FROM COUNTRYSIDE TO CAMPUS – - University of Limpopo

NUMBER 27: 2nd Trimester 2012FROMCOUNTRYSIDETO CAMPUS –NEW STUDENT NEEDS ANDUNIVERSITY RESPONSESMedunsalosesJoubertTRIBUTES TO ANEXTRAORDINARYMAN

Letters to the EditorGETTING THE FACTS STRAIGHTI wish to point out that in Limpopo Leader 26 (Summer 2012)in the article ‘Meet the only NRF-rated woman researcher atUL’, the impression is given that I conduct research on freshwaterfish parasites. In fact, my colleague Dr Wilmien Luus-Powell is personally involved in this important research. Inaddition, I taught at Welkom-Gimnasium in Welkom and notat a Polokwane high school, as stated.Professor Susan DippenaarDepartment of BiodiversityUniversity of LimpopoEditor: We normally send all articles back to our sourcesbefore publication. Somehow, this one slipped through thenet. Apologies.IMPACT OF MIGRAINES ON ACADEMICPERFORMANCEThe International Headache Society has published a peerreviewed medical study describing the impact of migraines onacademic performance in students. Three hundred and fortyfouruniversity students participated in the study. The HeadacheImpact Test (HIT-6) and the Hospital Anxiety and DepressionScale were used to measure the severity of the migraines ineach student. Absenteeism, performance coefficient (grades)and number of failures were then measured, and mappedagainst the data on the severity of the migraines. From thesample group 8.7 percent (30 students) sought emergencyservices, 30.8 percent (106 students) missed class, and 30.8percent (106 students) had a reduction in their productivecapacity. Multiple linear regressions showed that ‘serious’ and‘very serious-impact’ headaches and migraines are significantlyrelated to greater number of failures and absenteeism.A high headache impact on a student's life was associatedwith worse academic performance. For free computer posturedownload visit www.headacheclinic.co.za or speak to a specialistnurse consultant on the hotline 0861 678 911.Migraine Research InstituteLETTERS TO THE EDITORPreference will be given to short letters. Aim for a maximum of 100 to 150 words, otherwise expect your epistle to beedited. Please give contact details when writing to us. No pseudonyms or anonymous letters will be published.Address your letters to The Editor, Limpopo LeaderPO Box 2756, Pinegowrie, 2123, South Africa.E-mail: dgrwrite@iafrica.com Fax: +27 11 - 791 2390P A G E 1

