A formative evaluation of the University of Cape Town's emerging student leaders programme (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Scientific Research and Management
The purpose of this was to evaluated the effectiveness of Student Leadership training program carried out for the newly elected student leaders of a private secondary school in Zimbabwe. A qualitative descriptive case study was used in this study. Ten 10 student leaders were purposively selected from a total of 24 student leaders. In-depth interviews were used to solicit the student leaders’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the student leadership training offered to the newly elected student leaders. Data collected was analysed using thematic Analysis. Findings of the study indicate that the student leadership program was deemed effective as it became an eye opener for most of the student leaders as it helped some to change their attitudes for better. The major strengths of the training program that were highlighted include that firstly the timing was very appropriate, coming soon after the installation and inauguration of the new leaders, before they assumed duties so they could...
International journal of African higher education, 2021
Despite the important role that student affairs practitioners play in supporting universities to produce well-rounded graduates, few studies have been conducted on their lived experiences. This article examines the challenges confronted by these professionals in interacting with student leaders and facilitating leadership programmes in South African universities. A qualitative methodology was adopted and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 student affairs practitioners responsible for facilitating student leadership development programmes. A focus group discussion was also held with six student affairs experts. The findings point to a lack of seamlessness in the structure, staffing, and operation of these programmes, as well as a lack of university support to professionalise student affairs. Furthermore, student leadership development programmes were found to lack proper theoretical grounding.
Australian International Academic Centre PTY. LTD. (AIAC PTY.LTD.) , 2018
The need to prevent eruption of unrests among students in universities continues to exercise the minds of higher education managers and policy makers in the world. Innovative approaches in the management of higher education designed to preclude students’ riots continue to face immense challenges and ineffectiveness in universities in Kenya. One of the widely adopted approaches is that of involving democratically elected student leaders in the management of students’ affairs in universities in Kenya. Despite the involvement of student leaders in the management of students’ affairs in public universities, students’ protests and riots continue to characterize higher education in Kenya. Consequently, there is need to examine the leadership skills that student leaders are expected to possess in order to perform their functions effectively so as to avert upsurge of strikes. This study sought to assess the student leaders’ skills that are critical in managing student affairs in selected public universities in Kenya. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. Stratified random sampling was used to select student leaders from four public universities. The sample comprised 19 members of student governing councils, 50 class representatives and 79 clubs and society leaders, making a total of 142 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaires. Data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that 66.3% of student leaders had leadership competence to organize welfare activities to address students’ concerns in their institutions while 33.7% lacked capability. Further, the study established that leadership skills significantly contributed to effective provision of student affairs services. It is concluded that institutions of higher learning have not fully empowered student leaders to effectively perform their leadership tasks. The study recommends that student leaders should be exposed to regular leadership trainings during their tenure designed to equip them with necessary leadership competencies which would promote their effectiveness in enhancing university stability, peace and mutually accepted governance.
A framework for developing and supporting student leadership in higher education
Studies in Higher Education
Any peer leadership survey looking at student leadership development initiatives needs to be designed for a local context and should consider graduate attributes and employability outcomes as well as student leadership. The DaSSL Framework can be applied throughout the Australasian higher education sector to encourage quality assurance through peer review and benchmarking of student leadership development programs.
Reflections of South Africa Student Leaders 1994-2017
2020
A quarter-century of student leadership / 5 McAdam. 7 The growing body of literature on the Fallist student movement also informed the work of this book. 8 Conceptualising student leadership, representation and governance The concepts of student leadership, representation and governance on which the approach to the interviews in this book is predicated, draw on previous work on student representation published in the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa. 9 According to that work, the collective student voice can become 'present' through formal structures and processes of elected or appointed student representatives in decision-making processes within higher education institutions. Student representation is premised on three conditions: (1) democratic procedures which confer collective student powers on student representatives to represent the interests of the collective student body and through which those powers can also be revoked; (2) regular communication procedures with the student body to collect student views and inform about their activities; and (3) the representation of these student leaders on governance structures and other decision-making and consultative bodies at all levels and stages of the decisionmaking processes in higher education. In this manner, student representation forms part of the formal governance and administration of higher education institutions and systems which steer and influence organisational behaviour and
Developing Student Leadership in Colleges of Education In Ghana
Background: Student leadership were given opportunities at the Colleges to have frequent interactions with College Administration so as to learn from them. The researchers placed much emphasis on the definition of leadership, characteristics of good leadership, importance of stakeholders in glooming future leaders, early involvement of students in leadership positions, expectations of today's leaders, and benefits of student leadership at the College of education. The ways to look at leadership includes responding to an idea that the future is unknown and there is not any one specific model for leadership, which prepares the youth for the future by embracing and creating the capacity for change, participate in organized learning and look at collective leadership that helps in the capacity to change. Materials and Methods: Descriptive research was used for the study with questionnaire used to gather information from 60 Students Representative Council (SRC) executives using census approach. This was made up of thirty SRC executives of 2018/2019 and another thirty executives of 2019/2020 year groups of Komenda and OLA Colleges of education. Results: It was revealed that management at times take decisions for SRC Executives and so do not always have the opportunity to make their own decisions which affects their initiative taken in their duties as student leaders. SRC Executives were unable to ensure that colleagues in their year group abide by rules but the juniors. Also,systems that develop student leadership skills were not clearly observed. Conclusion: Leadership is developed from school as such there is the need to put students in some leadership positions where they can be nurtured to become effective leaders. This is found in the SRC Executive established in the Colleges of Education. Due to SRC Executives inability to control all students, especially their class mates, college management turn to dictate for them, thus not making them an independent body as leaders to promote initiative and effective leadership skills development.
Leadership in South African Higher Education: A Multifaceted Conceptualisation
This thesis explores the meaning of leadership in the context of higher education in South Africa, a society in transition. The higher education system in the country is in a process of change from being fragmented and segregated, to being a democratic one, guided by various policies. Within this facilitative environment, very little is said about leadership yet 'leadership' has been blamed in many instances where things have gone wrong. This qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews with middlelevel academic leaders, reveals inequalities in terms of who is leading at that level. The study also reveals an awareness of the existence of these inequities among the manager-leaders; they do, however, hold two distinct viewpoints about the causes of these inequities. A feminist and poststructuralist framework is used to analyse specific dimensions of the manager-leaders' understandings and practices of leadership. In the absence of a defined discourse of leadership, the manager-leaders are drawing on their own personal experiences of how they have been and are led and their own practices of how they lead in order to conceptualise leadership and what constitutes a leader. The study shows that the managerleaders understand leadership as a combination of leadership practice, i.e. how it is being enacted and their notions of characteristics desired in leaders. Their descriptions of leadership seem to be characterised by relational elements. In addition, the findings show that race and gender have specific implications for leadership; from a racial perspective additional roles are added to the general identified leadership practices while a gender perspective reveals several invisible leadership aspects. The thesis therefore describes leadership as an activity or process influenced by contextual elements: historical imperatives, organisational factors, and personal and group constructs, such as race and gender.