TEACHING AND LEARNING AT UCT: A REPORT ON THE 2003 ACADEMIC YEAR

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The following key aspects of teaching and learning at UCT are outlined in the current report:

Issues Identified in the 2002 Teaching and Learning Report A number of challenges and problems facing UCT were identified in the 2002 Teaching and Learning Report. Accountability for addressing these challenges was allocated to various managers, and subsequently monitored by the SEC. These challenges fell within the broad headings of staffing and staff development, ranges of undergraduate courses and course sizes, over-enrolments in relation to agreed enrolment targets, student:staff ratios, PG:UG ratios, and other academic indicators. In most instances, there was substantive engagement with the issues raised, and various institutional, CHED/IPD and faculty-based programmes and projects set out to address these challenges.

Students Student enrolments at UCT grew at a rate of 5% per annum between 1999 and 2003. Undergraduate enrolments grew at a rate of 5,7% per annum, whilst postgraduates grew by just over 4% per annum. There were also differential growth rates across the faculties and the subject area groupings: the greatest numerical growth took place within the Faculty of Commerce, but the Faculty of Humanities remains the largest of UCT’s 6 faculties. UCT’s 2003 proportion of SET enrolments was markedly in excess of the NPHE goal of 40%, whist the proportional enrolment in the broad humanities was 10 percentage points lower than the NPHE goal of 40%. Growth in undergraduate enrolments has resulted, to a large extent, from progressive increases in the take-up rates on new undergraduate offers made within a growing pool of new undergraduate applicants to UCT. The numerical increases in the new undergraduate applicant pool have been accompanied by marked improvements in the prior matric performance profiles of these applicants. Preferential offering to stronger applicants gave rise, in 2003, to a situation where 50% of all new undergraduate admissions and 60% of all new undergraduate enrolments had achieved either notional “A” or “B” matric aggregates. Although the longer term academic progress of these students will only become apparent within 5 years or so, there are already indications of improved junior course success rates amongst these students. There has been a progressive decline in the proportion of black applicants amongst recent applicant pools, and this has been mirrored, proportionally, within the new undergraduate admissions pools. The dynamics in the equity profiles of the new undergraduate applicant and admissions pool have resulted in a period of apparent stability in the proportion of black undergraduate students (at around 51-51%) over the 1999 – 2003 period. The proportion of black postgraduate enrolments, however, increased by 4 percentage points to a level of 44% over the same period. UCT’s enrolment profile in terms of proportions within the various formal qualification types remained relatively stable over the 1999 – 2003 period. This university’s substantial enrolment in professional first bachelors’ programmes, particularly within the business/management field, remains outstanding in the South African HE context. At the postgraduate level, the 1999 – 2003 period has seen substantial growth in honours enrolments (up 47%), masters enrolments (up 23%) and doctoral enrolments (up 24%). Masters plus doctoral enrolments together made up 17% of the 2003 head count enrolment total.

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UCT’s graduate outputs over the 1999 – 2003 period grew by just over 11%. Over the same period, the total institutional enrolment grew by almost 22%. Consequently, the institutional “graduation rate” dropped from 26% in 1999 to 23% in 2003. It is important to recognize that there will inevitably be a lag in the graduation rates associated with growth in enrolments since students will most commonly be registered for between 3 and 5 years before graduating. Masters and doctoral graduates together made up 12% of all graduates in 2003, but this group of graduates was predominantly (61%) white. The 1999 – 2003 period saw progressive improvements in the success rates in 100-level to 300-level courses. There were also marked improvements in the success rates amongst black students in 100-level to 300-level courses. There are nevertheless still marked differences in the undergraduate success rates amongst students within the different population groups, which the university will need to explain and address. Similarly, although there were clear improvements in the proportions of “successful” undergraduate students (those either graduating or achieving “CON” annual academic progress codes) by faculty and by population group between 1999 and 2003, the overall proportion of “successful” white students (94%) remains markedly higher than that amongst African and coloured students Analyses of the longitudinal progress of first-time entering students within the 1995 – 1999 entry cohorts revealed that 64% of the 1999 entry cohort, in comparison with 60% of the 1998 cohort, had graduated within 5 years of initial registration at UCT. The improved completion rate amongst the 1999 cohort resulted from a 5 percentage point decrease in the overall rate of academic exclusions in comparison with that amongst the 1998 cohort (12% of the 1999 cohort, in comparison with 17% of the 1998 cohort), and a 3 percentage point drop in the proportion of drop-outs in good academic standing (down to 16%). The high level of voluntary drop-out (as opposed to formal academic exclusion) within the 1999 FU remains problematic. Cohort completion rates across the 1995 – 1999 entry years varied markedly in relation to entry faculty and population group, and the rates of academic exclusion amongst African, coloured and Indian students remained significantly higher than those amongst white students.

Staffing and student:staff ratios The overall permanent, full-time academic staffing complement of the university diminished slightly between 1999 and 2003, largely due to staff losses within the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Science. Increased in FTE (full-time equivalent) student enrolments over the same period resulted in increased FTE student:academic staff ratios within most Faculties. When student:staff ratios were examined in terms of FTE:SLE ratios (where SLE’s, or senior lecturer equivalents, are calculated from total academic staffing budgets in each year) it was clear that the overall institutional weighted FTE:SLE ratio changed only slightly between 2001 and 2003. This would indicate that growth in weighted FTE student enrolments was matched by increases in academic staffing budgets. A possible concern would be that these ratios imply the increased use of ad hoc, or non-recurrent academic staff in some areas, and that such staff have not passed through the selection committee process for academic staff. Between 1999 and 2003, the proportion of academic staff with doctoral or masters degrees fluctuated around the 86% level. The institutional proportion of academic staff in the senior ranks grew by 2 percentage points between 1999 and 2003, although there were marked differences in the changes in senior academic staff proportions amongst the faculties. Within the Faculties of Commerce and Law, marked declines in the proportions of academic staff in the senior ranks were accompanied by substantial decreases in the proportions of white academic staff, suggesting the preferential filling of vacant posts with junior staff from the designated groups.

Quality Assurance

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Seven review units participated in the University’s first, pilot-round, of internal academic reviews, as mandated by the Quality Assurance policy document, approved by Senate and Council at the end of 2001. Aspects of curriculum management, attention to issues of access and equity, student performance, calibre of staff and efforts to increase research outputs were commonly commended by the Review Panels. Other aspects of these attributes, as well as issues of resourcing, social responsibility and transformation were identified as key challenges for the units reviewed. The Deans noted that the reviews tended to confirm perceptions of existing strengths in the departments/divisions under review and reported that the reviews were generally experienced as useful exercises despite the amount of time involved in preparing comprehensive self-review portfolios and supplementary evidence. The Quality Assurance Working Group established a Quality Management Systems (QMS) Task Team last year to identify gaps in UCT current QMS. A plan was drawn up based on an analysis of identified gaps in relation to the draft HEQC Criteria for institutional audits and an internal survey of UCT’s QMS conducted in the middle of 2003. In many instances there were already processes underway within UCT to address some of the gaps identified, but some new activities were initiated. The team will soon be replaced by a Steering Committee, which will oversee preparations for the HEQC institutional audit early in 2005.

Responses To The Teaching And Learning Charter And The Plagiarism Policy In 2003, Senate (after consideration by all Faculty Boards and the Board of Higher Education Development) approved the “Teaching and Learning Charter” and “A policy for promoting respect for the work of other, and countering plagiarism”. The by faculty responses to these policies summarized above suggest that a wide range of approaches has been put in place (or were already in existence) across the institution to ensure compliance with the minimum standards set out in the Teaching and Learning Charter. A plagiarism software pilot project is currently underway, under the leadership of Executive Director of ICTS. In addition, actions have been taken by the 6 faculties and the GSB to counter plagiarism through the agreed approaches. In many instances, this has included ensuring that students are adequately informed about what constitutes plagiarism, and providing templates for the correct referencing of the work of other.

HIV/AIDS In The First Year Curriculum HIV/AIDS teaching is currently taking place within three large first year courses, namely PSY101W (Health Psychology), SWK112H (Becoming a Professional) and BUS110F/S (Thinking About Business). In 2003, a total of almost 2600 students participated in these courses.

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1. INTRODUCTION

This report on teaching and learning at UCT follows the 2001 transitional report, the 2002 report, and the follow-up on issues identified within the 2002 report. The Teaching and Learning Report has been structured in order to monitor both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of student experience and performance at UCT, in a format consistent with the statutory requirements of the Council on Higher Education’s Higher Education Quality Committee.

The 2003 report incorporates 6 main sections. These sequential sections seek to: monitor progress on identifying issues addressed in the 2002 Teaching and

Learning Report (Section 2); frame the overall teaching and learning environment in relation to student

enrolment and trends in academic staffing provision (Section 3); report on key academic indicators such as student success rates and

longitudinal progress of first-time entering undergraduate students within the larger programme groups (Section 4);

report on progress towards the full implementation of UCT’s 2001 Senate approved Quality Assurance Framework (Section 5);

summarise the responses of the 6 Faculties and the GSB to the 2003 Teaching and Learning Charter and the Policy for Promoting Respect for the Work of Others, and Countering Plagiarism (Section 6); and

quantify the coverage of HIV/AIDS issues within first year teaching (Section 7).

Much of the second and third parts of the report (those dealing with the overall teaching and learning environment and the various academic indicators) takes the form of exception reporting, in keeping with Council’s comments on the 2001 Teaching and Learning report. Also in accordance with Council’s comments on the 2002 report, these sections of the report now include a strong population group equity focus. Sections 5 to 7 of the report are of a more descriptive nature.

2. PROGRESS REPORT ON ACTION TAKEN TO ADDRESS ISSUES ARISING FROM THE 2002 TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT

The Teaching and Learning Report of 2002 highlighted a number of problems and challenges facing UCT with regard to improving the quality of Teaching and Learning. Accountability for addressing these challenges was allocated to various managers. The managers were requested to provide progress reports to the Institutional Planning Department (IPD) at the end of September 2003 and the end of February 2004. Consolidated reports were submitted to the SEC. The problems were organised in terms of the following headings:

i. Staffing and staff developmentii. Range of courses and enrolmentsiii. Overshoots in enrolment targetsiv. Student: Staff ratiosv. PG: UG ratios and enrolment planningvi. Academic Indicatorsvii. Drop-outsviii. Academic exclusions

i. Staffing and Staff Development The 2002 report suggested that the drop in the qualification level of new academic staff was due to the employment of staff from designated groups, but this was not substantiated by deeper analysis of the data. It was therefore deemed necessary to investigate reasons for the higher turnover of staff and the

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drop in qualification levels of staff. There was a strong belief that uncompetitive salaries were a major cause of the high turnover of academic staff. It is therefore hoped that the 2003 salary adjustments will improve retention and motivate staff to obtain higher qualifications. Data is being collected on workloads to assess the impact of these on staff retention. In order to address concerns about lower entry-level qualifications of new staff a preliminary set of requirements for minimum entry levels per faculty has been developed. More work is required before these can be finalised.

The New Academic Practitioners Programme was launched in 2004 as part of the staff development programme. HR has indicated that a comprehensive HRD strategy will be complete and signed off by October 2004.

ii. Range of courses Considerable time and energy has gone into developing strategies for dealing with small numbers in Language courses (Faculty of Humanities) including the development of a regional approach, extending the utilisation of staff expertise in languages and increasing headcounts. The faculty has established a Curriculum Review task team to examine undergraduate and postgraduate offerings and issues raised in relation to music and other small courses. The faculty has also set up a governance team to develop proposals for a new organogram for the faculty.

iii. Overshoots in enrolment targets

The enrolments in several faculties exceeded the approved targets. Faculties suggested that this had occurred because of increases in the take-up rates and the need to improve equity profiles. Most of the faculties decided to raise their entry requirements for 2005 in an attempt to reduce numbers.

Members of the Senior Leadership Group are working on a framework for making strategic choices in relation to becoming Selectively Comprehensive. The faculties are also engaging in these discussions.

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iv. Student:Staff ratios

In 2003 the standard FTE: staff ratio presented a picture suggesting increasing teaching loads in all faculties except in the GSB and EBE. However if FTE:SLE ratios were used it appeared that Commerce and EBE were spending less money on staff in relation to students than the other faculties. It was felt that the impact of FTE:SLE ratios should be investigated as part of the Throughput project. A first report on the findings of the throughput project was presented to the SLG in November. This report identified areas requiring more detailed investigation based on the analysis of the data.

v. PG:UG ratios and enrolment planning

The Guide for Action on becoming a medium-sized contact institution committed UCT to increasing the proportion of postgraduate enrolments whilst not growing beyond 20 000 students thus setting a target of UG:PG of 70:30. Analysis of the data suggested that it might be necessary to review this target given that some of the faculties were significantly below the targeted proportion of postgraduate students. The Humanities and Science faculties indicated that it would be difficult to attain this target with the current levels of staffing and resources. The Commerce faculty indicated that the challenges to increase postgraduate activities are formidable because the attainment of postgraduate qualifications does not increase expected lifetime earnings for Commerce graduates. EBE felt that it might be possible to approximate the 70:30 targets in some departments but it would be extremely difficult for the faculty as a whole to attain this ratio. Law and Health Sciences had already exceeded the targeted postgraduate proportions. Whilst there remains a strong commitment to increasing the numbers of postgraduate students, the university has decided to modify its approach to enrolment planning at the undergraduate level. In the enrolment planning exercise for 2005 a more nuanced approach, which takes account of equity goals and capacity to absorb more students, will be adopted. A feasibility study to investigate ways of utilising the University’s assets more effectively has been approved. The intention is to explore ways of increasing student numbers, improve throughputs and reduce dropout rates through the use of the Third Term and more flexible modes of delivery.

CHED has initiated a project to investigate ways of enhancing postgraduate throughputs, and improving recruitment strategies.

Much progress has been made with regard to improving the alignment between the recruitment, admissions, financial aid and residence processes. For example, residence places have been allocated to faculties in proportion to their offer targets. The use of AARP tests helped to speed up the process of making decisions about applicants who apply for a combination of a study place, financial aid and a place in residence. Various changes have been implemented to reduce the turnaround time for making admissions decisions about applicants. Whilst several problems remain, these strategies appear to have had a positive impact on improving the equity profile of students in certain areas and in the residences.

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vi. Academic Indicators

The report highlighted the fact that the number of graduates in several faculties was not increasing at the same rate as that of enrolments. To investigate the reasons for this and declining throughput rates in most of the university, longitudinal studies of 1995 – 1998 FU intakes into several programmes were undertaken. The cohorts were analysed in terms of population group and ADP vs mainstream registrations. In most instances, lower than expected graduation rates appear to be associated with high levels of dropout in good academic standing. CHED and IPD are now working with the faculties to drill down to the course performance level to detect “killer courses” and other obstacles. In the meantime Commerce has embarked on the systematic re-design of their foundation/extended curriculum. The Law faculty’s Academic Planning Committee will be assessing how to respond to the recommendations regarding the problem of throughput in the LLB Academic Review process. The Science faculty is reviewing the design and utilisation of course evaluation mechanisms to strengthen their “early warning” systems.

vii. Drop-outs

The 2002 report highlighted that there was a large increase in the numbers of students dropping out in good academic standing. A pilot research project was initiated by CHED to investigate the possible reasons for this. An institution wide study will be launched by the IPD in the second half of the first term.

viii. Academic exclusions

The percentage of academic exclusions in some undergraduate programmes appeared to be very high. To investigate this, summaries per programme for the period 1998 – 2003 were compiled. It was found that African students make up the largest proportion of the cumulative academic exclusions for all undergraduates, across all faculties. Further analysis of the academic exclusion problem will be undertaken within the second phase of the throughput project. A study undertaken by the Science faculty has highlighted the need to develop various kinds of interventions in the first year of study, to deal with “affective” and often extra-curricular issues which impact significantly on the academic performance of students. There is also a need for regular reviews of the various models of Academic Development.

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3. STUDENTS AND STAFFING IN 2003: AN OVERVIEW

i. Student enrolments and enrolment profiles

Tables 1 to 3 of the Appendix show changes in June census day head count enrolments amongst all students, undergraduate students and postgraduates over the period 1999 – 2003. These tables include concurrent registrations and do not differentiate between part-time and full time students, or between occasional and full degree students. It is important to note that these tables do not reflect second semester registrations, i.e. those students who enrolled after the June census day and thus that year end registration totals would reflect larger postgraduate (masters and doctoral) enrolments.

Table 11 shows that the June census enrolment grew by 22% (or at a rate of 5% per annum) over the 1999 – 2003 period. Overall changes in faculty head count enrolments are ranked below in descending order of average annual change:

FacultyAve. Annual change

1999 - 2003Change in head

counts 1999 - 2003Science +9.5% +753GSB +9.0% +124Commerce +7.4% +1290All Faculties +5.0% +3562Humanities +4.6% +916Law +2.8% +96EBE +2.3% +247Health Sciences +1.4% +136

Average annual changes in head count enrolments within the Faculties of Science and Commerce, and the GSB were in excess of the average institutional growth rate for the 1999 – 2003 period. However, numerical growth in head count enrolments in the Faculty of Commerce accounted for more than a third of the total growth in the institutional enrolment over this period. Slightly more than 25% of the growth in head count enrolments was located in the Humanities Faculty, and growth in enrolments in the Science Faculty made up 21% of the overall institutional growth. The Faculty of Humanities remains the largest faculty in terms of student enrolments: in June 2003, 28% of all students at UCT were registered within this faculty.

In 2003, 39% of all head count enrolments at UCT were within the SET (Science/Engineering/Technology) faculties, 33% were in the broad humanities faculties and 28% were in business/management studies. In broad faculty enrolment terms, UCT’s 2003 enrolments in SET type programmes exceeded the NPHE goal of 30%, whilst those in the broad humanities were 10 percentage points lower than the NPHE goal of 40%. Although the proportional enrolment in the business/management area closely approximated the NPHE goal of 30%, a drill down analysis of the enrolment to the level of the major would place a significant proportion of the university’s Commerce enrolment (those in Information Technology type programmes) within the SET group, suggesting that

1 Table 1: Total undergraduate plus postgraduate head count student enrolments: 1999 - 2003

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UCT’s enrolment within this subject grouping is even higher than suggested within the by faculty summary.

Tables 22 and 33 of the Appendix show that enrolments at the undergraduate level (including first degrees, diplomas and certificates) grew by 25% (or by 5,7% per annum) over the 1999 – 2003 period. Over the same period, postgraduate enrolments grew by 17% (i.e. at a rate of 4,1% per annum). Although it should be borne in mind that the data shown in Tables 1 and 3 of the Appendix do not reflect second semester registrations (which are largely located in the senior postgraduate sector), it is clear that 71% of all enrolments in 2003 were within undergraduate programmes and thus that UCT remains a predominantly undergraduate institution.

A comparison of Appendix Tables 2 and 3 shows that in all faculties other than EBE, Commerce and Health Sciences, growth in undergraduate enrolments over the 1999 – 2003 period exceeded that in postgraduate enrolments. The resultant 2003 relative proportions of undergraduate and postgraduate enrolments in each Faculty are compared below:

Faculty % Undergraduates % Postgraduates Total head countsCommerce 83% 17% 5183Humanities 76% 24% 5616EBE 73% 27% 2809All Faculties 71% 29% 19978Science 66% 34% 2476Health Sciences 61% 39% 2564GSB 46% 54% 426Law 20% 80% 904Note: Throughout this report, undergraduate enrolments are taken to include all enrolments in first degrees, diplomas and certificates. Postgraduate enrolments are taken to include enrolments in second (postgraduate) bachelors’ degrees, postgraduate diplomas, honours, masters and doctoral degrees.

This tabulation shows that three of UCT’s faculties (Commerce, Humanities and EBE) have undergraduate enrolment fractions in excess of the 71% institutional proportion. The Faculty of Commerce, in particular, remains a particularly strong undergraduate faculty. The 2003 enrolment profiles within the Faculties of Science and Health Sciences were more strongly postgraduate than that of the institution as a whole. Only the GSB and the Faculty of Law had postgraduate enrolment proportions in excess of 50%. The proportion of postgraduate enrolments in Law has diminished in parallel with the growth of enrolments in the undergraduate LLB, which commenced in 1999. It should be noted that substantial proportions of the 2003 Commerce, EBE and Health Sciences enrolments (45%, 59% and 60% respectively) were within professional first bachelors’ degrees, the final years of which equate in course content and subsidy terms to the honours level.

Growth in UCT’s undergraduate enrolments has, to a large extent, resulted from progressive increases in the take-up on new undergraduate offers made within a burgeoning new undergraduate applicant pool. The 2003 new undergraduate applicant pool was 12 000 strong, and was the largest seen in 10 years of analyses of undergraduate admissions cycles; it is of interest to note that the growth in the new undergraduate applicant pool between the 2002 and 2003 cycles (412 applicants) resulted almost entirely from an increase in the number of transferring undergraduate applicants, i.e. those wishing to transfer into UCT from other, mostly South African, HE institutions. Although academic offers were made to slightly smaller proportion of the 2003 applicant pool in comparison with prior 2 Table 2: Undergraduate student enrolments: 1999 - 20033 Table 3: Postgraduate student enrolments: 1999 - 2003

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years (59%, in comparison with 63% in 2001 and 61% in 2000), 61% of the new undergraduate admissions took up their places at UCT. The new undergraduate intake in 2003 therefore exceeded the targets set in the process of planning the 2003 enrolment by just over 400 students, or by 12% of the enrolment target. The tabulation below compares the 2003 new undergraduate targets and actual enrolments within the 6 faculties:

Faculty 2003 New UG Target2003 new UG Actual

Enrolment2003 Actual less

Target % OvershootLaw 44 57 13 30%Commerce 1029 1209 180 17%EBE 546 638 92 17%All Faculties 3403 3810 407 12%Humanities 995 1052 57 6%Science 520 541 21 4%Health Sciences 305 313 8 3%Note: These figures do not include targets and actual enrolments in undergraduate certificate and diplomaprogrammes

The actual 2003 undergraduate enrolment in each of the faculties was in excess of the 2003 targets, but the overshoots were proportionately most significant in the Faculties of Law, Commerce and EBE. In numeric terms, 44% of the 2003 overshoot in new undergraduate enrolments was located within the Commerce Faculty; significant proportions of the 407 total (23% and 14% respectively) were located in EBE and Humanities.

Recent admissions cycles have shown progressive increases in the absolute numbers of new undergraduate applicants to UCT, as well as in the proportions of these applicants with notional “A” and “B” matric aggregates. 17% of all new undergraduate applicants, 50% of all new undergraduate admissions and 60% of all new undergraduate enrolments in 2003 (50% in 2002) had achieved either “A” or “B” equivalent matric aggregates. Table 74 of the Appendix, which presents the prior matric performance profiles of recent new undergraduate intakes, shows that the proportion of “A” aggregate students within the 2003 intake (29%) was 6 percentage points higher than that in 2002, whilst the proportion of “B” aggregates grew by 4 percentage points to 31% between 2002 and 2003. At the same time, the proportions of new undergraduate students entering UCT with notional “C” and “D” aggregates each decreased by 5 percentage points to 20% and 3% respectively. The proportion of notional “C” and “D” aggregate new undergraduates decreased by 10 percentage points each between 1999 and 2003. Appendix Table 7 shows that in 2003, 90% of the new undergraduate intake into Health Sciences, 78% of that into the Commerce Faculty and 60% of the EBE intake had achieved notional “A” or “B” matric aggregates. The equivalent proportions in 1999 were 89%, 59% and 53% respectively. Substantial proportions of the 2000 – 2003 entry cohorts are still enrolled as undergraduates at UCT and it is therefore not possible to comment on the longitudinal performance at UCT of these cohorts of apparently academically strong new undergraduate entrants. There has, however, been a marked improvement in the success rate of undergraduate students in undergraduate courses over the 1999 – 2003 period. These improved course success rates have been most apparent within 100-level courses, specifically within the Faculties of Commerce, Humanities and Science (see Table 16 of the Appendix). There has, however, been no associated overall decline in the proportion of academic exclusions at the undergraduate level over the same period (see Table 17 of the Appendix)

The apparent improvement in the prior matric performance profile of the new undergraduate applicant pool has, unfortunately, been paralleled by an overall decline in the proportion of black applicants to UCT. The tabulation below shows 4 Table 7: Matric aggregate equivalents of all first-time entering undergraduates

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that the proportion of black, first choice, new undergraduate applicants to all faculties other than Science diminished between 1999 and 2003. First choice new undergraduate applicants to the Faculty of Humanities were, in 2003, more than 50% white:

Faculty

Proportion of black first choice new UG

applicants: 2003

Change in proportion of black first choice new UG applicants:

1999 - 2003Law 80% -5Health Sciences 74% -4EBE 73% -3Commerce 66% -1All Faculties 65% -4Science 64% +1Humanities 49% -4

The decreasing proportion of black new undergraduate applicants is reflected in a decrease in the proportion of black admissions (academic offers) within most faculties over the 1999 – 2003 period:

Faculty

Proportion of black first choice new UG

offers 2003

Change in proportion of black first choice

new UG offers 1999 - 2003

EBE 68% -3Law 67% -6Health Sciences 61% -4Commerce 57% 0All Faculties 55% -5Science 57% -2Humanities 43% -12

This tabulation provides some indication of the black applicant retention funnel at UCT, and provides a pre-enrolment perspective on the current problems of recruiting and retaining black applicants to UCT.

The dynamics in the equity profiles of the new undergraduate applicant and admissions pool have resulted in a period of apparent stability in the proportion of black undergraduate students over the 1999 – 2003 period: the proportion of black undergraduate students has fluctuated around the 51-52% level during this period. The proportion of black postgraduate enrolments, however, increased by 4 percentage points over the same period. Tables 4 to 65 of the Appendix, which provide data on recent trends in all enrolments, postgraduate enrolments and undergraduate enrolments by population group, however show that there are marked differences in population group profiles across the faculties and across the different levels of enrolment.

The overall enrolments of the Faculties of Commerce, and Humanities and the GSB remain predominantly white (54%, 53% and 60% respectively), although the proportion of white enrolments in Commerce has declined, whilst that in Humanities increased (by 5% points) over the 1999 -2003 period. Only the 5 Table 4: Headcount student enrolments by population group Table 5: Undergraduate student enrolments by population group Table 6: Postgraduate student enrolments by population group

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Faculties of Law and EBE had, in 2003, black enrolment proportions of more than 50%. The population group profiles within the 6 faculties and the GSB have however shifted to varying degrees over the last five years. The resultant faculty profiles and overall changes in the proportions of black enrolments are shown below in descending order of percentage change in black enrolments:

Faculty % Black UG's % Black PG'sOverall % Black

Students

% Increase in black students

1999 - 2003Science 55% 41% 50% 7%GSB 56% 27% 40% 6%Health Sciences 55% 41% 50% 6%Commerce 47% 40% 49% 2%EBE 60% 52% 58% 2%Law 56% 51% 52% 2%All Faculties 51% 44% 49% 1%Humanities 47% 46% 47% -5%

This tabulation shows that growth in black enrolments in the Faculties of Science, Health Sciences and the GSB markedly exceeded that across the institution as a whole, but that the 2003 black enrolments in EBE and Law were markedly larger than the institutional proportion of 49%. Only the Faculty of Humanities experienced an actual decline in its proportion of black enrolments between 1999 and 2003; the proportionately large enrolment in this faculty effectively pulls the overall institutional growth in black enrolments down to only 1% for the same period.

ii. Academic staffing provision and profiles There are significant differences in approaches to teaching within different programmes across UCT’s faculties. The UCT Curriculum Project identified the following range of modes if knowledge transfer within and across the faculties:

Conventional (didactic) teaching models involving traditional lectures and tutorials, which are used throughout the university;

IT enhanced delivery, enabling a combination of didactic and problem based learning, and incorporating lectures and computer laboratory sessions;

Laboratory-based knowledge transfer, providing teaching in specialized environments;

Studio based teaching, as within Architecture and Planning and the Visual and Performing Arts;

Weekly seminar sessions, which are commonly used in senior and postgraduate courses;

Peer-group and problem-based learning, including project and on-line learning;

Off-campus experiential learning; and Interactive video conferencing.

Clearly these different modes of knowledge transfer have particular resource implications in terms of both staffing and physical facilities. Studio-based teaching models in particular are resource intensive and place clear limitations on class sizes. In addition, the university’s full-time, permanent academic staff are complemented to varying levels by contract academic staff, visiting lecturers, tutors and demonstrators. Tables 8 to 11 of the Appendix present a by faculty comparison of full-time academic staff provision, and ratios between these staff and the full-time equivalent student enrolment within each faculty. Because of the variability of teaching models across the institution, these tables should not be construed as representing any definitive indication of the “quality” of the student learning experience. It should also be noted that only permanent, full-time

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academic staff in the teaching ranks, and those on contracts of 3 years or more, have been included in these tables. The data in these tables has been derived from underlying unit record data obtained from Human Resources.

Tables 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Appendix depict the overall numbers of full-time, permanent academic staff per faculty over the period 1999 – 2003, as well as the rank, highest formal qualification and age profiles of these staff. The Faculty of Health Sciences has been omitted from these tabulations because of the complexities that arise due to joint staffing arrangements with the Provincial Administration of the Western Cape (PAWC).

Table 8a6 shows that the overall permanent, full-time academic staff complement of the university has diminished slightly (by 7 staff or 1% of the 1999 total) over the period 1999 – 2003. The overall decline in the academic staffing total has arisen largely due to staff losses within the Faculties of Humanities and Science; these have, to some extent, been balanced by increased staffing provision in the Faculties of Commerce and Law, and in the GSB over the 1999 – 2003 period. Table 8a shows that the Faculty of Humanities’ share of UCT’s total academic staffing complement dropped by 3 percentage points to 34% between 1999 and 2003. At the same time (see Appendix Table 1), this faculty’s share of the total student enrolment remained fairly constant at around 28-29%. The Faculty of Science’s proportion of the institutional academic staff total fluctuated around the 26% level between 1999 and 2003; during the same period, this Faculty’s share of the total head count enrolment increased by 2 percentage points to 12% in 2003. The academic staff total within the Faculty of Commerce dropped back to 15% of the institutional total, having reached a high of 16% in 2002; at the same time, this Faculty’s share of the overall head count enrolment has increased to 26% of the total. The Faculty of Law’s share of the total academic staff increased by 1 percentage point to 6% between 1999 and 2003 whilst its share of the total head count enrolment remained level at 5%. Between 1999 and 2003, the Faculty of EBE’s share of the total student body (14 – 16%) closely matched the faculty’s proportion of the academic staffing complement, which varied between 15% and 16% of the total.

The overall effect of the 2001 – 2003 changes in student enrolments in relation to academic staffing in the Faculties is shown in Table 8b of the Appendix. This depiction of the full-time equivalent (FTE)7 enrolled student to full-time academic staff ratio, a high level indicator of the student “learning experience” by Faculty at UCT, shows a progressive increase in most Faculties; there appears to have been a levelling of these ratios between 2002 and 2003 in EBE and Humanities, and a decline in the GSB FTE:academic staff ratio. Between 2001 and 2003, the overall institutional weighted FTE:SLE ratio increased from 27 to 32, although the greatest increase in this ratio took place between 2001 and 2002.The apparent increase in the teaching loads of full-time academic staff between 2000 and 2003 is nevertheless a substantive one, and may impact negatively on the research productivity of staff in those Faculties where the change has been greatest. The 2003 Faculty FTE enrolled student ratios and the changes in these ratios over the 2000 – 2003 period are ranked below:

6 Table 8a: Full-time academic staff in each faculty: 1999 - 20037 A full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrolment for a course at the undergraduate level is determined by multiplying its head count enrolment by the fraction that the course constitutes of a standard full-time curriculum (the FTE credit value). Thus if an undergraduate course with a head count enrolment is taken concurrently with three other courses, its FTE total will be 0.25x400=100. Undergraduate courses taken in fourth year, and Honours courses, are weighted by 2, Masters-level enrolments are weighted by 3 and doctoral registrations are weighted by a factor of 4. Consequently, the total of weighted FTEs for an academic department or Faculty expresses both the teaching load and the seniority of students. If a Faculty provides service teaching for other Faculties (for example, the provision of courses in Mathematics by the Science Faculty, then FTE enrolments will be higher than headcount enrolments. Faculties with proportionately more postgraduate students will have proportionately higher FTE enrolments than headcount enrolments.

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The overall FTE enrolled student:full-time academic staff ratio for the University is pulled upwards by the particularly high student loadings in the Faculties of Commerce and Law. Moreover, it is clear that the combination of rapid growth in student numbers in recent years within most faculties, and a stable (GSB, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Humanities) to decreasing (Faculties of Commerce and Science) full-time academic staff body has given rise to pronounced increases in the FTE enrolled student:staff ratios within all faculties other than EBE, and within the institution as a whole.

The depiction in Table 8b of senior lecturer equivalents (SLE’s) however indicates that in all Faculties (most notably the Faculties of Law, and EBE), the increased weighted FTE enrolments during the 2001 - 2003 period were paralleled by significant academic staffing budget increases. Within the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, the slight decrease in FTE enrolments between 2001 and 2003 was associated with a substantial increase in the total academic staffing budget. The FTE:SLE ratios shown in Table 8B suggest that increased academic staffing budgets within the Faculty of EBE, and to a lesser extent within the Faculty of Commerce, resulted in lower FTE: SLE loadings in 2003 as compared with 2001. Within all of the other faculties, and the GSB, the increased budgetary provision for academic staffing did not match the increase in student FTE’s, and hence the FTE:SLE loadings increased between 2001 and 2003. The tabulation below presents a by faculty ranking of the weighted FTE enrolments to SLE’s, and the associated changes in weighted FTE:SLE ratios over the 2001 – 2003 period:

FacultyFTE students: SLE

ratio 2003

Change in FTE student: SLE ratio

20001- 2003Law 27.5 +3.6Commerce 26.5 -0.6Humanities 20.2 +2.1All Faculties 18.5 -0.1Science 14.3 +1.1EBE 11.8 -6.2GSB 11.4 +1.4

The overall institutional weighted FTE:SLE ratio changed only slightly between 2001 and 2003, indicating that growth in weighted FTE enrolments was matched by increases in academic staffing budgets. The positive changes in the FTE:SLE ratios within the Faculties of Law (+3.6) and Humanities (+2.1), and (to a lesser extent) within the Faculty of Science (+1.1) and the GSB (+1.4), indicate that academic staffing budgets in these areas had not kept pace with the growth in enrolments over the 2001 - 2003 period. A comparison of the changes in the weighted FTE: academic staff (up by 6) and weighted FTE:SLE ratios (down by 0.6) for the Faculty of Commerce indicates that the growth in the FTE enrolments was

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Faculty

FTE students: academic staff ratio

2003

Change in FTE student:staff ratio

2001 - 2003Commerce 54 +4Law 51 +16All Faculties 32 +5Humanities 29 +6EBE 25 +1Science 24 +5GSB 18 +3

accompanied by increased use of non-recurrent academic staff, which increased the total academic staff budget, rather than the full-time academic staff complement, within this Faculty.

Recent trends in highest formal qualification profiles amongst academic staff are shown in Table 98 of the Appendix. Between 1999 and 2003, the proportion of academic staff (including permanent and T3 contract staff) qualified at the doctoral or masters level fluctuated slightly around 86%. The proportion of staff with qualifications below the honours level (which, in terms of this HEMIS/SAPSE aligned analysis, includes staff in possession of professional first bachelors degrees) however grew by 3 percentage points to 8% over the 1999 – 2003 period.

A ranking, by faculty, of the proportions of full-time academic staff with doctoral and masters level qualifications, and the changes in these proportions over the 1999 – 2003 period, is shown in the tabulation below:

This tabulation shows that there was no apparent decrease in the proportion of staff with masters and doctoral level qualifications between 1999 and 2003. The Faculties of Science, Humanities, EBE and the GSB all had proportions of staff qualified at the doctors and masters level (95%, 86%, 85% and 100% respectively) greater than or equal to the institutional average of 86%. Only the professionally oriented Faculties of Commerce and Law had less than 86% of their academic staff qualified at the masters or doctoral level.

Table 109 of the Appendix shows that there has been a slight overall increase in the proportion of staff ranked at the level of senior lecturer and above (up from 73% in 1999 to 75% in 2003) amongst the permanent and T3 academic staff. At the same time, the proportion of assistant lecturers has dropped by percentage points to 1% of the academic staff total in 2003. The proportions of senior academic staff in each faculty (those ranked at the level of senior lecturer and above), and the changes in these proportions over the 1999 – 2003 period, are organised below in decreasing order:

8 Table 9: Academic staff by highest formal qualification: 1999 - 20039 Table 10: Academic staff by rank: 1999 - 2003

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Faculty% of staff with M+D

degrees

Change in % of M+D qualified staff 1999 -

2003EBE 85% +8%GSB 100% +12%Commerce 72% +1%All Faculties 86% 0%Science 95% -2%Humanities 86% -2%Law 73% -3%

The institutional proportion of academic staff in the senior ranks grew by 2 percentage points between 1999 and 2003. However, there were marked differences in the changes in senior academic staff proportions amongst the faculties: within the Faculties of Commerce and Law, the proportions of senior academic staff dropped markedly between 1999 and 2003. Within these 2 faculties, the proportions of staff at the level of lecturer and below increased markedly.

At the same time, the age group distribution amongst full-time academic (permanent and T3) staff (see Table 11a10 of the Appendix) appeared to remain relatively stable over the 1999 – 2003 period. There was a slight (4 percentage point) increase in the proportion of staff aged 39 years and below, and a concomitant 3 percentage point decrease in the proportion of staff aged 40-44 years.

Table 11b11 of the Appendix shows that the proportion of white academics diminished by 3 percentage points (to 83%) over the 1999 – 2003 period. Changes in the proportions of white academic staff in each Faculty are shown below:

White staff continue to dominate the academic ranks, but there have been some marked decreases in the proportions of white academic staff in 3 faculties (Law, Commerce and Science). These changes have been balanced to a large extent by the relatively stable population group profile amongst the academic staff of the Faculty of Humanities, within which 34% of all academic staff are located.

Complete details of UCT’s research activities are provided in the annual University Research Report, which should be read in conjunction with the Teaching and Learning Report. Table 1212 of the Appendix however provides an overview of the research publication outputs of the 6 faculties and the GSB for the years 1999 – 2003. This table includes those publications submitted for subsidy purposes only, and it should be noted that only the accredited research article count

10 Table 11a: Academic staff by age group: 1999 - 200311 Table 11b: Academic staff by race: 1999 - 200312 Table 12: Research Outputs: 1999 - 2002

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Faculty% of staff at senior lecturer level and >

Change in % of staff at lecturer level and <

EBE 87% +7%GSB 85% +3%Science 80% +8%All Faculties 75% +2%Humanities 72% +4%Law 63% -11%Commerce 59% -14%

Faculty% of staff at senior lecturer level and >

Change in % of white academic staff

Law 75% -10%Commerce 85% -8%Science 86% -6%All Faculties 83% -3%EBE 84% -2%Humanities 79% 0%GSB 90% 8%

provides definite information on subsidy generating publications produced within each of the Faculties. Although some between Faculty differences in both the nature and the total number of research publications are apparent in Table 12, it is nevertheless clear that UCT students are, in general, taught by academic staff who are active in research in their particular disciplines.

The range of undergraduate subject choices and class sizes provide a further indicator of the nature of the “learning experience” of students at UCT. Tables 13a and 13b13 of the Appendix compare the range of undergraduate course offerings, and average undergraduate class sizes in each Faculty between 2000 and 2003. These two measures of the student learning experience are related in that the average undergraduate course size is computed by dividing the range of undergraduate course offerings into the total unweighted full-time equivalent enrolment in each Faculty, in each year. These measures are both of a general nature, and may disguise (for example) variations in class sizes at different course levels and in different departments within each Faculty. Moreover, in some areas, large undergraduate courses are split into smaller classes in the interest of improved teaching delivery – this practice would not be reflected in the figures presented in Table 13a and b unless discreet course codes were used for each class (as is the case within Business Law 1 in the Faculty of Law). Growth in the range of undergraduate course offerings implies that a greater diversity of courses is on offer to undergraduate students, but this indicator is artificially augmented to some extent by repeat courses (those that are run in both the first and second semesters, for example).

The data shown in Table 13a of the Appendix show that the overall institutional range of 100-level to 400-level undergraduate courses increased between 2001 and 2002, and then stabilized between 2002 and 2003. Further inspection of Table 13a shows that the increase in the range of undergraduate course offerings was largely located within the Faculty of Law: the reclassification (for HEMIS reporting purposes) of the postgraduate LLB as a professional first bachelors’ degree, and the associated recoding of previously postgraduate courses within this qualification to the undergraduate level would account for the greater part of the increase in the undergraduate course range within this faculty between 2001 and 2002. The data shown in Table 13a of the Appendix reflect, for the most part, a stability in the range of undergraduate course offerings within most faculties.

The 2002 average undergraduate course sizes for each faculty are organized below in descending order, along with the changes in this parameter between 2001 and 2003:

FacultyAve UG Course

Size: 2003

Change in Ave UG Course Size: 2001 -

2003Commerce 238 +9Law 86 -21Science 84 +7All Faculties 67 +8Health Sciences 55 -3EBE 43 0Humanities 43 +13

Although the optimal average undergraduate course size in any particular faculty or programme within the university must relate to the associated mode of 13 Table 11a: Range of undergraduate course offerings, by faculty and by level of study: 2000 – 2002 Table 11b: Average undergraduate course size, by faculty and level of study: 2000 - 2002

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knowledge transfer, it appears that the overall average institutional undergraduate course size increased to 67 from a level of 59 in 2001. The most significant growth in the average undergraduate course size between 2001 and 2003 took place within the Faculties of Humanities (+13), Commerce (+9) and Science (+7), indicating that increases in FTE student enrolments at the undergraduate level within these faculties not been matched by substantive increases in the existing suites of undergraduate courses. Average undergraduate course sizes within the Faculties of Commerce, Law and Science were, in 2003, considerably higher than the overall institutional figure of 67. The average undergraduate course size in Commerce increased somewhat between 2000 and 2002, and remains more than 3 times higher than that in the University as a whole. The relatively small average undergraduate course sizes that persisted in the Faculties of Engineering and the Built Environment and Humanities are indicative of the wide range of courses available to undergraduate students in these two Faculties. The average undergraduate course size within the Faculties of Humanities and Science has, however, increased markedly between 2001 and 2003, indicating substantial growth in undergraduate FTE enrolments in these faculties, within a relatively stable range of undergraduate course offerings. It should be noted that the wide range in average undergraduate course sizes shown above does not take cognizance of diverse teaching models used in the different Faculties and departments.

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4. ACADEMIC INDICATORS This section of the report examines student performance across the wide range of academic offerings at UCT.

1. Enrolments and completions Tables 1414 of the Appendix shows trends in student enrolments by formal qualification type over the 1999 – 2003 period. The numbers of successful completions, again at the level of the formal qualification, are shown in Appendix Table 1515. Table 14 shows that the substantial overall growth in enrolments over this period has, at the institutional level, not resulted in any major changes in the proportions of students enrolled at the various qualification levels. There has, however, been a slight (2 percentage point) overall increase in the proportion of students enrolled for 3-year (general academic) bachelors’ degrees; this has been balanced by an equivalent decline in the proportional enrolment in professional first bachelors’ degrees. Closer examination of Table 14 at the level of the faculty suggests that this change has resulted from the proportional growth in 3-year programmes in the Faculty of EBE (the BSc(Property Studies) and the BSc(Construction Studies) between 2000 and 2001, as well as from growth in the numbers of BSc enrolments within the Faculty of Science. UCT’s substantial enrolment in professional first bachelors’ programmes, particularly within the business/management field, remains outstanding in the South African HE context. Although the actual numbers of enrolled students are relatively small, this table also reflects the growth in the undergraduate LLB programme within the Faculty of Law since its inception in 1999: 164 students were registered for this programme in 2003. Similarly, the GSB’s changing proportions of undergraduate certificate vs masters level enrolments result from the diversification and growth in enrolments in programmes at the first certificate level within the School. The growth in occasional enrolments shown in Table 14 has been very largely due to an increase in the numbers of semester study abroad (SSA) students, and suggests that UCT’s enrolment planning process must, in the future, deliver agreed SSA enrolment targets by faculty.

