In this age of rapid information expansion and technology, statistics is playing an ever increasing role in education, particularly also in the training of social scientists. Statistics enables the social scientist to obtain a quantitative awareness of socio-economic phenomena hence is essential in their training. Statistics, however, is becoming…

National policy in higher education requires higher education institutions to widen access to adult learners alongside other previously excluded groups, yet gives few indications as to how this should be done. The assumption seems to have been that broadening access is sufficient in itself. In this article we argue that it is possible to construct…

In 2003 the University of Cape Town introduced an anonymous examination policy. This article reports on a study of the impact of the implementation of this policy on student performance. Comparisons of student results pre- and post policy implementation showed no evidence of negative or positive discrimination of students in the examination…

Finding accurate predictors of tertiary academic performance, specifically for disadvantaged students, is essential because of budget constraints and the need of the labour market to address employment equity. Increased retention, throughput and decreased dropout rates are vital. When making admission decisions, the under preparedness of students…

Qualifications have become academic currency. Apart from adding to the success and fluency with which people can move or be transferred from job to job, nationally and internationally, qualifications also serve to shape individuals' perceptions of their own worth because of their impact on their holders' expectations and prospects, as well as…

Management in universities has had to change, as the demands on universities have demanded different skills. One consequence has been a backlash against what is perceived to be an emerging culture of managerialism. This conceptual article argues that a balance is needed between collegial and more corporate style management if a university is to…

While exceptional leaders share certain qualities like a strong personal ethic and a compelling vision of the future, research has failed to provide conclusive "proof" of the link between a leader's effectiveness and his/ her emotional intelligence (defined from a cognitive perspective, as a set of abilities). Given the increased recognition of…

This article explores whether WebCT, a virtual learning technology, meets organisational and customer goals at Coventry University Business School (CBS). Lecturer and student perceptions about the benefits of WebCT as a teaching and learning resource are examined as well as the goals of WebCT for the university as an organization. CBS students…

A factor that affects university students' academic performance is the quantity and quality of their sleep. There is a high rate of insomnia in the general population, but the prevalence of sleep difficulties among university students has not been extensively studied. The current study found that 23 per cent of the researched student population…

The presently reported part of the study gathered data on the academics' perceptions on quality in higher education (QHE) and investigated the general quality promotion (QP), quality assurance (QA), quality control (QC) and quality management (QM) strategies in the institutional level of a historically developing university (HDU), its Faculty of…

This article conceptually addresses the issue of assessing the impact of student counselling and development services in higher education institutions. It deviates from recent approaches which primarily examine the impact of selected interventions on specific indicators. In this article the question is asked whether the capacity to deliver the…

This article reports on a section of the results of a South African-Netherlands Research Foundation Programme on Alternatives Development (SANPAD) project that was undertaken at Edgewood College of Education and three primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The project covered a ten-year period and investigated the response of a previously…

Environmental management in South Africa is constrained by a lack of capacity for effective stakeholder engagement and environmental decision-making. The country's excellent environmental legislation demands that environmental professionals be appropriately trained at the higher education level. To this end, a Bachelors level learning programme in…

This article describes the structure and rationale for an open-book approach in professional accountancy examinations. The concept of knowledge management and the recognition that some knowledge ought to be embedded in the minds of professional accountants while other knowledge ought to be readily accessible and capable of application forms the…

Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers made a distinction between traditional approaches and humanistic "learner-centred" approaches to education. The traditional approach holds that educators impart their knowledge to willing and able recipients; whereas the humanistic approach holds that educators act as facilitators who assist learners in their…