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Influence of entrepreneurship education curriculum on employment of polytechnic graduate students from the Midlands Province, Zimbabwe
No full textDespite policy interventions by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development in Zimbabwe, as well as the donors’ support for graduates from the polytechnics in the Midlands province, the role of entrepreneurship education in the creation of meaningful jobs for graduate students has remained relatively insignificant. This study aimed to examine how entrepreneurship education curriculum in the polytechnics contributes towards employment creation for graduates. The objectives of the study were to establish entrepreneurship education curriculum’s influence on personality traits of students in the polytechnic colleges in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. Moreover, the study focussed on identifying entrepreneurship methods that were ideal for students’ learning, and evaluating the education content to ascertain whether entrepreneurship education curriculum in polytechnics enhanced job creation. Data was collected through a qualitative multi-case study design, with 40 lecturers and graduate students participating in focus group discussions and interviews. Participants were sampled through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Comparisons were drawn between entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe and other polytechnics in the region and beyond. The study revealed a disconnection between epistemology entrepreneurship and the practical skills essential for job creation. The study also established that entrepreneurship education curriculum could not entirely change students’ mind-sets to embrace new business start-ups because of inadequate resources, poor curriculum implementation and incompetent educators. Empirical results confirm that if considerable support could be offered, graduate students might be motivated to venture into actual business start-ups. On this basis, government should encourage all stakeholders through adopting the framework titled Stakeholders Collective Approach Intervention (SCAI) of entrepreneurship education to aid in the graduate students’ creation of actual business start-ups. The study makes a vital contribution to the body of knowledge on entrepreneurship education through customising the SCAI framework to reduce poverty through job creation. The study recommends that the Zimbabwe government give holistic support to entrepreneurship education curriculum through a budget that contributes to the achievement of feasible self-employment after graduation. Finally, the study provided a framework to assist policy makers to reduce the number of unemployed graduates from polytechnics in ZimbabweD. Management Studies (Entrepreneurship)Business Managemen
Building academic integrity through online assessment apps
No full textBuilding academic integrity through online assessment apps. Proceedings of the Education and new developments conference. Madeira, Portugal, 18 - 20 June, 2022. Vol. 2:49-53. ISSN (electronic version): 2184-1489 ISSN (printed version): 2184-044X ISBN: 978-989-53614-5-8. Published by inScience Press, Lisboa, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.36315/2022v2end011.The Covid-19 pandemic of the last two years is having an immense effect on teaching and learning in higher education. The rapid shift to online assignments and examinations in response to the pandemic and the consequent lockdown forced higher education institutions to become innovative with regard to online assessment. Furthermore, academic integrity during online examinations is a crucial concern since it affects the quality and trustworthiness of examination systems in higher education. In our experiences and according to course reports by lecturers at the largest distance education university in South Africa (Unisa), students handled online assessment in varied ways, which ranged from honesty to students being guilty of copy-and-paste and students assisting other students or phoning somebody for assistance. The two main research questions were: what is involved in academically dishonest behaviours in online
courses, and can digital technologies such as online invigilator applications contribute towards academic integrity? The purpose of this exploratory case study was to analyse the types of challenges experienced by Baccalaureus Educationis (BEd) and Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students during fully online examinations. We want to propose guidelines for instructors and administrators in their decision-making process regarding online evaluations and encourage future studies that will form the
foundation of evidence-based practices. The study further focused on a new app referred to as the Invigilator Application (IA). This app was compulsory for students to use during their online assessment, and our interest is to discover how the IA may contribute towards academic integrity. The findings are reported in terms of the cheating behaviour that occur in different components of course assessments and are discussed in terms of personal motivation theory and broader social and community pressures.Curriculum and Instructional Studie
Influence of access to finance on the competitive growth of SMEs in Lesotho
No full textAbstract
Background
Access to finance has been identified as one of the biggest problems faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in most developing economies. Similarly, access to finance has been identified as a dominant constraint facing the SME sector in Lesotho. This paper established the factors related to access to finance that influence the competitive growth of the SME sector in Lesotho. The factors that were identified include financial information access, bank and business support services, the structure of banks, and the collateral requirements of the financial sector.
Findings
The results from our analysis indicated that a relationship exists between the independent variables of financial information access, bank and business support services, the structure of banks, and the collateral requirement by commercial banks. As such these independent variables are associated with SMEs’ capacity to attain competitive growth in Lesotho. Explicitly, the results indicated that Basotho entrepreneurs and managers see the predictors (collateral requirement, financial information access, and bank and business support services) as critical factors of access to finance that constrain most enterprises from accessing the necessary credit from banks, which ultimately influence the SMEs’ capacity to attain competitive growth in Lesotho.
Conclusions
The study concludes that access to finance significantly affects the competitive growth of SMEs in Lesotho. Thus, this study suggests that several specific and harmonized financial policy actions are needed in the Lesotho financial market to establish an enabling policy that will ease enterprises’ access to adequate funding programs. These funding programs should target improved financial schemes that are coordinated, competitive, and directed towards Basotho SMEs’ access to finance, and enables a harmonized credit policy that guarantees a win–win for SME loan applicants and the financial market operators
The dynamics of public debt in Malawi: A review
No full textThis study provides an exploratory review of Malawi's government debt, how it has impeded development and suggests potential solutions. The study examines the size, composition, and structure of Malawi's public debt stock from 1970 to 2020 by analysing the sources of government debt, emphasizing the institutional changes and legislative frameworks put in place to support responsible public spending and debt management. The study was aided by the analysis of data on public debt, both domestic and foreign, from a number of organisations, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Government of Malawi. The review discovered three main time periods of debt patterns in Malawi: 1970–2006, 2007–2012, and 2013–2020. One of the challenges faced by Malawi is the higher-than-expected primary deficits, which are primarily covered by expensive domestic debt taken out at higher interest rates. This is because the country's economy and income base have not expanded quickly enough to meet the rising government spending needs, such as those associated with covid-19 and the high cost of public employment. The study suggests that fiscal consolidation be further strengthened to guarantee that government debt remains within sustainable limits and does not crowd out the private sector. This will strengthen the currently in place debt management mechanisms.Economic
The experiences and challenges faced by youth leaving care during the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textPlacement of children and youth at care centres has been a practice spanning over the years worldwide, to provide safe places resembling a home environment to the children and youth. This research study investigated the experiences and challenges faced by youth leaving care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The transition of youth from care is not an easy process in general due to the many adjustments that they have to make particularly because it is a time when they are transitioning to adulthood. The researcher adopted the qualitative research approach to explore the phenomenon of youth transitioning from care during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to gain an in-depth understanding of the participants’ experiences from their points of view. The significant findings of the research study revealed that the participants valued the relationships that they built when they were in care. It was evident from the findings that the pandemic worsened the challenges the youth face when they leave care, calling for the importance of support systems to manage these challenges. Recommendations were made, among them, for Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs) to notify youth in advance of when they will be exiting care so that they are better prepared and to have follow-up plans for youth who have exited care.M.A. (Social Work)Social Wor
eThekwini’s green and ecological infrastructure policy landscape: research paradigms, theories and epistocrats
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to indicate how dominant research paradigms, social theories,
and an epistocracy influence the governance of green and ecological infrastructures
within a South African local government context. Paradigms and theories play an important
constituting role that (local) government actors and institutions actively and subconsciously
promote within the green and ecological infrastructure policy landscape. Research
conducted by the author indicates that epistemic actors within the eThekwini Metropolitan
Municipality, South Africa, use paradigms and theories to promote green and ecological
infrastructures, as materialities, coupled with climate change adaptation and mitigation and
water governance and security aspirations. I conclude that an epistocracy is active in the
municipality and that it promotes the development and implementation of the infrastructure
types through a positivist paradigm and accompanied theories. In this article, I will
report on a two-year study that investigated eThekwini’s green and ecological infrastructure
policy landscape.Political Science
A cognitive semantic analysis of two ancient near eastern creation narratives : the great hymn to Khnum and Genesis 2:7