At the postgraduate level, the 1999 – 2003 period has seen substantial growth in honours enrolments (up 47%), masters enrolments (up 23%) and doctoral enrolments (up 24%). Enrolments at the postgraduate diploma level showed an increase between 2002 and 2003, but the 2003 enrolment at this level remains 5% lower than the equivalent enrolment in 1999. The decrease in the proportion of postgraduate bachelors enrolments over the 1999 – 2003 period reflects a progressive decline in the absolute numbers of postgraduate LLB enrolments: this has been balanced by the growth of the undergraduate LLB mentioned above. It should be noted that for HEMIS reporting purposes, both the postgraduate LLB (LAWP02) and the Bachelor of Architecture (ENGP01) are classified as professional first bachelor’s degrees. The former postgraduate bachelor’s descriptor has been used in this report as a mechanism of monitoring changes in these degrees, both of which require entrants to have already completed a first bachelors’ degree.

Masters plus doctoral enrolments together made up 17% of UCT’s total enrolment in 2003. The proportions of senior postgraduate (masters plus doctoral) enrolments differ quite markedly across the faculties:

14 Table 14: Headcount enrolments by formal qualification15 Table 15: Total degrees and diplomas awarded

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FacultyTotal M+D head counts in 2003

M+D enrolments as % of head count in

2003GSB 228 54%Health Sciences 833 32%Law 235 26%Science 647 26%EBE 573 20%All Faculties 3395 17%Humanities 708 13%Commerce 171 3%

Within the strongly undergraduate Faculties of Commerce and Humanities in particular, the combined masters plus doctoral enrolments make up a relatively small proportion (in relation to the institutional average) of the total faculty enrolments. This tabulation shows the stronger senior postgraduate focus within the Faculties of Health Sciences, Law, Science and EBE. The shift in enrolment patterns within the Graduate School of Business mentioned above has resulted in a 14 percentage point drop in senior postgraduate enrolment proportion in between 2002 and 2003.

Table 15 of the Appendix provides information on the degrees and diplomas awarded in both June and December of each year, by faculty and by formal qualification type. These figures represent the cumulative academic outcomes of students commencing their studies at UCT over a range of calendar years. The numeric data underlying Table 15, along with the head count enrolment data shown in Table 14, form the basis for the “graduation rate” calculations used by the Department of Education in assessing institutional graduate output efficiencies in relation to the benchmarks set out in the National Plan for Higher Education (NPHE). Although it is widely recognised that the simple graduation rate calculation yields misleading results particularly where enrolments are not in a steady state, a “softened” version of the benchmark graduation rates underpins the normative teaching output subsidy calculations within the new funding formula gazetted in November 2003. It is therefore important that the university continues to monitor student throughput via longitudinal analyses of cohorts of students entering the various qualifications (see section 4 below), so as to be able to explain any apparent variations in “graduation rates” as well as to detect and respond to any actual diminution of cohort completion rates.

Table 15 shows that in 2003, a total of 4664 registered students successfully completed their studies at UCT. UCT’s graduate outputs over the 1999 – 2003 period therefore grew by just over 11%. Over the same period, the total institutional enrolment grew by almost 22%, and the institutional “graduation rate” therefore dropped from 26% in 1999 to 23% in 2003. It is important to recognize that there will inevitably be a lag in the graduation rates associated with growth in enrolments since students will most commonly be registered for between 3 and 5 years before graduating. Again, comprehensive cohort throughput analyses are essential for UCT to be able to defend this position. It is important to note that the 2003 graduate total shown in Table 15 does not include the year’s MBA graduates (whose theses were under examination at the time of this analysis) and hence that the masters level graduate totals shown in Table 15 are artificially low.

Amongst the 4664 graduates in 2003, 17% were awarded undergraduate or postgraduate diplomas, 55% were awarded first bachelors’ degrees, 15% were awarded honours degrees, 10% completed masters degrees and 2% achieved a doctoral level qualification. The 6 percentage point increase in the proportion of 3-year (general academic) first bachelors’ graduates seen between 2002 and 2003

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results from a significant increase in the number of 3-year bachelors’ graduates in Humanities and in Commerce, and also reflects the increasing numbers of BSc(Construction) and BSc(Property Studies) graduates in the Faculty of EBE.

Masters and doctoral level graduates (excluding MBA graduates) together made up 12% (14% in 2002) of the 2003 graduate total. However, the tabulation below shows that senior postgraduate completions are not evenly spread across the faculties:

FacultyTotal M+D graduates

in 2003

M+D graduates as % of all graduates in

2003Law 82 32%EBE 110 21%Science 119 20%Health Sciences 77 18%All Faculties 582 12%Humanities 160 11%Commerce 34 3%

Masters and doctoral graduates made up almost one third of all graduates within the Faculty of Law, and one fifth each of the 2003 EBE and Science graduate totals. However, only 11% of the 2003 Humanities graduates and 3% of those within the Faculty of Commerce were at the senior postgraduate level.

The 2003 group of masters and doctoral graduates was dominated by white graduates, who made up 61% of all graduates at this level. The tabulation below shows that the population group profile of the 2003 masters plus doctoral graduates varied across the faculties:

FacultyTotal Black M+D graduates in 2003

Black M+D graduates as % of

all M+D graduates in 2003

EBE 61 55%Health Sciences 30 39%All Faculties 226 39%Science 46 39%Commerce 13 38%Humanities 57 36%Law 19 23%

This tabulation shows that more than half (55%) of the 2003 EBE masters and doctoral graduates in 2003 were black; at the other extreme, black students made up only 23% (16 percentage points less than the institutional average) of the masters and doctoral graduates in the Faculty of Law. Within the other four faculties, the proportion of black masters and doctoral graduates very closely approximated the institutional average of 39%.

2. Undergraduate course success rates

Analyses of the longitudinal progress of cohorts of entering students by qualification type provides additional useful supplementary information on the retention and success of students in particular entry cohorts at UCT. Given the wide range of programmes offered within any given qualification at UCT, cohort completion studies provide complex but important indicators of the effectiveness of teaching and learning at UCT. It should be borne in mind that although high

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level analyses of this kind avoid many of the pitfalls of the simple “graduation rate” indicator, they may obscure the effects of UCT’s extended curriculum approach to accommodating insufficiently prepared new undergraduate students. High level analyses of this kind also do not adequately address the enrolment prolonging effects of change of programme, readmission events and/or leave of absence amongst members of the cohort. At the same time, this purely academic focus on student progress through the institution does not take cognisance of the often extensive involvement of students in extra-curricular activities. Tables 16 to 19 of the Appendix nevertheless provide some important high level indicators of undergraduate student success and progression at UCT.

Table 16a16 provides information on recent trends in undergraduate head count (rather than FTE) success rates in 100– level to 400- level courses at UCT. Success rates in 100-level courses may be seen as crucial determinants of student retention and ultimate success at the undergraduate level, and it is therefore important to note that the overall success rates amongst undergraduate students enrolled for courses at this level has increased by 6 percentage points, to a level of 84%, over the 1999 – 2003 period. The overall success rates in 100-level EBE, Health Sciences and Law courses did not improve over the 1999-2003 period, but there were marked improvements in the success rates in Commerce, Humanities and Science 100- level courses (up by 6%, 5% and 5% respectively). The overall success rate in 200-level and 300-level courses improved by 3 and 4 percentage points respectively between 1999 and 2003, whilst undergraduate student success rates in 400-level courses fluctuated between the 92% and 95% levels.

Table 16b summarises undergraduate course success rates by course level and by broad (first order) CESM group, over the 1999 – 2003 period. A comparison of Tables 16a and 16b17 reveals that the between faculty success rate differences are more pronounced than any differences between the broad CESM categories. This tabulation nevertheless reflects a progressive improvement in the success rates in 100-level to 300-level courses across all the business/management, SET and broad humanities CESM groups. The success rates in CESM 07 (Education) courses are more variable largely due to fluctuations in the pass rates amongst relatively small numbers of enrolled students in this discipline. Success rates in 400-level courses (apart from those in CESM 07) appear to be relatively stable across the CESM groups depicted in Table 16b.

Undergraduate success rates by course level and by population group are summarized in Table 16c18 of the Appendix. This table shows that success rates amongst African, coloured, Indian and white students in 100 level courses have improved progressively over the 1999 – 2003 period. An examination of the 200-level success rates shows a progressive improvement amongst African students. The 200- level success rates amongst coloured and Indian students showed low amplitude fluctuations, whilst those amongst white students were level at around 89 – 90%. Marked improvements in 300- level success rates amongst African, coloured and Indian students are also apparent in Table 16c.

A summary of the overall 2003 100-level to 400-level undergraduate success rates by faculty, and the changes in these success rates between 1999 and 2003, is shown in the tabulation below:

16 Table 16a: Summary of undergraduate success rates by faculty and course level17 Table 16b: Summary of undergraduate success rates by CESM group and by course level

18 Table 16c: Summary of undergraduate success rates by population group and course level

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Faculty

UG Succes Rate in Level 100 to Level

400 Courses

Change in UG Course Success Rates 99 - 2003

Health Sciences 97% +2Humanities 87% +4EBE 86% +4All Faculties 86% +5Commerce 84% +5Law 84% +5Science 81% +5

Whilst overall undergraduate success rates in the Faculties of Health Sciences, Humanities and EBE equal or exceed the institutional average of 86%, and those within the Faculties of Commerce and Law approximate the institutional average, it is clear that the success rates amongst undergraduate students enrolled for Science courses in 2003 was 5 percentage points short of this average. It is therefore encouraging to note that there was a marked overall improvement (of 5 percentage points) in 100- level to 400-level Science courses between 1999 and 2003.

The 2003 overall undergraduate success rates in 100-level to 400-level courses are summarised, by faculty and by population group, in the tabulation below:

FacultyAfrican Coloured Indian White All

Health Sciences 91% 95% 98% 99% 97%Humanities 78% 80% 88% 92% 87%All Faculties 77% 82% 86% 91% 86%EBE 79% 82% 87% 92% 86%Commerce 75% 80% 84% 90% 84%Law 78% 80% 83% 89% 84%Science 74% 77% 80% 88% 81%

Level 100 to 400 UG Course Success Rates: 2003

This tabulation indicates that despite the improvements in the 100-level to 300-level course success rates amongst undergraduate African students described above, the overall 2003 undergraduate course success rate amongst these students (77%) was 14 percentage points lower than that amongst white students. The success rates amongst coloured and Indian students were 9 percentage points and 5 percentage points respectively lower than those amongst white students. The differences in success rates between African and white students were most pronounced within the Faculties of Commerce, Humanities and Science (15 percentage points in Commerce and 14 percentage points in both Humanities and Science) and least pronounced amongst Health Sciences students (where the differential is 8 percentage points). These population group differences in undergraduate success rates are calculable from the annual HEMIS returns. The Department of Education, in its 2003 “Review of Student Enrolment Planning – Report 3: Western Cape”, opined that “if these [FTE] success rates [amongst the different population groups] are not equal, then inequities (of teaching process) are likely to exist at the institution concerned”. It may well be important for UCT to prepare detailed analyses of undergraduate course performance by population group, in relation to prior matric performance etc, in order to explain and to begin to remediate the differences shown above.

3. Undergraduate academic progress code analysis

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Tables 17a – e19 of the appendix summarise the academic progress codes of all undergraduate students, by population group, over the period 1999 – 2003. In any particular year, each student meets one of 4 basic criteria in terms of their academic progress: successful completion of the degree/diploma, meeting standard requirements for further study in the same degree/diploma, granted permission to re-register at UCT (although not always in the same degree/diploma) following consideration by a Readmissions Review Committee or appeal, or refused permission to re-register on academic grounds. Table 17a shows that the graduate proportion within the undergraduate student body declined over the 1999 - 2003 period (from 22% in 1999 to 20% in 2003), but that the proportion of these students satisfying standard readmission criteria increased by 5 percentage points over the same period. The proportion refused readmission remained constant at 4% per annum over this period, whilst the proportion requiring faculty/Senate permission to re-register also dropped (from 10% in 1999 to 6% in 2003). It would therefore appear that the proportional decrease in undergraduate completions was a direct consequence of the growth in undergraduate enrolments over this period.

The proportions of undergraduate students either completing their degrees or satisfying standard readmission criteria in 2003 are tabulated by faculty and by population group below:

FacultyAfrican Coloured Indian White All

Health Sciences 5% 0% 1% 0% 1%Commerce 11% 4% 8% 5% 4%All Faculties 6% 4% 7% 3% 3%EBE 2% -3% 10% 0% 3%Law n/a n/a n/a n/a n/aHumanities 1% 8% 6% 5% 5%Science 22% 6% 15% 6% 7%

change in % of UG students with QUA or CON codes 1999 - 2003

This tabulation shows that 94% of white undergraduates (5 percentage points higher than the institutional average of 89%) either completed their qualifications or satisfied standard readmission requirements at the end of 2003. Conversely, only 84% of all African undergraduates were “successful” in this way. Although this particular academic success differential is not visible in the annual HEMIS submissions (where a simple completed qualification or did not complete the qualification binary is recorded for each student), there is likely to be a strong causal link between the figures in the Table 17 series and the course success rates discussed above. It is therefore important to note (see tabulation below) that positive changes are evident in that a substantial improvement in the overall proportion of successful undergraduates was achieved between 1999 and 2003, and that this improvement was most pronounced amongst African and Indian undergraduates:

FacultyAfrican Coloured Indian White All

Health Sciences 5% 0% 1% 0% 1%Commerce 11% 4% 8% 5% 4%All Faculties 6% 4% 7% 3% 3%EBE 2% -3% 10% 0% 3%Law n/a n/a n/a n/a n/aHumanities 1% 8% 6% 5% 5%Science 22% 6% 15% 6% 7%

change in % of UG students with QUA or CON codes in 2003

19 Tables 17a – e: Academic progress codes of all undergraduates (a), all African undergraduates (b), all coloured undergraduates (c), all Indian undergraduates (d) and all white undergraduates (e)

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This tabulation shows that there were clear improvements in the proportions of “successful students” in each of the 5 faculties for which this data was available (Note: the undergraduate LLB began in 1999, and yielded its first graduates in 2002, and thus data for the Faculty of Law have not been included here). This tabulation also shows that the most substantial improvements in the proportions of successful students took place amongst African and Indian students. It nevertheless remains true that the overall proportion of “successful” white students (94%) is markedly higher than that amongst African and coloured students, and that the proportion of “successful” Health Sciences students (98%) significantly exceeds the institutional average and the equivalent proportions of such students in all other faculties.

4. Undergraduate cohort survival analyses The outcomes of five-year cohort survival analyses of first-time entering (FU) undergraduates within the former (pre- 1999) Faculties of Arts, Commerce, Engineering, Science and Social Science are summarized in the Table 18 series20 of the Appendix. This table set therefore provides information on the largest proportion of UCT’s FU intake for the years 1995 – 1999, and provides drill down summaries on the progress of these students by population group. These analyses summarise the last undergraduate situations of members of each cohort at the end of 5 years after their initial registrations at UCT. These ”final” undergraduate situations within each cohort, and by population group within each cohort, summarise successful completions, drop-outs in “good academic standing” (where students left UCT without completing their studies and without being excluded on academic grounds), academic exclusions (where students were denied permission to re-register at UCT because of poor academic performance) and students still busy with their undergraduate studies (in the sixth year after their initial enrolment at UCT), all as percentages of the initial entry cohort. It should be noted that successful completors did not necessarily graduate within their initial registration faculty, and similarly that those students still busy with their studies were not necessarily still registered within their faculties of entry. The cohort survival analyses shown in the Table 18 series include all Commerce first-time entering undergraduates (i.e. those in the 3-year BComs and those in the 4-year BBusSc degrees) whilst the Engineering cohorts include students entering four-year programmes only.

Table 18 shows that between 60 and 66% of the 1995 – 1998 FU entry cohorts successfully completed a qualification at UCT within 5 years of commencing their studies. A larger proportion of the 1999 entry cohort (64%, 4 percentage points higher than the 1998 entry cohort) had graduated at UCT by the end of 2003. Although these cohort completion rates are still markedly lower than the 75% level upon which the NPHE benchmark annual graduation rates are based, there has clearly been a marked improvement in the throughput and retention of the 1999 FU cohort, vis-à-vis earlier years. It is of interest to note that the improved completion rate amongst the 1999 cohort resulted from a 5 percentage point decrease in the overall rate of academic exclusions in comparison with that amongst the 1998 cohort (12% of the 1999 cohort, in comparison with 17% of the 1998 cohort), and a 3 percentage point decrease in the proportion of drop-outs in good academic standing (down from 19% of the 1998 FU cohort to 16% of the 1999 cohort). The proportion of students still busy with their studies in the sixth year after initial registration (6%) was 2 percentage points higher than that amongst the 1998 FU cohort. The high level of voluntary drop-out (as opposed to formal academic exclusion) remains problematic. A pilot, telephonic, survey

20 Tables 18 a – e: Five year cohort survival analysis of 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 intakes of first-time entering undergraduates five years after initial enrolment in 5 large faculties: ALL students (a), African students (b), coloured students (c), Indian students (d) and white students (e). Note that this table includes only those qualifications with large FU intakes, and because the period of analysis is 5 years, the 6-year MBChB has not been included.

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carried out by CHED amongst the 2002 drop outs in good academic standing21 suggested that financial reasons, poor study choices and inadequate preparation (at school) for university-level study were common reasons reported for students leaving UCT without completing a qualification. A fuller investigation of the issue of drop out in good academic standing, this time amongst the 2003 group of drop-outs, will be carried out during the second quarter of 2004.

Table 18 shows that there were marked differences between the faculties in terms of the progress of the 1999 FU cohorts. These differences are ranked below in order of decreasing graduation rates (within the five years since initial registration):

Faculty - All Students Completed degreeStill registered at UG

level

Dropped out in good academic

standingExcluded on

academic groundsCommerce 71% 5% 13% 11%Arts 66% 2% 27% 5%All FU cohorts 64% 6% 16% 12%Social Sciences 61% 7% 21% 8%Science 59% 5% 20% 20%Engineering 56% 14% 11% 19%

This tabulation shows that the frequency of academic exclusion was particularly high amongst the Science and EBE cohorts (20% and 19% respectively, although the equivalent figures for the 1998 cohort were markedly higher at 27% and 25% respectively. Conversely, the incidence of drop-out in good academic standing was significantly higher amongst the Arts (BA) and Social Science cohorts (27% and 21% respectively) than amongst the whole group of 1999 FU students (16%); relatively low rates of drop-out in good academic standing were seen within the Commerce and EBE cohorts (13% and 11% respectively). It should be noted that the rate of drop-out in good academic standing amongst the 1999 Commerce cohort (13%) was markedly lower than that amongst the equivalent 1998 cohort (18%).

A summation, by faculty, of the first two columns in the tabulation above provides an indication of the potential final completion rate within each cohort. These are, in descending order: Commerce – 76%, EBE – 70%, Arts and Social Sciences both 68%, and Science 64%. The possible completion rate amongst all 1999 FU students would be 70%, which is markedly higher than the equivalent proportion amongst the 1998 FU cohorts (64%). It is possible that curricular changes within the Faculties of Commerce and EBE have given rise to the improvements in cohort completions seen in these figures.

The longitudinal progress of FU students within the undergraduate LLB (the LAWB02) is presented in Table 18 for the 1999 cohort, which is the commencement year for this programme. Although the numbers are very small, this initial set of figures suggests that the rates of academic exclusion (24%) and of drop-out in good academic standing (29%) amongst this cohort were very high. Potential completions amongst this first cohort of undergraduate LLB FU’s amount to only 48% of the initial entry cohort.

The Table 18 series, which depicts the longitudinal progress of the 1995 – 1999 entry cohorts by population group, indicates that there have been marked differences in the throughput and retention rates of students within the different population groups. The tabulation below summarises the progress of the 1999 FU cohorts, by population group:

21 Yeld, N. 2004. Students in Good Academic Standing: Pilot Project 2003.

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Faculty - All Students Completed degreeStill registered at UG

level

Dropped out in good academic

standingExcluded on

academic groundsWhite Students 75% 3% 17% 5%All Students 64% 6% 16% 12%Indian Students 62% 5% 15% 19%Coloured Students 54% 4% 23% 18%African Students 48% 14% 16% 22%

This tabulation shows that the rates of academic exclusion were particularly high amongst Indian, coloured and African students (19%, 18% and 22% respectively). The rate of academic exclusion amongst white students (5% of all those entering in 1999) was 7 percentage points lower than the institutional average. At the same time, the rates of drop-out in good academic standing amongst African, Indian and white students were all very similar (15 – 16%) and were very close to the institutional average of 16%. A particularly high rate of drop-out in good academic standing was apparent within the 1999 coloured FU cohort (23%). A substantial proportion of the African students within this cohort (14%, which is 8 percentage points higher than the institutional average) are still busy with their studies in 2004. This is partly attributable to the relatively high proportion of African students taking extended curriculum programmes which require an additional year of study to enable students from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain a sound academic foundation for their studies, thereby enhancing their capacity to complete.

There are marked differences in the performance of students within different population groups within the 5 faculties shown here: African students, particularly those in the earlier cohorts shown here, appeared to fare particularly well in the BA and BSocSc programmes, but to experience very high rates of exclusion within the Commerce, EBE and Science programmes. In more recent cohorts, the completion rates of African students within the BA and BSocSc programmes have diminished quite markedly due to a combination of increased drop-out in good academic standing (within the BA), increased rates of academic exclusion (within the BSocSc) and longer degree durations (also within the BSocSc). Conversely, the completion rate of African students within the 1999 Science cohort improved by 20 percentage points (to a level of 47%) in comparison with that amongst the 1998 cohort. The completion rates amongst white students remain below the 75% threshold in 2 both the BA and the BSc, whilst those amongst African, coloured and Indian students are all markedly below the 75% level.

Although the overall completion rate amongst the 1999 FU cohorts was significantly higher than that within the 1998 cohorts, the performance across the different faculties and within the different population groups remained highly variable, and problems with retention (variously related to high levels of academic exclusion and of drop out in good academic standing) clearly persist in the undergraduate sector. It should be noted that a marked increase in the proportion of BBusSc students in comparison with BCom students in the Faculty of Commerce, rather than a significant improvement in the completion rate within either group, gave rise to the improved completion rate amongst all first-time entrants within this Faculty in 1999. The faculty-based continuation of the CHED/IPD project during 2004 will aim to address these problems, as will the development of an output-focused approach to enrolment planning and resource allocation (within the CHED/IPD Output Based Planning Project).

