"Fit for purpose": towards tracking the quality of university education of entry-level journalists
- Authors: Berger, Guy
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/159835 , vital:40348 , DOI: 10.1080/02560054.2005.9653329
- Description: Debate about the extent to which university education should serve industry is an important consideration for institutions of higher learning in a transforming South Africa, and particularly for those teaching would-be journalists. This issue can also be profitably analysed with reference to the current framework of the South African education authorities who argue that the quality of higher education institutions should be measured in terms of their “fit for purpose” to missions aligned to stakeholder interests in the transformation of the country as a whole. This criterion for quality assessment tends to focus on the educative processes within a university, but it can be argued that it ought to extend into the examination of the output consequences of journalism teaching. This would amount to not just fitness for purpose, but also achievement of purpose – and the latter including a creative and critical impact.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Berger, Guy
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/159835 , vital:40348 , DOI: 10.1080/02560054.2005.9653329
- Description: Debate about the extent to which university education should serve industry is an important consideration for institutions of higher learning in a transforming South Africa, and particularly for those teaching would-be journalists. This issue can also be profitably analysed with reference to the current framework of the South African education authorities who argue that the quality of higher education institutions should be measured in terms of their “fit for purpose” to missions aligned to stakeholder interests in the transformation of the country as a whole. This criterion for quality assessment tends to focus on the educative processes within a university, but it can be argued that it ought to extend into the examination of the output consequences of journalism teaching. This would amount to not just fitness for purpose, but also achievement of purpose – and the latter including a creative and critical impact.
- Full Text:
Firming up the foundations: reflections on verifying the quotations in a historical dictionary, with reference to "A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles"
- Authors: Hicks, Sheila
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:7012 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013240
- Description: A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles (DSAEHist) is rooted in quotation evidence. It contains just over 8 000 South African English entries, with about 45 000 citations to support those words included as headwords in the dictionary. Using the legacy electronic format in which DSAEHist was typeset, the Dictionary Unit for South African English embarked on a digitising process of DSAEHist, during which it became clear that the quotations would benefit from a full review involving the verification of all quotations against their original sources. This article examines the evolution of the quotation verification project from its beginnings as an entirely manual exercise to its current use of software developed for the purpose. Some of the project’s achievements, such as antedatings and primary source identification, are highlighted, and challenges, such as unverifiable quotations and sometimes highly convoluted research paths, are described. In addition to this, the article looks at the necessarily systematic nature of quotation handling and the main types of considerations determining methodology (for example, lexicographic, bibliographic and typographic requirements).
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hicks, Sheila
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:7012 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013240
- Description: A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles (DSAEHist) is rooted in quotation evidence. It contains just over 8 000 South African English entries, with about 45 000 citations to support those words included as headwords in the dictionary. Using the legacy electronic format in which DSAEHist was typeset, the Dictionary Unit for South African English embarked on a digitising process of DSAEHist, during which it became clear that the quotations would benefit from a full review involving the verification of all quotations against their original sources. This article examines the evolution of the quotation verification project from its beginnings as an entirely manual exercise to its current use of software developed for the purpose. Some of the project’s achievements, such as antedatings and primary source identification, are highlighted, and challenges, such as unverifiable quotations and sometimes highly convoluted research paths, are described. In addition to this, the article looks at the necessarily systematic nature of quotation handling and the main types of considerations determining methodology (for example, lexicographic, bibliographic and typographic requirements).
- Full Text:
The valuation of campus built heritage from the student perspective: comparative analysis of Rhodes University in South Africa and St. Mary’s College of Maryland in the United States
- Poor, Joan P, Snowball, Jeanette D
- Authors: Poor, Joan P , Snowball, Jeanette D
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67488 , vital:29102 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2009.05.002
- Description: Pre-print , Many universities and colleges around the world have done extensive surveys of their campus built heritage resources. A detailed description and accounting of a campus's built heritage, landscape heritage and archaeology, are often used for historic preservation planning, and sustaining built culture is also an important aspect of campus master planning of future buildings. Such institutions of higher education have deep historical roots, in Europe it is not uncommon for buildings to be dated prior to the sixteenth century. In countries where European colonies were established, institutions of higher education often date to the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Once students have arrived at their chosen campus, however, except for perhaps the first week orientation rituals, do the students actually develop ties to their campus built heritage? This research investigates the knowledge students possess of their respective campus built heritage and the importance of built heritage as a legacy to them. Two institutions are included in this study in an effort of draw comparative assessments. A student questionnaire was administered at Rhodes University in South Africa and St. Mary's College of Maryland in the United States during April 2008. Results indicate students on both campuses place positive intrinsic value on their respective campus built heritage. Just over half (52%) of Rhodes students and about 68% of St. Mary's students were willing to pay some positive amount to protect campus built heritage. Empirical probit model results combining the data from both institutions found that current student knowledge of their respective campus built heritage did not positively relate to the value they place on preservation, even though the visual identity was significant for students and influenced their decision to attend the particular institution. The lack of significance regarding a racial variable coefficient estimate suggests that the use of an institution's visual identity in terms of built heritage may have important marketing implications, particularly in cases where universities or colleges are trying to attract students from more diverse backgrounds. We found no significant relationships between willingness to pay to preserve an institution's built heritage and the demographic variables included in our empirical model. Fundraising data analysis includes positive willingness to pay for conserving built heritage, yet funding for new construction was not significant.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Poor, Joan P , Snowball, Jeanette D
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67488 , vital:29102 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2009.05.002
- Description: Pre-print , Many universities and colleges around the world have done extensive surveys of their campus built heritage resources. A detailed description and accounting of a campus's built heritage, landscape heritage and archaeology, are often used for historic preservation planning, and sustaining built culture is also an important aspect of campus master planning of future buildings. Such institutions of higher education have deep historical roots, in Europe it is not uncommon for buildings to be dated prior to the sixteenth century. In countries where European colonies were established, institutions of higher education often date to the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Once students have arrived at their chosen campus, however, except for perhaps the first week orientation rituals, do the students actually develop ties to their campus built heritage? This research investigates the knowledge students possess of their respective campus built heritage and the importance of built heritage as a legacy to them. Two institutions are included in this study in an effort of draw comparative assessments. A student questionnaire was administered at Rhodes University in South Africa and St. Mary's College of Maryland in the United States during April 2008. Results indicate students on both campuses place positive intrinsic value on their respective campus built heritage. Just over half (52%) of Rhodes students and about 68% of St. Mary's students were willing to pay some positive amount to protect campus built heritage. Empirical probit model results combining the data from both institutions found that current student knowledge of their respective campus built heritage did not positively relate to the value they place on preservation, even though the visual identity was significant for students and influenced their decision to attend the particular institution. The lack of significance regarding a racial variable coefficient estimate suggests that the use of an institution's visual identity in terms of built heritage may have important marketing implications, particularly in cases where universities or colleges are trying to attract students from more diverse backgrounds. We found no significant relationships between willingness to pay to preserve an institution's built heritage and the demographic variables included in our empirical model. Fundraising data analysis includes positive willingness to pay for conserving built heritage, yet funding for new construction was not significant.
- Full Text:
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »