Evaluating postgraduate preparation in the South African context

Little work is being undertaken in South Africa to systematically and intentionally prepare undergraduate students to pursue postgraduate studies. This is concerning given the shortage of postgraduate students and the small scale of postgraduate studies. The few programmes and endeavours that exist to prepare students for postgraduate studies are not necessarily evaluated to assess their achievements and shortcomings. This paper provides an evaluation of an academic year-long postgraduate preparation programme, and is specifically concerned with examining subsequent postgraduate enrolment and improvement of participants’ marks. The study draws on both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings indicate that the majority of programme participants proceeded to subsequently enrol in postgraduate studies immediately after completing the programme and that the programme played a role in the pursuit of postgraduate studies. However, the findings also indicate that overall participants’ marks did not improve after participating in the programme. The study brings to light that, while some achievements are possible, the limits of the programme must also be acknowledged

Mainland Chinese students at an elite Hong Kong university: habitus–field disjuncture in a transborder context

Drawing on in-depth interview data from 31 mainland Chinese (MLC) students in a Hong Kong university, this article conceptualises MLC and Hong Kong higher education as two dissonant but interrelated subfields of the Chinese higher education field. The article argues that these MLC students’ habitus, one that possesses rich economic, social and cultural capital, prompts a strong sense of entitlement to anticipated privileges. However, this sense of entitlement is disrupted by the differential capital valuations across these fields. There is thus notable habitus–field disjuncture, which, exacerbated by the hysteresis effect, gives rise to a sense of disappointment and ambivalence. This article demonstrates how the Hong Kong education credential, which these students initially set out to pursue as a form of capital, can become a disadvantage at multiple levels; the article illustrates that capital valuation and conversion in a transborder context is not a straightforward, but rather a complicated and sometimes contradictory, process

A comparison between the hierarchical clustering methods for postgraduate students in Iraqi universities for the year 2019-2020 using the cophenetic and delta correlation coefficients

The educational sector is one of the important sectors in the world, and it is considered one of the means of community development. In addition, it is one of the means of making the country’s renaissance and development because it represents the factory of thinking minds that make change. There is no doubt that this sector is the same as any other sector. The deficit in the studied scientific planning has been prolonged, which led to its deterioration, and the problems of education remain diverse and inherited from previous time periods, where the hierarchical cluster analysis was used on postgraduate students in universities in Iraq, except for Kurdistan region, and the number of universities that were included in the study was (30) universities. In the whole of Iraq for the year 2020, when using the comparison measures the Cophenetic Correlation Coefficient (CCC) and the Coefficient Delta (DC), it was found that the Complete Linkage Method is the best among the hierarchical methods, as the value of (CCC) is 0.952061, and the value of (DC(0.1)) it is 0.288973, and in the case (DC(0.5)) it is 0.26877, then followed by Median method, Ward's method and finally Single Linage Method

Motivational orientation and its relationship to academic achievement among students of the Department of History at the University of Diyala

The current research aims to identify: 1- Motivational orientation among students of the Department of History, University of Diyala . 2- The significance of the statistical differences according to the gender variable and the stage of study in the motivation orientation of the students of the Department of History at the University of Diyala. 3- The correlation between motivational orientation and academic achievement among students in the Department of History, Diyala University In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher followed the descriptive and associative approach. The research community was represented by students of the History Department at the Faculty of Education for Humanities, Diyala University for the academic year (2021-2022), their number (613). The basic research sample was randomly selected according to the Stephen Thompson equation, as it reached (236) male and female students. The researcher used the scale of motivational orientations as a tool for the current research, and the face validity, structural validity and internal consistency coefficient of the research tool were extracted, and then the reliability was extracted by the two methods of repetition, as the value of the coefficient of reliability reached (0.84) and the Cronbach alpha method ( 0.86) . To extract the results of the current research, the researcher used the statistical portfolio of social sciences (Spss 25 ) to analyze the data and then interpret it

Higher education medium of instruction and career prospects:an exploration of current and graduated Chinese students’ perceptions

