Student Support through Extended Programmes at South African - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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

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

Port Elizabeth, South Africa

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

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

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

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

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

Graduation in regulation time  If we omit distance education students, only a minority of the intake (about a third or fewer) graduate in 4 years, even though most programmes are formally 3 years or less. All Programmes 22% (incl dist) Universities (excl dist) 36% Technikons (excl dist) 26%

Graduation within 5 years (excl distance)  General academic first B-degrees (3-year programmes) Field of study Overall White Black Business/ 50% 72% 33% Management Life & Physical Sciences 47% 63% 31% Mathematical Sciences 51% 63% 35% Social Sciences 53% 68% 34% Languages 47% 68% 32%

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

Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Port Elizabeth  Port Elizabeth the largest city in Eastern Cape  About R1.2m people  Major automotive industry  Part of larger Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area  Host city for FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup  Known as “Die Baai – The Bay”, “The Windy City” or “The Friendly City”  Only one university in the Metropolitan area, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University ( NMMU ), also known as the N o M ore M oney U niversity

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

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

GEOGRAPHIC SPREAD OF ALL 2009 NMMU ENROLLED STUDENTS

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

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

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

Foundation vs Extended FOUNDATION EXTENDED Additional year between Extending standard period of school and university – also study by 1 year by spreading called bridging year first year over 2 years Non-credit bearing and not Credit-bearing and funded by funded by government government (earmarked) Foundational and preparatory First year content with content additional foundational provision Outcome to prepare for entry Outcome similar to that of first into first year courses year courses Intensive support over 1 year Less intensive support spread over 2 years

Foundation vs Extended FOUNDATION EXTENDED Lower admission Stricter admission requirements – focus on requirements – focus on access throughput & retention Strict rules for continuation to Less strict promotion criteria mainstream Offered by AD specialists and Offered by AD specialists and teachers faculty Managed from a centralized Matrix management between unit central unit and faculties Better integration between Better integration with different components mainstream

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

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

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

Access and retention rates degrees UFP ‘04 to ‘06 Ext deg ‘07 to ‘09 Start in yr n 1207 916 (3 cohorts) yr n+1 889 819 (3 cohorts) % of start in yr n+1 74% 89% (3 cohorts) yr n+2 770 516 (2 cohorts) % of start in yr n+2 64% 78% (2 cohorts) % of yr n+1 in yr n+2 87% 88% (2 cohorts) yr n+3 692 207 (1 cohort) % of start in yr n+3 57% 67% (1 cohort) % yr of yr n+1 in yr n+3 78% 77% (1 cohort)

Access and retention rates diplomas FP ‘04 to ‘06 Ext Dip ‘07 to ‘09 First reg (yr n) 854 634 (3 cohorts) yr n+1 564 495 (3 cohorts) % of start in yr n+1 66% 78% (3 cohorts) yr n+2 484 313 (2 cohorts) % of start in yr n+2 57% 70% (2 cohorts) % of yr n+1 in yr n+2 86% 89% (2 cohorts) yr n+3 404 132 (1 cohort) % of start in yr n+3 47% 55% (1 cohort) % yr of yr n+1 in yr n+3 72% 67% (1 cohort)