Search

The education of professionals oriented to poverty reduction and the public good is the focus of the article. Sen's "capability approach" is used to conceptualise university-based professional education as a process of developing public-good professional capabilities. The main output of a research project on professional education in South Africa is an innovative "Public-Good Professional Education Index" generated by using three knowledge sources: theory; empirical data from five university-based professional education departments in three universities in South Africa; and deliberations with stakeholders. Here the case of a Department of Engineering is selected to exemplify how the Index assists an evaluation of the development of public-good professional capabilities in universities, which allows some optimism in the spaces between realism and idealism. Attention is drawn to the relevance of the approach and arguments to contemporary university-based professional education worldwide. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article charts a research project on higher education and poverty reduction chronologically, mapping the process of thinking through and generating an Index of public-good professional education based on literatures; empirical data from actors-lecturers, students, alumni, professional bodies and NGOs; and participatory dialogue. Amartya Sen's capabilities structured the project theoretically, in particular underpinning the original formulation of "professional capabilities" to redefine what counts as being professional. The article further addresses what later emerged as the importance of a broader focus on human development as structuring change and quality in professional education and universities. At the heart of the article's argument is that professional education in South African universities is one area which shapes the relationship between the integrity of professional life and the health of civic cultures, and where an "other-regarding" social consciousness might be fostered through educational arrangements and policy, even in the face of history and social constraints. The Index is presented as an invitation to focus further debate not only in South Africa but globally about higher education, the public good and poverty reduction. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure, and 2 notes.)

This paper reports on a research project investigating the role of universities in South Africa in contributing to poverty reduction through the quality of their professional education programmes. The focus here is on theorising and the early operationalisation of multi-layered, multi-dimensional transformation based on ideas from Amartya Sen's capability approach. Key features of a professionalism oriented to public service, which in South Africa must mean the needs and lives of the poor, are outlined. These features include: the demand from justice; the expansion of the comprehensive capabilities both of the poor and professional capability formation to be able to act in "pro-poor" ways; and, praxis pedagogies which shape this connected process. This theorisation is then tentatively operationalised in a process of selecting transformation dimensions. (Contains 4 figures.)

Peer mentoring has been used for many years by the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine to integrate new students into the academic and social culture of the institution. In 2001, an unusual situation arose. A problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum was introduced and the first cohort in this programme was mentored by senior traditional curriculum students. The present study, by canvassing the 2002 PBL mentors, set out to determine whether the mismatch in curricula impacted on students' mentoring experiences. There was overwhelming agreement that curriculum did matter--it is only when mentors are able to share the same experiences as mentees, can they fully understand student problems. Notwithstanding this and other difficulties (e.g. timetable clashes), some 2001 mentees did form bonds with their traditional curriculum mentors. Some even identified them as role models. The 2002 PBL mentors also indicated that they had undergone considerable personal development as a result of their experiences. (Contains 5 tables.)

Presents research that introduces computer-aided instruction (CAI) resource material as an integral part of the second-year histology course at the University of Natal Medical School. Describes the ease with which this software can be developed, using limited resources and available skills, while providing students with valuable learning opportunities. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/ASK)

Examined the conceptions of learning held by second-year medical students in South Africa in relation to their academic achievement. Found that students with a good academic record expressed more transformative conceptions of learning than did their lower-achieving peers, who appeared to rely on memorization and recall. (EV)

For low and middle-income countries increasing their R&D and technological base, international technology transfer could be an effective tool to accelerate their development. This article looks at South Africa's patent system and development aspirations as set out in the National Development Plan (Vision 2030), and discusses these within the context of the changes in the macroeconomic environment as well as intellectual property landscape over the period 1996-2015. Based on South Africa's technological capabilities as reflected in patent data, this article proposes a number of interventions that could ensure that the intellectual property system becomes a catalyst for fostering South Africa's development goals. This article places specific emphasis on transfer of technology, including the adaptation of foreign developed intellectual property to supplement South A frica 's new technological capabilities in a few technological areas, in order to build new industries and catalyse development. This article advocates that the South African Government should support genuine innovation and the import of important technologies with a range of incentives to propel the private sector in order to realise the country's developmental objective. The case of South Africa could be particularly useful for low and other middle-income countries on how to use the intellectual property system for their socio-economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. The invasion of alien plants into natural ecosystems in South Africa is a substantial conservation concern. The primary reason for the introduction of alien plants has been ornamental horticulture, and urban centres are the main sources of invasions. Small towns have high edge: area ratios which favour the launching of invasions into surrounding areas. There is, however, a shortage of information at the global and local scale on the occurrence, distribution, and status of alien plants in an urban context. 2. We surveyed all alien plants in the small town of Riebeek Kasteel in the Western Cape, South Africa, to gain insights on where to find alien plant species, and to assist with future studies and the management of alien floras in small towns. 3. We surveyed publically accessible land, recording the abundance of all alien plant species every 10 m of road. A species accumulation curve was compiled to show the rate at which new species were encountered. This approach was used to test the efficacy of different sampling strategies. 4. Two hundred and ninety eight alien plant taxa were recorded in five land-use types. Half of the alien plant species recorded were naturalised within the town, while a third were invasive in the region (the Berg River catchment). 95% of the taxa, including many invasive species, occurred in gardens or adjoining road-sides, highlighting the invasion risk posed by ornamental horticulture. The most efficient way of collecting data on alien plant distribution for this town would have been to survey roads in the town centre first, rather than urban-edge roads and industrial areas. 5. Synthesis and applications: The gardens of small towns in South Africa harbour a high diversity of alien plants, many of which are already invasive or are potentially invasive. As the alien flora differs markedly between gardens, it is difficult to extrapolate generalised rules of thumb on where to survey. This means that compiling accurate inventories of alien plants in urban areas requires substantial search effort and taxonomic expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]