followingtasksduring2018:

• ResettingeFundipasswords• Creating Turnitin assignments and

retrieving Turnitin reports• Using the lessons, assignment, and tests

and quizzes functionalities• Creating sites• Linking courses• Resolving eFundi loan enquiries• Using the Gradebook or Gradebook

Classic functionalities• Allowingre-submissionforstudents

DIGITAL TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGYTeaching and Learning Environment Development and Support promotes the establishment of coordinated digital teaching and learning environment resource facilitiesonallthreethecampusesofNWU.Thiscoordinatedenvironmentwillprovideequalaccessforallstaffandstudentstoexplorethe innovativeuseoftechnologyfor teachingand learningexperiences inblendedandonlinelearningenvironments.

Services in support of this initiative include the renting out of tablets by students, theuseoftheunit’sOne-buttonStudio(asimplifiedvideo-recordingsetupthatcanbeusedwithoutanypreviousvideoproductionexperience), and the unit’s provision of video-capturingequipmenttolecturingstafftocapturelecturesandconcepts.Theuseof these services during the period under reviewwasasfollows:

• Morethan2000tabletswerebookedout to facilitate technology that enhances or enables teaching and learningintheclassroomcontext.

• Morethan9000videoswererecordedin the One-button Studio (amounting toanaveragerecordedtimeof05:39minutespervideo).

• Theunit’svideo-capturingequipmentwasusedtomakealmost90videorecordings, including almost 30 training sessions.


CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT On average, each staff member in the unit conducted70one-on-one consulta-tionswithacademicstaffmembersduring2018.Consultationsareidentifiedasanyindividual training or development session with a lecturer ranging from 30 to 120minutes.Thefollowingtopicswerecovered(the percentage of total time is indicated in brackets):

• Developinglessons(40%)• Settinguptestsandquizzes(25%)• DevelopingTurnitingoodpractice(15%)• Providing technology-enhanced grading andfeedback(10%)

• Using blogs, forums, chat rooms, Google Hangouts or WhatsApp in a discipline (5%)

• Collaborating on Google forms or Googledocuments(5%)

Consultations also focused on developing staffmembers’capacitytoengageeffectivelywith the digital teaching and learningenvironmentinrespectofthefollowingtwoprojectsinparticular:

• Tablets in the classroom: Thisprojectwasaimed at improving the ability of academic

staffmemberstofacilitatelearning,andpresentinglecturerswithtablettechnol-ogyandrelatedapplications.Theprojectalsoaimedtodeterminewhethertablettechnology and related applications con-tributetoaqualitylearningexperience.

• Padcaster pilot project: Thispilotprojectexplored recordingvideos for thepre-sentation of lectures and streaming live sessionsonandacross thecampuses.Padcaster products and accessories enabled professional, high-quality image- and video-capturing on a mobile device, suchasatabletorasmartphone.Theproject informed ongoing research toapplyNWU’sReadinessforTechnologyAdaptionFramework.

To reinforce good teaching practices, guidelines for digital teaching and learning weremadeavailableintheformofarubricthat lecturers could use to evaluate their workand/orthatoftheircolleagues.Theguidelines could also be used as criteria to guide the development of online or digital learninginterfaces.Theseguidelinesfocusedon enhancing the structure and design quality of the online study guide or eFundi

Learning Interface as part of a blended learningapproach.Trainingfocusedonthedevelopment of a quality online learning experiencewith the lessons tool, whichwasguidedbyawell-plannedmoduleandassessmentplan.

ThefacilitiesoftheOne-buttonStudiowerealsousedtoimprovestaffmembers’abilitytocreateconceptvideosandengagewithflippedclassroomlearningstrategies.Thisencouraged academics and students to createknowledgeandcontentandnotonlyconsumeit.Inthisway,thefacilitiesoftheOne-buttonStudiocontributedtoNWU’stransitiontoablendedlearningapproach.

TrainingineFundiwaspresentedtofirst-yearstudentsonallthreecampuses,aswellastodistancestudents.Thistrainingtaughtfirst-year students toengage in learningthatwas facilitatedoneFundi.Helpdeskassistants presented computer training throughouttheyearonrequest.Duringtheofficialtwo-weekorientationperiodofthe2018academicyear,staffalsopresented25eFundi training sessions to 849 students in thecomputerlaboratoriesoncampus.


CURRICULUM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT

Curriculum Design and Development Support makes strategic decisions about academic offerings, curricula and role-players in the decision-making process. In 2018, it prioritised activities that would advance the achievement of its strategic and operational objectives.

These included activities related to curriculum design and development, instructional and multimedia design and development, the graphic engagement of teaching and learning and the coordination of paper-based study material

development. An important achievement during the period under review was the improved momentum of the Projects Office that had been established in 2017.

Staff members kept abreast of developments in the curriculum design and development landscape by attending academic events. During 2018, they attended five national and five international events, during which two poster presentation and one multimedia presentation were delivered.

CURRICULUM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENTThe unit embarked on several initiatives focused on curriculum designanddevelopmentduringtheperiodunderreview.Theseincludedaseriesofcurriculumtransformationworkshops,thedevelopmentofaframeworkforthedesignanddevelopmentofcurricula,colloquiathatwerefocusedondecolonisingthecurricula,

and the primary stages of implementation matrices aimed at the integration of key design requirements into the curriculum acrossastudent’sacademiccareer,suchasresearchskills,theintegration of information and communication technologies (ICTs), andgraduateattributes.

DIRECTOR: CENTRALISED TEACHING AND LEARNING FUNCTIONSDr Gerhard du Plessis


The Carpe Diem curriculum transformation workshops.

The Carpe Diem curriculum transformation workshops

StaffmembersoftheCTLwereintroducedto the Carpe Diem curriculum transformation process during December 2017.These workshops were funded by theUniversity CapacityDevelopmentGrant. In2018,lecturersinthefirst-andsecond-yearmodules in the Faculty of Lawattendedfouroftheseworkshops,duringwhich39lecturersrevised14modules.

Following this first series ofworkshops,the Faculty of Engineering nominated 13 lecturers toattend twosuchworkshops.Some 19 lecturers from the faculties of Education, Humanities and Theology also participated in fourworkshops and twopre-workshopsthatfocusedonprogrammealignment and online facilitation, during which17moduleswereprioritised.

Framework for the design and development of curricula

Duringtheperiodunderreview,CurriculumDesign and Development Support developedaframeworkforthedesignanddevelopment of curricula at NWU. This

frameworkwouldmakeprovisionforthealignment of the curriculawith externaland internal approval processes, and the integrationofexistingcurriculumdesignanddevelopmentpracticesatalllevels.

NWU’s Declaration on the Decolonisation of University Education

The University commits itself to the advancement of the broader mission and practices of social justice that areappropriate and encourage decolonisa-tionwithinrelevantcontexts.Itthereforerecognises the importance of transforming universityeducationbytransformingNWU’sstrategies,financialplansandoperationsacrossthethreekeyuniversityroles.

In this regard,NWUviews thedecoloni-sation of university education as a call for reflectionandactionwiththepurposeofenabling greater relevance, reorienting its focus on Africa in terms of the construction, development and communication of knowledge, and enhancing students’experienceofthecurriculum.

During 2018, the NWU Senate Committee for Teaching and Learning approved the

NWU’sDeclarationontheDecolonisationof University Education: The Imperativeto Transform Teaching and Learning, the Research Agenda and Community Engagement.


This document is intended to frame an ongoing debate around decoloniality, and to create an open space for critical engagement,ratherthanofferadefinitiveandfinalNWUposition.

Decolonising the curriculum

During 2018, the unit facilitated several colloquia that focused on decolonising thecurriculum.Thiswasinresponsetoanationwidecallforthetransformationofhighereducation.Thecolloquia,fundedbytheUCDG,broughttogetherfivehigh-profilespeakers and included executive deans,deputy deans and chairpersons of teaching and learning communities, as well aslecturers and members of teaching and learningcommittees.Thecolloquiawerelive-streamedacrossallthreecampuses.

INSTRUCTIONAL AND MULTIMEDIA DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENTA focus of Curriculum Design and Development Support is the enhancement of learning through the design and development of study material by three

The multimedia design studio

instructionaldesigners.Theunitsupportsand advises lecturers on media-integrated learningbestpractices.Highlightsincludethe activities of the multimedia design studio, video productions, the implement- ationoftheStudyGuideProjectandthemaintenanceofNWU’sdigitalstudymaterialrepository.

Multimedia design studio

The multimedia team is responsible for both online and paper-based study material. The unit’smultimedia designstudio supports the blended learning approach through the integration of various content solutions, whichinclude the development of graphics, animations, simulations, video, audio andvoice-overs,photographic, textandprogrammed interactions, and integrated learning enhancements. During 2018,40multimediaproductionswereeithercreated or updated for 18 modules in seven faculties and one support service department.

The team also processed 322 walk-inservice requests,which includeddigital

duplication, the digitisation of current study material in media formats that are no longer supported, such as video home system (VHS), media digitisation, video recordings, studio recordings, photographic services and rentals as a thirdstreamofincomeforNWU.


Video productions

During 2018, Curriculum Design and Development Support developed a series of stand-alone and multimedia-integrated video and sound productions, including sub-ject-specificsimulations,studiorecordingsforwebcasting,andthevideorecordingofguestlectures.TheOne-buttonStudioontheVaalTriangleCampuswasupgraded,and the studio and digital transferring equipment on computers on the Potchef-stroomCampusweremaintained.Thevideoproduction team also provided lecturer and student support in the co-creation of learning content. Studentswere trainedin the use of Lightboard video planning, Filmora video editing, storyboarding and scriptwriting, and some 11 videoswereproduced.

Study Guide Project

During2018,ataskteamwasappointedto manage several integrated study guide initiatives,includingthefollowing:

• The migration of paper-based study guides to electronic learning interfaces (eFundi);

• The implementation of a colour paper-basedpilotprojectforopen-distancelearning study material;

• Themigrationofspecific,measurable,achievable, realistic and timely (SMART) guides to eFundi learning interfaces;

• The development of a scorecard for the design and development of blended learning;

• The implementation of cost-saving measures to reduce the printing of paper-based study material;

• The development of guidelines for the minimum components of an integrated studypackagethatstudentscanexpectwhenenrollingforamodule.

Digital study material repository

NWU’s cloud-hosted repository served asauser-friendlyrapiddistributionsystem.Itboasted0%downtime.Thisachievementwasmadepossiblebythefollowing:

• Dual access via the learning management systemandexternalrepository;

• Accessviaanybrowser;• Parallel storage and version control of sourcefiles;

• Published versions and location back-ups;• Fullmalwareandvirusprotection;

• The generation of learning analytics throughthetrackingofmultiplevariables.

Usage statistics show growth in all thevariablesthatweremonitoredontheserver.Analytics related to student access to the Afrihost Repository in 2018 reflected the followingpatterns:

• A total of 3 439 individual users accessed therepository.

• Students gained access to the digital study material from 143 unique locations, both nationally and internationally, as opposedto132in2017.

• Thedatabasewasaccessed7714timesby the end of November 2018 compared with5475in2017.

• Students prefer to access digital study material repeatedly online, rather than downloadingitontheirdevices.

• Users accessed study material through devicessupportedbysevendifferentoperatingsystems,comparedtosixin2017.WindowsandAndroidwerethebestrepresented.Windowssupported76.23%ofthedevicesusedtoaccessstudymaterialcomparedto69%in2017,whileAndroid-supporteddevicesaccountedfor15%oftheaccessevents,asopposedto24%in2017.


THE GRAPHIC ENHANCEMENT OF TEACHING AND LEARNINGTheunit’sgraphicdesignstudiosupports teachingand learningactivities through the design and graphic enhancement of teaching and learning material, research, the production of short course certificatesandotherwalk-ingraphicdesignservicesacrossallthreecampuses.

Academic requests during 2018 included the design of research figures,infographics,visualelementsforeFundiandthepagelayoutofpaper-basedstudymaterial.Non-academicrequestsincludedthedesign and layout of promotional or conference material, publications andproductionservices.

Overall, the unit formatted 3 289 study guides, produced 256 certificatesforshortcoursesand155othercertificates,andcompleted929graphicdesignrequests(43forresearchpurposes,37forteachingandlearningpurposes,and849walk-inandotherdesignrequests).

The graphic design studio.


THE COORDINATION OF PAPER-BASED STUDY MATERIAL DEVELOPMENTIn 2018, Curriculum Design and DevelopmentSupportwasresponsibleforcompilingNWU’sprescribedtextbooklistsandcoordinatedtheproductionof5667study guides across all three campuses.Thisprocessentailedcommunicationwithfaculty study guide coordinators to facilitate

theproductionprocess. Communicationwithrole-playersbyemailandtelephoneplaceddemandsonthecoordinatingstaffmembers’time,as80%ofeachworkingdaywas dedicated to communication. Some 5274telephoneenquirieswerehandledbetweentheunit’sfourstaffmembers.

PROJECTS OFFICEDue to the range of projects associatedwithcurriculumdesignanddevelopmentsupport,aProjectsOfficewasestablishedin2017.Thisofficegainedfullmomentumduring the first semester of 2018. It isresponsible for the registration, recording, scheduling, logistical arrangements and progress monitoring of projects andrelatedinitiatives.Itfurthermoresupportsthe coordination of projects relating tocurriculum design, instructional and multimedia design, graphic design services, andcoordinationandscheduling.

Someof theprojectsundertakenby theProjectsOfficerelatedtoalltheunitsofthe

CTL, and some only to Curriculum Design andDevelopmentSupport.Thecentralisedregistration and tracking of a project’sprogressweredonefromthisoffice,butthemanagement of a particular projectremained the responsibility of the staff memberconcernedintherespectiveunits.

TheProjectsOfficeplayedasignificantrolein the coordination of the Carpe Diem trans-formationworkshops,thedecolonisationcolloquia and the media productions that emergedfromtheseinitiatives.Italsoranthe tracking, reporting and coordinating system (TRACS) of the study material process andtheStudyGuideProject.

Facilitation of the study guide production process


ACADEMIC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTAcademic Professional Development strives to provide expert, hands-on support to lecturers on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses of NWU. Its initiatives are aimed at inspiring academics to become university teachers with a scholarly approach to teaching and learning. The unit’s activities during the period under review were focused on the provision of faculty and profes-sional development support. These included the development of a framework for a faculty-directed model for advising and supporting lecturers, the academic professional development of lecturers, and the presentation of the induction programme for academics. It was also involved in the awarding of NWU’s institutional teaching excellence awards, the implementation of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) approach, the presentation of NWU’s first annual teaching and learning conference, and the facilitation of its international teaching mobility project and student experience surveys.

FRAMEWORK FOR A FACULTY-DIRECTED MODEL FOR ADVISING AND SUPPORTING LECTURERSOne of NWU’s institutional objectivesrelating to teaching and learning is the development and implementation of a faculty-directed model for advising and supportingqualityteachingandlearning.This includes professional development,

mentoring,SoTLresearchandrewardsforacademicstaff.

Duringtheperiodunderreview,theunit’sacademic developers used the integrated faculty-directedmodel todevelopanew

Figure 3.8: The integrated faculty-directed model to teaching and learning

DIRECTOR: SPECIAL TEACHING AND LEARNING PROJECTS AND RESEARCHDr Esmarie Strydom

Other

CTL

Theology

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Law

Humanities

Health Sciences

Engineering

Education

Economic and Management Sciences

18

67

24

139

74

215

309

19

305

195

2%

5%

1%

10%

5%

16%

23%

2%

22%

14%


ACADEMIC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN TEACHING AND LEARNINGNWU’s Teaching and Learning Strategyoutlines the principles and strategic drivers that guide and support teaching and learning. The various professionaldevelopment opportunities that Academic ProfessionalDevelopmentofferedtoNWU’steaching staff during the year included

face-to-faceworkshops,webinars,onlinecoursesandworkshops.

Thesetrainingopportunitieswereattendedby1365lecturersintheUniversity’sfacultiesand support service departments on all threecampuses,asillustratedinFigure3.9.

Figure 3.9: Attendance of professional development events by lecturers in the various faculties

approach to professional development.Thismodelisinformedbythefivemodelsofpractice and the activity systems theory, as illustratedinFigure3.8.Themodelprovidesaframeworkforqualityteaching,learningdevelopment and support, and professional developmentinthefaculties.Theproposedframeworkforafaculty-directedmodelwillbeimplementedin2019.


INDUCTION PROGRAMME FOR ACADEMICSOn 12 September 2018, NWU’s SenateCommittee for Teaching and Learning approved the new compulsory inductionprogramme for academics. This programme aims to enrich NWU’s academicstaff as teachers and replaces the former Institutional Course for Newly-appointedLecturers(ICNL).

The programme provides a blended learning experienceas ithasbothonlineandcontactcomponents.ItisfundedbytheUCDGandshouldbecompletedwithinthefirstthreetosixmonthsofappointment. In2018,130newacademicsattended the three-day contact component.They reported an overall satisfaction level of87%.

INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARDSNWU’sInstitutionalTeachingExcellenceAwardsserveasacriticalstrategicdriverofexcellenceandinnovationinteachingandlearning.TheyalsoacknowledgetheexcellentteachingpracticesofNWU’sfull-timeacademicstaffmembers.

Morethan40portfoliosofevidenceweresubmittedforevaluationin2018.Theyincludedatleastoneparticipantfromeachfaculty.Theseentrieswerefirstconsideredperfacultybycampusevaluationpanelsonallthreecampuses.Thepanelcomprisedacademics in the faculties,aswellasmembersof theCentre forTeachingandLearning.Thepanelevaluationwasfollowedbyaninternalmoderationprocess,whichtookplaceonthePotchefstroomCampus.ThepurposeofthemoderationprocesswastovalidatetherecommendationsmadebythemembersofthecampusevaluationpanelsonawardeesandnominationsfortheDistinguishedTeachingExcellenceAward.

Upon conclusion of the evaluation process, 10 Emerging Teaching ExcellenceAwards(ETEAs)weremade,aswellas21TeachingExcellenceAwards(TEAs)andtwo DistinguishedTeachingExcellenceAwards(DTEAs)attheceremoneyin2019.

Tabel 3.1: Distinguised Teaching Excellence Award (DTEA)

Academic Faculty SchoolProf Alfred Brunsdon

Theology Christian Ministry and Leadership

ProfJauneeCilliers Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Geo- and Spatial Sciences


Academic Faculty School

Mr Herman Bosch Education Languages in Education

Ms Nina Brink Humanities Languages

Mr Koos De Villiers Humanities Communication Studies

Dr Heleneze LuesEconomic and Management Sciences

Management Sciences

Dr Rita KlonaridisEconomic and Management Sciences

Management Sciences

Dr Bruno LetarteNatural and Agricultural Sciences

Physical and Chemical Sciences

Mr Bright Molale Humanities Communication Studies

Dr Mokgadi Molope Humanities Social Sciences

Mr Phil Pretorius Humanities Communication Studies

Mr Ninan Samuel Humanities Languages

Academic Faculty SchoolDrJohanBosman Engineering Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

DrJoshuaChukwuere Economic and Management Sciences

Information Systems

Prof Ben Coetzee Health Sciences Human Movement Sciences

Dr Hanli De Beer Health Sciences Physiology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences

Prof Elvis Fosso-Kankeu Engineering Chemical and Minerals Engineering

Dr Anél Gildenhuys Law Law

DrRiandaJoubert Health Sciences Pharmacy

Prof Henk Kloppers Law Law

DrJan-HendrikKruger Engineering Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Mr Francois Minnie Education Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology

Dr Clarise Mostert Economic and Management Sciences

Management Sciences

Ms Irene Muller Education Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology

Dr Marinda Neethling Education Professional Studies in Education

Ms Marie Preston Economic and Management Sciences

Accounting Sciences

Ms Michelle Schoeman Law Law

Dr Elzahne Simeon Health Sciences Psychosocial Health

Dr Elmien Truter Health Sciences Social Work

Dr Marie Ubbink Health Sciences Psychosocial Health

Dr Liandi Van den Berg Economic and Management Sciences

Management Sciences

MrCorneVanderMerwe Health Sciences Physiology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences

Prof Elize Van Eeden Humanities Communication Studies

Dr Willem Van Niekerk Engineering Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Ms Suretha Van Wyk Economic and Management Sciences

Accounting Sciences

Dr Tertia Van Zyl Health Sciences Physiology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences

Tabel 3.2: Emerging Teaching Excellence Award (ETEA) Tabel 3.3: Teaching Excellence Award (TEA)


ANNUAL NWU TEACHING AND LEARNING CONFERENCEThe first annual NWU Teaching and LearningConferencewasheldfrom30to31May2018.Thethemewas“Embracinginstitutionalchange:responsiveness,col-laborationandsuccess”.Theconferencewas preceded by two pre-conferenceworkshopson29May2018:“Curriculumtransformation– takingtimetodesign”,facilitated by Dr Tony Mays, Manager of the Unit for Distance Education at the UniversityofPretoria,and“APDinadigitalage:exploringaspectsofdigitalfluencyforblendedteachingandlearning”,facilitatedby Brenda Mallison, a learning technologies

and open education resources (OER) consultantatOERAfrica.

Prof Robert Balfour, Deputy Vice-Chan-cellor: Teaching and Learning at NWU,deliveredthewelcomeaddressonbehalfof the Vice-Chancellor. The conferencewas opened via video broadcast fromNewZealandbyDrWayneMackintosh,founding director of the OER Foundation and incumbent of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/International Council for Open and Distance Education

ChairinOER,aswellastheUNESCO-Com-monwealthofLearningChairinOERattheOtagoPolytechnicandOERFoundation.His opening address focused on the use ofOER.

Keynote addresses were delivered by DrMays,whofocusedoncurriculumtrans-formation, and Prof Paul Prinsloo, research professor in Open Distance Learning (ODL) attheUniversityofSouthAfrica(Unisa).The opening ceremony also featured the award-winningBanduraExpressMarimbaGroupfromtheNWU’sSchoolofMusic.

SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNINGThe SoTL approach aims to improve teaching and learning in higher education,allowlecturerstodeepenandshare their understanding of learning in higher education and contribute to their professional development. SoTLprojectsreflectarangeofpracticesandinquiry into teaching and learning at

NWU. In2018, theUniversityCapacityDevelopment Programme (UCDP) funded 21SoTLprojects.

Researchoutputswerepresentedandpublished nationally and internation-ally, and included four international conferencepresentations, sixnational

conference publications, an international poster presentation, a national poster presentation, twoarticlespublished innationaljournals,twoarticlespublishedin international journals, sixpresenta-tions at the NWU Teaching and Learning Conference of 2018 and one book chapter.


Prof Paul Prinsloo from Unisa delivers a keynote address.

The Bandura Express Marimba Group performed at the opening ceremony.

INTERNATIONAL TEACHING MOBILITY PROJECTA virtual teachingmobility projectwaslaunchedbyNWU’sCentreforTeachingand Learning in collaborationwith theGeorgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta, USA,in2017.LecturersfromNWUandGSUplan to establish a collaborative teaching initiativewithatechnologicalfocus.

Inthefirstsemesterof2018,studentsatNWU’sVaalTriangleCampusandstudentsfrom GSU collaborated on an assignment inLegalPhilosophy.Theprojectentailed

lecturers from NWU teaching and engaging withdiverse lecturersandstudents inavirtualenvironment.

SomeofNWU’slecturersareplanningnewmodulesandareactingassubjectexpertmentors to staff from GSU. The 2018cohortwas to complete its first virtualteaching project byMarch 2019. Plansareunderway toexpand theproject toEuropeanuniversitiesin2019and2020.

Delegates of the international teaching mobility project from NWU and GSU in 2018.


STUDENT EXPERIENCE SURVEYAhighlightofAcademicProfessionalDevelopmentfor2018wasthe launch of an online system for the evaluation of teaching and learningbystudentsatNWU.Duringthefirstsemesterof2018,972reportsweredistributedtoindividuallecturers.Thisnumberalmostdoubledto1901reportsinthesecondsemester.Thesurveyevaluated aspects such as educational approach, preparation and presentation, assessment practices, the curriculum and graduate attributes.

AsillustratedinFigure3.10,theoverallstudentsatisfactionraterecordedinthisstudentexperiencesurveywas82.25%forthefirstsemesterand85%forthesecondsemester.This indicatesthatNWUexceededtherequirementsoftheDepartmentofHigherEducationandTrainingforteachingandlearningsatisfaction.

Followingtheimplementationofthestudentexperiencesurvey,integratedreportsweregeneratedandindividualreportsprovidedtolecturersandotherrole-playersintheschoolsandfaculties.AninstitutionalreportwasalsocompiledthatadheredtoNWU’sstrategicobjectives.

Theresultsofthesurveywerepublicisedonvariousplatforms,includingtheNWU’swebsite,advertisementboardsandposters.Muchfeedbackwasreceivedfromlecturersregardingthevalueof qualitative feedback to improve their teaching and learning practices.Thequalityofstudentfeedbackiscontinuouslyenhanced.

Figure 3.10: Student teaching and learning satisfaction survey for 2018

Semester 1 Semester 2

90

88

86

84

82

80

78

76

74

72

70

Educationalapproach

Preparation andpresentation

Assessmentpractices Curriculum Graduate

attributes

NWU Student Teaching and Learning Satisfaction


DEPARTMENTS SUPPORTING TEACHING AND LEARNING

Supporting the teaching and learning agenda of NWU

CHAPTER 4In addition to the CTL, there are a number of support service departments that support NWU’s teaching and learningagenda. Qualification and AcademicProgramme Planning supports faculties in the planning, design and development of newqualifications,academicprogrammes

and continuing education courses, and the amendmentofexistingprogrammes.TheUnit for Continuing Education manages andcoordinatestheUniversity’scontinuingeducationactivities.NWU’sLibraryandInformation Services provides access to a variety of printed and electronic

resources insupportof theUniversity’scorebusiness.TheCareerCentrehelpsstudents to develop an understanding of the world of work and the kind ofattributes that employers are looking for ingraduates.


QUALIFICATION AND ACADEMIC PROGRAMME PLANNING

Qualification and Academic Programme Planning (Q&APP) provides leadership and support to faculties for the maintenance and development of a high-quality qualification, programme and con-tinuing education offering in both the contact and distance mode of provision. Its aim is to increase the national responsiveness and global competi-tiveness of NWU’s formal and non-formal offering to an increasing number of undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Itsactivitiesduringtheperiodunderreviewincludedthefollowing:

• Providingacademicswithspecialistcurriculumexpertise

• Providing accurate and timely data and feedback on submissions, demon-strating integrity in relationships and fostering a keen focus on the develop- mentofrelevantqualificationsandrelated programmes

• Streamlining and standardising internal processesinsupportofsoundqualifi-cations and programme planning, and improved continuity

• SupportingandpromotingNWU’slearning-centred approach by develop-ing, facilitating and providing services intermsofqualificationsandpro-grammes

• Providingeffectivesupportanddirec-tivesintermsofqualificationsandprogramme development in order to meetspecificoperationalneeds

• Providinganintellectualclimate,whereundergraduate and postgraduate qualificationsandprogrammeswillhave research programmes to support both undergraduate and postgraduate training

Since the launch of the national Higher EducationQualificationsSub-framework(HEQSF) project in 2011, the activitiesof Q&APP have been dominated by the alignment of NWU’s qualifications withtheHEQSF.Followingtheconclusionofthisprocessin2019,itwillbeabletorefocusitseffortsoncurriculumrenewalandtrans-formation.

DIRECTOR: QUALIFICATION AND ACADEMIC PROGRAMME PLANNINGSharon Paulse


Figure 4.1: Qualifications distribution in terms of type of qualification and delivery mode

THE ALIGNMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS WITH THE HEQSF TheHEQSFprojectsupportsNWU’sstrategic transformationofteachingandlearning.Sinceitsinception,178CategoryAand195CategoryBqualificationshavebeenaligned to theHEQSFandaccredited,while210qualificationsarebeingphasedout.Onlysevenqualificationshavenotbeenaligned.ThesewillbetabledattheSenateCommitteeforAcademicStandardsinApril2019.NWU’sProgrammeandQualificationMix(PQM)nowhas433aligned qualificationsacrossalleightfaculties,asillustratedinFigure4.1.

ItisevidentthatNWU’scurrentPQMcontainsmorepostgraduatethanundergraduatequalifications,althoughFigure4.1showsno

distinctionbetweenstructuredandresearchmaster’sdegrees.Thedistanceofferingsofadvancedcertificatesineducation,aswellasbachelor’sandhonoursdegrees,issignificant.

Once the revised version of the PQM has been approved by Senate andtheDepartmentofHigherEducationandTraining,itwillbeanalysedintermsofqualificationtypesperfaculty,majorfieldsofstudy,undergraduate/postgraduatequalificationmix,NationalQuali- ficationsFramework(NQF)levels,structured/researchqualificationsandmaster’sdegreevariantstodetermineitsresponsivenesstothedesiredshapeofthePQM.

Doctoral degrees

Master’s degrees (professional)

Master’s degrees

Bachelor honours degrees

Postgraduate diplomas

Bachelor’s degrees 480 credits NQF 8

Bachelor’s degrees 480 credits NQF 7

Bachelor’s degrees 360 credits

Postgraduate certificate

Advanced diplomas

Diplomas

Advanced certificates

25

5

172

104

16

22

3

47

1

0.3

6

2

0

DistanceContact Contact and distance

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200


DEVELOPMENT OF Q&APP PROCESSES AND PROCEDURESAmong its other responsibilities, Q&APP manages the administration of the Senate Committee for Academic Standards, a standingcommitteeofSenate.Thiscommitteeconsiders matters of compliance, quality, relevanceandtheresponsivenessofNWU’sformalacademicofferingandcontinuingeducationcourses.Itconsidersapplicationsfornewqualificationprogrammes,changestoexistingprogrammes,yearbookchangesandcontinuingeducationcourses.

Inaneffort tooptimiseprocessflows insupport of academic programme planning, Q&APPreviewedseveralofitsformsin2018,particularlythoserelatedtonewqualifications,changestoexistingqualifications,yearbookchanges and applications for continuing educationcourses.Thisreviewproducedsix revised forms that are considered tobe more user friendly and should result in a more streamlined approval process.

FOCUS ON CURRICULUM RENEWAL AND TRANSFORMATIONWith the challenges related to the alignment ofNWU’squalificationswiththeHEQSFnowlargelyconcluded,Q&APP,togetherwiththeCTL,canprepareforitsrenewedfocusoncurriculum renewal and transformation.Severalprojectsinthisregardarealreadyunderway,includingthefollowing:

• FacultiesweretobeconsultedonthefirstversionofQ&APP’sprocessflowforthreemajorprocessesduringJanuaryandFebruary2019.Theseincludednewqualificationandacademicprogrammeapplications,changestoexistingquali- ficationsandprogrammes,andtherenewalofexistingandimplementationofnewcontinuingeducationcourses.

• A proposal is being prepared for an NWUcontactmodel.Thiswasinitiatedby questions about the type of teaching and learning activities that could be considered for contact tuition in order tosteadilyincreaseonlineofferingsoverthenextfiveyears.Thedevelopmentofa curriculum model is to be concluded in 2019.

• Q&APPwillcollaboratewiththeSouthAfricanQualificationsAuthoritytodevelopaccuratequalificationinfor-mationontheNQF.Atleastonehighercertificateforaccesswillbesubmittedforaccreditation.

• In2019,Q&APPwillsteeracommitteeto investigate the establishment of advisory committees for professional orprofessionallyorientatedqualifi-cation programmes or programmes whereexternalprogrammeevaluationsrecommendsuchcommittees.

• Q&APPisintheprocessofexpandingthe current curriculum management system to include a module catalogue, additionalfieldswithindicatorsforwork-integrated learning, service learning, entrepreneurshipandamoreefficientelectronicworkflow.

• TheQualityOfficeisassistingQ&APPtodraft a Quality Manual, for approval by the Senate Committee for Teaching and Learningin2019.


UNIT FOR CONTINUING EDUCATIONNWU’s Unit for Continuing Education (UCE) was established in 2018 to manage and coordinate the University’s continuing education activities. This is in line with NWU’s recognition of its responsibility to disseminate knowledge and improve access to skills development through the delivery of informal courses. The year under review was a challenging one for the UCE as its establishment coincided with a significant effort to drive NWU’s strategic goals forward.

The primary objective of the UCE is tosupport faculties that can provide opportun- itiesforthosewhoseekfurthereducationand training,whileprovidingNWUwitha third stream of income and a means to promote economic development. Assuch, its operational strategy is focused on promotingtheaggressivegrowthofNWU’scontinuing education portfolio by providing thefollowing:

ACTING DIRECTOR: BUSINESS AND OPERATIONSDr Sazi Kunene

• An innovative advisory and logistical service

• Asinglepointforcommunicationwithinternalandexternalstakeholdersonallcontinuing education matters

• Systems for the management and delivery of the portfolio

Itsactivitiesduringtheperiodunderreviewincluded developing interim centralised facilities, hosting the Edtech Summit Africa for 2018, and conducting comparative overviewvisitstobenchmarkitselfagainstcontinuing education units at other institutionsofhigherlearning.Furthermore,staffoftheunitattendedasymposiumonsupply chain management; it provided

learning opportunities for students in guest house, and bed and breakfast management; and it undertook a community engagement project.

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTSFortheinterim,theUCE’soperationswerecentrally located on the Potchefstroom Campus.Asaresult,managersinvariousareas could make decisions faster, and these decisions could be implemented quickly.Thiscontributedtocost-effective-ness as other employees could focus on moreroutinetasks.

Duringtheperiodunderreview,theUCEplayed an important role in demonstrat-ing creative technology-rich strategies and solutions for teaching, learning and assessment by hosting the Edtech Summit Africa in Potchefstroom in collaboration withtheFacultyofEducation.Thesummit’sworkshops helped educators learn newmethods of incorporating technology into


theirsyllabi.Thesummitalsoaddedvaluetotheparticipants,whowill,inturn,addvaluetotheirstudents.

Dr Sazi Kunene, Director of Business Development in the UCE, together withotherstaffmembers,completedthefirstof theUCE’s comparativeoverviewvisitsduring the period under review. Duringthesevisits,theymetwithstaffmembersat other higher education institutions and learnedfromtheirexperiencesinsettingupandmanagingcontinuingeducationunits.

TheUCEdelegationsharedexamplesofbestpractice,commonalitiesanddifferencesinpractice.Thesevisitswereinsightful,astheUCEcametoappreciatedifferentcontexts,dynamicsandresourcecapabilities.Basedon the interactions with the Universityof South Africa (Unisa), the University of Pretoria(UP),theUniversityofJohannesburg(UJ)andtheUniversityoftheWitwatersrand(Wits),itwasgratifyingtolearnthattheUCEis on a similar level to these established institutions.

Exploring new ways of incorporating technology into education.

The Unit for Continuing Education delegation visits Wits

University.

ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT CONTINUING EDUCATIONThe UCE does not only present continuing education courses, it also empowers itsstaffmemberswithopportunitiestoupskillthemselves.In2018,itprovidedthreeofitsstaffmemberstheopportunitytoattendtheSymposium on Supply Chain Management inPretoria.UCEoffered230eventsduring2018and6972peopleparticipatedintheevents.

ItalsovisitedexpertsattheEmeraldHotelto share their valuable experience withstudents enrolled in the guest house, and bed and breakfast management course presented in collaboration with theCulture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA).Thevisitpreparedstudentsforallaspectsoftheworkplaceandprovidedthemwithpracticalknowledge.

Staff members attend the Symposium on Supply Management in Pretoria.


COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENTIn addition to providing short learning programmes to upskill educators, youth and corporate professionals, the UCE seeks outopportunitiestohelpthecommunity.Excess food parcels and leftovers fromevents that are safe to eat are donated toretirementvillagesinanefforttobringsome support to the elderly. In 2018,much-neededfoodparcelsweredeliveredto residents of Huis Uitkoms, a retirement villageinPotchefstroom.

The Unit for Continuing Education helped Potchefstroom’s surrounding communities.

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICEThe increase in electronic resources has prompted the Library and Information Service (LIS) to emphasise the programmes that train library users to find and use information ethically and legally. In 2018, the LIS excelled in all areas, including the acquisition and processing of information resources, and access services.

Its vision is to be distinguished as a leading universitylibraryinAfricaandbeyond,knownfor its commitment to partnership in student success, esteemed scholarship and research, while itsmission is to provide access tocutting-edge and relevant resources and servicestofulfiltheacademicexpectationsof its user communities in a professional, creativeandinnovativemanner.

Itsactivitiesduring2018werefocusedonachievingitssixstrategicgoals.

CHIEF DIRECTOR: LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES Dr Mathew Moyo

DIRECTOR: SHARED SERVICESNeli Kaunda

DIRECTOR: CLIENT SERVICESHandra Pretorius


SENIOR MANAGER: LIS CAMPUS OPERATIONSManare Tshenye

Renovation celebrations and launch of the commemorative publication: From left: Ms Elsa Esterhuizen (former LIS director), Dr Mathew Moyo (Chief Director: LIS), Dr Tom Larney (former LIS director), Ms Neli Kaunda (Director: Shared Services-LIS) and Dr Franciska Bothma (Advisor to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning).

An icon showing the evacuation chair that was installed at the NWU’s libraries.

POSITIONING LIS WITHIN THE UNIVERSITYOn 14 June 2018, the LIS celebrated therelaunch the Ferdinand Postma Library after sixyearsofrenovations.Eachspacewithinthelibrarywasrenovatedtoreflectitsusers’changingneeds.Themostnotableofthesewerethelibraries’ResearchCommonsandInformationCommons,whicharepopularamongbothstudentsandstaffmembers.

Theopeningceremonyalsosawthelaunchof Ferdinand Postma Library: Keys to the past, gateway to the future, a publication about the

library’shistoryfrom1869to2018bytheformer director of the LIS on the Potchef- stroomCampus,DrTomLarney.

Inlinewithitsvision,theLIShostedvisitingstaffmembersandmanagementfromtheUniversity of Fort Hare, the University of LimpopoandtheUniversityofMpumalanga.Thesevisitorsallgavepositivefeedback.

SENIOR MANAGER: OUTREACH, PROJECTS AND QUALITYLouise Vos


EXCEPTIONAL USER EXPERIENCEUndergraduatestudentsontheMafikengCampus do not have a dedicated space thatmeetstheir learningneeds. In2018,the LIS submitted a budget proposal for anInformationCommonsattheMafikengCampus Library to the Department of Physical Infrastructure and Planning.The request was approved and will beimplementedin2019.

During the period under review, the LISalso installed evacuation chairs in all three campus libraries to ensure the safety of its library users, including people living withdisabilities.ThiswillenhancedisasterpreparednessinNWU’slibraries.

Inatechnologicalworldwheree-resourcesare sought after for teaching, learning and research,theLIS’sdatabasesremainpopularwithitsusercommunities,asillustratedinthetop10usagestatisticsinTable4.1

Table 4.1: Top 10 databases according to full-text downloads

Number Database Number of full-text downloads

1 ScienceDirect 527986

2 eBray (Ebook Central) 184 292

3 EBSCOHost 182 580

4 JStor 173238

5 Taylor and Francis 103 889

6 Wiley Online 89 968

7 Springer Link 60 914

8 SA ePublications 58 148

9 SAGE Premier 53 392

10 HeinOnline 47133

In2018,theLIS,togetherwiththeNWU’sAcademic Literacy Group, contributed to informationliteracyonallthreecampuses.The programme was compulsory forall first-year students and focused on combatting academic malpractices such as plagiarism.

The LIS also facilitated the training of 4687studentsduringAcademicLiteracyDevelopment sessions. These trainingsessionswereconductedincollaborationwith the academic literacy staff in bothsemesters.

TECHNOLOGY AND E-STRATEGYA collaborative project was initiated forimplementation in 2019 between theCTL and the LIS to establish a Technology Commons(MakerSpace)atallthreelibraries.ThisMakerSpacewill help students andacademicsidentifyspecifictechnologiesthatcanbedevelopedforfaculty-basedactivities.

BetweenAprilandNovember2018,theLIScollaboratedwithInformationTechnologyServicesandtheResearchOfficetopilotfigshareasapotentialdatarepositoryforNWU. The data repository is one of theplatforms that funders, such as the National

Postgraduate students work in the well-equipped Research Commons in the respective libraries.


STAFF DEVELOPMENTTen LIS staff members enrolled for the National Certificate in Library and InformationServicesatUniversalKnowledgeSoftware (UKS) in 2017. They receivedtheircertificatesduringtheLIS’syear-endfunctionattheendof2018.

Dr Mathew Moyo, Chief Director: LIS (left), and Prof Robert Balfour, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning (middle), present the national certificates in Library and Information Services to Gladys Maruping (top) and Georgene Mulder (bottom).

Siviwe Bangani (in yellow shirt) accepts the Librarian of the Year Award.

On another note, Mr Siviwe Bangani,Manager: InformationServices (MafikengCampus), received the National Librarian of the Year Award at the annual Libraryand Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) Conference in 2018 after he was voted NWU’s Librarian of the Year.Peersaward thisaccolade in recognitionof the accomplishments of inspiring and exceptionallibrarians.

Research Foundation, and publishers ofacademic journals require to supportresearchdatamanagement.Depositingdatasets into the repository increases research visibility.NWU’sAfricaUnitforTransdisci-plinaryHealthResearch(AUTHeR)wasoneofthemainparticipantsinthepilotproject.Some26fileswereaddedtodifferentsubjectfieldplatformsandhavebeendownloadedinsevencountries(seeTable4.2).

Table 4.2: Number of figshare downloads during the pilot project

Country Downloads and views

United States of America 2470

United Kingdom 636

South Africa 325

Germany 229

Russia 229

Denmark 161

China 96


MARKETING AND ADVOCACYAs part of its commitment to community engagement, the LIS donated a library system andbooktrolleytoSunriseViewPrimarySchoolinRustenburgon27November2018.

Learners of Sunrise View Primary in their library.

LIS staff and school management during the presentation ceremony.

The learners could not check out any books for home use because the school didnothavealibrarysystem.TheLISaimsto promote reading and literacy in the communityandwillworkwiththeschooltodeterminetheoutreach’simpact.

The LIS also participated in campus activities duringtheperiodunderreview.AllthreelibrariescelebratedMandelaDaytoshowthe rest of NWU and the community that the LIS is not only academically driven, but alsopeopledriven.In2018,allthelibrarieshostedbookexhibitionsandstaffmembersshared resources and skillswith nearbyschoolsinthecommunity.

The libraries represented the LIS as a reputable partner during the Registration and Orientation Programme, postgraduate facultywebinars,National LibraryWeek,OpenAccessWeekandtheNWUAwarenessWeek.

GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIPNWU approved the LIS Policy and LIS QualityManual in 2018. Senior LIS staffmembers attended a two-day indaba atNWU’sbotanicalgardeninNovember2018toreflectonitsachievementsof2018andtodraftanLISplanfor2019.

Participants of the 2018 LIS Indaba.


CAREER CENTRE

NWU’s Career Centre has been adding value to students’ tertiary experience for the past 10 years. Its employability strategy, which was reviewed during 2018, is at the core of its operations. An increase in career fair participants led to a more significant workload, which necessitated an expansion of the Centre’s organisational structure. It also relaunched CareerZone, a career service management application, which reached full functionality in 2018.

The Centre facilitated 199 job postings in 2018 to support graduates in finding employment. Graduate opportunities were advertised across all available internal platforms. The Graduate Destination Survey continued to show that most NWU graduates are more active on these platforms six months after graduating. The Centre is also proud of the level of engagement on its Facebook page, which achieved 11 999 likes in 2018.

CAREERZONE CareerZone is an online career service management application developed by Symplicity,asoftwarecompanythatprovidesstudentswiththetoolsandconnectionstheyneedtoenhancetheiremployability.TheapplicationassistswiththemarketingofjobopportunitiestoNWUstudentsandlinksjobseekerstocompanieswhocanofferjobsorvacationwork.Companiescanalsopostjobopportunitiestofindsuitablematchesforvacancies.