Get PDFThis study sets out to explore the role of embodied cognition and lived experience in the construction of meaning in religious texts dealing with supernatural abstract agents and counterintuitive acts of divinity. The study is situated within the theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics and undertakes a cognitive semantic analysis of two Ancient Near Eastern cosmological texts: The Great Hymn to Khnum and Genesis: 2:7. These narratives recount the process through which humans were created by the respective creator deities of the Ancient Egyptians and Israelites: Khnum and Yahweh. In the analysis, the conceptual blends and conceptual metaphors identified in the two narratives are analysed within relevant conceptual frames, and the conceptual similarities and differences between the narratives are explored, using a qualitative approach. The findings of the study illustrate that while The Great Hymn to Khnum and Genesis 2:7 are sacred texts narrating divine events, they are grounded in the embodied experience and everyday reality of the Ancient Egyptian and Israelite cultures. The study further demonstrates how the cognitive operations of conceptual blending and conceptual metaphor, within relevant cultural and religious frames, can account for meaning construction within the texts.Hierdie studie ondersoek die rol wat beliggaamde kognisie en geleefde ervaring in betekeniskonstruksie in religieuse tekste speel, spesifiek waar hierdie tekste op bonatuurlike abstrakte agente en teen-intuïtiewe dade van goddelikheid fokus. Die studie val binne die teoretiese raamwerk van kognitiewe linguistiek en onderneem 'n kognitiewe semantiese analise van twee Ou Nabye Oosterse kosmologiese tekste, naamlik ‘The Great Hymn to Khnum’ en Genesis: 2:7. Hierdie tekste verduidelik die proses waardeur die onderskeie gode van die Antieke Egiptenare en die Israeliete (Khnum en Yahweh) die mens geskep het. In die analise word die konseptuele vermengings en konseptuele metafore wat in die twee tekste geïdentifiseer is, binne relevante konseptuele rame ontleed, en die konseptuele ooreenkomste en verskille tussen die tekste word ondersoek, met behulp van 'n kwalitatiewe benadering. Die bevindinge van die studie illustreer dat alhoewel ‘The Great Hymn to Khnum’ en Genesis 2:7 religieuse tekste is, wat goddelike gebeure beskryf, beide tekste gegrond is in die beliggaamde aardse ervaring en alledaagse werklikheid van die Antieke Egiptiese en Israelietiese kulture. Die studie demonstreer verder hoe kognitiewe bewerkings soos kognitiewe metafoor en vermenging, betekeniskonstruksie in religieuse tekste kan verklaar, gegewe die agtergrond van ‘n spesifieke kulturele en godsdienstige raamwerk.Thutonyakisiso ye e ikemiseditse go kwesisa tema yeo e kgathago ke temogo le maitemogelo a bophelo tlhamong ya dingwalwa tsa sedumedi, tseo di lebaganego le dilo tseo di sa bonwego tsa tlhago le ditiro tsa sedimo tsa go thulana le tlhaologanyo. Thutonyakisiso e hlahlwa ke tlhako ya teori ya thutamaleme ya temogo (cognitive linguistics) gomme e dira tshekatsheko ya molaetsa wa temogo wa dingwalo tse pedi tsa botala tsa temogo ya legohle tsa Ancient Near East: Sefelakgolo go Khnum le Genesi 2:7. Dikanego tse di hlalosa mokgwa woo batho ba dirilwego ka gona, ba dirwa ke badiri ba bona ba Egepita le ba Isiraele tsa bogologolo: Khnum le Yahweh. Ka gare ga tshekatsheko, tswakanyo ya dikgopolo (conceptual blend) le tshwantsho ya kgopolo (conceptual metaphor) tseo di hlathilwego go dikanego tse pedi di sekasekwa ka tshomiso ya ditlhako tsa kgopolo tsa maleba, gomme tshwano le diphapano tsa dikgopolo gare ga dikanego di hlarollwa ka tshomiso ya mokgwa wa nyakisiso wa khwalithethifi (qualitative approach). Dipoelo tsa thutonyakisiso di laetsa gore le ge Sefelakgolo go Khnum le Genesi 2:7 e le dingwalo tse kgethwa tsa tlhaloso ya ditiragalo tsa sedimo, di theilwe go ditlwaedi le dinnete tsa bophelo tsa ‘tsatsi ka ‘tsatsi tsa ditso tsa Egepeta le Isiraele ya botala. Thutonyakisiso e tswela pele go bontsha ka mokgwa wo go soma ga kgopolo ga tswakanyo ya dikgopolo le tshwantsho ya kgopolo go ka thusago ka kago ya molaetsa ka gare ga dingwalo, ka gare ga ditlhako tsa maleba tsa setso le bodumedi.M.A. (Linguistics)Linguistics and Modern Language
A strategy for reducing maternal mortality in Migori, Kenya
Get PDFThe aim of the study was to investigate the determinants of maternal mortality and develop a strategy for reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in Migori, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to describe the causes and the socio-economic determinants of maternal mortality, analyse the existing strategies that aim at reducing MMR, and develop a strategy to reduce MMR in Migori, Kenya. A sequential explanatory mixed methods study design was used to conduct the study. A checklist and in-depth interview guides were employed to collect the data. The quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23 and simple descriptive statistics. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the qualitative data. The study revealed that the leading causes of maternal mortalities are haemorrhage (34.7%), eclampsia (20.8%) and sepsis (15.8%). Moreover, social and system factors which largely determined the deaths of mothers were found to be timely provision of and lack of drugs and blood, rural residence, and maternal ignorance of danger signs. The above-mentioned factors were exacerbated by the delays in accessing appropriate healthcare that could have saved the lives of mothers. Identified delays were theatre delays, resuscitation delays, competent care delays, referral delays, and the delays in decision-making by the mothers themselves.
The study further established that the existing maternal improvement interventions such as the free maternal service policy, the haemorrhage prevention programmes, and family planning were poorly implemented with low coverage. The findings informed development of an alternative strategy that would reduce MMR in Migori, Kenya. The proposed strategy targets maternal care delays, which the study found to contribute to the persisting high levels of maternal deaths in Migori, Kenya. Increased focus on the identified determinants of maternal deaths by policy makers is recommended. The study further alerts stakeholders that hospital systems as well as community empowerment programmes are in dire need of quality improvement initiatives. The Kenyan government and non-profit organisations should be involved in the implementation of the proposed strategy
Quality of intrapartum care at health centres of West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
No full textIntroduction: Ethiopia is among the top five materal mortality contributors and has high
newborn mortality rate and the provision of quality intrapartum care at primary health care
units of health centres could reduce maternal and newborn death.
Purpose: the purpose of the study was to assess the quality of intrapartum care,
providers’ practise of respectful maternity care and clients’ satisfaction with intrapartum
care at selected rural health centres and to develop strategies to improve the quality of
intrapartum care at health centre level.
Method: the researcher selected a convergent parallel mixed methods research design
for the study. Twenty-six health centres, 279 labour and delivery clients and 247 post natal women were enrolled to participate.
The study was conducted in five strands, namely three quantitative, one qualitative, and
a Delphi technique to reach consensus on the strategies developed for quality intrapartum
care improvement at health centre level.
Result: the study found a 74% overall quality of intrapartum care service provision, 81.4%
availability of medical equipment and supplies, and 66.5% quality intrapartum care
competency and respectful maternity care, and 74.5% client satisfaction.
Challenges included poor cleanliness of labour and delivery rooms and beds; shortage of
water; shortage of incinerators; unsafe waste disposal; shortages of equipment, supplies,
and drugs; inadequate staffing; inadequate utilisation of partographs; lack of technical
competency, and a loose referral system and feedback.
Strategy development: Based on the findings, the researcher developed strategies to
improve quality intrapartum care service at health centre level. Finally, a Delphi panel of
experts reached consensus on the final strategies.D. Litt. et Phil. (Public Health)Health Studie
Perceptions of academics on academic freedom at the University of Zambia
Get PDFThis study was based on perceptions about academic freedom at the University of Zambia. Its primary purpose was to critically study the state of academic freedom at UNZA by analysing the academics' and academic leaders' perceptions of how academic freedom was understood and practiced. "How do academics and academic leaders at UNZA perceive academic freedom?" was the study's main research question. The answer to this question was critical in achieving the study's stated purpose.
I was able to answer the question by combining phenomenological research design with other qualitative methodologies. I chose this design due to the nature of the research problem, which required information regarding the thoughts and perceptions of the 30 purposively selected participants (15 academics and 15 academic leaders). To gather data, I conducted semi-structured interviews and used documentation analysis to analyse documents. UNZA policy documents and Zambia National Policy documents were thoroughly examined.
The following significant findings resulted from the study: (1) Academics and academic leaders had varying perceptions of what academic freedom was and had a fair understanding of the concept; (2) academic freedom matters because it safeguards members of the academic community from internal and external constraints; (3) two realities of how academic freedom was practised at UNZA were uncovered: the first suggesting that academic freedom was practised in teaching and research at UNZA, and the second, suggesting that academics and academic leaders did not know how academic freedom was practised at the institution; (4) financial resources had a direct positive and negative effect on academic freedom at UNZA; (5) academics and academic leaders experienced various challenges in exercising academic freedom causing UNZA not to ultimately realise its mission of creating knowledge through scholarship and research; (6) various strategies were highlighted that could be put in place to facilitate academic freedom at UNZA.
The study's main conclusion was that academic freedom was perceived to be necessary. UNZA needs to uphold and safeguard academic freedom to provide academics with positive motivation to fulfil the university's mission. However, as important as academic freedom was perceived by the participants, it was revealed that academics at UNZA did not fully enjoy academic freedom. Ultimately the study has filled a population gap in the knowledge by adding the voices and perceptions of Zambian academic and academic leaders to the literature on academic freedom.D. Phil. (Philosophy of Education)College of Educatio