Catalysing Institutional Commitment to Student Success Placing the Student at the Centre Ahmed C Bawa Durban University of Technology 27 February 2014

Must start with The Purposes of Higher Education a.Building citizenry for a multilayered, complex democracy. b.Broadening the intellectual culture of our society. c.Building the human resource needs of a complex economy. d.Imagining and shaping the new nation. e.Being bridges to the global community.

What does mean What must Universities do? a.Build the capacity of students to learn continuously, actively and independently. b.Build their capacity to be tolerant, engaged citizens. c.Build the general education basis of our students. d.Build their hard technical and intellectual skills. e.Build their employability and their entrepreneurship. f.Build their capacity to be good global citizens.

Access and Success The emphasis is on Access. This is correct but we must ask access for what? access to what? access to who? access to what end? Once we understand these, can we begin to think about a contract between student and university

Access and Success Placing emphasis on Success. Students are whole people. The rubric of student-centredness. who are our students? what do they come with? what have they read? what have they not read? what are their aspirations – do they fit? Build the university around the needs of students – so that they grow into independent learners.

Access and Success Integration of learning and living – understanding that most learning happens outside the classroom and optimising that opportunity Using ICT – as a disruptive technology, as a tool to enhance integrations of various kinds, to build new kinds of communications between professor and student, student and student, student and local networks of students, students and global networks of students, etc. Starting where our students are – coming to gripswith the academic process – designing programmes for success.

Access and Success General Education – as a means to produce educated, competent individuals who can write well, communicate well, who have access to our literature Using ICT – as a disruptive technology, as a tool to enhance integrations of various kinds, to build new kinds of communications between professor and student, student and student, student and local networks of students, students and global networks of students, etc. Starting where our students are – coming to grips with the academic process – designing programmes for success.

Access and Success The Academics addressing attitudes, qualifications and building empathy. Academic Innovation– creating the capacity of academics to innovate, to build new approaches to learning, to draw on new technologies. Student Support – helping students to overcome difficulties outside of the classroom that impinge on their academic success.

Thank you.