In an aim to enhance and understand what the Durban University of Technology (DUT) would like to achieve with not only its students but with staff and the community, the University held a two day conference which took place at DUT’s Hotel School Conference Centre, from 27 to 28 August 2015. The conference did not only consist of engagements and presentations from DUT staff, lecturers and DUT Vice Chancellor and Principal, but also had invited guests from other Universities as well. The conference focused on exploring student centredness at DUT, the academic preparedness of the University, the systems used by the University and student pathways.
Institutional research assists University personnel in providing information to support the University in decision-making on a way forward through critically analysing findings and data. It assists University Management to make informed decisions towards student admission planning, financial aid/finances, curriculums, enrolment, staff recruitment, student life, facilities and alumni relations, to name but a few. The research conducted by various bodies is collected, analysed and reported and then implemented. DUT is not the only University in the country in the world to have institutional research, many other Universities engages in it in order to plan ahead.
Some of the key topics that took centre stage during the conference were the dropout rates, graduate attributes and student engagement. Addressing the issue of student dropout, DUT Vice Chancellor and Principal, Professor Ahmed Bawa, said the dropout rate at DUT was too high, although it was better than other Universities. “The dropout rate is sitting at 45% or so, immediately you hear that what constantly pops up is the the improvement of the first year experience, we have to add things to the curriculum. The question is do we know that the curriculum is a problem? For each one of us to understand what the problem is, we cannot attack the problems we are facing without finding out what the causes are. We have to do a thorough analysis, through research it can be discovered that it is not just one cause but there are a number of issues and the purpose of Institutional research is to provide us with sound knowledge based on when we can start tackling the issues,” he said.
Further highlighting issues leading to student drop-out, Director for Academic Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Free State ,Professor Francios Strydom, said in his findings he found that one of the main contributors to South African student dropout was finance. “Student dropout is a global issue, however, what I have discovered through my research is that much of it is caused by the lack of funds although there are those students who drop out after realising that this is not what they want to do and the institution is not meeting their expectations. A majority of students drop out because they have registered with the hope to get NSFAS, only to find out later that there are no funds, making it difficult for them to further their studies because there is a lack of funders and funding and some transfer to other institutions,” said Prof Strydom.
Prof Strydom’s findings also revealed that students were trying very hard to stay at school, however many were unable too. Prof Bawa added that research outcomes needed to be made useful. “We need to think out of the box, explore new tools. We must begin to gather information from students on what is going on in their lives, their backgrounds. We need to think of creating a facility where students can not only interact with their lecturers but allow them to interview each other, engage with each other, as maybe this can give us a view of what students are doing and how to combat the drop out rate,” he said.
Pictured: Prof Francios Strydom, Director Academic Centre for Teaching and Learning, University of the Free State, at the conference.
—Noxolo Memela
