EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FINDINGS OF EXTERNAL REVIEW:

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES: FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

  1. Executive Summary:

The Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Public Relations were reviewed by an external panel which included the following academics/and or experts in the fields of study:

  • Prof C de W Van Wyk (Chairperson)
  • Dr B Sekatane

The External review took place on …. November 2009 where the department was reviewed, viz. the programmes of Human Resource Management, Labour Relations, Management of Training and Business Administration

The following recommendations and commendations were extracted for the purposes of placing this document on the website (Intranet) of the VUT. The recommendations will also influence the development of a Quality Improvement Plan to be implemented by the Department.

The QPU was certainly very impressed with the overall outcome of the external review panel’s report of the Department and the manner in which the review was conducted.

2. Recommendations

2.1Programme Design:

Record keeping in the Department needs to improve

2.2Student Recruitment:

  • Closer contact between the Department and Student Recruitment regarding the entry requirements and content of programmes
  • Improved record-keeping of especially the RPL process and the Continuation Policy

extended programmes to further widen access should be investigated. extended programmes to further widen access should be investigated.

2.3 Staffing:

  • Divide the Department into two separate departments
  • Re-allocate the programme Business Administration to another department as it is not relevant to Human Resource Management
  • All academic staff should obtain at least a Master’s degree within the next two years
  • All academic staff should become certified facilitators and assessors within the next two years
  • Create additional positions for lecturers to improve the staff: student and the full time :part-time staff ratio
  • Re-look the contact hours of academic staff to increase the research outputs of the department
  • Improve administration of staff in the department by keeping proper and complete records and statistics
  • Provide additional support for the HOD to reduce the administrative burden and to improve academic management

2.4 Teaching & Learning:

  • Develop and implement an institutional policy and strategy
  • Conduct regular teaching evaluations and teaching development initiatives.

Biomedical Technology be implemented participate

2.5Assessment Policies and Procedures:

  • Develop staff competence in assessment
  • Develop and implement a quality control mechanism for question papers
  • Submit all question papers to language editing.

2.6Administrative Services;

Improve measures to identify at-risk students

2.7Resources:

  • Additional class room space need to be provided to improve the lecturer: student ratio
  • Noise levels on the campus and especially near the auditoriums need to be reduced
  • Library resources, especially academic journals need to be upgraded

Improved communication between library and academic staff to ensure sufficient resources

2.8Research:

  • Postgraduate guidelines need to be updated and provided to all postgraduate students
  • The number of postgraduate students need to be limited in relation to the capacity of the department to supervise
  • The qualifications of academic staff need upgrading. Only two members are in possession of a PhD
  • Liaison with industry on applied research need to be established
  • The administrative capacity of the department to service postgraduate students needs to be increased.

2.9 Programme Coordination

  • The department is too large to be managed by one HOD and one Administrator
  • User surveys and class feedback need to be conducted regularly
  • Recommendations of previous and present external reviews need to be implemented
  • Continuous quality improvement strategies need to be developed.

2.10Academic Support:

  • All academic staff require training in curriculum development
  • Stakeholders need to become more involved in the development of curriculum and subject content
  • All learning guides need to be reviewed and updated

2.11Assessment Practices:

  • Examination papers need to be language edited
  • Correlation between semester, examination and final marks need to be determined every semester
  • A clear RPL policy and procedure must be developed and applied in the department

2.12Work – Integrated Learning:

WIL needs to be implemented in all diploma qualifications as a matter of urgency.

2.13Programme Feedback:

Regular surveys need to be conducted to obtain feedback from students, staff, employers etc.

2.14Student Retention & Throughput Rates

Interventions need to be planned and implemented timeously in response to poor retention and throughput rates

3.Acknowledgements

It became clear when evaluating the programmes offered by the department that the department is very large compared to other departments in the institution. Four programmes, eleven qualifications and more than fifty instructional offerings are regarded as too many to be administered by one department. The result of this is that certain crucial aspects are not attended to, as indicated by this report. It is strongly recommended that the department is restructured in an attempt to improve quality and service delivery.

Ronnie Kundasami

Manager: Quality Promotion Unit

Vaal University of Technology

Tel: 016 950 9454

Fax: 0866141329

Cell: 0836796331

e-mail: