Used a pre-test, post-test design to evaluate a pilot entrepreneurship education course at a South African university. Found that the course had no significant effect on the career expectations of students. Concluded that such education should begin earlier. (EV)

Contends that reflexive praxis (self-reflective practice or "doing action") offers university academics the pedagogical space to transform their teaching and learning processes. Uses a personal example from the teaching of a graduate course to illustrate the potential of reflexive praxis. (EV)

Created a teaching effectiveness rating instrument for use by students at Rand Afrikaans University. Analyzed the questionnaire's reliability and validity and found it to be a useful instrument for formative teaching assessment. (EV)

Investigated faculty perceptions of possible mergers with other institutions at three higher education institutions in South Africa. Found that they are not opposed to the idea of institutional combinations or mergers, but that their personal issues and fears should be addressed to ensure an effective merger. (EV)

Investigated differential validity and prediction of first-year university grades of two cohorts of students from historically white and historically black schools in South Africa, and the contribution of variations in grading standards between university courses to this differential validity and prediction. Adjustment for differences in grading…

Investigated the long-term academic effects of a first-year foundation course designed to enhance the academic performance of university students. Found that third-year academic performance is not simply a function of initial language and mathematics competence levels; those who improved performance in the foundation course tended to perform well…

Investigated the early socialization of a first-year lecturer at a South African university. Describes his behavior patterns and offers a model for the intradepartmental induction of novice lecturers. (EV)

Proposes eight criteria for assessing learning material for distance education institutions based on an analysis of trends in the field of learning and elements of a typical learner profile. The criteria have implications for the material's accessibility and relevancy, language of instruction, intended outcomes, responsiveness to societal…

Explores government policies for funding higher education in 11 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Describes mechanisms for funding the university sector and the extent to which grants are oriented on performance. Illustrates that only a few governments explicitly link funding to results of teaching and…

Had adult students in South Africa complete the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument to determine their thinking preferences based on Hermann's four quadrant whole brain model. Found a diversity of thinking style preferences and non-preferences for the four quadrants. (EV)

Presents a case study illustrating and reflecting on the process of developing an outcomes-based approach to essay writing in a university economics course in South Africa. Discusses challenges such as making outcomes and grading criteria explicit, changing feedback, and improving student writing. (EV)

The innovation of education seems to be self-evident. Boosted by a wide range of new technologies, educational institutes all over the world are innovating their educational systems, in order to extend their services, to improve their performances or to reduce costs. The apparent self-evidence of educational innovation hardly prompts the…

"Internationalisation", the growing border-crossing activities between national systems of higher education is losing ground to "globalisation", increasing border-crossing activities of blurred national systems which is often employed to depict world-wide trends and growing global competition. This article addresses recent issues of knowledge…

This article analyses and discusses the interplay between the social processes of nationalisation, localisation and globalisation in a single European nation state. The view of nationalisation put forward draws on a national case study based on historical and sociological research findings. The second part of the article presents a case study of…

In Europe, academic mobility has a long tradition which began with the birth of the European universities in the middle ages. Recently, European policies were strongly oriented towards the promotion of student and academic mobility and the creation of research networks and projects within Europe. Nevertheless, academic labour markets in Europe…