The Career Centre’s online presence. Left: Symplicity – Career Hub (online career service platform) Right: Revamped Career Centre webpage

MANAGER: CAREER CENTREThoriso Maseng


The relaunch of CareerZone on all three campuses.

EMPLOYABILITY STRATEGYFollowingtheapprovalofitsemployabilitystrategyin2018,theCentrewillfocusonthestrategy’simplementationin2019.Althoughit is necessary to set up a high-level employ-ability committee to oversee implementa-tion, the Centre adopted a collaborative approach tobecomepartof theexistingstructure of the Centre for Teaching and Learning.

CAREER FAIRSIn 2018, the Centre facilitated 8 career fair eventsacrossall threecampuses. Theseincluded Accounting, Engineering, General, LawandNaturalSciencescareerfairsonthePotchefstroom Campus, an Accounting and a General Career Fair on the Vaal Triangle Campus and a General Career Fair on the MafikengCampus.

By the end of 2018, CareerZone recorded 1 437 active student profiles and 134companieshadsubscribedtothesystem.The application should be promoted becauseonly1437ofNWU’sstudentsareusingit,evenafter67000studentprofileswere uploaded in July 2018. TheCentrecontinued to promote CareerZone so that more students and graduates could access theopportunitiesthatwereavailableonthisonlineplatform.


The career fair events were held on all three campuses.

Participation in the career fairs displayed an improvement in termsofcompanies’participationacrossallthecampusesin2018,as indicated inFigure4.2.TheMafikengCampus recorded thehighestparticipationratesince2011withtheinvolvementof26companies,whiletheVaalTriangleCampusrecordedparticipationby 29 companies and the Potchefstroom Campus attracted partici-pationfrom108companies.

As a result of more participating companies in 2018, the Career Centre increased its overall revenue from about R508 000 in 2016 andR504000in2017toR627000in2018.

Traininginterventionsonallthreecampusesalsoshowedadefiniteincreasein2018,withanincreaseinthenumberofstudentspar-ticipatingintheseinterventionsfrom887in2011to6596in2018.

TheCentre’sCV-writingandinterviewpreparationtrainingofferingswereexpandedthroughmoremeaningfulexternalcollaborationthatattractedseveralindustryexperts.Thisledtotheinclusionofcareercoachingsessionsintheworkreadinessseminars.Theseseminars had a positive impact on 6 596 students across all three campusesin2018.


Figure 4.2: Career fair participation on the Mafikeng, Vaal Triangle and Potchefstroom campuses

CV and interview training on the Mafikeng and Potchefstroom campuses.

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

16

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

20

15

19 1917

11

26

Mafikeng

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

11

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

10 11 12

20

28 2729

Vaal Triangle

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

74

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

78 80 7987

106

94

108

Potchefstroom


INDUSTRY NETWORKING EVENTTheCareerCentrehosteditsfirstnetworkingsession for top-performing students.On18July2018,ahandfulofNWU’sbestengineering students were selected toattendanexclusivenetworkingeventwithmembers from Omnia Holdings, an inter-nationalchemicalmanufacturingcompany.The aimwas to give these students theopportunity to get inside information on whatawaitsthemaftergraduating.Atthesame time, Omnia Holdings could assess the qualityofstudentsthatNWUproduces.

Industry networking event for the top engineering students.


UNEMPLOYED NWU ALUMNI WORKSHOP SEMINARAnotherpilotprojectthatwasintroducedat the Vaal Triangle Campus was theunemployed NWU alumni workshopseminar.Itequippedunemployedgraduateswiththenecessaryskillstofindemployment

andgainconfidenceintheirabilities.Internalpartnerships included the Career Centre and StakeholderEngagementOffice.Externalpartnerships included Absa, Teleresources andOnlytheBest.TheVaalTriangleAlumni

OfficeheldaworkshoponwritingCVsandpreparingforinterviewson26July2018andaworkreadinessseminaron3August2018.Botheventswerewellattended.

A project was launched to equip unemployed alumni with valuable skills.


CAREER GUIDEThe NWU Career Guide adds value to graduating students by creating an awarenessofvariousprofessionaldisciplinesthatareavailableinthemarket.Companiescan promote themselves in this publication for a contribution. The guide generatedmore revenue in 2018 compared to 2016 and 2017.ItscostwasreducedfromR134000in2017toR121000in2018,subsequentlyincreasing the income received from R30000in2017toR32000in2018.

STUDENTS’ LEVEL OF SATISFACTIONAccording to the Universum Survey, the overall level of satisfaction of NWU’sstudentswasreportedtobethehighestcompared to other universities over three years.NWUstudents’ ratingwas8.3outof10,whileotheruniversitieswererated7.4 on average. Although therewasnotmuchvariance, itwasworthnoting thatNWU’svariancewasonahigherscalewhencompared to other universities. NWU’sstudentfeedbackwasconsistentlybetterthantheotheruniversities.

GRADUATE DESTINATION SURVEYThe Career Centre also rolled out a trace studytoevaluategraduatesinsociety.Theaim of the Graduate Destination Survey wastoseeifgraduatesbecomeemployedor self-employed within six months ofgraduation.

In another survey, the Career Centre assessed NWUgraduates’impactoverfouryears.Thereportshowedthatthehighestpercentageofgraduatesareworking,followedbythosewhoarestudyingfulltime,andthosewhoareworkingandstudyingparttime.Onlya small percentage of students are not studyingorworking.


Academic grants refer to funding from the Depart-ment of Higher Education and Training (DHET) earmarked for specific projects at universities. At NWU, these include projects such as the Univer-sity Capacity Development Plan (UCDP), Clinical Training Grants, the Grant for Animal Health, the New Generation of Academics Programme (n-GAP), the Language Grant from the Department of Arts and Culture, and the Foundation Grant.

ACADEMIC GRANTS ADMINISTRATION

THE UNIVERSITY CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT PLANThe UCDP (also called the University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG)) wasfirstimplementedfrom2018fortheperioduntilDecember2020.Theamountbudgeted for it in the2018budgetwas R30202000,ofwhich50.71%wasspentonteachingandlearning.Thisgrantreplacesthe former Teaching Development Grant, aswellastheResearchDevelopmentGrant.

The UCDG covers threemain projects:studentdevelopmentandsupport,staffdevelopment and curriculum transforma-tion.

Student development and support entails thefollowing:

• Establishingthefirst-yearexperienceatNWU;

• Implementingearlywarningandreferral, engagement and a tracking system;

• Engaging in tutoring, mentoring, academic development, supplemental instruction programmes and special needssupportprogrammes.

ACADEMIC GRANTS MANAGER:Prof Susan Visser

GRANTS COORDINATOR:Dr Esmarie Strydom


CLINICAL TRAINING GRANTS These grants provide funding for utilisation in the practical part of student training in the fieldsofPharmacy,DieteticsandNursing.Until2018,thisgrantwasonlyallocatedto the funding of Pharmacy and Dietetics studentsintheirfinalyearofstudy.Nursingstudentswere,however,fundedfromtheirfirstyearofstudy.

PharmacyThe Pharmacy clinical training programme is based on the guidelines of the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) and aims to develop clinical skills pertaining to the scope of practice of pharmacists and the general rules and regulations of NWU regardingwork-basedlearning.TheSAPCstronglyrecommendsclinicalexposureandwork-basedlearningasearlyasthefirstyearoftraining.

With the Clinical Training Grant, the School ofPharmacyisabletoofferawell-organ-ised programme in Clinical Pharmacy, whichisintendedtoprepareitsgraduatesto become competent clinical pharmacy practitioners.Entry-levelknowledge,skills,attitudesandvalues,whichareessential

for the provision of pharmaceutical care of a relevant quality in any pharmacy practice setting (from general pharmacists to specialistpharmacist),werebetterachievedwiththeassistanceofthisgrant.

Thegrantenabledteachingstafftoeducateandtrainpharmacistsinaccordancewiththedemandsofthetime(withtheemphasison primary health care and clinical training).Italsoempoweredthestudentsaslifelonglearners.Throughthedeliveryof professional pharmaceutical services, Pharmacy graduates can contribute to the promotion of the health of the population oftheRepublicofSouthAfrica.Some187students completed their studies in 2018 andgraduatedinMarch2019.

DieteticsDieteticsstudentsareexposedtoclinicaltraining from their second year of study, andtheirskillsbaseisimproved.Throughclinical training, students were able toreceive experiential learning under thesupervision of trained and registered dieticians. Theywere also afforded theopportunity to visit more training facilities

Staffdevelopmenttakesplaceintheareasofteachingandlearning,aswellasresearch.For teaching and learning specifically, itentailsthefollowing:

• Professional development• Short learning programmes• Academic induction• Informal academic professional

development• Scholarships for teaching and learning

development• Awardsforexcellenceinteachingand

learning • Teachingandlearningfeedback.

Curriculum transformation entails the following:

• Specialised interventions to inform curriculum transformation

• Curriculumdevelopmentworkshopstoenhanceteachingandlearningexperi-ences

• Supportingacademicswiththedevelop-ment of E-fundi as a learning environ-ment.


(including hospitals, old age homes and nurseryschools).

Only registered dieticians are employed to assist and supervise the students as theyareabletosupplythestudentswiththe required equipment to assess and educate patients correctly in hospital and clinicsettings.Thisalsohelpstoimprovethestudents’skillsandcompetencies.In2018, 36 final-year students benefitted from this funding, although the aim is to obtain funding for students from their secondyear.

NursingThe Clinical Training Grant enables the School of Nursing Science to appoint clinicalexpertstoaccompanythenursingstudents. In 2018, 161 first-year, 195second-year, 160 third-year and 156 final-year studentsbenefitted from thisgrant through the appointment of 9 such full-timeclinicalexperts.Duetoacriticallackof leadership and role models in practice, theseappointmentsassistacademicstaffin maintaining teaching and learning of a highstandard.

In addition to these appointments, the funding makes it possible to provide transport to students from disadvantaged communities to reach remote clinical sites, thus ensuring the successful completion of theirundergraduatestudies.ThegrantalsoprovidesstaffmemberstheopportunitytobuildtheskillsoftheSchool’scurrentclinicalstaffandtoprocureandmaintainequipment in a clinical simulation laboratory that contributes to students’learningexperience.

GRANT FOR ANIMAL HEALTH The South African Veterinary Council (SAVC)expectsanimalhealthtechnicianstodopracticalworkorperformclinicaltraining as part of their training at animal hospitalswithincommunities.Thistrainingrequires largeamountsof funds,whichare supplemented by the Grant for Animal Health.

ThisfundingassiststeachingstaffintheAnimal Health programmes in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences to improve the quality of teaching by enabling the Facultytomaintainaqualifiedstaffcorps,

to improve training by enabling students to have access to quality training facilities, and toinstituteproperwork-integratedlearningandoutreachprogrammes.Inaddition,thefundingwillcontinuetoassisttheFacultyby covering the accommodation, meals and travellingcostsofstudentswhiletheyworkawayfromcampus.

NEW GENERATION OF ACADEMICS PROGRAMME The aim of n-GAP is to assist universities to improvetheirequityfiguresinacademicpositions by appointing female academics, specifically fromthedesignatedgroups.In 2018, the fourth phase of n-GAP appointmentswasawardedtoNWU.Thisprogramme enabled NWU to achieve a 100%successratewiththeallocationoffourpositionsfor fourapplications.Theappointments thatweremadebroughtthenumberofn-GAPappointmentsto17 (15Africanandtwowhiteappointments).

Appointments made on the n-GAP since 2015aresummarisedinTable4.3.


Gender Faculty School

Phase I Female Economic and Management Sciences

Business Management (1)

Accounting Sciences (2)

Health Sciences Nursing (1)

Male Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Physics (1)

Engineering Industrial Engineering (1)

Phase 2 Female Law Law(1)


Information Technology and Computer Science (1)

Mathematics (1)

Health Psychology (1)

Phase 3 Female Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (2)

Engineering Industrial Engineering (1)

Phase 4 Female Economic and Management Sciences

Tourism Management (1)

Health Psychology (1)

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Microbiology (1)


Biochemistry (1)

Table 4.3: Appointments made on the n-GAP since 2015

LANGUAGE GRANTIn2018,94studentsbenefittedfromthisgrant, ofwhich 64were African and 70werefemale.Thisgranthasbeenallocatedfor2019aswell.TheUniversityhasahighappreciation to the Department of Arts and Cultureforthisgrant.

FOUNDATION GRANTIn 2018, the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Natural andAgriculturalSciencesbenefittedfromthisgrant.Itishopedthatsupportwillbegranted to a fourth faculty in this regard infuture.Statisticsprovesthatthisgrantdelivers a very good return on investment, as80%ofthestudentswhohavebenefittedfrom this grant complete their degrees in theprescribedtime.


TEACHING AND LEARNING IN FACULTIES

Innovative teaching and learning strategies enhance student success

CHAPTER 5The academic programmes of NWU are presentedineightunitaryfaculties.Thesearethe Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty ofLaw,theFacultyofNaturalandAgriculturalSciences,andtheFacultyofTheology.Thereports of the respective faculties in terms of their teaching and learning initiatives

duringtheperiodunderreviewreflectonthegrowthoftheirenrolmentsinrelationtotheirenrolment plans, the composition of their studentcohortinrelationtothecountry’sdemographicprofileandtheprofileoftheirstaffcomplement.

Furthermore, each faculty considered the alignment and development of their academicofferingsduringtheperiodunder

review,initiativesfocusedonthetransform- ation of the curriculum, and the graduation ratesineachrespectivefaculty.

Finally, each faculty reported on activities relatedtointernationalisation,exceptionalstudentandstaffperformance,communityengagementandwork-integratedlearning,and exceptional academic offerings in thefaculty.


FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCESTeaching and Learning in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at NWU is the culmina-tion of inclusive reflection, discussion and consulta-tion. This process considers stakeholder contribu-tions and ensures that the global trends that affect the Faculty’s academic offerings are embedded in its programmes. Through its Faculty Integrated Teaching and Learning Plan, it strives to provide

relevant and innovative teaching and learning, and academic research that will prepare students for modern society.

With a footprint on all three campuses and more than 30 academic programmes, its aim is to be an innovative, globally recognised faculty that strives for excellence while unlocking human potential.

The Faculty comprised 11 267 contact students in 2018, who were tutored by 357 academic staff members in six schools on the Mafikeng, Potchef-stroom and Vaal Triangle campuses. These were the schools of Accounting, Economic Sciences, Industrial Psychology and Human Resource Management, Management Sciences, Tourism Management and the Business School.

ENROLMENT PLANTheFacultypursuesasustainablegrowthstrategyintermsofitsstudentenrolments,informedbySouthAfrica’sNationalDevelopmentPlan(NDP)andresearchpriorities,particularlyinfieldsofscarceskills,thefaculty’sstaffcapacity,itsfinancialresourcesandtheavailableinfrastructuralfacilities.

According to its enrolment plan, the Faculty is still achieving its targets despite a challenging marketanddecliningnumberofsuitableprospectivestudentswithMathematicsinanenvironmentwherethenumberofstudentswhocompleteGrade12isincreasing.

Attractingqualitystudentsofthecorrectdemographicprofile,however,isimperativetotheFaculty’ssuccess,anditpridesitselfinimprovinggraduationandsuccessratesthroughthemanagementofnewstudentintakesandmonitoringtheacademicprogressofstudents.StudentsatriskareidentifiedearlyintheprocessandaresupportedthroughtheinnovativeuseoftechnologyintheFaculty’steachingandlearningprocesses.

EXECUTIVE DEAN: Prof Sonia Swanepoel

DEPUTY DEAN: TEACHING AND LEARNING Prof Herman van der Merwe


STUDENT PROFILETheFacultyhadatotalof11267contactstudents, comprising 8 898 undergradu-ate(78.97%),2357postgraduate(20.92%)and12occasional (0.11%) students (see Table 5.1). This total was made up of5 702 female (50.6%) and 5 565 male(49.4%)students.TheFaculty’sraceprofilecomprised59.25%African,2.35%Coloured,1.34% Indian/Asian and 37.00% Whitestudents(theraceof0.06%ofthestudentsisunknown).

The distribution of its student cohort across thethreecampusesisasfollows:

Gender Race Contact Total Under- graduate

Post- graduate

Occa-sional

StudentsTotal

Female Unknown 3 3 2 1 0 3

African 3 564 3 564 2897 663 4 3 564

Coloured 150 150 113 37 0 150

Indian/Asian 65 65 42 22 0 65

White 1 921 1 921 1 389 530 2 1 921

Subtotal 5 702 5 702 4 443 1 253 6 5 702

Male Unknown 4 4 3 1 0 4

African 3 112 3 112 2 504 604 4 3 112

Coloured 115 115 78 36 1 115

Indian/Asian 86 86 66 20 0 86

White 2 248 2 248 1 804 443 1 2 248

Subtotal 5 565 5 565 4 455 1 104 6 5 565

Total 11 267 11 267 8 898 2 357 12 11 267

Table 5.1: Students enrolled in the Faculty for 2018

MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

1765

3567Total students

5169Total students

2531Total students

1802

2710

2459

1090

1441Figure 5.1: Distribution of student cohort across the three campuses


STAFF DEMOGRAPHICSIn 2018, the Faculty had a total staff complementof646(357academicand289supportstaff).Thestaff’sraceandgendercompositionisillustratedinTable5.2.Thesestaffmembersweredistributedacrossthethreecampusesasfollow:

Academic staff

Campus Coloured Indian African Black subtotal White Male Female Total

Mafikeng 14% 60% 70% 75 11% 31% 25% 101

Potchefstroom 43% 0% 13% 16 60% 50% 41% 162

Vaal Triangle 43% 40% 17% 22 30% 19% 34% 94

Total 2% 1% 28% 113 68% 50% 50% 357

Support staff


Mafikeng 20% 33% 39% 71 3% 34% 21% 71

Potchefstroom 60% 67% 20% 126 77% 40% 45% 126

Vaal Triangle 20% 0% 40% 92 20% 26% 34% 92

Total 2% 1% 58% 176 39% 28% 72% 289

Table 5.2: Staff complement for 2018

Figure 5.2: Staff member distribution accross the three campuses

MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

71

101

126

162

92

94

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

Support

Academic


ALIGNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFERINGS The Faculty’s schools attended to thealignmentofitsprogrammeofferingacrossthe three campuses during the period underreview.

In the School of Economic Sciences, 154 modules were audited for alignment.Problems were identified and plansimplemented. Undergraduate andpostgraduateacademicofferingswillbefully aligned across all three campuses from2019.ScheduledmeetingsdealingwiththequalityoftheFaculty’sacademicofferingsandalignment,andworkshopsonfullalignmentwereheldwithprogrammeleaders and the schools’ managementstructures.

The School of Management Sciences involvedindustrystakeholdersondifferentlevelsinitsprogrammealignment.

The School of Tourism Management on the MafikengCampuswasmovedtotheFacultyof Economic and Management Sciences fromtheFacultyofHumanities.Guidelinesto optimise the alignment of core under-graduate modules and an honours degree inTourismManagementweredeveloped

and implemented. Examination papersweremoderatedandatwo-dayindustryworkshoponemployeerequirements inthetourismindustrywasheld.

The School of Industrial Psychology and Human Resource Management emphasised the alignment of moderation, study guides, class content, programme content and spe-cialisationpercampus.

The School of Accounting Sciences had already been aligned, but it focused on aligning core module assessments from thesecondyearonwards.Studentswritestandardised tests andexaminations atthe same time on all three campuses and participation marks on all three campuses

arecalculated using thesameformula.Markingalignmentiscritical,whichiswhymodulesaremarkedconsistently.Modulelecturers mark a sample of scripts from all campuses, discuss discrepancies and finalisethememorandum.Atthecharteredaccountant honours degree level, one lecturer marks the same question for all assessments.Classtestsandexaminationsarenotreused.Themodulecoordinatorsendsthefinalisedtesttothecoordinatingsubjectchair,whoenforcestherequiredstandardandalignmentwiththecorrectoutcomes.Programmemeetingsensurethat modules are horizontally aligned and integrated and the Faculty’s Bosberaad(Indaba)will change to a subject groupmeeting.

Attendees of the 2018 School Board Leader-ship Workshop. Front: Prof Lené Graupner, Dr Elrie Botha, Leoni van der Vaart, Kgomotso Malinga, Dr Lizelle Rossouw. Back: Thapelo Chaacha, Debbie Mtshelwane, Dr Helen Meyer, Kelebogile Paadi, Dr Jacqueline Bos-man, Gerhard Rabie, Dr Marissa Brouwers, Dr Werner Gresse.



Post- graduate Total

Female African 888 888 567 312 888

Coloured 48 48 23 25 48

Indian/Asian 17 17 8 9 17

White 740 740 388 352 740

Subtotal 1 693 1 693 995 698 1 693

Male African 669 669 410 259 669

Coloured 31 31 16 15 31


White 708 708 415 293 708

Subtotal 1 442 1 442 864 578 1 442

Total 3 135 3 135 1 859 1 276 3 135

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CURRICULUMIn 2018, the transformation of the curriculum focused on academic alignment and the alignment of the general teaching and learningexperienceonallthreecampuses.Thefocusin2019willbeontransformingthe curriculum and aligning assessment practices.

The School of Accounting Sciences willestablish a task team to research curriculum transformationforaccountingin2019.

The School of Economic Sciences selected Rethinking Economics for Africa (REFA) as a vehicle for curriculum transformation in 2018. REFA was established atWits and is aimed at the transformation of economics curriculaatuniversities. Staffand students from all three campuses attendedtheinauguralworkshopandthelaunchofREFAinAugust2018.TheSchoolwillestablishanNWUchapterofREFAin2019,whichwill incorporate communityengagement,research,industryknowledgeandexperience.

The School of Management Sciences discussedissuessuchsocialjustice,decol-onisation, Africanisation and transform-

ation with a view to alignment and thedevelopmentofaroadmapduring2018.To address the ever-changing industry needs,existingprogrammeswilleitherbephased out or amended to ensure improved articulation,relevancyandsustainability.

