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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.
  • 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

  • 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.
  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:

  1. Staffing and staff development
  2. Range of courses and enrolments
  3. Overshoots in enrolment targets
  4. Student: Staff ratios
  5. PG: UG ratios and enrolment planning
  6. Academic Indicators
  7. Drop-outs
  8. Academic exclusions
  1. 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 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.