Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology

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Browsing Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology by browse.metadata.advisor "Botha, Jan"

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    Implementation evaluation as a dimension of the quality assurance of a new programme for medical education and training
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2004-12) Wasserman, Elizabeth; Botha, Jan; Mouton, J.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Centre for Research on Science and Technology (CREST).
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis, an ‘alignment approach’ to the quality assurance of medical curricula is developed and practically illustrated in the evaluation of a section of a new curriculum in undergraduate medical education and training instituted at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Stellenbosch in 1999. The background of curriculum innovation at this institution during the 1990s is described, and the literature on the concepts of quality assurance is explored in higher education in general and in medical education and training in particular. The current focus on socially responsive curriculum renewal and accountability illustrates the need for this study. The empirical part of the study was conducted in two phases. The first phase consisted of a ‘clarification evaluation’. The planning of the new curriculum introduced in 1999 was analysed retrospectively through a study of the planning documents and interviews with leaders of the planning process. The results of this clarification evaluation are presented in the form of a ‘Logic Model’. The implicit theory of the curriculum, as represented by the Logic Model, was then evaluated regarding its consistency with trends in medical education. These trends were determined through a study of the literature on the subject published during the time of the planning of the curriculum. It was found that the planning of the curriculum was in line with most of the identified trends, but that it lacked detailed information on how the basic sciences and clinical skills training were to be addressed. This compromised the evaluability of phase I of the curriculum and of the clinical rotations1 by the method use in this study. Because of this, and also considering the time frame of this evaluation, phase I of the curriculum and the late clinical rotations were excluded from the second phase of the study. The aims identified for the curriculum during the process of clarification evaluation were also aligned with the document, The Profile of the Stellenbosch Doctor 2 . This indicates that the planning process of the curriculum was in line with its intended outcome.The second phase of the study consisted of an ‘implementation evaluation’ of phases II and III of the theoretical components and of the early and middle clinical rotations of the curriculum. Data for this implementation evaluation were collected from April 2002 to June 2003. Module chairpersons3, lecturers and students were used as sources of data for the evaluation of the theoretical phases. The perceptions of these groups regarding the implementation of phases II and III of the theoretical part of the curriculum were collected by means of questionnaires designed specifically for this study. For the evaluation of the clinical rotations, the results of the standard student feedback obtained by the Faculty of Health Sciences were used as a source of data for a secondary analysis. The study guides provided for each of the theoretical modules and the clinical rotations were also used as a secondary source for the analysis of data. The data obtained were then analysed by using the framework provided by the Logic Model. Following this, a judgment of the quality of the implementation of the curriculum was made. The planned curriculum was aligned with the practised curriculum by drawing up a ‘curriculum scoreboard’. It was found that alignment was adequately achieved for six of the identified aims, while the implementation of four of the aims was not aligned to the planning according to the criteria used in this study. The study illustrates that the methods of programme evaluation can be validly applied in the evaluation of a curriculum in medical education and training. The Logic Model enables an alignment between the planned and the practised curriculum, which can be used as a measure of the quality of a curriculum in terms of ‘fitness of purpose’. 1 See Addendum A for a diagrammatic overview of the curriculum. The curriculum was structured into three theoretical phases (phases I, II and III) and three clinical rotations (early, middle and late). 2 This document was drawn up during the initial phases of the planning process of the curriculum and regarded by the Faculty as a blueprint for the intended outcomes of the curriculum. 3 A module chairperson in the context of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Stellenbosch is a senior faculty member responsible for the organisation and management of the modules presented as part of the curriculum in medical education and training.
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    University politics under the impact of societal transformation and global processes : South Africa and the case of Stellenbosch University, 1990-2010
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Baumert, Stefanie Christine; Botha, Jan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Worldwide, national higher education systems and universities are repeatedly confronted with global higher education trends and the challenge to handle them in specific national and institutional contexts. This observation relates to the broader question how processes of globalization affect university politics. The work at hand provides insights into how South Africa and the South African Stellenbosch University (SU) were facing recent processes of globalization in a situation of deep societal transformation after the end of apartheid. The dissertation examines how university politics in South Africa were negotiated after 1990. It investigates which local and global actors were involved and with what kind of interests they influenced the process. For SU, it is analysed how the different levels making up the University understood current international trends in higher education and how this understanding brought about institutional change leading to inter- and transnationalization. The thesis applies a qualitative multi-method approach drawing on document analysis and interviews. The research is grounded on major research reports and national policy documents on higher education, institutional documents of SU (e.g. the Senate and Council documentation, brochures and speeches) as well as on a total of 52 semi-structured interviews that were conducted with current and former representatives of SU as well as of the national South African higher education system between 2010 and 2012. Theoretically, the study draws on debates from higher education research and transnational history concerning the internationalization and transnationalization of higher education. It follows an analytical perspective for exploring and understanding higher education developments that goes beyond the conventional state-centric nation-state model used to analysing social processes and interactions. Therefore, the dissertation traces the impact of the different spatial references of the local and the national level for university politics and looks at how the local relates to the national and both of them to the regional and the global. By approaching the topic historically, the study challenges the often referred to hypotheses of academic isolationism and SU’s increasing insularity due to the international academic boycott against South Africa during the apartheid era. It accentuates that prior to 1990 there were many international activities going on at SU. Furthermore, the findings show that SU has embarked comparatively early on a purposeful and strategic process of internationalization, which occurred prior to its national opening in the form of transformation and redress. Only by the turn of the century, processes of internationalization were paralleled by an open transformation attempt. This was quite in contrast to the post-1990 dealing with higher education on the national South African level and by many other South African universities. The study demonstrates that in approaching the challenges of societal transformation and global processes, SU’s management initially favoured the “efficiency” discourse over the “redress” discourse in order to pave the way for becoming an internationally esteemed research university.