Students and members of staff attend-ed the REFA launch at Wits in 2018.

STUDENT SUCCESSA total of 3 135 students graduated from the Faculty in 2018 (see Table 5.3). Ofthisnumber,1859wereundergraduate(59.30%) and 1 276 were postgraduate(40.70%)students.Thistotalwasmadeupof1693female(54.00%)and1442(46.00%)malestudents.TheracecompositionoftheFaculty’s graduateswas 49,66% African,2.52%Coloured,1.63% Indian/Asianand46.19%White.

TheFaculty’sgraduationrateisillustratedinTable5.4,whileitsundergraduatesuccessrateisillustratedinTable5.5.

Table 5.3: Graduates of the Faculty for 2018




Female African 25% 25% 20% 47% 25%

Coloured 32% 32% 20% 68% 32%

Indian/Asian 27% 27% 19% 41% 27%

White 39% 39% 28% 66% 39%

Subtotal 30% 30% 22% 56% 30%

Male African 21% 21% 16% 43% 21%

Coloured 27% 27% 21% 42% 27%

Indian/Asian 40% 40% 35% 55% 40%

White 31% 31% 23% 66% 31%

Subtotal 26% 26% 19% 52% 26%

Total 28% 28% 21% 54% 28%

Gender Race Contact Distance Total

Female African 86.60% 68.37% 86.58%

Coloured 57.34% 100% 87.41%

Indian/Asian 95.61% 0% 95.61%

White 92.73% 70.68% 92.71%

Subtotal 88.86% 73.74% 88.84%

Male African 80.54% 49.03% 80.46%

Coloured 81.68% 100% 81.88%

Indian/Asian 87.64% 58.62% 87.23%

White 83.76% 85.16% 83.76%

Subtotal 82.11% 62.45% 82.06%

Total 85.66% 66.52% 85.63%

Table 5.4: Graduation rate of the Faculty for 2018 Table 5.5: Undergraduate success rate of the Faculty for 2018

INTERNATIONALISATIONTheFacultycontinuallystrivestowardslocalrelevance and international recognition, and it isproudof itsstaffmembers’ interna-tionalachievements.DrMelindaduToitand DrLeonivanderVaartbothreceivedjointdoctoral degrees in Industrial Psychology undera co-tutoringagreementbetweenthe Faculty and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven(KULeuven).

The School of Accounting Sciences has set its sights on Africa and is building capacity atotherAfricanuniversitiesforthebenefitofthecharteredaccountingprofession.Inthis regard, academic assistance helped the University of Namibia (UNAM) to attain accreditationwith the InstituteofChartered Accountants of Namibia. In2018, UNAM signed a licensing agreement for the National University of Science and

Technology of Zimbabwe (NUST) to useNWU’smaterial,testsandexaminationstoofferitscumulativetranslationadjustmentprogrammetoultimatelybeaccreditedwiththe Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe.TheSchoolalsoofferedguestlecturestoNUSTstudents.

In 2018, the Faculty signed a five-year MemorandumofUnderstandingwithVives


EXCEPTIONAL STAFF AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE Dr Liandi van den Berg of the School of Management Sciences received the NWU Teaching Excellence Award and wasnominated for a Distinguished Teaching Excellence Award. Alinka Mostert andMonique du Plessis of the School of AccountingScienceswerealsonominatedfor a Distinguished Teaching ExcellenceAwardin2018afterparticipatingintheInsti-tutionalExcellenceAwardsin2017.

The Faculty’s students also deliveredexceptional achievements in 2018, with94%ofitsfirst-timecandidatespassingtheexaminationoftheSouthAfricanInstitutefor Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and 92%ofitsfirst-timecandidatesinSAICA’s

Initial Test of Competence passing the January2019exam.ThisputsNWUinjointfirstplacetogetherwiththeUniversityofPretoria.Thecountry’saveragepassratefortheseexaminationsis76%,adecreaseof2%onthepreviousyear’spassrate.

NWUwasalsoproudtodelivertwooftheTop10candidatesintheSAICAexams:

• Mr Franco Bosman from the Vaal Triangle Campus,whowasthetopperformerinthe country, out of 3 069 candidates;

• Ms Ida Mittermaier from the Potchef- stroomCampus,whowasplacedthirdinthecountry.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING INITIATIVESIn the School of Management Sciences, third-year marketing students successfully presented integrated marketing commu-nication plans to CKG Consulting (a local business in theVaal Triangle),while thehonours degree students assisted the local non-profitorganisationPurrPaws4Lifewithpotentialmarketingplans.Theseprojects

showhowtheSchoolappliesitsknowledgeandrespondstoNWU’scallforengagementandsocialresponsibility.

The School of Accounting Sciences continued to work on the Fezile DabiDistrictAccountingProject,oneofNWU’sflagshipcommunityengagementprojects

University College in Belgium for a short, intensiveoutreachprogramme.ThefirstgroupofstudentswillvisitSouthAfricafor10daysinOctober2019.Twelvestudentsfrom Belgium and 12 from South Africa willparticipate ina shortprogrammeofinclusivity.

Staff and students of the School of Management Sciences on the Vaal Triangle Campus and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs designed the SoftLandings SouthAfricaplatform.ItenablesDutchsmallandmedium enterprises and start-ups to bring theirbusinessestoSouthAfrica.

In the School of Economic Sciences, Prof Andrzej Sztando of the WroclawUniversity of Economics in Poland presented a public lecture at NWU on local economic development, and Prof Wynand Grobler and Prof Danie Meyer of NWU presented public lectures at the University of Kentucky in the USA.


thatwaslaunchedin2014.Thisinterventionprogramme provides academic aid to Grade 12learnerswhoexperiencedifficultieswithaccounting and presents refresher courses totheirteachers.

The School of Industrial Psychology and Human Resource Management wasinvolved in various community engagement and work-integrated learning projects.These projects included the SweetHeartFoundation, Stop Trafficking of People (STOP),sport,physiologicalfitness,Starfishprojects,andguidanceandcounsellingforvarioushighschoollearnersandbusinesses.

LecturersandstudentsfromtheMafikengCampus interacted with high schools inthe community through discussions and workshops about possible careers. Theyalsoengagedwiththeyoungercommunitymembersthroughspellingbees.

The Faculty is also involved in GIFTBACK, a community engagementproject in theFaculty’sGlobalInnovativeForefrontTalent(GIFT) research entity, which has joinedforceswithHelplift. These organisationspartnerwith local businesses toprovideprofessional gift- and talent-based platforms tohealanddevelopcommunities.

Fezile Dabi teachers and accounting lecturers on the first day of the accounting refresher course.

Contestants of the Bodiri Primary School spelling bee.

EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMIC OFFERINGS IN THE FACULTYTheFacultyfocusesontheempowermentof female entrepreneurs by hosting an Enterprising Women short learning programmeonallthreecampuses.Otherexceptionalacademicofferingsincludethefollowing:

• The Transport Economics and Logistics Managementprogramme,whichwasestablished at NWU as a direct result of a government intervention to address critical scarce skills in higher education withanemphasisonhistoricallydisad-vantagedentities.

• The Forensic Accountancy programme, whichisuniqueinSouthAfrica,andoffersanundergraduateBCominForensic Accountancy, and honours, master’sanddoctoraldegreesinForensicAccountancy.

• TheAppliedRiskManagement,whichisuniqueintheworldandoneoftheFaculty’sflagshipprogrammes.


FACULTY OF EDUCATIONThe Faculty Integrated Teaching and Learning Plan (FITLP) has resulted in an aligned strategy that underpins the Faculty of Education’s teaching and learning praxis. It describes the steps the Faculty will take to realise its vision and support NWU’s Internal Success Model. The FITLP is also the outcome of a rigorous restructuring process as part of the NWU’s new organisational structure.

The Faculty’s strategic objectives include self- directed learning, blended learning, diversity, decolonisation (Africanisation), collective learning (team teaching) and student academic support (mentoring). The teaching objectives and com-mitment to curriculum transformation require a specific emphasis on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning to support research for the improve-ment of teaching and learning.

The Faculty comprises five schools: the School of Professional Studies in Education and the School of Language Education on the Potchefstroom Campus; the School of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, and the School of Commerce and Social Studies in Education on the

Mafikeng Campus; and the School of Psychosocial Education on the Vaal Triangle Campus.

It presents initial teacher education and profes-sional programmes (undergraduate and postgrad-uate) in both the contact and distance modes of tuition. In 2018, it had 24 683 enrolled students (7 458 contact and 17 225 distance students), who were tutored by 265 academic staff members on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses, as well as at the learner support centres of the Unit for Open Distance Learning (UODL).

ENROLMENT PLANEnrolmentforcontacttuitionstartswiththeadmissionofstudentswithahighadmissionpoint score (APS) and a capacity placing of morethan40%.Furtherselectionisdonetoincreasestudentintakeinscarcesubjectstopreventanover-enrolmentinsubjectswherenocorrelativeneedexistsinthemarket.Theenrolmentprojectionforcontactstudentnumbers is relatively unaffected, since theFaculty’scapacityislimitedtoincreasefurthercontactenrolmentnumbers.Somedistance learningprogrammeswithhighstudent numbers are being phased out at the endof 2019.Becauseof capacityand quality assurance, and to ensure a comparable learning experience andincrease the success rate, more realistic ODL enrolment numbers are planned in accordancewithNWU’svision.TheFacultyattained its enrolment targets for 2018, but therewillbeadecreaseinODLnumbersdue to the high number of students in the programmesthatarebeingphasedout.

EXECUTIVE DEAN: Prof Lloyd Conley

DEPUTY DEAN: TEACHING AND LEARNINGProf Herman van Vuuren


Gender Race Contact Distance Total Under- graduate

Post- graduate

Occa-sional

StudentsTotal


African 2 822 12732 15 554 13197 2 349 8 15 554

Coloured 278 1 089 1367 1 219 148 1367

Indian/Asian 48 80 128 106 22 128

White 1 995 1 062 3057 2579 474 4 3057

Subtotal 5 146 14 978 20 124 17 118 2 994 12 20 124


African 1741 1 938 3679 2775 903 1 3679

Coloured 131 135 266 213 53 266

Indian/Asian 8 13 21 16 5 21

White 429 158 587 470 117 0 587

Subtotal 2 312 2 247 4 559 3 478 1 080 1 4 559

Total 7 458 17 225 24 683 20 596 4 074 13 24 683


STUDENT PROFILEThe Faculty had a total of 24 683 students, made up of 7458contactstudentsand17225distancestudents (seeTable5.6).Itsstudentbodycomprised20596under-graduate(83.44%),4074postgraduate(16.51%)and13occasional(0.05%)students(seeTable5.6).Thistotalwasmadeupof20124female(81.53%)and4559male(18.47%)students.TheFaculty’sraceprofilecomprised77.92%African,6.62%Coloured,0.60%Indian/Asianand14.76%Whitestudents(theraceof0.10%ofthestudentsisunknown).

The distribution of its student cohort across the three campusesisasfollows:

MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

1036

2 578Total students

19 901Total students

2 204Total students

1542

2964

16937

559

1645 Figure 5.3: Distribution of student cohort across the three campuses


STAFF DEMOGRAPHICSIn 2018, the Faculty had a total staff complement of 348 (265 academic and 83 supportstaff).Thestaff’sraceandgendercompositionisillustratedinTable5.7.Thesestaffmembersweredistributedacrossthethreecampusesasfollows:

Table 5.7: Staff complement for 2018 Academic staff


Mafikeng 0% 40% 48% 40 2% 23% 11% 43

Potchefstroom 70% 40% 39% 40 79% 61% 70% 175

Vaal Triangle 30% 20% 14% 15 19% 16% 19% 47

Total 4% 2% 30% 95 64% 40% 60% 265

Support staff


Mafikeng 0% 0% 34% 10 0% 30% 6% 10

Potchefstroom 100% 0% 48% 27 93% 65% 83% 65

Vaal Triangle 0% 0% 17% 5 7% 5% 11% 8

Total 16% 0% 35% 42 49% 24% 76% 83

MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

10

43

65

175

8

47

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

Figure 5.4: Staff member distribution accross the three campuses


ALIGNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFERINGS All the Faculty’s academic qualificationsare aligned across all three campuses according to the available capacity and resources.Differentprogrammeofferingswithinthesequalificationsareofferedontherespectivecampuses.Themultimodalofferingofacademicprogrammesposesa serious challenge for staff members’capacity to ensure programme quality and acomparablelearningexperienceforbothcontactanddistancelearningstudents.

TheMafikengCampushasbeenaddedasasiteofdelivery forsevenmaster’sandtwo honours degrees that are alreadybeingofferedononeorbothoftheothercampuses.

Accreditation applications are in progress for the BEd Early Childhood Care and Education degree, the Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education, the BEdHons in Early Childhood Development, and various Advanced Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma programmes. The Faculty isalso involved in the development of the envisagedHigherCertificateasapreparatoryprogrammeforhighereducation.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CURRICULUMTheNWU’steachingandlearningtransform- ation goals underpin the Faculty’scommitment to a systematic process of curriculumtransformationandrenewaltorespond to the demands of the 21st century fortheeducationprofession.Regularliaisonwithprovincialdepartmentsofeducation,the Department of Basic Education (DBE), the Department of Higher Education and Training, and relevant stakeholders ensured thatcurriculumtransformationwasinlinewiththecontemporaryrequirementsoftheeducationpractice.

Curriculum transformation and renewalinitiatives in the Faculty revolved mainly around paradigms of thought, various traditions, the promotion of indigenous knowledgeand languages,and feedbackfrom students. Research contributions,andspecificallytheimpactoftheFaculty’sresearch focus areas and entities (Self- directed Learning, the Education and Leadership Research Unit (Edu-Lead), Com-munity-based Educational Research, the Education and Human Rights in Diversity Research Unit (Edu-HRight), the UNESCO

Participants in the decolonisation colloquium. From left: Prof Kobus Mentz, Zulumathabo Zulu, Prof Nokhanyo Mayaba, Prof Connie Zulu, Dr Liberty Hove, Prof Lesley le Grange and Prof Shan Simmonds.

Participants in the colloquium on self-directed learning and multimodal education. From left: Prof Jako Olivier, Prof Moekoetsi Letseka and Ms Vivian Claassen, Quality Enhancement Administrator.


Chair on Multimodal Learning and Open Educational Resources, together withresearch by outside entities) are highly valued in terms of curriculum transform- ationandrenewal.

StudentsintheFacultyareexposedtoathorough orientation of a basic under-standing of contemporary societal changes, whichisaddressed,amongotherinitiativesand programmes, in a faculty-specific Reception, Orientation and Registration (ROR)programmeforfirst-yearstudentstointroducethemtotheFaculty,aswellasthecontextofhighereducation.Sometopicsinthisprogrammeincludedthefollowing:

• Myjourneyinbecomingateacher• Beingareflectivepractitioner• Socialjusticeanddiversity• Self-directed learning• NWU’slearningmanagementsystem• Assessment• Critical engagement

A three-week Professional OrientationProgrammewasalsoofferedtofirst-yearstudents inthefirstsemesteraspartofthe Work-integrated Learning Programme (teachingpractice)inwhichthefollowingfivethemeswereextensivelycovered:

• Excursioncamps(threedays)dealingwithinclusivityanddiversity;

• Theself:developmentofaprofessionalidentity,self-care,self-reflectionandinternal motivation;

• Theenvironment:profilesofschoolsand learners, socio-economic factors, languageproficiencies,andengagingwiththelearningenvironment;

• Thebusinessofteaching:lessonplans,observations, pedagogical content knowledge,methodologyandadminis-trative tasks;

• Impact:professionalrelationships,communityinvolvement,extra-curricu-lar activities, and being able to make a difference.

The excursion camps involved theattendance of all first-year students in theFaculty,freeofcharge,withtheaimof facilitating an understanding of the complexity of the teaching professionand the joys and challenges associatedwithbeinga“super”teacherasanagentofchange.Thesecampsaimedtoassiststudents to find their “own voice andfooting” as a professional teacher andprovide opportunities to network withfellowstudentsandlecturers.


Important outcomes of the excursioncampsincludedthefollowing:

• Students should develop an improved understandingofthecomplexityoftheteachingprofession.

• Students should develop skills to implement“shoe-string”approachesintheteachingpractice(teachingwithminimumresources).

• Students should use play as a pedagogy intheclassroom.

• Studentsshouldcriticallyreflectontheirownteachingpractices.

• Students should strive for inclusion and socialjustice.

• Students should be able to formulate goals for professional development as aneducator.

TheFacultywasalso involved inseveralother activities during the period under reviewthatwerefocusedontransformingthe curriculum. These included theinductionprogrammefornewlecturers,and the hosting of a colloquium on the decolonisation of teacher education and a colloquium on self-directed learning and multimodaleducation.

In2018, theFacultypresented theNewLecturer Induction Programme in col-laborationwith the CTL. The attendeesgave positive feedback and agreed that theprogrammeshouldbeofferedeverysemestertointroducenewlecturerstotheFaculty’sstructureandprocedures,theirindividual departments and their roles withintheFaculty.

The theme of the colloquium on the decolonisation of teacher education was “Rethinking the teacher educationcurriculumforanAfricancontext”.Itwas

co-convened by Prof Connie Zulu and Prof Shan Simmonds. It exploredwhata “decolonised” curriculumentails, howexternal panel members and facultymembersviewtheconcept,andhowtotaketheimpetusforward.

The colloquium on self-directed learning andmultimodaleducationwashostedbytheOfficeoftheDeputyDean:TeachingandLearning.Thethemewas“Promotingself-directed learning in multimodal teachereducation”.ParticipantsincludedProfJakoOlivier,incumbentoftheUNESCOChair in Multimodal Learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) at NWU, and Prof Moekoetsi Letseka of the UNESCO ChairinOpenDistanceLearningatUnisa.





African 689 3407 4 096 2 990 1 106 4 096

Coloured 58 253 311 242 69 311

Indian/ Asian

13 16 29 20 9 29

White 614 196 810 544 266 810

Subtotal 1 374 3 873 5 247 3 797 1 450 5 247


African 329 656 985 625 360 985

Coloured 36 54 90 67 23 90

Indian/ Asian

2 2 4 3 1 4

White 103 41 144 85 59 144

Subtotal 471 753 1 224 781 443 1 224

Total 1 845 4 626 6 471 4 578 1 893 6 471

STUDENT SUCCESS RATESAtotalof6471studentsgraduatedfromthe Faculty in 2018 (see Table 5.8). Ofthisnumber,4578wereundergraduate(70.75%) and 1 893 were postgraduate(29.25%)students.Thistotalwasmadeup

of5247female(81.08%)and1224(18.92%)malestudents.TheracecompositionoftheFaculty’s graduateswas78.54%African,6.14%Coloured,0.52%Indian/Asianand14.76%White (the raceof 0.04%of the

graduateswas unknown). The Faculty’sgraduationrateisillustratedinTable5.9,while its undergraduate success rate isillustratedinTable5.10.




Female African 24% 27% 26% 23% 47% 26%

Coloured 21% 23% 23% 20% 47% 23%

Indian/ Asian

27% 20% 23% 19% 41% 23%

White 31% 18% 27% 21% 56% 27%

Subtotal 27% 26% 26% 22% 48% 26%

Male African 19% 34% 27% 23% 40% 27%

Coloured 27% 40% 34% 31% 43% 34%

Indian/ Asian

25% 15% 19% 19% 20% 19%

White 24% 26% 25% 18% 50% 25%

Subtotal 20% 34% 27% 22% 41% 27%

Total 25% 27% 26% 22% 46% 26%

Table 5.9: Graduation rate of the Faculty for 2018



Female African 93.58% 72.88% 78.03%

Coloured 92.79% 70.21% 76.62%

Indian/Asian 97.70% 86.36% 91.06%

White 97.23% 88.14% 94.50%

Subtotal 95.07% 74.19% 81.34%

Male African 90.67% 77.02% 86.47%

Coloured 90.92% 73.21% 85.65%

Indian/Asian 93.01% 83.55% 87.91%

White 92.72% 82.62% 90.99%

Subtotal 91.10% 77.40% 87.19%

Total 93.85% 74.46% 82.35%

Table 5.10: Undergraduate success rate of the Faculty for 2018

INTERNATIONALISATIONDuring2018,threestaffmembersvisitedtheSwissDistanceUniversity of Applied Sciences as part of the UNESCO Chair forPersonalisedAdaptiveDistanceEducation’sresearchfellowship. The visit focused on developing researchprojectsthatinvestigatetheuseofpersonalisedadaptivesystemstoimproveteachingandlearning.

TheFacultyalsoestablishedapartnershipwithDrKarlWirth, an expert in student academic advising fromMacalesterCollegeinMinnesota.Thelessonslearnedfrom

thispartnershipwillbeusedtoadviseundergraduatestudents.Itishopedthatstudents’successrateswillimproveasaresult.

TheFacultysignedabilateralagreementwithDriestarChristianUniversityforTeacher Education in The Netherlands to support and develop their teaching capacity.Thisagreementenhancesknowledgeinbothinstitutions.Specialinterestgroupswereestablishedtofocusondiversity,inclusivityandtolerance,leadershipineducation,aswellascommongoodandmultilingualismineducation.

SelectedstudentsvisitedDriestaraspartofanexchangeprogrammetoparticipateinawork-integratedlearninginitiative.

TheFacultyalsoestablishedalinkwiththeUniversityofNamibia(UNAM)intheformofanenvironmentalsciencesproject.ExploratorydiscussionswereheldatUNAMtoextendthecurrentpartnershiptoincludeotherteachingandlearninginitiatives.

EXCEPTIONAL STAFF AND STUDENT PERFORMANCEDrChantelleBosch ledaSoTLprojectwhereshe integrated technologyand cooperative learning into one of her modules through an innovative blendedlearningapproach.DrMarkBoschoftheDepartmentofEducationManagement and Leadership on the Vaal Triangle Campus also participated inthisproject.

In2018,DrCarolinaBothawasawardedaDistinguishedTeachingExcellenceAward, andDr Chantelle Boschwas awarded an Institutional TeachingExcellenceAward.Theseawardsrecogniseexceptionalteachingpracticesandexpertise.


COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING INITIATIVESStudentsandstaffoftheFacultyonallthreecampuses participated in several community engagement initiatives during the period underreview.Theyfocused,inparticular,on philanthropic community engagement projects that were linked to the annualMandelaDaycelebrations.

FiveFoundationPhasestaffmembersand25 of their students from the Mafikeng Campus cleaned and decorated two Grade R classes at the Thutong Primary School in Lomanyaneng. Thegroupalsodonatededucationaltoysandequipment.

The Potchefstroom BEd (Hons) Educational Psychology studentsand staffhelped toupgrade and maintain the Psycho-Educa-tionalCentreatthePotchefstroomHospital.Anothergroupofstaffmemberstriedtheirhandatboccia,aformofbowlsthatallowspeoplewithvariousformsofdisabilitiestocompeteagainstoneanother.TheFaculty’steam competed against a combined team fromESleGrangeSchool,JanieSchneiderSchool, Ikalafeng School and Huis Servaas inaminibocciatournament.

Staff members from the Vaal Triangle Campus took part in the annual sports day of the Eureka School for the Mentally Disabled. Some400 learners and adultsfrom various schools and facilities for adults withmentalhealthconditionstookpartinavarietyofsports.Staffmembersrelievedtheschool’steachersoftheirumpiringdutiestogivethemawelcomebreak.

Mafikeng Campus’s community engagement initiative.

Vaal Triangle Campus’s staff members at the sports day.


In addition to the Mandela Day activities, theFacultylaunchedanoteworthyWomen’sDayprojectontheVaalTriangleCampus.Staffandstudentsworkedtogethertoraisemoneyfor100reusablesanitarypacks.Theideaoriginatedwhenstaffmembersbecameawarethatatleast53ofthestudentswhowereregisteredasneedywerefemaleandthat they needed sanitary products each month.

The Faculty’s School of Commerce andSocialStudiesembarkedona journey toclosethegapbetweenWesternknowledgeandindigenousknowledge(IK).ThisjourneyledtheHistoryEducationsubjectgrouptoengage in epistemological border crossings (like puppetry) to convey IK in a Curriculum AssessmentPolicyStatementcontext.Theintegration of puppetry as an epistemologi-calbordercrossingenhancestheknowledge,skillsandvaluesofteachersandlearners.

Aspects of South African History group of 2018 with their self-made puppets.


EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMIC OFFERINGS IN THE FACULTYTheMafikengCampusofferedtheDiplomain Grade R teaching to a group of 96 Grade R teachers as part of a service-level agreementbetweentheEducation,Trainingand Development Practices Services Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP-SETA)andNWU.ThesestudentswillbegraduatinginApril2019.

TheMathematicsEducationsubjectgroupoffereda refresher course forfirst-yearMathematics and Mathematics Education students before the start of the academic year.Theprojectwaslaunchedunderthe

auspices of the School for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and aims to help studentsovercomethegapbetweenschoolanduniversityMathematics.

The Faculty offered the Little African Scientistsprogramme,whichimprovesthenumeracy and science competencies of Foundation Phase teachers in the Kenneth KaundaDistrict inNorthWestProvince.Standard Bank South Africa sponsored the project.


FACULTY OF ENGINEERINGThe year under review was a watershed year for teaching and learning in NWU’s Faculty of Engineering. The Faculty Integrated Teaching and Learning Plan stressed the need for a Centre for Engineering Education (CEE), which would be responsible for maintaining the quality of the different programmes, and for managing students’ journey to graduation and to becoming an alumnus. This centre was established on 1 January 2019.

Another highlight for 2018 was the attendance by faculty members of the Carpe Diem curricu-lum transformation workshops presented by the CTL. Through these workshops, lecturers were empowered to transform their modules to reflect decolonisation and increase the use of electronic platforms. The Faculty is also glad to report that its follow-up accreditation visit from the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) was successful.

The Faculty comprised 1 819 contact students in 2018, who were tutored on the Potchefstroom Campus by 76 academic staff members. It consists of four schools: the School for Chemical and Minerals Engineering, the School for Electrical,

Electronic and Computer Engineering, the School for Industrial Engineering and the School for Mechanical Engineering. The newly established CEE lends support to the programmes.

Research within the Faculty occurs in the Centre of Excellence for Carbon-based Fuels and the Unit for Engineering and Technology Systems. Four other hosted entities form part of this research cluster: the Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) Infrastructure Centre of Competence, the Centre for Research and Continuous Engineering Development, Multilingual Speech Technologies and the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing.

ENROLMENT PLANAttracting quality students of the correct demographicprofile is imperative to theFaculty’ssuccess.However,thisisbecomingincreasingly problematic since the number of suitable prospective students decreases each year, despite an increase in the totalnumberof studentswho complete Grade 12. As a result, the enrolmenttargets for engineering have been adjusteddownwardssince2016, insteadof following the required 3% growth inscience, engineering, technology and health programmes.

Another challenge to attracting suitable candidates is theeconomicdownturn inthemining,powergenerationandmanu-facturingindustries,whichhavetradition-ally been the main source of undergrad-uate bursaries. Engineering enrolmentssubsequentlydecreasedasfewerbursariesweremadeavailabletoprospectivestudents,especiallyfirst-yearstudents.Accordingtoits enrolment plan, the Faculty is not aiming toachievemonumentalgrowthinfirst-time

EXECUTIVE DEAN: Prof Liezl van Dyk

DIRECTOR: TEACHING AND LEARNING Prof Marco le Roux




Female Unknown 1 1 0 1 1

African 68 68 34 34 68

Coloured 10 10 7 3 10


White 277 277 231 46 277

Subtotal 360 360 275 85 360

Male Unknown 20 20 4 16 20

African 186 186 132 54 186

Coloured 16 16 14 2 16


White 1227 1227 1 001 226 1227

Subtotal 1 459 1 459 1 157 302 1 459

Total 1 819 1 819 1 432 387 1 819

STUDENT PROFILEThe Faculty had a total of 1 819 contact students, comprising 1 432 undergraduate(78.72%)and387postgraduate21.28%students (seeTable5.11). This totalwasmadeupof360female(19.79%)and1459male(80.21%)students.TheFaculty’sraceprofile comprised13.96%African,1.43%

Coloured,0.77%Indian/Asianand82.68%Whitestudents (theraceof1.16%ofthestudentsisunknown).

TheFacultyonlyoffersprogrammesonthePotchefstroomCampus.


entrants (from 330 to 350 enrolments in the variousengineeringdisciplinesforthenextfiveyears). Instead,theFacultyisfocusedon achieving increased throughput via the implementation of a transformed curriculum acrossallprogrammes.

TheFaculty’sstudentprofilein2018reflectsanotableincreaseinregisteredfirst-andsecond-year African males in relation to third- and fourth-year students compared to thepreviousyear.This testifies to thesuccessoftheFaculty’srecruitmentdrive,whichwasaimedatpreviouslydisadvan-tagedgroups.

PotchefstroomCampus 1459

1 819Total students 360

Figure 5.5: Student cohort


STAFF DEMOGRAPHICSTheFacultysupportsNWU’sstrategytobepositioned as a unitary institution of superior academicexcellence,withacommitmenttosocialjustice.Inlightofthis,theFacultystrives to represent its target market and South Africa as a whole. An analysis ofthe Faculty’s current staffdemographicsreveals that it does not represent South Africa’s economically active population.However,whencomparingtheFaculty’sstaffdemographics to registered professional engineers in South Africa, much progress is evident, despite it not being able to compete withcurrentremunerationforpreviouslydisadvantagedindividualsinindustry.ThisemphasisestheFaculty’scommitmenttotransformation and employment equity, while maintaining the prescribed ECSAstandards.

In2018,theFacultycomprisedatotalstaffcomplement of 234 (76 academic and158supportstaff)on thePotchefstroomCampus.

Thestaff’sraceandgendercompositionisillustratedinTable5.12.

Potchefstroom Campus

Coloured Indian African Black subtotal White Male Female Total

Academic staff 4% 1% 1% 5 93% 87% 13% 76

Support staff 3% 1% 18% 34 78% 70% 30% 158

Table 5.12: Staff complement in the Faculty for 2018

ALIGNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFERINGSThe Faculty is currently only based on the Potchefstroom Campus and offers programmes for undergraduate students who are enrolled in the faculties ofEngineering, and Natural and Agricultural Sciences.Asaresult, theonlyalignmentthat is currently required is that of the programmes that are run in the Faculty of NaturalandAgriculturalSciences.

However, in2018, theFaculty identifiedthe need to include the other campuses of NWU in its programme offering. Astrategic decision was thus taken to

introduce postgraduate diplomas in several disciplines on the Vaal Triangle Campus, whiletheMafikengCampuswasearmarkedfor a new general bachelor’s degree inengineeringscience:theBEngScidegree.This degree increases the entry opportu-nities for candidates of the professional four-year BEng degree. Students whocompletetheBEngScidegreewillarticulateinto the third academic year of their chosen qualification.Thesenewqualificationswillbedevelopedin2019,withrolloutonthedifferentcampusesexpectedassoonas2020andonwards.


TRANSFORMATION OF THE CURRICULUMIn 2017, the Faculty made a strategicdecision to decolonise the curriculum whilephasinginmodulesonanelectronicplatform.Theimportanceofthisprocessbecame visible during the #FeesMustFall campaignwhereclassesweredisruptedatmostuniversitiesinSouthAfrica.

InconjunctionwiththeCTL,theCarpeDiemcurriculum transformation programme guided lecturers to collaboratively redesign orreviewtheirprogrammesormodulesinmultidisciplinaryteams.During2018,staffoftheCTLpresentedtwoworkshops,wherethey assisted more than 10 lecturers in the Facultytotransformthecurriculum.Theseworkshopswillcontinueoverthenexttwoyearsuntilall theFaculty’smodulesaretransformedandalignedwithitsstrategicplans.

The Faculty’s Curriculum Transform- ation Plan focuses on equipping academic staffmemberstoredevelopeachmoduleownedbytheFacultywithintheboundariesoftheoverarchingrequirementsofECSA.

This includes the multimodal presentation of modules and the decolonisation of module content. Allmodule transform- ationimplementationsareexpectedtobecompletedbytheendof2021.

The Faculty does not envisage majorchangesordifficultieswithimplementinga decolonised curriculum. Engineeringis based on laws of nature that areunchangeable regardless of background, social upbringing, economic class and/or religion. Therefore, decolonisation andAfricanisationwillmostlybe focusedontheapplicationoftheselawsinaknownenvironmentthatisapplicabletostudents’backgroundandparadigm.BybalancingtheuseofWesternparadigmswithAfricanapproaches during the implementation of engineering design and application, students’worldviewswillbebroadenedinanattempttoaddressAfrican-specificproblems.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning contributes to a great extent to inform

replicable, efficient and sustainable curriculumtransformation.Thefacilitationand enhancement of and professional development towardsSoTLaresomeoftheobjectivesofthenewlyestablishedCEE.

In an additional attempt to transform the curriculum, the language of presentation ofmoduleswithineachprogrammewillbealteredtosuchanextentthattheFacultyadheres to the NWU’s approvedmulti- lingualpolicy,whilepreparingstudentsforthepracticalworkenvironmentoutsidetheUniversity.Forthefirsttimeinitshistory,itwillbepossibleforstudentstocompleteany of the engineering programmes in Englishfromthefirsttothefinalyearofstudy.


Staff members at a Carpe Diem curriculum transformation workshop. From left: Santie Pieterse, Maria van Zyl, Lisa van der Westhuizen, Vanessa Olivier, Liana Venter, Kobus le Roux, Ruveix van Coller, Prof Kenny Uren, Tabitta Lalendle and Dr Andre Bechuke.

STUDENT SUCCESS Engineeringisdifficulttomasteratuniversitylevel,whichiswhytheadmission requirements are among the highest of all programmes at NWU.Evenso,10years’datashowedthatthereisnocurrentsystemthatcanpredictengineeringstudents’successrate.Therefore,theFacultymakesanefforttoachieveitspassratetargetsforeachyear,withoutcompromisingtherequiredECSAstandard.

A total of 332 students graduated from the Faculty in 2018 (see Table 5.13).Ofthisnumber,230wereundergraduate(69.27%)and102werepostgraduate(30.73%)students.

Thistotalwasmadeupof67female(20.18%)and265male(79.82%)students.TheracecompositionoftheFaculty’sgraduateswas12.65%African,2.11%Coloured,0.90%Indian/Asianand83.14%White(theraceof1.20%ofthestudentswasunknown).




Female Unknown 0 0 0 0

African 13 13 2 11 13

Coloured 3 3 1 2 3


White 50 50 37 13 50

Subtotal 67 67 41 26 67


African 29 29 14 15 29

Coloured 4 4 3 1 4


White 226 226 170 56 226

Subtotal 265 265 189 76 265

Total 332 332 230 102 332



INTERNATIONALISATIONAll the engineering programmes that are offered at NWU are accreditedbyECSA,whichmeansthatthedegreesare interna-tionallyrecognised.Apartfromthisrecognitionforthefour-yearBEng degrees, the School of Industrial Engineering recently signed a MemorandumofUnderstandingwiththeUniversityofTwente(UT)intheNetherlandstopresentjointdoctoraldegreesandtakepartinstudentexchangeprogrammes.ThefirststudentfromUTwilljointheFacultyduring2019.

EXCEPTIONAL STAFF AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE During 2018, Prof Elvis Fosso-Kankeu, Dr Willem van Niekerk, DrJohanBosmanandDrJan-HendrikKrugerwereawardedtheTeachingExcellenceAward.TheFacultyisproudofalltheserecipients,whoweredeemedasproficientintheirapproachtowardsteachingandlearning.Theywillreceivetheirawardsduringaceremonyin2019.Inaddition,DrVanNiekerkreceivedhisdoctoraldegreeduringtheMaygraduationceremonyforhisthesisentitled“Cooperativepairproblemsolving:ateaching-learningstrategyfortutorialsinmechanicalengineeringthermodynamics”.

Gender Race Contact Total

Female African 84.62% 84.62%

Coloured 72.48% 72.48%

Indian/Asian 94.79% 94.79%

White 92.00% 92.00%

Subtotal 90.85% 90.85%

Male African 76.42% 76.42%

Coloured 76.91% 76.91%


White 91.30% 91.30%

Subtotal 89.50% 89.50%

Total 89.76% 89.76%




Female African 19.12% 19.12% 5.88% 32.35% 19.12%

Coloured 30.00% 30.00% 14.29% 66.67% 30.00%

Indian/Asian 25.00% 25.00% 33.33% 0.00% 25.00%

White 18.05% 18.05% 16.02% 28.26% 18.05%

Subtotal 18.61% 18.61% 14.91% 30.59% 18.61%

Male African 15.59% 15.59% 10.61% 27.78% 15.59%

Coloured 25.00% 25.00% 21.43% 50.00% 25.00%

Indian/Asian 20.00% 20.00% 16.67% 25.00% 20.00%

White 18.42% 18.42% 16.98% 24.78% 18.42%

Subtotal 18.16% 18.16% 16.34% 25.17% 18.16%

Total 18.25% 18.25% 16.06% 26.36% 18.25%



COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING INITIATIVES Communityengagementisanintegralpartoftoday’scurriculumandneeds to be implemented in a sustainable manner that has a positive impactontheimmediatecommunity.Itteachesstudentsthevalueofinterpersonalcommunicationindiverseenvironments.TheFaculty’scommunityengagementprojectswerepreviouslycompletedwithinthetwoprofessionalpracticemodules.Aftercarefulconsideration,thesetwomodulesweredissolvedandreplacedwithaseriesofsmaller,more focusedmodules.Hence, the implementationofcommunity engagement at undergraduate level is currently under investigation.MrHannesduToitwillplanthenewimplementationforcommunityengagementin2019.

EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMIC OFFERINGS IN THE FACULTYTheFaculty’sprogrammeinMineralsProcessinghasbeennamedoneofthetop100bestprogrammesintheworldinthisdiscipline.ItwastheonlyprogrammeatNWUtoachievesucharating.AllsevenofitsundergraduateprogrammesareaccreditedbyECSA.This accreditation gives the programmes international standing in all the countries that signed the Washington Accord, including Australia, Germany,HongKong,Ireland,SouthAfrica,theUKandtheUSA.Theseaccreditedprogrammesareasfollows:

• BEng in Chemical Engineering• BEnginChemicalEngineeringwithspecialisationinMinerals

Processing• BEng in Computer and Electronic Engineering• BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering• BEng in Electro-Mechanical Engineering• BEng in Industrial Engineering• BEng in Mechanical Engineering

TheFacultyaimstofinaliseitsdevelopmentoftheMechatronicsEngineeringprogrammein2019.Thiswillallowfirst-yearintakesin2020.


FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCESThe Faculty of Health Sciences is committed to educating knowledgeable, disciplined and pro-ductive professionals. Health sciences curricula are student-centred and are delivered by experts in various disciplines. The values of transformation and diversity, as expressed in the Faculty Inte-grated Teaching and Learning Plan, underpin this approach and specific practical initiatives. Many of the Faculty’s programmes and qualifications make provision for supervised practical experiences in real-life settings, which allow students to develop knowledge and a repertoire of skills and values. During the acquisition of knowledge and experi-ence, students are exposed to intercultural and interprofessional opportunities and are encour-aged to reflect on, analyse and synthesise infor-mation, think creatively and work collaboratively to address real-life problems in a rapidly changing and diverse environment.

The Faculty aspires to develop lifelong learners who can function effectively when faced with various health challenges. Innovation, critical thinking, responsibility and teamwork are essential in the healthcare context. In response to NWU’s

drive to align its programmes across its three campuses, the Faculty aligned 13 of its qualifica-tions that are offered on two or more of NWU’s campuses.

The Faculty comprised 7 262 contact students in 2018, who were tutored on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses by 293 academic staff members. The Faculty comprises five schools: Human Movement Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physiology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences and Psychosocial Health, as well as the Centre for Health Professions.

In 2018, the Faculty achieved several goals. Staff members completed an online questionnaire and the data was analysed and distributed to all schools and subject groups. The executive deans managed interventions in collaboration with the Centre of Health Professions Education (CHPE). Baseline data was also collected from all schools to determine the status of teaching and learning in all the Faculty’s programmes so that any gaps in its strategic plan could be filled.

EXECUTIVE DEAN:Prof Awie Kotze

DEPUTY DEAN: TEACHING AND LEARNINGProf Michael Temane





African 2 454 2 454 1847 607 2 454

Coloured 252 252 195 57 252


White 2 519 2 519 2 088 431 2 519

Subtotal 5 317 5 317 4 199 1 118 5 317


African 959 959 799 160 959

Coloured 117 117 113 4 117


White 820 820 725 95 820

Subtotal 1 945 1 945 1 679 266 1 945

Total 7 262 7 262 5 878 1 384 7 262

STUDENT PROFILETheFacultyhadatotalof7262contactstudents,comprising5878undergraduate(80.92%)and1384postgraduate(19.08%)students (seeTable5.16).This totalwasmadeupof 5 317 female (73.22%) and 1945male(26.78%)students.TheFaculty’srace profile comprised 47.00% African,

5.08%Coloured,1.83%Indian/Asianand45.98%Whitestudents(theraceof0.11%ofthestudentsisunknown).

The distribution of its student cohort across thethreecampuseswasasfollows:


ENROLMENT PLANThe Faculty achieved its enrolment targets in 2018.TheFacultyaimstoimprovestudentequity by recruiting and registering students whoformpartofatargeteddemographicmix.Amultilingualenvironment,whichisaimed at the promotion of equity of access, academic performance, student growthand employability, accommodates this demographicmix.

The popularity of its programmes in Pharmacy and Nursing, in particular, has actually meant that there is high competition foraplaceintheseprogrammes.Applicationsfor the programmes in Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, and Human Movement Sciences are usually triple the number of studentsthatcanbeaccommodated.Thelimitation on the number of students that canbeadmittedwillalwaysremainthepre-scriptions of the statutory council regarding the ratio of lecturer to students, and the availability of practical training facilities.TheFaculty’senrolmentin2017/18wasmetwithaninitialtargetof1229studentsandanintakeof1592.Tomakeprovisionforintakesintonewqualifications, itstargetsbetween2020and2025willmove from 1669to1319students.


Academic staff


Mafikeng 7% 0% 52% 29 5% 16% 13% 39

Potchefstroom 93% 40% 43% 39 91% 82% 81% 239

Vaal Triangle 0% 60% 6% 6 4% 3% 6% 15

Total 5% 2% 18% 74 75% 26% 74% 293

Support staff


Mafikeng 0% 0% 18% 16 0% 10% 5% 16

Potchefstroom 100% 100% 80% 91 99% 90% 93% 223

Vaal Triangle 0% 0% 2% 2 1% 0% 2% 3

Total 7% 1% 37% 109 55% 24% 76% 242

Figure 5.6: Distribution of student cohort across the three campuses

MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

402

1 312Total students

5 753Total students

197Total students

910

1504

4249

39

158

STAFF DEMOGRAPHICSIn2018,theFacultyhadatotalstaffcomplementof535 (293academic staffand242 supportstaff).Thestaff’sraceandgendercompositionisillustratedinTable5.17.Thesestaffmembersweredistributedacrossthethreecampusesasfollows:


Figure 5.7: Staff member distribution accross the three campuses.

MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

16

39

223

239

3

15

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

Support

Academic


ALIGNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFERINGSThe Faculty complied with the externalprogramme evaluations that wererecommendedbythestatutorycouncil.Italso paid attention to internal programme evaluationfindingsaccordingtopredeter-mined programme funding availability based on the policies of the Health Professions CouncilofSouthAfrica(HPCSA).

Recommendations for the Biokinetics and Psychologyprogrammeswereimplemented.

All undergraduate modules in Psychology and Social Work are fully aligned across all threecampuses.Competentmoduleteamswereestablishedin2018,andinnovativeteaching practices, such as use of the

lessons tool on eFundi, lecture capturing and shared eFundi sites, strengthened alignment.InSeptember2018,theFacultyappointed a programme leader for each discipline, which further contributedto effective communication and the coordination of programme alignment matters.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CURRICULUMThe Faculty compiled and updated the registers for each module in terms of its designanddevelopment,aswellasitsneedfor transformation, based on the results of questionnairesthatwereadministeredinthefirstsemester.Inthesecondsemester,modules that required transformation were prioritised in a development planandimplementedaccordingtotheCTL’savailable capacity and the requirements of theCHPE. In theWVGW221module,forexample,transformationisrealisedinterms of the learning environment, student inclusion and alignment across campuses, wherethemoduleispresentedinablendedflippedclassroomlearningenvironment.The Faculty also drafted and implemented actionplansinthisregard.

Earlywarningsystemswereimplementedin each school to identify students at risk of failureafter thefirstorsecondclasstest. Lecturers, as well as subject andprogramme leaders, then followed upthesecases.Thisprojectwillberunincol-laborationwiththeCarpeDiemcurriculumtransformation project. Specific staffmembers have been identified in eachschool to take responsibility for its imple-mentation.

MostoftheFaculty’smoduleshavebeenconvertedtoeFundilessons.Theremainingmoduleswillberolledoutduringthenext18months.Forexample,58%ofallstudyguides in the School of Psychosocial Health and all undergraduate Social Work study

guides are available in an interactive format ineFundi’slessonstool.Somepostgraduatestudy guides have already been converted to the format of the lessons tool and the restwillberevisedduring2019.Theaimis to have all study guides on eFundi in 2020.Allfirst-andsecond-yearandsomethird-year Psychology study guides are already inthecorrect format.Allunder-graduatestudyguideswillberevisedfor2020.

In 2018, the Faculty achieved an increase of10%intheparticipationrateoffirst-yearand other under- and postgraduate students in the academic mentoring programmes at each campus. TheFacultyalsopartneredwiththeFacultyof


Economic and Management Sciences on theMafikengCampustoofferanunder-graduatementoringprojectbyPsychologyhonoursstudents.

The transformation of the BPharm programmewillreceiveattentionduringthe curriculum revision process that started in2018with thecompilationofthe BPharm standard by the Council on HigherEducation.

STUDENT SUCCESS A total of 1 862 students graduated from theFaculty in2018 (seeTable 5.18).Ofthis number, 1 357 were undergraduate(72.88%)and505werepostgraduate(27.12%)students.Thistotalwasmadeupof1495 female (80.29%)and367male(19.71%)students.TheracecompositionoftheFaculty’sgraduateswas46.29%African,4.30%Coloured,1.18%Indian/Asianand47.96%White (the raceof 0.27%of thestudentswasunknown).





African 689 689 461 228 689

Coloured 62 62 48 14 62


White 724 724 537 187 724

Subtotal 1 495 1 495 1 063 4 32 1 495


African 173 173 134 39 173

Coloured 18 18 18 0 18


White 169 169 136 33 169

Subtotal 367 367 294 73 367

Total 1 862 1 862 1 357 505 1 862





Female African 28% 28% 25% 38% 28%

Coloured 25% 25% 25% 25% 25%

Indian/Asian 19% 19% 22% 9% 19%

White 29% 29% 26% 43% 29%

Subtotal 28% 28% 25% 39% 28%

Male African 18% 18% 17% 24% 18%

Coloured 15% 15% 16% 0% 15%

Indian/Asian 11% 11% 10% 20% 11%

White 21% 21% 19% 35% 21%

Subtotal 19% 19% 18% 27% 19%

Total 26% 26% 23% 36% 26%



Coloured 83.14% 83.14%


White 94.10% 94.10%

Subtotal 90.49% 90.49%


Coloured 66.47% 66.47%


White 79.95% 79.95%

Subtotal 77.67% 77.67%

Total 86.98% 86.98%


INTERNATIONALISATIONThe School of Nursing Science on the Potchefstroom Campus signed a Memorandum of Understanding withThomas More University in Mechelen, Belgium, and four second-year Nursing Science students visited that university attheendof2018.TwoBelgianstudentsvisitedthePotchefstroomCampusforsixweeksearlyin2019.

Staffandstudentsparticipatedinexchangeprogrammes. Staff and students of theDepartment of Psychology visited the Free University in Amsterdam, and staff and students of the Department of Social Work visited the University Colleges Limburg- Leuven and Thomas More University in Belgium.TheFacultyreceivesbetweensixand 10 Belgian student interns in Social Work orChildandYouthCareStudieseachyear.It

alsoreceivestwostudentswhoarestudyingtowardsamaster’sdegreeinPsychologyeachyear.

The School of Pharmacy signed a Memorandum of Understanding withthe University of Mauritius and is in the finaldraftingstagesofaMemorandumofAgreementtoallowthecombinedofferingoftheBPharmprogrammeinMauritius.


EXCEPTIONAL STAFF AND STUDENT PERFORMANCETheFaculty’sstaffmembersparticipatedintheInstitutionalExcellenceAwardsprocess.ProfWelmaLubbefromtheSchoolofNursingreceivedaTeachingExcellenceAwardin2018.DrHanlideBeerfromthe Department of Consumer Sciences, Dr Tertia van Zyl from the DepartmentofDieteticsandCJvanderMerwefromtheDepartmentofOccupationalHygienereceivedaTeachingExcellenceAward.

ProfBenCoetzeereceivedhissixthTeachingExcellenceAward.Heis one of the best professors ever to teach in the School of Human MovementSciences.IntheSchoolofPharmacy,fourstaffmembersreceivedsuchawards.Onestaffmemberparticipatedin2018andwillreceiveanawardin2019.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING INITIATIVESIn 2018, the Faculty participated in the following communityengagementinitiatives:

• Starfishprojects:developinghealthcareworkerstoempowercaregivers of infants;

• Projectsatdifferentretirementfacilitiesinthecommunity;• Projectstoempowergrandparentswhoareresponsiblefor

small children in the community;• AbonemarrowdrivewiththeSouthAfricanBone MarrowRegistry;

• ArecreationprojectattheAmeliaCareCentreinPotchef-

stroomwithphysicallydisabledpatients,whichwasusedasaplatformtodowork-integratedlearningwithhonoursstudentsin the School of Human Movement Sciences

• Aworkplacelearningandcommunityactivitythatchangedstudents’perceptionregardingworkinthepublicsector.

Students made an impact in the workplace through qualityimprovementprojectsand “extrahands” thatwere trained toperform the tasksofapharmacist.StaffmembersatVryburgHospital requested that more students visit them in the future as theysawthedifferencethestudentsmadeintheshorttimethattheyworkthere.

EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMIC OFFERINGS IN THE FACULTYTheFacultydevelopedaHigherCertificateinEmergencyMedicalCare and submitted it to the Senate Committee for Academic Standards.Itsapprovaldependsonthelevelofcooperationofthe

Department of Health in North West Province and the Emergency MedicalRescueServicesCollege,aswellasthesuccessfulnegotiationofaservicelevelagreement.


FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

The Faculty of Humanities is committed to the intellectual development of its staff and students through teaching and learning, research, develop-ment and responsible community engagement. It is home to critical thinking, social commentary and robust intellectual debates, and envisages being a forerunner in NWU’s curriculum transformation effort.

Its Faculty Integrated Teaching and Learning Plan articulates its endeavour to provide high-quality education where students are nurtured in the critical understanding and interpretation of human experience. Its approach to teaching and learning, research and innovation, and engagement with the community is guided by NWU’s core strategic values: academic excellence and social justice. Its initiatives illustrate the striving for teaching and learning excellence by ensuring that it develops strategies that support academic excellence by providing reading development support, sup-plemental instruction, tutorship and mentorship programmes, and academic skills development workshops.

• School of Communication Studies (Communi-cation, Graphic Design and History of Arts) on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses

• School of Government Studies (Public Adminis-tration, Political Science, International Relations, Policing Practice and Municipal Management) on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses

• School of Social Sciences (Sociology, History, Development Studies, Anthropology, and Population and Demography) on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses

• School of Philosophy (Philosophy) on the Mafikeng (only the module Understanding the World), Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses

• School of Languages (English, Academic Literacy, German, Afrikaans, Setswana, Sesotho, Dutch, French Language Practice, Language Technology, South African Sign Language and Creative Writing) on the Mafikeng, Potchef-stroom and Vaal Triangle campuses

EXECUTIVE DEAN: Prof Pam Maseko

DEPUTY DEAN: TEACHING AND LEARNING Prof Mpho Chaka

The Faculty’s programmes provide its students with engaged ethical learning experiences that are rooted in Africa for global participation and appre-ciation, and respect for diversity. Graduates can be assured of excellent qualifications in all areas of human experience, such as languages, social sciences and the arts.

The Faculty offers a variety of programmes in six academic schools:

• School of Music (Music, Music Education and Music Technology) on the Potchefstroom Campus


ENROLMENT TARGETSThe Faculty continues to strive to attract students of a good quality as a strategic imperative. This is challenging due toexternal factors such as a decrease inthe number of bachelor pass rates at Grade12level,andprospectivestudents’APSforconsiderationforadmission.TheFaculty’senrolmentsfor2017/18showedonly a small increase in the number of first-time entrants in the different programmesacrossthethreecampuses.In2017,therewere9849first-timeentrants,whichincreasedslightlyto10296in2018.Theplannedenrolmentfor2019is10401.

The Faculty’s enrolments for contactprogrammes on the Mafikeng Campus indicatethatthestudentintakewillnotgrowmuchoverthenextyear,andmightevendecrease.Studentnumbersonthiscampusincreasedfromonly2722in2017to2755in 2018; the planned enrolment for 2019 is 2641.AsmallincreaseisexpectedonthePotchefstroomCampus.Studentnumbersonthiscampusincreasedfrom2382in2017to 2 558 in 2018; the planned enrolment

for2019is2695.EnrolmentsontheVaalTriangle Campus indicate that considerable growthwilltakeplaceonthiscampusoverthenextyear.Studentnumbersincreasedfrom4745in2017to4983in2018;theplannedenrolmentfor2019is5095.Thesemoderate increases ingrowthare in linewiththeUniversity’senrolmentstrategy.

STUDENT PROFILETheFacultyhadatotalof5974students,made up of 5 809 contact students and 165 distance students (see Table 5.21).Its student body comprises 5 030 under-graduate(84.20%)and944postgraduate(15.80%)students.Thistotalwasmadeupof3785female(63.36%)and2189male(36.64%)students.TheFaculty’sraceprofilecomprised73.22%African,4.35%Coloured,0.60% Indian/Asian and 21.71% Whitestudents(theraceof0.12%ofthestudentswasunknown).



MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

710

1 849Total students

2 631Total students

1 494Total students

1139

1034

1597

445

1049





African 2 662 60 2722 2 398 324 2722

Coloured 161 8 169 152 17 169

Indian/Asian 18 0 18 14 4 18

White 871 2 873 703 170 873

Subtotal 3 715 70 3 785 3 269 516 3 785


African 1572 80 1 652 1 338 314 1 652

Coloured 81 10 91 79 12 91


White 420 4 424 331 93 424

Subtotal 2 094 95 2 189 1 761 428 2 189

Total 5 809 165 5 974 5 030 944 5 974

Table 5.21: Students enrolled in the Faculty for 2018 STAFF DEMOGRAPHICSIn 2018, the Faculty had a total staff complement of 416 (292 academic and 124 support staff). The staff’s race andgender composition is illustrated in Table 5.22. These staff members weredistributed across the three campuses as follows:


MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

14

67

76

141

34

84

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

Support

Academic



Academic staff


Mafikeng 11% 67% 63% 64 2% 30% 16% 67

Potchefstroom 78% 17% 12% 19 66% 44% 52% 141

Vaal Triangle 11% 17% 25% 25 32% 26% 32% 84

Total 3% 2% 32% 108 63% 52% 48% 292

Support staff


Mafikeng 14% 0% 41% 14 0% 6% 13% 14

Potchefstroom 57% 100% 31% 15 73% 74% 57% 76

Vaal Triangle 29% 0% 28% 11 27% 21% 30% 34

Total 6% 1% 26% 40 68% 27% 73% 124

ALIGNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFERINGS In2018, theFacultymadeprogresswithits curriculum alignment across all three campuses.Althoughfirst-andsecond-yearundergraduate programmes wereprioritised, all the Faculty’sprogrammeshavebeenaligned.ThisprocessimprovedtheefficiencyandqualityofprogrammesacrossallsixoftheFaculty’sschools.

Inthenextphase,theFacultywillcontinuetoworkonteamteachingtoimprovetheequityofstudentexperience.Itcontinuestoemphasise the importance of communica-tionbetweenmembersoftheacademicstaffto ensure the alignment of programmes and timetables.Furthermore,subject leadersand deputy leaders in various schools have to ensure that module outcome assessments (including dates) correspond onallcampuses.StudyguideshavealsobeenrolledouttoeFundi.Althoughthereare still alignment challenges, the schools of Philosophy, Social and Government Studies, Communication, Languages and Social Sciencesdemonstratedgoodprogress.


STUDENT SUCCESS A total of 1 421 students graduated from the Faculty in 2018(seeTable5.24).Ofthisnumber,1058wereunder-graduate(74.45%)and363werepostgraduate(25.55%)students.Thistotalwasmadeupof936female(65.87%)and485male(34.13%)students.Theracecompositionof the Faculty’s graduateswas73.82%African, 3.87%Coloured,0.21%Indian/Asianand22.03%White(theraceof0.07%ofthestudentswasunknown).

TheFaculty’sundergraduatesuccessrateis illustratedinTable5.23,whileitsgraduationrateis illustratedin Table5.25.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CURRICULUMThe Faculty of Humanities is in the process of implementing a number of transformationinitiatives.Thisincludesplansforeachofitssixschoolstohost an open curriculum conversation on matters related to curriculum trans-formation,decolonisationandAfricanisation.TheFacultyhasalsopresentedseveralcolloquiaontransformingthecurriculum.

Highlightsduringtheperiodunderreviewincludedthefollowing:

• TheArtHistorysubjectgroupintheSchoolofArtsreviseditsundergradu-ate curriculum to be more inclusive of relevant South African and African arthistoryandvisualcultureperspectives.Ablendedlearningenviron-mentwasencouraged.

• TheSchoolofSocialSciencesheldaworkshopwithallthreecampuseson4May2018toredesignaunitaryBSocScdegreeprogrammethatwillofferthesamedegreeoptions,creditvalueandcurriculumstructureonallcampuses.ThenumberofprogrammesintheBSocScqualificationwasreducedfrom27tonine.Thisisparticularlysignificantbecausestudentscannowtransferbetweencampuseswithinthisqualificationwithouthavingtotakeadditionalmodulesorextendtheirstudyperiod.Fullyaligned modules are being phased in as a result of the HEQSF alignment processthatwascompletedfortheFacultyin2017.Second-andthird-yearalignmentswillbephasedinannuallysothatfullyalignedmoduleswillbeofferedby2020.

• TheAcademicLiteracysubjectgroupintheSchoolofLanguagesundertookitsmostcomprehensivecurriculumreviewoverthelastfiveyears.Thisresultedinthelaunchofaninter-campuscurriculumdevelop-mentproject.


Female African 85.63% 55.50% 85.16%

Coloured 77.59% 65.53% 76.86%

Indian/Asian 92.49% 41.67% 88.23%

White 90.49% 77.45% 90.16%

Subtotal 86.55% 63.51% 86.08%

Male African 79.83% 60.45% 79.34%

Coloured 77.67% 75.77% 77.50%

Indian/Asian 88.51% 74.84% 87.91%

White 82.87% 73.46% 82.71%

Subtotal 80.47% 64.36% 80.05%

Total 84.32% 63.87% 83.87%






African 680 9 689 555 134 689

Coloured 31 1 32 22 10 32

Indian/Asian 2 0 2 2 0 2

White 213 0 213 147 66 213

Subtotal 926 10 936 726 210 936


African 353 7 360 247 113 360

Coloured 23 0 23 18 5 23


White 98 2 100 67 33 100

Subtotal 475 10 485 332 153 485

Total 1 401 20 1 421 1 058 363 1 421




Female African 26% 15% 25% 23% 41% 25%

Coloured 19% 13% 19% 14% 59% 19%

Indian/Asian 11% 0% 11% 14% 0% 11%

White 24% 0% 24% 21% 39% 24%

Subtotal 25% 14% 25% 22% 41% 25%

Male African 22% 9% 22% 18% 36% 22%

Coloured 28% 0% 25% 23% 42% 25%

Indian/Asian 6% 0% 6% 0% 14% 6%

White 23% 50% 24% 20% 35% 24%

Subtotal 23% 11% 22% 19% 36% 22%

Total 24% 12% 24% 21% 38% 24%


INTERNATIONALISATIONInternationalisation is at the forefront of theFaculty’sstrategicplan.Asafaculty,itskey priority is to ensure that its disciplines become more international, across borders and between institutions, as itfosters collaboration to support its core business of teaching and learning, research

and innovation, as well as communityengagement.TheFaculty’svariousschoolsthereforehavenetworksacrosstheglobe,including Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Korea, the UK and the USA.Many staffmembers and students are involved in inter-nationalprojectsandgainedfrommobility

grants, competency-based training, and jointresearchendeavours.

Otherinternationalisationprojectsincludean exchange programme among theprogramme of the Royal College of Music inStockholm,Sweden(KungligaMusikhög-


skolan) and the Faculty’s School of Music, as well as NWU’sConservatoryofMusic.Theprojectfocusesonthedevelopmentof capacity in music education in order to make an impact on importantglobal issues.Together,thepartnersaimtodeveloptheir expertise ineducationmethods,whichenables them todealwithglobalissuesandperspectives.Throughthisandsimilarprojects,theseinstitutionshopetocontinuebuildinganetworkoflike-mindedcolleaguesandstudentsinvariouspartsoftheworld.

Palme exchanges for Swedish students and lecturers to visitPotchefstroom take place between August and January, andLinnaeusexchangesforSouthAfricanstudentsandlecturerstovisitSwedentakeplacebetweenJanuaryandJune.FouroftheFaculty’sstudentsspentthesecondsemesterof2018inSweden,returning in January2019,whiletwoof its lecturersvisitedtheKungligaMusikhögskolaninSwedenduring2018.

The goals of the Faculty’s School ofMusic centre on gainingknowledge and skills regardingDalcroze eurhythmics, as thisteaching method has the potential to contribute to the trans-formationofourmulticulturalsociety.TheFacultyalsoaimstodevelop classroom and instrumental methodology and didactics formusicstudents,aswellasforthein-servicetrainingofmusicteachers.ItsaimoverthelongtermistobuildcapacityinDalcrozeeurhythmics at the university and in South Africa, and to establish trainingprogrammesinthisteachingmethod.

The school of Music and Conservatory performed with theNorth-West Consort arias and choruses from Händel at the 2018Aardklop.ThisproductionwasnominatedasbestmusicalproductionattheAardklopNasionaleKunstefees.

EXCEPTIONAL STAFF AND STUDENT PERFORMANCESome staff members of the School of Languages received awards duringthe 2018/19 Institutional Teaching Excellence Awards, Innovators@Work,and participated in SoTL projects. Thecompletion of the Writing, Information literacy, Reading Development (WIRED) onlineacademic literacypackage,whichwascompleted in2018and iscurrentlybeing implemented, warrants specialmention.Thispackage’spedagogicalandvisual design is of a high quality and has received commendations from local and

internationalscholars.TheWritingCentreisinvolvedinaninternationalprojectthatfocuses on the development of an online academicwritingtool.Thisisyetanotherstep in establishing an online writingcentre.

TheFacultyreceivedsixawardsindifferentcategories of the Institutional Teaching ExcellenceAward.Theseincludedawardsto Dr Mokgadi Molope, Mr Ninan Samuel andMrBrightMolaleatMafikengCampus,Prof Elize van Eeden and Mr Koos de Villiers

at the Vaal Triangle Campus, and Ms Nina BrinkatthePotchefstroomCampus.

The Graphic Design programme in the School of Communication Studies is at theforefront inthefieldofVisualCom-munication.Thishasresulted inseveralawardsbystudentsandstaff, includingthe Loeries, Pendorings, Student Goldpack Awards,SouthAfricanTaxiFoundationArtAwards,andawardsattheKykNETSilverScreen Film Festival and from the Inter- nationalSocietyofTypographicDesigners.


COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING INITIATIVES The Musikhane Community Music Engagement Programme strives to create opportunities for meaningful musical experiencesforlearnersandteacherswhoareinvolvedinthecommunitymusicprogramme.

The NWU School of Music and Conservatory presents a concert series that takes place from February to October each year.Duringthisseriesofconcerts,theSchoolaimstoinvolveasmanylocal,nationalandinternationalartistsaspossible.

TheSchoolofCommunicationworkswithvariousexternalclients to incorporate meaningful service-learning oppor-tunitiesintothird-yearandhonoursdegreeyearmodules.Staffmembersalsoengagewithleadersinthejournalism,mediaandcommunicationfieldstoobtaintheirinputsinthecurriculum.

The BA Graphic Design group produced a memorable music videoforJesseHarvey,alocalyoungmusician.ThegroupalsoinitiatedabrandingandawarenesscampaignfortheBokoneBophirimaCraftandDesignInstitute.TheBookathonprojectstartedwithitsfirstroundofrealisationinillustrating,designinganddistributingchildren’sbookstounderprivilegedchildren.

Inaddition,SouthAfricannarrativesandstorieswereexploredincollaborationwiththeLanguageSchool,andusedtocreateshortanimationfilmsforthepromotionofandpresenceofAfricanfolklore.

EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMIC OFFERINGS IN THE FACULTYTheFacultyhasseveralnicheprogrammes.Theseincludethefollowing:

• Music Education, Music Theory and Music Technology: Music Educationexploresthevalueofmusicthroughpracticalapplicationsinawidevarietyofeducationalcontexts.MusicTheoryadvanceslearningthroughinteractionincontextsthatcloselyrelatetotherealactivitiesofmusicians.MusicTechnologyfocusesonworkingwithtechnologyinSouthAfricanenvironmentswhereresourcesandfundingarescarce.