This article reports a mixed-methods study that explored university students’ perceptions of whether and how English Medium Instruction (EMI) improves career prospects. Questionnaire (n = 100) and interview data (n = 20) were collected from current and graduated (alumni) students from an EMI Finance programme at a Chinese university in Beijing. Participants reflected on their EMI experience and/or career experience to determine whether or not their employability had increased. Findings showed that both cohorts of students were positive that EMI will/had increased their career prospects. They believed that EMI could/had expanded their career choices as well as provided more job opportunities by improving their English proficiency. Overall students agreed that using EMI meant less content was taught, however, denied that this would negatively affect their career prospects. Practical implications for pedagogy are discussed.</p

City slicker to roo carer: The journey of a wildlife voluntourist

The level of interest and participation in voluntourism has progressively become a major sector in contemporary tourism. The notion of combining a novel and pleasurable tourism experience with the fulfillment of contributing a worthwhile cause whilst on vacation has drawn voluntourists towards a myriad of volunteer tourism programs and sites around the world. This study investigates the profile of wildlife voluntourists, based on the dimensions of volunteerism habits and experiences, volunteer activity and site selection criteria, pre-trip preparations and expectations, evaluation of satisfaction, depth of transformative learning and experience. Roo Gully Wildlife Sanctuary in Boyup Brook, Western Australia and its international volunteers were the focus-population utilized in this study. The study revealed several key issues and dimensions of wildlife voluntourism that were prevalent yet divergent from other studies on voluntourism. In particular, the discussion focuses on elements and constituents conducive to transformative learning and suggests an enhanced conceptual model of transformative learning that may be applied for future research and suggestions for more effectual learning outcomes and experiences for volunteers

Using technology to pre-assess candidate interpreters

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Translation (Option Interpreting) Johannesburg, 2017The aim of this research project is to examine the feasibility of using technology such as email and YouTube in pre-assessing potential interpreting students. This research project investigates existing pre-assessment methods and proposes a method for online interpreter pre-assessment. Pre-assessment for candidate interpreters is essential, but no standard or universal pre-assessment test exists. Scholars agree on several aspects that should be tested for, yet institutions providing interpreter training conduct pre-assessment tests differently. Generally, pre-assessment testing involves a jury or panel interviewing the potential student and observing him/her perform interpreting-related tasks. Pre-assessment by jury assessment presents several logistical and financial challenges for the institution conducting pre-assessment as well as the potential student. In poor regions such as Africa, this could prevent potentially viable interpreting students from attending pre-assessment tests. This research project investigates current pre-assessment practices in order to determine the skills generally tested for in pre-assessment tests, as well as the methods used for assessing these skills. Based on this investigation, an online delivery method is developed and evaluated in order to determine the extent to which online pre-assessment could be used as an alternative to using a jury for pre-assessment testing. Wits Language School in Johannesburg, South Africa is used as a pilot study for online interpreter pre-assessment: Interpreting students who applied for study, were given the option of online pre-assessment. After the pre-assessment, students attended a course in interpreting and their performance in the pre-assessment test was compared with their performance in the examination for the course. These results along with interviews and questionnaires provide useful information regarding the feasibility of online interpreter pre-assessment.MT 201

Mainland Chinese students at an elite Hong Kong university: habitus–field disjuncture in a transborder context

Drawing on in-depth interview data from 31 mainland Chinese (MLC) students in a Hong Kong university, this article conceptualises MLC and Hong Kong higher education as two dissonant but interrelated subfields of the Chinese higher education field. The article argues that these MLC students’ habitus, one that possesses rich economic, social and cultural capital, prompts a strong sense of entitlement to anticipated privileges. However, this sense of entitlement is disrupted by the differential capital valuations across these fields. There is thus notable habitus–field disjuncture, which, exacerbated by the hysteresis effect, gives rise to a sense of disappointment and ambivalence. This article demonstrates how the Hong Kong education credential, which these students initially set out to pursue as a form of capital, can become a disadvantage at multiple levels; the article illustrates that capital valuation and conversion in a transborder context is not a straightforward, but rather a complicated and sometimes contradictory, process