The contribution of a private higher education institution to the South African higher education landscape

Private Higher Education (PHE) in South Africa has been perceived to deliver programmes of questionable quality in search of profit maximisation (CHE 2016, 84). To curb this perception, the Council on Higher Education (CHE) has instituted strict regulations with regard to accrediting qualifications offered by Higher Education (HE) institutions. To determine the contributions of PHE to the South African higher education landscape, this article evaluates a registered management programme, on recommendation of the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the CHE, with the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) (CHE, 2013). Using Kirkpatrick’s (1996) four-level model of training programme evaluation as the theoretical framework, the management programme was evaluated to determine its contribution to higher education in South Africa. The four levels included the perception of the learners, the knowledge gained by the learners, the learners’ performance in the workplace and the return on investment. Other stakeholders, such as the sponsor and students’ line managers, were interviewed to determine whether the programme has contributed to work outputs. Overall, the results show that the programme is contributing to the development of higher education in South Africa. 

An Evaluation of the Literature on Integrated Sugarcane Production Systems

Logistically, the sugarcane supply and processing chain up to the raw sugar stage is driven by biophysical push factors rather than market-related pull factors. Sugarcane systems do not align fully with lean and agile supply chain thinking. This paper synthesizes a range of issues governing the sugarcane supply and processing chain. This synthesis was achieved through scientometrical analyses of a worldwide collection of publications. The aim was to develop a conceptual sugarcane supply chain framework and to evaluate research trends, knowledge gaps and limitations. Key system properties were identified from the literature and co-word analyses were carried out. Several exploratory exercises were executed on the co-occurrence matrix using the PAJEK software. The literature generally focuses on material handling issues in isolation from other factors, such as collaboration, information sharing and innovation. Impacts of harvesting on downstream processes remain a pertinent research topic. Also, emerging alternative products impose new complexities on the supply chain. Conflicting grower–miller relationships still suppress collaboration in most parts of the world. Mathematical modelling is a popular technique to produce innovative system improvements. Models, however, tend towards finding long-term solutions and lack the development of operational short-term applications. Production risk is an area that needs more focus. Researchers need to consider the supply chain more holistically, not only with respect to different dimensions in the chain (such as profitability, innovation, information and collaboration), but also within the local commercial socioeconomic regime. </jats:p

An optimisation-based seasonal sugarcane harvest scheduling decision support system for commercial growers in South Africa

An ongoing sugarcane decision support research project in South Africa is aimed at developing a decision support system capable of providing computerised support to those charged with the task of scheduling sugarcane harvesting operations in South Africa. In situations where the number of fields is large and when the conditions under which the crops are growing change frequently-for example as a result of climatic, biological or management-related events-computerised support is applicable. Commercial growers have provided data suitable for regression modelling of the parameters that govern the values and costs involved, and have participated in two consecutive preliminary system evaluation and development experiments conducted during the 2009 and 2010 harvesting seasons. The optimisation models underlying the decision support system are based on a time-dependent travelling salesman problem formulation and are solved approximately by means of a tabu search in a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) for Excel environment. The growers who participated in the evaluation experiments responded positively to the decision support system and stated that it may be useful to large-scale sugarcane producers as well as emerging growers. The authors' findings are that the decision support system provides support in practical sugarcane harvest scheduling and that one series of regression fits is required for each agroclimatically and management-wise homogenous area. © 2012 Elsevier B.V