• Language and Literary Studies: This programme has a special interest in promoting African scholarship and has the potential of beingthemostinfluentialintransformingthecurriculumtofocusonAfricancontent.

• Graphic Design Technology: This programme aims to train graphic designersintheproperuseoftheirknowledgeandskillsintheirfield.Itconsidersartintheformofvisualcommunication.

• Population Studies and Demography: This programme is concerned withthecomposition,sizeandgeographicaldistributionofhumanpopulations.Itisanessentialcomponentofmanyactivities,suchassocial and market research, physical and environmental use planning, administrationandpeople-centreddevelopmentplanning.

• Public Governance (Municipal Management and Leadership): Nationally,thisistheonlyprogrammetoofferacompletedegreeinlocalgovernment.ItscurriculumwasdevelopedinconsiderationofthespecificanduniqueSouthAfricancontext,andthechallengesinthelocalsphereofgovernment.


FACULTY OF LAW

NWU’s Faculty of Law experienced a successful teaching and learning year in 2018. The new unitary faculty fully implemented the LLB Improve-ment Plan. Its most important features, which were also incorporated in its Faculty Integrated Teaching and Learning Plan, were team-teaching, across-campus student seminars the full alignment of the LLB programme across all three campuses, and dedicated student support. This benefitted the Faculty’s teaching and learning with regard to its content and quality of provision. In 2018, the unitary faculty built a solid foundation and is now well positioned to drive its teaching and learning strategy forward.

The Faculty comprised 3 012 contact students in 2018, who were tutored by 87 academic staff members (70 of whom are permanent staff members) on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and

Vaal Triangle campuses. It serves students studying towards the LLB, BCom (Law) and BA (Law) degrees at undergraduate level, as well as the LLM (through dissertation and through coursework) and LLD degrees at postgraduate level. It operates a Community Law Centre on the Mafikeng Campus and a Law Clinic on the Potchefstroom Campus.

EXECUTIVE DEAN: Prof Stephen de la Harpe

DIRECTOR: UNDERGRADUATE STUDIESProf Flip Schutte

ENROLMENT PLANTheFacultydetermineshowmanystudentsare admitted into its programmes. Theadmissionprocessconsidersthefirst-timeentrant targets set by NWU’s AnnualPerformanceandStrategicPlan2016.TheFaculty also considers the availability of the staffandfacilitiesthatsuchprogrammesrequire,aswellasfinancialtargets,infra-structuredevelopmentandcampus-specificcapacities.

Potchefstroom Campus has traditionally servedtheAfrikaansmarket.andalthoughthis market segment should be retained, language should not be a barrier. As aresult, the Faculty implemented functional dual-mediuminstructionin2017.Theracialequity at the Potchefstroom Campus is steadily improving and recruitment drives aredesignedtomeetthesetargets.Asfarasfirst-timeentrantsareconcerned,thetargethas beenmet. The entire postgraduateprogrammeispresentedinEnglish.


STUDENT PROFILEThe Faculty had a total of 3 012 contact students,comprising2737undergraduate(90.87%),266postgraduate(8.83%)andnineoccasional(0.30%)students(seeTable5.26).This totalwasmadeupof1665 female(55.28%)and1347male(44.72%)students.TheFaculty’sraceprofilecomprised58.73%African,3.42%Coloured,1.16%Indian/Asianand 36.65%White students (the race of0.04%ofthestudentswasunknown).

TheFaculty’sstudentprofile isbecomingmorediverseacrossall sitesofdelivery.The respective equity targets are progres-sively being met and gender equity has been reached.Althoughracialequityhasnotyetbeenachieved,theFacultyexpectstoreachitstargetssoon.

In 2018, the 3 003 students enrolled in the Faculty’sprogrammes(excludingthenineoccasionalstudents)weredistributedacrossthethreecampusesasfollows:

Atotalof2737undergraduatestudentswereenrolledin2018.First-timeentrantswereasfollows:229ontheMafikengCampus,292on the Potchefstroom Campus and 105 on theVaalTriangleCampus.Theenrolmentsperprogrammewereasfollows:

• LLB:1815enrolments• BCom(Law):305enrolments• BA(Law):617enrolments

MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

959

1 039 Total students


367Total students

80

1411

186

367

0

undergraduate

postgraduate

undergraduate

postgraduate

undergraduate

postgraduate


STAFF DEMOGRAPHICSThe Faculty included staffdevelopmentasoneof itsmajorprojects in2018witha specific focus on advancing qualifica-tions, mentoring and the rapid promotion of younggraduates to seniorpositions.Individual career planning ensures that young academics can obtain further qualificationsandbepromoted.

The need to recruit and train more candidates from a greater diversity of backgrounds, especially at the Potchef- stroomCampus, isevident.This issue isbeing addressed through participation inNWU’sGrowYourOwnTimber(GYOT)scheme,whichseekstoretaingraduatesasacademicstaff,andthen-GAP,whichinvolves the recruitment of highly capable scholarsasnewacademics.TheFacultyonlyconsiders applicants from the designated groupswhennewappointmentsaremadeandadherestoNWU’sEmploymentEquityPlan.




Post- graduate

Occa-sional

StudentsTotal


African 962 962 872 90 0 962

Coloured 60 60 54 6 60


White 626 626 563 56 7 626

Subtotal 1 665 1 665 1 504 154 7 1 665


African 807 807 723 83 1 807

Coloured 43 43 40 3 43

Indian/Asian 18 18 18 18

White 478 478 451 26 1 478

Subtotal 1 347 1 347 1 233 112 2 1 347

Total 3 012 3 012 2 737 266 9 3 012


MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

14

23

32

55

4

9

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

In 2018, the Faculty had a total staff complementof137(87academicand50supportstaff).Thesestaffmembersweredistributed across the three campuses as follows:

Thestaff’sraceandgendercompositionisillustratedinTable5.27.


Table 5.27: Staff complement in the Faculty for 2018Academic staff


Mafikeng 0% 33% 68% 18 9% 33% 18% 23

Potchefstroom 100% 67% 16% 11 81% 57% 71% 55

Vaal Triangle 0% 0% 16% 4 9% 10% 11% 9

Total 6% 3% 29% 33 62% 56% 44% 87

Support staff


Mafikeng 25% 0% 38% 12 12% 33% 25% 14

Potchefstroom 75% 0% 48% 17 88% 50% 72% 32

Vaal Triangle 0% 0% 14% 4 0% 17% 3% 4

Total 8% 0% 58% 33 34% 36% 64% 50

ALIGNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFERINGS Although alignment of the Faculty’sprogrammeshadalreadystartedin2007,theywereonlypartiallyalignedintermsofNWU’spoliciesatthatstage,mainlybecausethereweretwoindependentfacultiesontheMafikeng andPotchefstroomcampuses,andoneSchoolofLawontheVaalTriangleCampus,eachwith itsownmanagementstructures.

NWU’snewunitarystructureforasinglefaculty allows for better planning andimplementation.Thiswillresultinthesamestandard being achievedwith regard tothe quality of teaching and learning at the differentsites.

For the full alignment of the Faculty’sprogrammes, the same module plans, study guides,textbooksandformativeassessmentsarerequiredonallthreecampuses.

Formal tests and examination papersaredraftedwiththeinputofall lecturersconcerned, while lecturers coordinatewitheachothertocoverthesamemodulecontentinthesameweek.


TRANSFORMATION OF THE CURRICULUMTheFacultywasinvolvedintheCarpeDiemcurriculumtransformationprojectof theCTL.Thisprojectfacilitatesacollaborativecurriculumdesign,developmentandrenewalprocess to enable student success. Thepurposeofthisprojectistoprovidelecturerswiththeopportunitytoredesignmoduleswithafocusoneffective learningdesign,thescaffoldingandalignmentoflearningoutcomes to content, activities, assessment andfeedback,alongwiththeembeddingofinnovative teaching practices and digital technologies with a blended learningapproach. It furthermore aims to assistthe Faculty to infuse aspects of transformative constitutionalism, diversity, inclusion, decolonisation,Africanisation,socialjusticeawareness and involvement across theentirecurriculum.

In 2018, the curriculum transformation projectstartedwithfirst-andsecond-yearmodules.Itwillberolledoutoverathree-yearcycle.

The Faculty has implemented various initiatives among its students to improve substantiveintegration,social justiceand

transformativeconstitutionalism.Highlightsincludethefollowing:

• Ubuntu Ambassador Seminar: An across-campus public speaking contest washeldtoenhancestudents’publicspeaking skills and bring human rights andUbuntutotheattentionofstudents.PreliminaryroundswereheldatthedifferentcampusesandthefinalroundonthePotchefstroomCampus.Fivestudents from each campus participated inthefinalround.

• Across-campus student seminars for first-year students: Approximately100first-yearstudentsfromthethreecampuseswerebroughttogetherontwooccasionstointeractandreflectonthethemesofexpropriationoflandwithoutcompensation, and gender-based violence,respectively.

• First-year excursion 2018: A hundred first-yearstudentsparticipatedinthisexcursion,heldatMaranemanontheVaalfrom14to16October2018.

STUDENT SUCCESS A total of 552 students graduated from the Faculty in 2018 (see Table 5.28). Ofthis number, 496 were undergraduate(89.86%)and56werepostgraduate(10.14%)students.This totalwasmadeupof348female (63.04%) and 204male (36.96%)students. The race composition of theFaculty’s graduateswas 48.91% African,2.72%Coloured,0.72% Indian/Asianand47.65%White.

The Faculty maintained an average success rateof74.5%acrossallsitesofdeliveryinall itsprogrammes.StudentsontheVaalTriangle Campus achieved a success rate of 66.4%,thoseonMafikengCampusachievedasuccessrateof74.1%andthoseonPotchef-stroom Campus achieved a success rate of 76.1%. Studentswho studied towards a BA(Law)degreeachievedanoverallsuccessrateof73.7%acrossall threecampuses,while BCom (Law) students achieved asuccessrateof83.6%andLLBstudentsasuccessrateof77.2%.





Female African 172 172 152 20 172

Coloured 11 11 10 1 11


White 163 163 144 19 163

Subtotal 348 348 307 41 348

Male African 98 98 88 10 98

Coloured 4 4 4 0 4

Indian/Asian 2 2 2 2

White 100 100 95 5 100

Subtotal 204 204 189 15 204

Total 552 552 496 56 552




Female African 18% 18% 17% 22% 18%

Coloured 18% 18% 19% 17% 18%

Indian/Asian 12% 12% 7% 50% 12%

White 26% 26% 26% 34% 26%

Subtotal 21% 21% 20% 27% 21%

Male African 12% 12% 12% 12% 12%

Coloured 9% 9% 10% 0% 9%

Indian/Asian 11% 11% 11% 0% 11%

White 21% 21% 21% 19% 21%

Subtotal 15% 15% 15% 13% 15%

Total 18% 18% 18% 21% 18%


EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMIC OFFERINGS IN THE FACULTYTheFacultyhasthefollowingacademicofferings:

• BA(Law)withvariousspecialisationfieldssuchasIndustrial Psychology, Philosophy, Political Studies, English and Psychology,followedbyanLLB

• BCom(Law),followedbyanLLB• LLB

Acriminallawwritingschoolworkshopforsecond-yearlawstudentstakesplaceeverysemesterandisdoneincollaborationwiththeCriminalLaw:GeneralPrinciplesandCriminalLaw:SpecificCrimesmodules.Theaimofthisinitiativeistodevelopandnurturethewritingandresearchskillsoflawstudents.




Coloured 70.71% 70.71%


White 85.97% 85.97%

Subtotal 79.01% 79.01%


Coloured 68.48% 68.48%


White 78.56% 78.56%

Subtotal 73.28% 73.28%

Total 76.45% 76.45%

Table 5.30: Undergraduate success rate of the Faculty for 2018 INTERNATIONALISATIONTheFacultyhassignedMemorandaofUnderstandingwithvariousinternationalinstitutions.IthostsinternationalstudentsonanannualandsemesterbasisandgivesNWU’slawstudentstheopportunitytocompletethelastsixmonthsoftheirLLBstudiesatoneoftheseinternationalinstitutions.ThefacultyisintheprocessofnegotiatingvariousagreementswithAfricanUniversities.

Rachelle-Mari Voges, a final-year LLB student, studied at the University of Leiden in 2018.

Megan van der Mescht and Heidi Wagner, final-year LLB students, at the University of Amsterdam’s Roeterseiland Campus.


EXCEPTIONAL STAFF AND STUDENT PERFORMANCETwolecturers,MichelleSchoemanandAdvRenéKoraan,registeredprojects in the SoTLprogramme. Theseprojects illustrate theFaculty’semphasisonproblem-basedlearningandtheapplicationoflegalrulestoreal-lifescenarios.

The crime scene SoTL project.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING INITIATIVESTheLawClinicpresentedthelegalpracticemodulestofinal-yearlawstudents.Itimplementedanewcomponenttoservicelearningduring 2018. Studentshad to complete 12hours’ compulsorycommunityserviceinoneoftheactivitiesidentifiedbytheLawClinic.Atotalof3440hoursofcommunityservicewereconductedbythefinalyearLLBstudents.During2018atotalof4323clientswereassistedbyeitherofferinglegalservices,referringtheclientoradvisingtheclient.

StudentsattheMafikengLawClinicareexposedtoavarietyofpracticalactivities,whichincludeconsultation,interviewing,takingstatements,draftinglegaldocumentsandsolvingproblems.


FACULTY OF NATURAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences was established in July 2017, with Prof Eno Ebenso as Executive Dean. Deputy deans were appointed in 2018 and the Faculty Integrated Teaching and Learning Plan was formulated. This Plan aims to understand how the Faculty will engage with the South African higher education environment, changing global environment, as well as its strategic objectives. It is based on NWU’s strategy for 2015 to 2025, which aims to transform and position NWU as a superior academic institution with a commitment to social justice.

The Faculty presents programmes in both the contact and distance modes of tuition. It comprised 6 124 students (6 088 contact and 36 distance students) in 2018, who were tutored on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses by 389 academic staff members.

The Faculty’s academic programmes are presented through the following six schools:

• The School of Agricultural Sciences, which presents Agricultural Economics and Extension, Animal Health, Animal Science and Crop Science on the Mafikeng Campus

• The School of Biological Sciences, which presents Botany, Microbiology and Zoology on the Mafikeng and Potchefstroom campuses

• The School of Computer Science and Informa-tion Systems, which presents Computer Science and Information Systems on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses

• The School of Geo- and Spatial Sciences, which presents Geography and Environmental Science, Geology and Urban and Regional Planning on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses

• The School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, which presents Mathematics and

Applied Mathematics, and Statistics on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses

• The School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, which presents Biochemistry, Chemistry and Physics on the Mafikeng and Potchefstroom campuses

It also operates six centres, which are significantly funded from external sources, in which teaching and learning takes place.

These are the Centre for Business Mathematics and Informatics (Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle); the Centre for Applied Radiation Science and Tech-nology and the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems (Mafikeng); the Centre for Environmental Management, the Centre for Human Metabolomics and the Centre for Water Sciences and Manage-ment (Potchefstroom).


ENROLMENT TARGETSIn 2018, the Faculty found it challenging to reach its enrolment goals due to the stringent admission requirements. Despite this limitation, it achieved88%of itstargetfor2018,whichwasthefirstyearinwhichstudentswereadmittedtothisnewfaculty.Theplannedfirst-timeenrolmentsfor2018were583forMafikeng,556forPotchefstroomand168fortheVaalTriangleCampus.Theseenrolmentstatisticswereusedasabaselinein2019.

However, in2019,withmoreefficientgovernmentfunding through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), theFacultyexceeded its targets,particularlyontheMafikengCampus,wherethetargetof613newadmissionswasexceededby178(129%).Similarly,PotchefstroomCampusachieved112%ofitstarget.OnlytheVaalTriangleCampuslaggedbehindwith88%ofitstargetadmissions.

Ifthistrendcontinues,theFacultywillbeabletobemorediscerningaboutthestudentswhoareaccepted.Thisshouldhaveapositiveinfluenceonitsdropout,throughputandgraduationfigures.Thetotalnumberofstudentswhocanbeadmittedislimitedbyfactorssuchasthecapacityofthe laboratories,whicharealreadyover-extended,particularlyontheMafikengCampus.

STUDENT PROFILEThe Faculty had a total of 6 124 students, made up of 6088contactstudentsand36distancestudents.Itsstudentbodycomprised4672undergraduate(76.29%),1439postgraduate(23.50%)and13occasional(0.21%)students(seeTable5.31).Thistotalwasmadeupof 2 628 female (42.91%) and 3 496 male (57.09%)students.TheFaculty’sraceprofilecomprised62.39%African, 1.81% Coloured, 1.11% Indian/Asian and34.47%White students (the race of 0.22% of thestudentswasunknown).

Thefinalfigures for thedistributionof itsstudentcohortacross the threecampuses in2018wasasfollows:

EXECUTIVE DEAN: Prof Eno Ebenso

DEPUTY DEAN: TEACHING AND LEARNING Prof Helen Drummond

MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

1289


2 898Total students

686Total students

1251

1748

1150

459

227 Figure 5.12: Distribution of student cohort across the three campuses



Post- graduate

Occa-sional

studentsTotal


African 1770 2 1772 1 382 388 2 1772

Coloured 43 1 44 37 7 44


White 778 7 785 504 275 6 785

Subtotal 2 618 10 2 628 1 938 682 8 2 628


African 2037 12 2 049 1 620 427 2 2 049

Coloured 66 1 67 58 9 67

Indian/Asian 41 4 45 39 5 1 45

White 1317 9 1 326 1 010 314 2 1 326

Subtotal 3 470 26 3 496 2 734 757 5 3 496

Total 6 088 36 6 124 4 672 1 439 13 6 124



MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

82

121

205

222

57

46

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

STAFF DEMOGRAPHICSIn 2018, the Faculty had a total staff complement of 733 (389 academic and344 support staff). The staff’s race andgender composition is illustrated in Table 5.32. These staff members weredistributed across the three campuses as follows(Figure5.13):


Academic Staff


Mafikeng 0% 43% 80% 108 5% 35% 22% 121

Potchefstroom 67% 57% 10% 23 82% 55% 60% 222

Vaal Triangle 33% 0% 10% 16 12% 9% 17% 46

Total 2% 2% 34% 147 62% 67% 33% 389


Support Staff


Mafikeng 8% 0% 46% 80 1% 26% 21% 82

Potchefstroom 83% 0% 29% 61 91% 53% 67% 205

Vaal Triangle 8% 100% 25% 45 8% 21% 12% 57

Total 3% 0% 50% 186 46% 52% 48% 344

The Faculty had 23 foreign academic staffmembers,ofwhich19wereAfrican,two were White and two were Indian.TheExecutiveDeanwastheonlyforeignmemberoftheseniormanagementteam.Otherforeignstaffmembersincludedtwofullprofessors, sixassociateprofessors, 12 senior lecturers, and two lecturers.ThreeofthesewereonthePotchefstroomCampus,19wereontheMafikengCampusandonewasontheVaalTriangleCampus.


ALIGNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFERINGS ThenewFacultyofNaturalandAgriculturalSciences began to offer newly alignedprogrammesin2018whenthefirstyearof thenewundergraduateandhonoursdegree programmes were phased in.The second- and third-year programmes willbeintroducedinphasesin2019and2020respectively.Thenewprogrammesare aligned across the campuses, but still catertoeachcampus’suniqueneeds.Thealignmentandequityofstaff,facilitiesandequipmentacrosscampusesisinprogress.

The Faculty’s first distance educationprogramme–BScInformationTechnology–wasintroducedin2018andmoredistanceprogrammesarebeingdeveloped.New BScAgriculturedegreeswillbelaunchedonthePotchefstroomCampusin2019.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CURRICULUMTheFacultyiscommittedtoNWU’sstrategicgoals and engages in curriculum transformation by helping its graduates to meet the challengesofmodernsociety.High-qualityteaching and learning remain a priority inallcurriculumalignment,renewalandtransformationdiscussions.

Ithasdeveloped the following strategicgoals for teaching and learning innovation in2018:

• Tocontinuouslyrenewthecurriculumtoachieve relevance, impact, transformation, internationalisation, market responsiveness, Africanisation and decolonisation;

• To use technology to optimise the studentlearningexperience,includingblendedlearningandtheflippedclassroom, as appropriate;

• To encourage active learning, student engagement and self-directed learning;

• To encourage the SoTL and establish communitiesofpractice.

Eachofthesestrategicgoalswaslinkedtoinitiatives,programmesandprojects,aswellastargetsandobjectivesfor2018/19.

TheFacultyworked closelywith theCTLin 2018.Workshops were presented byDrAnnelizeCronje, the senioracademicdeveloper for the Faculty, before her untimely passing, on transformation of the curriculum, Africanisation and decolonisation,withsuggestionsforimplementinginclusive learning environments. Thesethemes were further explored at theFaculty InductionDay fornew lecturers,whichwasheldontheMafikengCampusinJune2018.Inaddition,aTeachingandLearningSymposiumwasheldinPotchef-stroominSeptember2018.ThisfeaturedpresentationsfromstaffwithintheFacultyon inverted classrooms, decolonisation in practice, decolonising pedagogies to use in the sciences, and a virtual presentation on the facilitation of ODL in the sciences withProfKayeSheltonofLamarUniversity,Texas,USA.


STUDENT SUCCESS A total of 1 431 students graduated from theFacultyin2018(seeTable5.33).Ofthisnumber,854wereundergraduate(59.68%)and 577 were postgraduate (40.32%)students.This totalwasmadeupof700female (48.92%) and 731male (51.08%)students. The race composition of theFaculty’s graduates was 52.27% African,1.40%Coloured, 0.91% Indian/Asianand45.14%Whitestudents(theraceof0.28%ofthegraduateswasunknown).






