Graduate employability skills: The voice of Agricultural Technical Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) students in Zimbabwe

The graduate employability has seen most governments, institutions of higher learning and industries engaging each other, as industries feel universities and colleges are churning out graduates that are not work ready. This has led to many strands to the discourse of graduate employability. One strand of the discourse is whether the higher education institutions should produce work-ready graduates. Another strand of the discourse is on how these institutions can make their graduates work ready, if it is an expectation that the graduates should be work ready. There is also another strand of the discourse on what constitutes graduate employability, that is, what skills make graduates work ready. This article looks at the latter from the perspectives of Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) students in Zimbabwe. The article reports on part of a major study that was conducted on student internship and employability. Data was collected through focus group discussions with final year students from three agricultural colleges, that were selected using an eclectic sampling strategy which incorporated both typical case and maximal variation. The study showed that students view soft skills, namely entrepreneurship, financial literacy, innovativeness, ethics, problem-solving, honesty and some technical skills as essential to them

Contextualizing South Africa’s participation in the SITES 2006 module

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) initiated the Second International Technology in Education Study (SITES 2006) — a large-scale comparative survey on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in schools. The goal was to understand the pedagogical use of ICTs in schools in 22 education systems. We aim to contextualize South Africa’s participation in SITES 2006 on four levels: (i) the nature and structure of the South African education system, (ii) a review of South Africa’s participation in SITES 2006, (iii) ICT infrastructure, facilities and equipment, and (iv) teachers’ use of ICTs for teaching and learning. SITES 2006 administered three questionnaires to school principals, technology coordinators, and mathematics and science teachers. The final sample consisted of 666 mathematics and 622 science teachers. Although most education systems collected data via the internet, South Africa was the only country that used only a paper-and-pencil data collection strategy with an average return rate of 90%. South Africa scored low on most variables, e.g. ICT infrastructure, facilities, and equipment. A large percentage of South African teachers reported their ICT incompetence. South Africa’s inability to cross the boundaries of traditional learning towards the development of 21st century teaching and learning skills inhibits social and economic growth for the development of human capital.Keywords: developing context; e-Education; ICT in education; large-scale study; mathematics education; science education; SITES 2006; South Africa

Developing teacher competencies through the open and distance learning approach in Zimbabwe

The main purpose of the study was to gain insights into the effectiveness of the open and distance learning approach (ODLA) as an empowering tool in upgrading rural teachers’ professionalism. The data to address the problem was collected by means of a case study methodology.  The results of the study indicate that female teachers involved in the study perceive the ODLA to be enabling in several respects. Firstly, the ODLA provided rural teachers with the flexibility and opportunities to switch careers midway. Secondly, the ODLA provided female teachers with new professional knowledge, skills and competences with minimal disruptions to their family, social and work commitments. Thirdly, the ODLA was regarded as cost effective in terms of access, affordability, effort and time management. In light of the above, this study calls for further comparative studies of ODLA to other teacher education models in improving teacher proficiencies in resource-stressed environments

TB/HIV risk factors identified from a General Household Survey of South Africa in 2006

The level of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB) as well as the co-infection TB/HIV in South Africa is among the highest in the world. TB is curable while HIV is not, yet the combination of both is a growing feature in the world. This study examined TB and HIV affecting people living in South Africa. Analyses have been undertaken based on data from the General Household Survey of South Africa in 2006. The study focused on  respondents aged 15–49 years, corresponding to a total of 55,384 people composed of 25,859 males and  29,525 females. Among this population, 5935 people suffered from illness/injury, including 2469 (41.6%) males and 3466 (58.4%) females. Weighted multivariate logistic regression is performed on TB and/or HIV in  association with the province, background characteristics of the target population, and selected socioeconomic and demographic variables included in the survey. In this study we focus on variables of health status and whether  subjects suffered from TB and/or HIV. Findings of this investigation show that TB is the second most common  cause of illness in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal (KN) (9.1%), North West (5.4%) and Limpopo (4.2%). People who are married have a 50% lower risk compared to those currently not married to suffer from TB and/or HIV.  Those with living spouses have a 5% lower risk to suffer from TB and/or HIV than those whose partners are not alive. This study concluded that rapid action is needed to curb the spread of TB and/or HIV to produce a healthy population. Therefore, follow-up care and special preventative measures are urgently needed in provinces with higher reported rates of TB and/or HIV such as KN.Keywords: socioeconomic, demography, illness/injuries, living spouses, TB/HIVCette e´tude examine les maladies affectant la population de l’Afrique du Sud. L’objectif de l’e´tude est d’examiner les facteurs a` risque de TB/VIH a` partir d’une enqueˆte ge´ne´rale aupre`s des me´nages de l’Afrique du Sud en 2006. Plus pre´cise´ment, nous mettons l’accent sur les variables de l’e´tat de sante´ et si les sujets ont souffert de la tuberculose ou du VIH. L’e´tude a porte´ sur les re´pondants aˆge´s de 15–49 ans, correspondant a` un total de 55 384 personnes, compose´e de 25 859 hommes et 29 525 femmes . Parmi cette population, 5935 personnes ont souffert de maladie/blessure avec 2469 (41,6%) des hommes et 3466 (58,4%) femmes. Cet article fournit des estimations multivarie´es ponde´re´s de la tuberculose (TB) et/ou le virus de  l’immunode´ficience humaine (VIH) par province en association avec les caracte´ristiques de base de la  population cible et certaines variables socio-e´conomiques et de´mographiques. La tuberculose est la deuxie`me cause de maladie dans les provinces du KwaZulu Natal (9,1%), du Nord-Ouest (5,4%) et le Limpopo (4,2%) . Les personnes marie´es ont 50% moins de risque de souffrir de la tuberculose et/ou du VIH que les marie´es . En outre, ceux qui ont leur conjoint encore en vie ont 5% moins de risque de souffrir de la tuberculose et/ou du VIH que les veuves et veufs. En ge´ne´ral, cette e´tude a montre´ que les personnes ayant un conjoint ou un parent vivant ont un risque plus faible de maladie de la tuberculose/VIH par rapport a` ceux qui ne sont pas marie´s ou ne n’ont pas de parents en vie. Les conclusions de cette e´tude militent pour une action rapide est ne´cessaire pour enrayer la propagation de la tuberculose et du VIH afin de produire une population saine. Par conse´quent, les suivi des soins et des mesures spe´ciales de pre´vention sont ne´cessaires d’urgence dans les provinces de haute prevalence de tuberculose et/ou VIH signale´s comme le KwaZulu Natal.Mots cle´s: maladies, VIH/SIDA, tuberculose, socio-e´conomiques, de´mographique

Belonging, wellbeing and stress with online learning during COVID-19

Sense of belonging, perceived stress and wellbeing are reported factors that influence students’ university experience and learning. The COVID-19 pandemic and shift to online emergency remote teaching were likely to exacerbate these affective dimensions of student experience. This article employed a quantitative survey research design to determine how students’ sense of belonging, perceived stress and wellbeing were influenced during the pandemic. An online questionnaire was administered to 537 South African students at one residential university. Data analysis was performed using multiple regression analysis. The results indicated that platform pedagogy was a significant predictor of belonging, perceived stress, and wellbeing, while lecturers’ pedagogical competence was not. Lived learning experience of online learning was a significant predictor of perceived stress, and communication was a significant predictor of belonging. The importance of the learning environment in student belonging and wellbeing is key to student success and this study provides insights for developing targeted interventions

Academic, social and economic experiences of first-year students: Case study

The main precept of the current study was to explore first-year students’ academic, social and economic experiences at a University of Technology (pseudonym: University of Hard Knocks (UHK)). In response to the research questions, the study sought to interrogate the challenges faced by students by finding out whether they would choose the university again given a second chance, and if not why not. It also sought to establish how students would like the institution to improve in order to enhance first-year students’ experiences (FYSE). The approach applied was both quantitative and qualitative to allow students to reveal their experiences of the university, while simultaneously expressing such perceptions in descriptive format (for the quantitative part). Guided by Tinto’s (2013) student departure theory, data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires distributed and sent through invites to all 16 000 first (1st) year students – which served as the population. However, rested upon the research questions for the current study and given that the instrument used was semi-structured, data was received from participants totally 4020 for the quantitative aspect (mainly descriptive). Of this sample (4020), and for the purpose of the current research questions, forty (40) participants were further selected randomly, to evaluate their responses as directed and coordinated by the current research objectives. The results revealed that to ensure appropriate economic and social integration, efforts should be made to automate and secure university processes and, most importantly, provide accredited/licensed accommodation. To achieve effective academic integration systems, learning space and the lack of transparency in accommodation allocations should be addressed. It is therefore recommended that UHK considers economic, social and academic integration processes and procedures to improve the campus experience. &nbsp

Lipid metabolism, carcass characteristics and Longissimus dorsi muscle fatty acid composition of tropical crossbred beef cattle in response to Desmanthus spp. forage backgrounding

Lipid metabolism, carcass characteristics and fatty acid (FA) composition of the Longissimus dorsi (loin eye) muscle were evaluated in tropical crossbred steers backgrounded on Desmanthus spp. (desmanthus) with or without feedlot finishing. It was hypothesized that steers backgrounded on isonitrogenous diets augmented with incremental proportions of desmanthus will produce carcasses with similar characteristics and FA composition. Forty-eight Brahman, Charbray and Droughtmaster crossbred beef steers were backgrounded for 140 days on Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay augmented with 0, 15, 30 or 45 percent desmanthus on dry matter basis. Lucerne (Medicago sativa) hay was added to the 0, 15 and 30 percent desmanthus diets to ensure that they were isonitrogenous with the 45 percent desmanthus diet. After backgrounding, the two heaviest steers in each pen were slaughtered and the rest were finished in the feedlot for 95 days before slaughter. Muscle biopsy samples were taken at the beginning and end of the backgrounding phase. Carcasses were sampled at slaughter for intramuscular fat (IMF) content, fat melting point (FMP) and FA composition analyses. Increasing the proportion of desmanthus in the diet led to a linear increase in docosanoic acid (p = 0.04) and omega-6/omega-3 polyunsaturated FA ratio (n-6/n-3 PUFA; p = 0.01), while docosahexaenoic acid decreased linearly (p = 0.01). Feedlot finishing increased hot carcass weight, subcutaneous fat depth at the P8 site and dressing percentage (p ≤ 0.04). The n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio was within the recommended < 5 for human diets. IMF was within the consumer-preferred ≥ 3% level for palatability. The hypothesis that steers backgrounded on isonitrogenous diets augmented with incremental proportions of desmanthus will produce similar carcass characteristics and FA composition was accepted. These findings indicate that a combination of tropical beef cattle backgrounding on desmanthus augmented forage and short-term feedlot finishing produces healthy and highly palatable meat

Benefits of restoring ecosystem services in urban areas

Cities are a key nexus of the relationship between people and nature and are huge centers of demand for ecosystem services and also generate extremely large environmental impacts. Current projections of rapid expansion of urban areas present fundamental challenges and also opportunities to design more livable, healthy and resilient cities (e.g. adaptation to climate change effects). We present the results of an analysis of benefits of ecosystem services in urban areas. Empirical analyses included estimates of monetary benefits from urban ecosystem services based on data from 25 urban areas in the USA, Canada, and China. Our results show that investing in ecological infrastructure in cities, and the ecological restoration and rehabilitation of ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and woodlands occurring in urban areas, may not only be ecologically and socially desirable, but also quite often, economically advantageous, even based on the most traditional economic approaches.Peer reviewe

Towards a decision support tool to assess costs and benefits of tourism development scenarios : Application of the tool at Greater Giyani, South Africa

The tourism industry represents a thriving business and offers many opportunities for tourism development all around the world. Each development will have its economic, socio-cultural and ecological costs and benefits. Many of these are difficult to assess and to value, which often leads to unsustainable development characterised by short-term economic benefits and high costs on the long-term. The participatory integrated assessment decision support tool named ADAPTIVE and developed within this project, helps policy makers, spatial planners, park managers and other stakeholders to analyse all effects of potential development plans and aggregates them into a total monetary value for each scenario. The tool has been applied for illustrative purpose to the case-study area of Greater Giyani, South Afric

Becoming productive 21st century citizens: A systematic review uncovering design principles for integrating community service learning into higher education courses

Background: To prepare students to become productive 21st century citizens, universities have to be more engaged with society. Shifting towards community service learning (CSL) enables students to participate in, and reflect on, services that both benefit the public and also contribute to their own learning. There has been considerable research conducted on the improved student competencies, both academic and personal, resulting from CSL. There is, however, no consensus on how to integrate CSL into courses successfully, owing to the diverse contextual factors that influence implementation. Purpose: By means of conducting a review, this study aimed to establish general design principles to help guide course coordinators in implementing CSL in their academic courses. Design and methods: A systematic review was conducted of articles describing the implementation of CSL in academic courses within various disciplines. Implementation elements and principles were extracted from the articles and inductively grouped together, thereby identifying various design principles. Findings: Our analysis of the literature highlighted three steps that, according to the literature, are important in the implementation of CSL: (1) aligning course objectives and format; (2) establishing a relationship with the community partner; and (3) defining a reflection and evaluation strategy. We found that the nature of the design principles and specific approaches underlying these implementation steps should depend on the students’ capabilities, which include their pre-CSL experiences. Conclusion: The implementation steps and underlying design principles uncovered by this review may help guide and support course coordinators in their efforts to integrate CSL in their academic courses. The diverse range of design principles makes it possible to acknowledge students’ pre-CSL experiences and, thus, construct appropriate scaffolding, which i