Table 19 of the Appendix shows the number of graduates per cohort, the average time to degree per graduate, the total student years per graduate (including the years enrolled total for unsuccessful students) and the average enrolment duration per unsuccessful student amongst the 1995 – 1998 entry cohorts. The data shown in Table 19 differ from those in Table 18 in that the period of the

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analysis is “min + 2 years”(i.e. the minimum enrolment period of per degree plus an additional two years) rather than the five year cohort survival period. This type of analysis therefore requires the separation of the 3-year BCom and the 4-year BBusSc programmes in Commerce. Table 19 shows that both the average years to degree amongst successful graduates and the total student years per graduate vary widely amongst same length qualifications. The BA degree (with an average degree duration of 3.34 years and a total student duration of 4.4 years amongst the 1998 cohort) appears to be the most efficient amongst the 3-years bachelors group (including the BSocSc, the BSc and the BCom, which appears the least efficient within this group in terms of the same criteria. The BBusSc degree (with an average degree duration of 4.18 years and a total student duration of 4.7 years amongst the 1998 cohort) appears more efficient than the BSc(Eng) in both the actual graduate proportion within the cohort and the years invested in producing these graduates (represented in terms of average time to degree per graduate, and total student years per graduate). Table 19 of the Appendix is a preliminary analysis of cohort throughput efficiencies in terms of student years; it is envisaged that deeper and more nuances analyses of this kind (by population group, for example) will be included in future versions of the Teaching and Learning Report.

5. QUALITY ASSURANCE

This largely favourable quantitative overview of UCT’s student performance in the 2003 academic year, and the improvements seen in the key areas of course success rates and cohort throughput and retention, should ideally be seen against a backdrop of the more qualitative aspects of teaching and learning at UCT.

UCT remains committed to the full implementation of the 2001 Senate approved “Quality Assurance Framework at UCT”, which will ensure that the necessary quality management systems are in place, and that a culture of self-review with a view to continuous improvement in teaching delivery is achieved. UCT’s approach to Quality Assurance stresses the centrality of reviews of academic units, and the implementation of UCT’s quality assurance framework has thus necessitated the initiation of a schedule that will allow for the review of each academic unit every five years. It is recognised that the process of academic reviews must be underpinned by a well-functioning institutional quality management system, and work has commenced on the design and implementation of a management system that appropriately supports the academic review process.

1. UCT’s 2003 Academic ReviewsA. Background

Seven review units participated in the University’s first, pilot-round, of internal academic reviews, as mandated by the Quality Assurance policy document, approved by Senate and Council at the end of 2001:

Science Faculty: Information TechnologyCommerce Faculty: Actuarial ScienceCommerce Faculty: Information SystemsHumanities Faculty: BA Fine ArtFaculty of Engineering and the Built Environment: Construction Economics and ManagementHealth Sciences Faculty: PhysiotherapyLaw Faculty: LLB

B. Overview of Academic Reviews

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The Review Panels were guided by the philosophy and suggested focus areas outlined in the University’s “Guidelines for Academic Reviews”.

The review reports contain commendations and recommendations to address identified challenges. A high-level summary of the commendations and challenges is contained below.

(i) Key Commendations:

1. Curriculum Management

A strong ethos of debate about curriculum design in some of the reviews The introduction of innovations such as the Moot Court in the Law Faculty to

enable students to acquire practical skills relevant to the workplace. The attempts to ensure that student and employer aspirations are satisfied All the review units were commended for well-functioning programmes The evidence of engagement with ideas for more effective ways of obtaining

student feedback on courses and using this information to inform curriculum and pedagogical reviews

Initiatives taken with regard to preparing students for employment opportunities in some of the career oriented programmes

The quality management systems in operation in most of the reviews were seen as largely sound with good examples of strong academic leadership

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2. Admissions/ Equity/ Transformation

All Panels noted the efforts of review units in trying to address the challenges of equity and representivity at staff and student levels. Staff were encouraged to persevere with these endeavours

3. Student Performance

All Review Panels remarked on the high calibre of student that review units succeeded in attracting to their respective academic offerings. The programmes that demonstrated throughput and graduate outputs above the norm for their faculties and the institution were highly commended. Various faculty initiatives aimed at improving throughputs such as the academic development programmes, small group tutorials and the use of the writing centre were commended

4. Staffing

All the Review Panels commented on the good qualifications of staff and the high levels of motivation to deliver excellent programmes. . Where appropriate the panellists commented on the review units’ efforts to achieve the appropriate complement of staff and/or organisation of timetables to relieve teaching loads and enable more staff to be research active. Review units were commended for putting in place support structure to promote staff development.

5. Research

Most of the review units were commended for their efforts to increase their research outputs despite the impact of heavy teaching loads and their efforts to ensure that research informs teaching

(ii) Key Challenges:

Review Panellists observed that the following required further attention in most, if not all, of the academic reviews:

1. Curriculum Management

Establishing mechanisms for good programme management and coherence;

Using appropriate and diverse assessment methods; Devising a standard, yet flexible, format for external examiners’ reports,

and locating it within the University’s broader assessment framework; Identifying courses which contribute to poor throughput; Finding solutions to problems pertaining to cross-faculty teaching;

In some reviews, Panellists observed that English language challenges faced by students in some courses needed to be addressed.

In most reviews Panellists commended review units regarding their ongoing engagement and review of student feedback with respect to curricular activities and design.

2. Admissions/ Equity

Common to most reviews were the perceptions from Panellists that the following needed attention:

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Applying innovative strategies to secure the appropriate student mix with regard to equity considerations, and in some cases finding ways to attract more female students;

Devising creative recruitment strategies with equity targets in mind.

In one review, the Panel flagged the issue of mentoring, and asked what strategies staff had in place to ensure that students met with the criteria for success.

3. Student Performance

Most Review Panellists suggested the following for the consideration of units that had been reviewed:

Making optimal use of information gained from student evaluations; Finding dynamic ways of addressing the relatively low throughput rate of

African students; Providing effective orientation and mentoring programmes for students; Consolidating a dynamic academic development component with regard to

extended programmes.

4. Staffing

All Review Panellists requested that Faculties and the units under review consider observations made in respect of securing and retaining black staff, as well as grooming young people into academic positions.

5. Resourcing

Inadequate space allocation and related resourcing constraints were consistently longstanding issues noted by most Review Panellists as factors that could impact negatively on excellence in teaching and learning.

6. Social Responsibility

Most Review Panellists suggested that consideration should be given to external feedback on the alignment of courses in terms social responsibility, as well as a greater focus on relationships with the relevant communities.

7. Research

All Review Panellists noted widespread staff perception that heavy teaching loads impact negatively on research activity throughout the university.

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8. Transformation

Most Review Panellists put forward the view that consideration should be given to reflecting the local as well as African context in respect of the University’s academic offerings.

C. High-level analysis of the Deans’ reports on the Academic Reviews

Five of the six Deans have submitted reports on the reviews, which took place in their faculties during 2003. The reports were compiled based on discussions that had taken place between the Dean or representatives of the Dean’s Office and lecturers involved in the Department or Division that had been reviewed. These reports will the followed up in June 2004.

The Deans noted that the reviews tended to confirm perceptions of existing strengths in the departments/divisions under review and reported that the reviews were generally experienced as useful exercises despite the amount of time involved in preparing comprehensive self-review portfolios and supplementary evidence. The reports contained very useful suggestions for improving the process of preparing self-review teams by suggesting closer liaison between the Planning Department and CHED in the preparatory phase. These are being addressed in the second round of reviews taking place in 2004. A suggestion has been made for CHED to be called in to assist with devising appropriate strategies where appropriate to meet some of the panels’ criticisms. In some cases there is recognition of the value of setting up mechanisms such as Advisory Boards for improving ongoing engagement with industry.

The reports contained evidence of robust engagement with the review reports resulting in the acceptance of many of the recommendations and findings and disagreement or concerns about others. Where the relevant departments disagreed with the recommendations of the formal review panel substantiating arguments were provided. The reports provide indications of how the department, or faculty as a whole, intends addressing concerns or problems identified in the review reports with which they agreed. Many of these issues relate to the need for staff development opportunities, mechanisms to improve research productivity, ongoing management of student learning, and the introduction of mechanisms to improve the levels of support for students or address particular difficulties in the structure of the curriculum. In some cases processes have been set up across faculties to address problems.

2. UCT’s Quality Management System: Progress Report on the Work of the Quality Management Task TeamThe Quality Assurance Working Group established a Quality Management Systems (QMS) Task Team last year to identify gaps in our current QMS. The team is chaired by Professor Martin Hall and consists of:

3 representatives from CHED 3 faculty representatives The Institutional Information Officer The Director of the Research Development Office The Senior Planning Officer responsible for Academic Planning The Quality Assurance Manager The Director of Institutional Planning

A plan was drawn up based on an analysis of identified gaps in relation to the draft HEQC Criteria for institutional audits and an internal survey of UCT’s

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QMS conducted in the middle of 2003.  In many instances there were already processes underway within UCT to address some of the gaps identified. These include the establishment of: a Student Equity Task Team to improve equity of access and outcomes the university-wide throughput project processes to integrate transformation imperatives into the planning and

budgeting process a revised Environmental Scanning process building on expertise within the

university to inform planning a process for submitting research proposals on Service Learning an annual social responsiveness report several processes to improve the management and QA of research a Curriculum Project to develop proposals on a conceptual framework for

UCT’s curriculum and make recommendations for improving the alignment of our Academic Planning frameworks and processes with institutional and national goals.

A working group to develop an integrated HRD strategy for the institution

However, the task team did initiate some new activities. These include developing proposals for:

Conducting a tracer study of UCT’s graduates to obtain feedback on the quality of UCT’s programmes.

Benchmarking Conducting focus group discussions with faculties about their QMS QA for short courses An RPL policy QA arrangements to manage programmes in partnership with other

institutions QA for the workplace components of Professional and Vocational Education Integrating student support services Professional development related to Assessment and reviewing UCT’s

Assessment Policy

The Task Team obtains period progress reports from the relevant managers with regard to all these activities. The team will soon be replaced by a Steering Committee, which will oversee preparations for the HEQC institutional audit early in 2005.

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6. RESPONSES TO THE TEACHING AND LEARNING CHARTER AND THE PLAGIARISM POLICY

In 2003, Senate (afer consideration by all Faculty Boards and the Board of Higher Education Development) approved two further policies intended to advance the quality of teaching and learning at UCT:

The Teaching and Learning Charter A policy for promoting respect for the work of others, and countering

plagiarism.

These policies are attached in a separate Appendix.

A plagiarism software pilot project is currently underway, under the leadership of Executive Director of ICTS. The actions taken by the 6 faculties and the GSB to counter plagiarism through the agreed approaches, and to improve the quality of teaching and learning through applying the minimum standard set out in the Teaching and Learning Charter, are summarised below.