African 402 402 277 125 402

Coloured 8 8 6 2 8


White 280 280 137 143 280

Subtotal 700 700 426 274 700


African 346 346 212 134 346

Coloured 12 12 9 3 12


White 366 366 202 164 366

Subtotal 731 731 428 303 731

Total 1 431 1 431 854 577 1 431




Female African 23% 23% 20% 32% 23%

Coloured 19% 18% 16% 29% 18%

Indian/Asian 39% 39% 38% 40% 39%

White 36% 36% 27% 52% 36%

Subtotal 27% 27% 22% 40% 27%

Male African 17% 17% 13% 31% 17%

Coloured 18% 18% 16% 33% 18%

Indian/Asian 10% 9% 8% 20% 9%

White 28% 28% 20% 52% 28%

Subtotal 21% 21% 16% 40% 21%

Total 24% 23% 18% 40% 23%


Female African 81.57% 0.00% 81.54%

Coloured 76.36% 100.00% 76.63%

Indian/Asian 88.97% 0.00% 88.97%

White 90.47% 36.84% 90.33%

Subtotal 84.24% 44.83% 84.19%

Male African 73.10% 50.00% 73.04%

Coloured 77.75% 100.00% 77.87%

Indian/Asian 80.24% 31.58% 77.66%

White 82.22% 66.67% 82.19%

Subtotal 77.07% 52.81% 77.00%

Total 80.29% 50.85% 80.22%

INTERNATIONALISATIONTheFacultyhasavibrantinternationalstudentcommunity.Mostof the internationalstudentsonMafikengCampusduring theperiodunderreviewwerepostgraduatestudents,whilethereweremore international undergraduate students on the Potchefstroom Campus.

ThevastmajorityofinternationalstudentsarefromtheAfricancontinent.Inaddition,theFacultyhascollaborationagreementswithuniversitiesinmanyothercountries,includingJapan,SouthKorea,theUnitedKingdomandtheUSA..



EXCEPTIONAL STAFF AND STUDENT PERFORMANCETheFacultyboastedwithseveralexceptionalachievements of its staff and students duringtheperiodunderreview.

In 2018, five of the Faculty’s academicsreceivedanInstitutionalTeachingExcellenceAward:DrErickSebethaandDrAndrewSwarts received an Emerging TeachingExcellenceAward;ProfDriekieFourieand DrColinReadreceivedaTeachingExcellenceAward;andProfRoelienGoedereceivedaDistinguishedTeachingExcellenceAward.

Three master’s students in AppliedRadiationScience,VeronicaGouws,KoketsoKgorinyaneandNaomiMokhine,wonatripto Russia in a video competition launched by Rosatom.ThecompetitionwasorganisedincollaborationwithAfricanYoungGenerationin Nuclear, the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers and the South African NetworkforNuclearEducationScienceandTechnology.

TwelveBScITstudentsontheVaalTriangleCampus co-developed a mobile application as part of their third-year project. The

EmfuleniRatePayersAssociationwillbeusing it to report municipal issues such as waterleaksandpotholesbyphotographingproblems,trackingtheproblem’slocationandreportingitdirectlytothemunicipality.This is the first time that the School of Computer Science and Information Systems on the Vaal Triangle Campus has integrated a real-life scenario into the curriculum.The application was showcased at theGeeExpoontheVaalTriangleCampusin October2018.Thisexpo invites learnersfrom Grade 8 to participate in excitingscienceandtechnologyactivities.

Rosatom prize winners Naomi Mokhine, Prof Manny Mathuthu, Veronica Gouws and Koketso Kgorinyane.

The students at the GeeExpo.


COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING INITIATIVESThe Faculty is involved in several community engagementprojects,andseveralmoduleshaveawork-integratedlearningcomponent.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)enhancesteachingandlearningwithdiverseapproaches. It emphasises communityengagement and its integration into teachingandlearningactivities.IKSrevivesand documents indigenous practices that caninformnewdevelopments,andhelpsto redress the marginalisation of indigenous peopleandtheirideasfromtheknowledgeeconomy.

Students of the Centre for Business Mathematics and Informatics® is a leading tertiary risk training and research group forthefinancialservicesindustry.On-sitesupervised projectswere conducted forvariousclients.

Theprogrammedeliversabout35master’sdegreestudentstoindustryeachyear.

Students of the Centre for Applied Radiation Science and Technology are placed in any of thecountry’snuclearindustriesduringtheirresearchprojects.Theyalsovisitanynuclearfacility for one week, such as iThembaLaboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and the National Metrology Institute of SouthAfrica.Anindustryco-supervisorisappointedforeachstudent.

TheSubjectGroupAnimalHealthhassignedagreementswithdifferentfarmsandserviceproviders.Theprogrammeanditscontentarediscussedwiththeserviceproviders,farmersortrainers.Thefarmersortrainersparticipate in teaching and examinationcomposition.

Goats and cattle on Molelwane Farm.

EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMIC OFFERINGS IN THE FACULTYTheFaculty’sflagshipprogrammesincludethefollowing:

• Biochemistry programmes• Honours degree in Environmental

Sciences• BSc in Information Technology• Business Mathematics and Informatics

programmes• Physics programme and the Centre for

Space Research• Crop Science programme• Animal Health programme• Urban and Regional Planning

programme• IndigenousKnowledgeSystems


FACULTY OF THEOLOGY

The Faculty of Theology aims to align the study of theology with the socio-democratic process and promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and understanding between people and disciplines. The study of texts in academic or spiritual isolation is no longer appropriate in theology as a discipline. The transformative theological discourse can extend the discipline’s scope to include philosophy, sociology, history and economics.

It is clear that the unfolding conversation on teaching and learning, not only at NWU, but throughout South Africa and worldwide, has prompted theology scholars to revisit traditional approaches and practices. Consequently, the Faculty will refrain from a “business as usual” disposition and take its rightful place as an agent for the transformation of the university curriculum in all its complexity.

As part of its Faculty Integrated Teaching and Learning Plan, the Faculty of Theology is in the process of introducing a number of certificates, postgraduate diplomas and short courses to com-plement its existing academic offering.

The development of these qualifications will serve many strategic objectives, such as social justice and inclusivity, by creating either a structured formal or a non-formal qualification pathway for spiritual leaders within the theological society to re-enter the academic world and further enhance their knowledge and skills. The successful completion of such qualifications and short courses affords Theology scholars the opportunity to embark on further academic qualifications and consequently strengthen lifelong learning. The Faculty aims to address the sharply divided theological society in South Africa by providing wider access in support of the NWU’s Teaching and Learning Strategy.

The Faculty presents programmes in both the contact and distance modes of tuition. It comprised 873 students (505 contact and 368 distance students) in 2018, who were tutored on the Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses by 121 academic staff members (of which 38 were in a permanent capacity). The Faculty presents its undergraduate programmes in two schools: the School for Christian Ministry and Leadership (which offers Dogmatology, Missiology, Practical Theology, Old Testament and

New Testament as subject fields) and the School for Ancient Languages and Text Studies (which offers Ancient Languages, among others). It has two research units: the Unit for Reformational Theology and the Development of the South African Society, and Ancient Texts: Text, Context and Reception.

ACTING EXECUTIVE DEAN:Dr Hennie Goede



Post- graduate

Occa-sional

StudentsTotal

Female Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

African 79 53 132 106 18 8 132

Coloured 7 11 18 14 4 0 18


White 79 36 115 73 38 4 115

Subtotal 168 101 269 193 64 12 269


African 142 138 280 137 130 13 280

Coloured 11 37 48 30 15 3 48

Indian/Asian 27 8 35 2 31 2 35

White 149 83 232 84 139 9 232

Subtotal 337 267 604 253 324 27 604

Total 505 368 873 446 388 39 873

Table 5.36: Students enrolled in the Faculty for 2018 ENROLMENT PLANTheFaculty’sgrowthisinlinewiththeFITLP.Ahistoricalneeds-basedapproachwasusedto determine the enrolment targets for the respectivecampusesforthenextsixyears.According to its enrolment plan, the Faculty aimstoachievethefollowingincreasesinthefirst-timeenrolmentsinitsprogrammeoffering(includingshortcourses)until2023:

• MafikengCampus:315%increase(from13 to 54 students)

• PotchefstroomCampus:97%increase(from141to279students)

• VaalTriangleCampus:21%increase(from37to45students)

• Opendistancelearning:97%increase(from125to247students)


STAFF DEMOGRAPHICSIn2018,theFacultyhadatotalstaffcomplementof132(121academicand11supportstaff).Thestaff’sraceandgendercompositionisillustratedinTable5.37.Thesestaffmembersweredistributedacrossthethreecampusesasfollows:


Academic staff


Mafikeng 0% 0% 0% 0 4% 3% 6% 4

Potchefstroom 100% 0% 94% 19 94% 94% 94% 114

Vaal Triangle 0% 0% 6% 1 2% 3% 0% 3

Total 2% 0% 15% 20 83% 86% 14% 121

Support staff


Mafikeng

Potchefstroom 9% 9% 9% 3 73% 18% 82% 11

Vaal Triangle

Total 9% 9% 9% 3 73% 18% 82% 11

STUDENT PROFILETheFacultyhada total of 873 students,made up of 505 contact students and 368 distance students. Its student bodycomprised446undergraduate(51.09%),388postgraduate(44.44%)and39occasional(4.47%)students(seeTable5.36).Thistotalwasmadeupof269female(30.81%)and604male(69.19%)students.TheFaculty’srace profile comprised 47.19% African,7.56%Coloured,4.47% Indian/Asianand39.75%Whitestudents(theraceof1.03%ofthestudentswasunknown).



MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

25

38 Total students

727Total students

108Total students

13

546

181

33

75


ALIGNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFERINGSIntermsofequity inacademicofferings,the Faculty is in the process of rolling out multi-functional, technology-enhanced formal and informal learning spaces to enhance blended learning programme designs.Themajorityofitsqualificationsispresentedonallthreecampuses.


MafikengCampus

PotchefstroomCampus

Vaal TriangleCampus

0

4

11

114

0

3

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

Support

Academic

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CURRICULUMTheological education at universities builds oncenturiesofintellectualandexperientialknowledgeinacomplexandinterconnectedworld.TheFacultyisembeddedasaroleplayer inNWU’s academic offering on adecolonised continent. For this reason,the envisaged interdenominational faculty isexpandingitsacademicofferingwitharange of higher certificate and diploma qualifications.

According to the HEQSF, theological qual-ifications could include modules from cognatequalificationsandqualificationsinthe humanities, health sciences, education, lawandagriculture.This lineof thinkinginformed a dynamic, appropriate, reliable and fit-for-purpose blended teaching and learningapproach.TheFaculty is inthe process of introducing a number of certificates,includingthemulti-disciplinaryHigherCertificateinPastoralandPalliativeCare.

In support of NWU’s decolonisationdiscourse, Faculty members engaged in acolloquiumon thematter.ProfRobertBalfour,DeputyVice-Chancellor:Teaching

and Learning, Prof Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsh-eni of the Department of Development Studies at Unisa and Dr Piet Croucamp of the Department of Management Sciences ontheMafikengCampusweretheguestspeakers.ThefocuswithintheFacultyisontheco-creationofknowledge,asopposedtoreplacingonebodyofknowledgewithanother.TheFaculty’stargetisthatatleastonestudyunitpermoduleshouldshowcleardecolonisedoutcomes.

The Faculty has adopted a language plan aimed at a deepening engagementwithmultilingualism within the Faculty. Twomoduleswereidentified,oneineachschool,whereTswanalecturerswillcommencewithteachingSetswanaclassesontheMafikengCampus in the Semitic Languages module SEMT272.TheywillalsopresentoneOldTestamentmodulestilltobedecidedupon.

The gradual introduction of Setswanawill be effected in phases, with roll-outcommencing in 2020. The Faculty isfurthermore investigating the possibility of developingaprogrammedeliveredbywayof sign language, since the deaf are the most





African 12 4 16 14 2 16

Coloured 2 1 3 2 1 3


White 14 6 20 11 9 20

Subtotal 28 11 39 27 12 39


African 26 15 41 10 31 41

Coloured 1 4 5 1 4 5

Indian/Asian 2 1 3 1 2 3

White 35 22 57 22 35 57

Subtotal 64 43 107 34 73 107

Total 92 54 146 61 85 146

STUDENT SUCCESS A total of 146 students graduated from theFacultyin2018(seeTable5.38).Ofthisnumber,61wereundergraduate(41.78%)and85werepostgraduate(58.22%)students.Thistotalwasmadeupof39female(26.71%)and107male(73.29%)students.TheracecompositionoftheFaculty’sgraduateswas39.04% African, 5.48% Coloured, 2.05%

Indian/Asianand52.74%Whitestudents(the raceof0.69%of thegraduateswasunknown).



unreachedpopulationgroupintheworld.TheFacultyenvisagesaninterfacultyprojectinthisregard.

Furthermore, the FITLP provides for the multimodal delivery of programmes in pursuit of the ideals of open distance learning, online teaching and learning platforms, and campus-based contact learning, therefore affording integrated blended and online learning opportunities, asandwhensuitableandpossible,whichprovide a means to enhance student access and student preparedness for further researchortheworkplaceinadigitalera.




Female African 15% 9% 13% 13% 11% 13%

Coloured 29% 9% 17% 14% 25% 17%

Indian/Asian 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

White 18% 19% 18% 15% 24% 18%

Subtotal 17% 12% 15% 14% 19% 15%

Male African 18% 12% 15% 7% 24% 15%

Coloured 9% 12% 11% 3% 27% 11%

Indian/Asian 8% 14% 9% 50% 6% 9%

White 24% 28% 26% 26% 25% 26%

Subtotal 19% 17% 19% 13% 23% 19%

Total 19% 16% 18% 14% 22% 18%


Female African 77.46% 63.21% 71.11%

Coloured 74.65% 69.03% 70.19%

Indian/Asian 100.00% 0.00% 100.00%

White 89.06% 88.57% 88.97%

Subtotal 83.36% 69.30% 78.15%

Male African 68.72% 67.36% 67.79%

Coloured 63.94% 61.64% 62.07%

Indian/Asian 100.00% 22.22% 67.87%

White 88.46% 85.20% 87.23%

Subtotal 78.95% 70.06% 73.69%

Total 81.14% 69.84% 75.43%

INTERNATIONALISATIONTheFaculty’sODLprogrammesattractstudentsfromBotswana,Burundi, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Korea, Mozambique, Namibia, Portugal, SouthAfrica,Swaziland,theUK,theUSA,ZambiaandZimbabwe.

During 2018, the Faculty engaged in local and international conver-sations about the future, considering trans-, interdisciplinary and internationalcollaboration.Itaspiredtomaintainabalancebetweenretaining its underlying South African foundation, and continuing

tostriveforinternationalrecognitionandmakeanotableimpact.Thiswouldnotonlycontributetotheemployabilityofgraduates,butwouldalsocaterforstudentswhoarealreadyinministerialemployment.

TheFacultyisintheprocessofexpandingMemorandaofUnder-standingwithtopuniversitiesinternationallyandelaboratingontheconcretenessofexistingagreements.



EXCEPTIONAL STAFF AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE In2018,theFaculty implementedanewprogramme to teach first- to third-yearstudents who are studying to becomeministers to speak Setswana. This newlanguagewill empower them to conveykindness, love and compassion to more people.

Prof Nico Vorster was the co-authorof Togetherness in South Africa, whichdiscusses religious perspectives on racism, xenophobiaandeconomicinequality.ThisbookisoneoftheFaculty’sendeavourstopromote social cohesion and reconciliation inSouthAfrica.

The Faculty held its annual dedication service in Mahikeng early in 2018. ProfDarylBalialedtheoccasion,atwhichhepresentedstudentswithbiblesthathadbeendonatedbyMrC JohnsonofCUMBooks. Inhismessage,he said that theFaculty is striving to increase the number ofregisteredstudents.

On 12 September 2018, Pastoral Counselling students visited Potchefst-roomCorrectionalServices.Thefocuswasonfemaleinmates.Thethemesthatwereexaminedweremotivation, encourage-mentandbuildingresilience.Theexcursionmade a deep impression on the students,

whoshowedgreatinterest incompletingsomeof theirpracticalworkamong theinmates.

ProfRikusFickhasbeenleadingfinal-yearTheology students on an annual church history tour since 2007. They visitchurches and historic sites in Reddersburg, Venterstad, Steynsburg and Burgersdorp, wherethefirstcongregationsintheFreeStateandthe formerCapeColonywereestablished. Thehighlightof the tour isusually a visit to the old Theological School of the Reformed Churches in South Africa in Burgersdorp,whereNWU’sPotchefstroomCampusoriginatedin1869.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING INITIATIVES Each year, fourth-year Theology students attendan“urbanclassroom”foraweektolearnabouttheneedsofthewiderPotchef- stroomcommunity.Theyfocusonbrokenand impoverished people. As aspiringChristian pastors, they are being prepared to leadtheirfuturecongregationstowardsrein-troducing these people into the community, followinginthefootstepsofJesusChrist.

Fathers are increasingly becoming absent in children’s lives. The purpose of theFaculty’sFatherhoodTrainingandEquippingProgramme is to restore the indispensable roleofthefatherwithinthefamilyinthemannerinwhichGodoriginallypurposed.Alinkedproject,ALifeBeyondIronBars,assists parolees to rediscover their roles as fathers.

TheFacultyhostedtwopastorconferencesat theMafikengCampusandoneat theVaalTriangleCampus.Theaimwastobuildrelationshipswiththelocalandsurroundingpastors and equip them for the ministry by sharingexpertise.Severalsocio-religiousissueswerediscussed.Theseconferencesare part of the Faculty’s service to thebroadercommunity.


EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMIC OFFERINGS IN THE FACULTYTheSchoolofAncientLanguageandTextStudies continues to be the largest of its kindinthenorthernpartsofSouthAfrica.Italsooffersthelargestnumberofancientlanguages on the African continent. Inaddition to its BA Ancient Languages programme, the School serves a variety of programmes from the faculties of Theology, HumanitiesandLaw.ItcontinuedtooffertheBotanical Latin short course to second-year Botany students during the period under review.From2019,thisshortcoursewillbepresented on both the Potchefstroom and VaalTrianglecampuses.TheSchoolalsoenterednegotiationswiththeuniversitiesofPretoria,JohannesburgandtheFreeStatetoexplorecooperationinteachinghigherlevelcourses in rarer languages like Akkadian, OldBabylonian,EgyptianandArabic.

The School for Christian Ministry and Leadership identified the fact that thereis a great need for pastoral care and crisis intervention for victims of crime.

Research showed that churchmembersusuallyfirstconsulttheirpastororchurchleaderaftersuchtrauma.Inlightofthis,theSchoolofferedashortlearningprogrammeonpastoralcareandcrisisintervention.

StudentsstudyingtowardstheBDivdegreeare involved in the followingmeaningfulpracticalworkeachyear:

• Pastoral programme for relationship problems and addictions

• Cross-culturalpracticalworkin congregations

• Missiologicalpracticalwork• Apologeticalpracticalwork


The NWU is a unique institution, situated in twoofSouthAfrica’sprovinces(onehighlyurbanised and the other a rural heartland), withdistanceeducationofferedinsome53 learning centres around South Africa and the Southern African Development Community(SADC)region.Thismakes itSouthAfrica’ssecond-largestinstitutionwithanestablishedreputationforexcellenceinteaching-learningandresearch.

Our commitment to multimodal education provides students with an experienceof contact, distance and e-learning environments that respond to the social, aswellas technological, complexitiesofmodern life. Inthecontextofpersistentunderperformance in schooling nationally, the importance of inclusion and a commitment to social justice cannotbeunderscored in teaching-learningterms.Recognising that inequality (of opportunity, andalsosupporttowardssuccess)impactson academic success, and that inclusion is

a means of enabling support to be tailored towardssuccess,ithasbecomenecessarytore-thinkthestudentexperience.

Ultimately, university education must contribute to the development of the person,thecommunityandsociety.Theacademicdevelopmentofstudents,aswellasstaff,ispartofourlifelongjourneyasaUniversityinknowledgedevelopment.

When one invokes the concept of knowledge, one immediately needsto distinguish this from information, and simultaneously acknowledge thescholarshipofknowledgeformationandconstruction.Foucault(1979)andDeleuze(1988) are considered particularly useful intheirtreatmentofknowledge.Betweenthem, they consider the relationship betweenlanguage,discourse,knowledgeandpower.Inthescholarshipofeducation,oneoftenreadsaboutknowledgeasaformofpower,but it isperhapsmoreuseful

FINAL WORD

DEPUTY VICE- CHANCELLOR:

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Prof Robert Balfour


to distinguish between knowledge (intheserviceofpower,atitsdisposal,asitwere)andinformation(whichisnotusefultopoweruntilitbecomesfocusedintheformofknowledge).

Knowledge becomes powerful in twoways:first inthewayit isconstitutedasfields(drawingfromFoucault,1979),andsecondlyinrelationtoitproducing“truth,insofarasitmakesusseeandspeak.Itproducestruthasaproblem” (Deleuze,1988:83). From this perspective, theUniversityisnotmerelythesiteatwhichknowledgeistransferred;it isalsoprob-lematised.Theuniversity isthusanodethroughwhichcommunityanduniversityinteract in the development of specialist knowledgeformations(disciplines,fieldsleadingtoprogrammesandqualifications)and solutions thatultimately empowerpeopleandsustainourplanet.

The aspiration of the NWU is that its graduates emerge as skilled, nuanced, informed communicators, leaders and contributors to solutions that require complexcollaborations (whether in theform of institutions or projects) goingforward.

Iwant,bywayofconcludingthisreport,tonotethateverythingwedoasNWUintermsofeducationisneveryet“arrived”,orcomplete.Allourenergiesaredevotedto the success of our students and the furtherenablementofourstaffintermsoftheirdevelopment.Inthissense,whilethisreport highlights and celebrates success andachievement, it remainsalwaysanincompleteaccountofprogress.Welookforward, following this first integratedreport, to many years of innovation, creativity and development in teach-ing-learningattheNWU.

References:Deleuze, G. 1988. Foucault. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, p.83.Foucault, M. 1979. Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. New York: Vintage Books, pp.195–228.

Documents

Teaching and Learning at the NWU