Faculty of CommerceThe Faculty of Commerce strongly endorses the principles in the Teaching and Learning Charter. The main impact has been the codification of what has been the understanding and practice of the Faculty for a number of years. The Faculty believes that it would not be possible to run its large undergraduate courses without adhering to the miniumum standards set out within the Charter, particularly those of an administrative and informative nature. The implementation of the 10 minimum standards has been delegated to the 4 Heads of Department (HODs) and cascades down to the level of individual convenors via the discipline stream heads.

The Faculty Handbook provides macro information on syllabi, assessments and DP requirements, and detailed course outlines are handed out at the first lecture. Faculty timetables are produced on a programme basis.

The Faculty subscribes to the teaching methodology of regular formative assessments and periodic summative assessment. Formative assessments are returned to students for feedback. Final summative assessments are retained in accordance with University policy.

Due to the need to teach large classes and to facilitate smaller tutorials, demonstrated or potential teaching ability is one of the key criteria in appointing new academic staff.

The HODs monitor the course evaluation process and follow up on issues relating to the presentation of lectures and tutorials, teaching staff availability for consultation and interaction with students, the return of work submitted for assessment, and the adequate evaluation of such work.

The issue of plagiarism is a key component of the undergraduate student orientation programmes and is specifically addressed in the first year course TAB 1 (BUS110F). The faculty has appointed an ethics committee and this policy would fall within the ambit of the APCC.

The Commerce Faculty is participating in the Turnitin plagiarism pilot project. Three courses, including TAB (Thinking About Business) 1 which is compulsory for all Commerce Faculty students, have been selected

The Faculty also subscribes to the University policy requiring every written assignment to be accompanied by a plagiarism declaration; no marks are released where there is no declaration.

Graduate School of Business

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The GSB strongly endorses the values of the Teaching and Learning Charter. In terms of the requirements of the Teaching and Learning Charter, comprehensive student orientation takes place and documentation is made available to students, in relation to:

The content and requirements of all courses and modules , important dates and timetables, student facilities and support systems etc. The GSB’s course outlines have clear learning objectives, and state the assessment criteria and methods for each course.

The nature and required format of assignments is also clearly articulated.

All instructors in the School are formally evaluated by the students.

In relation to the policy on plagiarism, a comprehensive document (“Avoiding Plagiarism: A Guide for Students”) is made available to the students. This document defines plagiarism, describes the Rules and Senate Policy regarding plagiarism, and provides guidelines in relation to referencing conventions. Each student is required to sign a plagiarism form along with any submitted work.

Faculty of EBEAlthough the issue of plagiarism is high on the agenda of all Heads of Departments (HODs) and Programme Convenors, the Faculty of EBE has decided not to institute any formal procedure for handling issues relating to plagiarism. Students found guilty of plagiarism or cheating are dealt with in accordance with the existing rules.

A number of interventions have been made during 2004 with a view to improving the quality of teaching. These are as follows:

Course handouts are to follow a particular format that will be agreed upon by all HoDs and Programme Convenors

HOD’s have all been briefed in regard to the Senate ruling that there should be at least one course evaluation per course, and a number of workshops on the issue of course evaluations have been held. HODs will be required, in terms of their KPI’’s, to show that evaluations have taken place in every course, and that there has been proper and adequate feedback to the students on the outcomes of these evaluations.

During 2005, the five-yearly ECSA accreditation of engineering programmes will take place. Two workshops have been held in this regard, and the HODs and programme convenors are compiling the necessary supporting documentation.

Teaching Workshops: the faculty has formalized the delivery, on a six-monthly basis, of a formal teaching workshop at the end of each semester. Essentially, any academic appointed over the previous three years is required to attend these workshops. The Teaching Workshops are seen as part of the mentoring of new staff and provide a mechanism for ensuring that they are givenevery opportunity to obtain positive feedback on their teaching interms of the Rate for Job (RFJ) exercise.

The Engineering Student Council meets quarterly and provides an important forum for discussing various issues relating to the quality of teaching and learning in the faculty. The Council’s Education Sub-committee incorporates two student representatives from each department, and is chaired by the Dean.

Faculty of HumanitiesThe Faculty Board debated the issue of plagiarism extensively last year, and sought to identify mechanisms that would assist in dealing with the problem:

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The Faculty of Humanities has for some years addressed the issue of plagiarism through its Foundation Courses. The issue of plagiarism is discussed in tutorials and workgroups in connection with the presentation of essays and students are informed of the consequences of being found guilty of plagiarism.  They are also required to sign the plagiarism declaration for written work.

The Faculty agreed last year to a common citation guide for all undergraduate courses to ensure a degree of consistency in referencing across the Faculty. A committee was set up to develop the guide. This guide was distributed to new undergraduate students as part of their orientation to the Faculty of Humanities, and Departments have been given the guide to produce for their senior students.

Departments explicitly discuss plagiarism in their courses as a standard practice and include information in their handbooks on plagiarism, as well as make use of the plagiarism declaration required by Senate policy.

TheTeaching and Learning Charter was discussed extensively at a Faculty Board during 2003 and was both understood by academics and accepted as good practice.

The Teaching and Learning Charter was discussed with HODs at the 2004 Faculty HOD away day workshop, and HODs are aware that they are accountable for implementing the Charter in their departments.

The Faculty Accreditation Committee produced a course outline template indicating the minimum acceptable information to be included in a course outline. The Accreditation Committee now collects all course outlines ofundergraduate courses and is in the process of setting up a vetting process to ensure compliance with the minimum standards.

The Grapro (graduate programmes) application for new postgraduate courses includes the Teaching and Learning Charter and requires that the full course outline that is to be handed out to students be attached to the application for a new course. 

Faculty of LawWithin the Faculty of Law:

The provisions of course outlines is standard throughout the Faculty, and each student receives a year planner detailing assessment criteria and other requirements for all courses, and explicating what is expected of students in this regard. There is a year-coordinator for each year of study of the LLB.

The provision of lists of recommended readings is standardised within the Faculty, with proper copyright compliance. There is one central office for distributing course materials and there is excellent liaison with the Law Library.

Teaching assessments and course evaluations are conducted on a regular basis and are reviewed by the HODs.

There is a well-established system for dealing with absences from tutorials, whilst concession and exemption requests are dealt with by a Deputy Dean. High level issues go before the Faculty Admissions and Concessions Committee on which the Dean and all student advisors serve.

The timetabling and venue allocation process occurs centrally, and is co-ordinated by the Faculty Office.

Student consultation times are posted on the office doors of academic members of staff and are monitored for compliance by the HODs.

Work is normally returned to students on time and with sufficient comment. Complaints in this regard are of an isolated nature and are handled by the HOD. Marking is usually done by the lecturer concerned; where research assistants (who are LLB graduates

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themselves) assist in marking, the course convenor moderates the scripts. All such assessments are available, in principle, to the external examiner.

Anonymous course evaluations are administered at least once a year and the Law Students Council, through the class representative system, provides a continuous and critical evaluation system. The evaluations are reviewed by the lecturers and HODs in a developmental light.

Faculty of Health SciencesIn relation to the Teaching and Learning Charter

Each course is explained during the students’ yearly orientation programmes and course literature explains the aims, objectives, methodologies and assessment methods for each course.

Lists of essential and non-essential course reading material are provided for each course. Where necessary this is supplemented by a resource pack. Copyright compliance is adhered to.

Each course has a clearly defined assessment procedure, presented timeously to students. Clarity regarding DP requirements is given and often reinforced before and during the course, and upheld.

The format, relevance and importance of lectures are in the process of being improved within the faculty. There is a movement away from the old format of imparting information to a more sharing, holistic and developmental approach.

Each course convenor and senior Faculty member operates an open-door policy for students with difficulties. There is a well-developed undergraduate and postgraduate support and development portfolio, a medical assessment board and a staff governance procedure for referral of student problems. A new student governance structure has been developed at undergraduate level, allowing equal access to all students with either opinions or concerns, which is transmitted to Programme and Faculty Committees. The open door policy in relation to meetings with students is devoid of any discrimination or favouritism.

Timetables are adhered to as far as possible. Where departures from the timetable are unavoidable (often as a result of clinical staff shortages), every possible effort is made to provide students with an explanation and/or alternative activities.

The use of both in-course summative and formative assessments provides students with a degree of certainty upon the level of learning. The development of a self-assessment bank of questions will also facilitate this area of discussion. Every effort is made to return marked scripts timeously and to provide students with effective feedback where necessary.

Where appropriate assessment questions are marked through electronic means. Written work is, for most courses, double-marked or there is a process of scrutinisation of results. Great emphasis is placed upon the use of external-assessors to ensure quality of assessment.

As part of curriculum transformation, courses are exposed to student evaluation processes, which are transcribed and used by the course convenor to refine subsequent year activities.

In relation to plagiarism: At each orientation activity, at each course introductory period, students

are made aware, by written documentation and word of mouth, of all the issues surrounding plagiarism. They are told of the meaning of the word and problem, the avoidance of becoming involved in any plagiarism, and the consequences of such activity.

Students sign a University designed declaration prior to any written work submitted. With postgraduate students, the Faculty incorporates advice

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and information in its “ Guidelines for Students and Supervisors” document.

Students are assisted in accepted referencing conventions either through the integrated IT course or by course convenors.

Students found contravening the rules regarding plagiarism will follow the pathway of disciplinary action as prescribed by the Senate and as described in the policy on plagiarism.

Faculty of ScienceIn relation to improving the quality of teaching and learning in the Faculty:

The Committee for University Education in Science (CUES) continues to be an active forum for debating issues around teaching and learning, and a working group for scrutinizing and developing policy and procedures in this arena.

There is currently no formal requirement for departments to report on teaching and learning, although the Programme Convenors submit annual reports to the Dean which do, inter alia, highlight strengths and weaknesses across their programmes. HOD's monitor these issues to varying extents, and on the whole tend to respond to problems or issues as they arise.

In terms of compliance with the minimum standards in the Teaching and Learning Charter, the HOD is generally accountable according to the mechanism he/she chooses. This is generally accomplished informally, or by monitoring student evaluations and providing their own feedback and comment on this to the staff members.

Individual departments have put in place a range of initiatives that further compliance with the Charter. Many of these address student evaluations, the provision of course materials and enhancing teaching and learning in specific disciplines.

The following actions have been taken to counter plagiarism: Most departments ensure that students are made aware of the

university policy on plagiarism by issuing information with course outlines or with instructions on assignments

Departmental practices differ with regard to plagiarism. Some requirestudents to sign the declaration on plagiarism, either once at the beginning of a course, or, with each assignment or practical write-up. There have been moves in some areas away from open-ended assessments to more carefully defined ones which ensure that the student's own thoughts and analysis are required and rewarded. In other departments, innovative responses to plagiarism in MCQ’s have been developed, and students are provided with templates for correct formats and conventions regarding citation of references, reinforcing the need for appropriate acknowledgement of sources.

7. HIV/AIDS IN THE CURRICULUMHIV/AIDS teaching is currently taking place in the following first year courses at UCT:

Health Psychology (PSY101W) – 679 students registered in 2003 Becoming a Professional (SWK112H) – 342 students registered in 2003 Thinking About Business (BUS110f/s) -1563 students registered in 2003

A full account of UCT’s responses to HIV/AIDS is available in the Draft Social Responsiveness Report that accompanies the Research Report and the Teaching and Learning Report.

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INSTITUTIONAL PLANNING DEPARTMENTAPRIL 2004

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