EDITORIALLimpopo Leader is published by theMarketing and Communications Department,University of LimpopoPO Box X1106Sovenga 0727LimpopoSouth AfricaHYPERLINK 'http://www.ul.ac.za'www.ul.ac.zaEditor: David RobbinsTel: +27 11 - 792 9951Cell: +27 82 - 787 8099 ordgrwrite@iafrica.comAdvertising:Clare-Rose JuliusTel: +27 11 - 791 4561Cell: +27 72 - 545 2366 orinfo@porcupinepress.co.zaEditorial committee:DK Mohuba (chairman)David RobbinsGail RobbinsPHOTOGRAPHS:Gail Robbins: front cover, pages 7 (right) 9, 19,29 & 31Janice Hunt: pages 11, 14, 15, 18, 20 (right)& 25David Robbins: pages 20 (left & middle), 21 & 23Robbie Sandrock: back cover, pages16 & 27Liam Lynch: pages 7 (bottom left) & 17Tyrone Arthur: page 5Padi Matlala: page 28Medunsa: page 12Gallo Images: pages 7 (top left) & 13Design and layout:Wim RheederJamstreet, Cape TownPrinting:Colorpress (pty) LtdProduction Management:Gail RobbinsDGR Writing & Research+27 11 - 792 9951Cell: +27 82 - 572 1682 dgrwrite@iafrica.comwww.porcupinepress.co.zaArticles may be reprinted withacknowledgement.ISSN: 1812-5468THE COVER STORY in this issue of Limpopo Leader takes a close lookat that frequently unnerving journey from the protection of home and highschool to the freedoms and responsibilities of life in academia. One first-yearstudent quoted in this edition says candidly: ‘If you make a mess, you have toclean it up yourself.’ Another, commenting specifically on the first few weekson the Turfloop campus, remarks: ‘It’s not a paradise. In fact, at first, it’s adesert for you.’ Nevertheless, each year thousands of first-years get by – butnot without an array of carefully designed support systems offered by theinstitution itself. Read all about the strange new undergraduate world of theuniversity campus, and what the university is doing to help.The death of Professor Herman Joubert has been a sore loss for the Universityof Limpopo, and particularly for the Medunsa campus where he served as theacting Deputy Vice-Chancellor. A tribute to his quality, as man and academicand administrator, heads up the articles in this edition.Is there a crisis in the supply of nurses in South Africa? Some say ‘yes’ andsome say ‘no’. There are nursing departments on both campuses of theUniversity of Limpopo, and the work going on in each is set against a generallyturbulent and sometimes contradictory health care environment. Read, forexample, about some of the unintended consequences of the emphasis onprimary health care and district health care models in the post-apartheid era.Women continue to make their mark on university life. The old gender-basedglass ceiling for women academics continues to give way, layer after layer, ascompetent women academics get promoted into increasingly higher levels ofmanagement and control, Specifically, of the 16 Schools spread across thefour faculties, five are headed by women directors. Three of these, all relativelyrecently appointed, are interviewed in your latest Limpopo Leader. Their viewsmake for inspiring reading – perhaps more particularly for women aspiring forhigher positions and influence.Finally, there’s some interesting material on the University of Limpopo’ssteadily improving research performance. Vice-Chancellor Mahlo Mokgalonghad some interesting things to say about ‘African research’ at the annualResearch Awards banquet in December last year; and this is followed byinterviews with two award-winning researchers from the Turfloop campus.Don’t hesitate to make use of our letters page if you disagree – or agree – withwhat you’re reading in the pages that follow.NEXT ISSUESouth Africa’s Limpopo province is mineral rich beyond most of ourwildest expectations. It makes sense, therefore, that the University ofLimpopo should be aiming towards the establishment of a School ofMining – including an eventual department of Engineering and all the othernecessary requirements for such a school. One essential ingredient, ofcourse, must be Geology, and just such a department is burgeoning on theTurfloop campus. Find out more about this important development byreading the cover story in Limpopo Leader 28.P A G E 2

IN THIS ISSUEcover photograph:(From left) Karabo Maredi, Kgwerano Mpamonyane, ReitumetseNchoe: three of the thousands of first-year students who pouredonto University of Limpopo campuses at the beginning of 2012.page 4:FAREWELL TO PROFESSOR JOUBERT: a tributepage 6:FROM COUNTRYSIDE TO CAMPUS: it’s a new world forthousands of students every yearpage 8:MEET THE FIRST-YEARSpage 10:Centre for Academic Excellence (CAE) – THE UNIVERSITYRESPONSE to student needspage 12:Student support: LEARNING ABOUT SCIENCEpage 13:Student support: FINDING RELEVANT INFORMATIONpage 14:Student support: OPENING UP THEIR WORLD WITH ENGLISHpage 15:Student support: FEEDING THE HUNGRYpage 16:Nursing in SA: IS THERE A CRISIS OF SUPPLY?page 20:The women directors: WOMEN ARE PLAYING THEIR PARTpage 21:The women directors: FIGHTING OFF THE ISOLATIONpage 23:The women directors: I’M NOT IN A POPULARITY CONTESTpage 25:The women directors: SHE BRINGS A WEALTH OF SKILLSTO THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINEpage 27:AFRICAN LEADERSHIP, GLOBAL EXCELLENCE: the surgingresearch effort at ULpage 29:Research profile: HE’S BUILDING A PLACE FOR HIMSELFpage 31:Research profile: THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD

A tributeFAREWELL TO PROFESSOR JOUBERTTHE OUTPOURING OF grief at the loss of Medunsa’sProfessor Herman Joubert spans effortlessly across thespectrum of age and race groups, societal status, andeducation levels – as he so clearly and compassionatelydid throughout his almost 32 years at his belovedinstitution.All who grieve his passing are acutely conscious of thevoid he has left; in individual lives, in the institution, in thegreater healthcare sector, in associations and committeesthat he attended to so diligently, and most poignantly in hisfamily. He leaves his wife, Retha, and his daughter Marissa.Again and again, this gentle academic, teacher, andleader has been hailed as ‘a great man’ – not one whostrove after greatness, but one who had greatness thrustupon him.On 18 April 2012, a communique was sent out from thedesk of the Vice Chancellor and Principal of the Universityof Limpopo, Professor Mahlo Mokgalong that announced,‘with great sorrow and sadness’, the passing on ofProfessor Joubert due to illness.‘Professor Joubert joined the staff of the University ofLimpopo, Medunsa campus, on 1 July 1980. He has dedicated32 years of his life to the service of the University,among others as Head of Department of ChemicalPathology, Director of the School of Pathology and Pre-Clinical Sciences, and currently as Acting DVC (Medunsacampus). He not only acquit his duties and responsibilitieswith distinction, but with enviable dedication and profoundpassion for his profession.’Professor Tshepo Gugushe, Director of the School of OralHealth Sciences, who has known Joubert since he joinedMedunsa in the early 1980s, said he had ‘served thisuniversity with unequivocal commitment. We shall beforever thankful for his noble contribution to academicmedicine and the overall administration of the institution.’Joubert’s first position at Medunsa was in the ChemicalPathology Department. He came, says his past student,colleague and friend, Professor Phindile Mntla, Head ofCardiology, ‘fresh from university, armed with a cumlaude in Chemical Pathology’, as the youngest professoron campus. ‘With vim and vigour and unflinching resolve,he began to build a world-class laboratory and a department.Blessed were the students he encountered sixmonths into their programme.‘Enter my class; a group of young activists, triggeredinto instant action at the slightest provocation. ProfessorJoubert strategically managed to calm us down andpersuade us to focus on our studies. He encouraged andenthralled us with his love of excellence rather thanmediocrity. He planted seeds for surgeons, physicians,paediatricians, cardiologists, obstetricians and gynaecologists,radiologists, nuclear physicians, MECs, a deputyminister of health, and many others. He spoke well ofeverybody; he had the character and self-control to beunderstanding and forgiving. He knew that the way todevelop the best in a person is with appreciation andencouragement. He was a good listener and he knew toothat the road to a man’s heart is to talk to him about thethings he treasures most. He made other people feelimportant. He did it sincerely.’Mntla served with Joubert in the Deanery when Joubertwas Acting Dean of Medicine; on the HPCSA ContinuousProfessional Development Committee, and in the ECSand Senate Committees; and together they ran successfulannual refresher courses.Dr Jocelyn Naicker, representing the Expert Committee inChemical Pathology, said Joubert had been the first chairof the committee in 2003 until 2011. In her regular interactionwith him, she and her colleagues found him to bea deeply committed professional whose opinion wasalways valued. ‘He was modest, kind-hearted, patient,and respectful in all his dealings with students andcolleagues – the true measure of a man of great worth.His contribution will be deeply missed.’Professor Fran Clarke, HOD of the Department of Biologyand long-time colleague and friend of Joubert’s, reflectedon the vast role he played in the life of the university.‘As Director of the School of Pathology and PreclinicalSciences which included seven disciplines as well asEnglish Proficiency, Herman Joubert was a dynamic leader,always striving to improve and build the School. Right upto the time of his death he was involved in negotiationswith the HPCSA to introduce a postgraduate course inClinical Pathology.‘I will always remember him clad in his blue denim jeansand his white jacket; down to earth and without anypretence, yet respected by all.‘Herman always had time for colleagues and studentsP A G E 4

RemembranceProfessor Herman Joubertalike. No matter who came to him, no matter when, hewas prepared to listen and consider without prejudice,discuss, advise, and assist – far beyond what was expectedof him. Even when he was totally snowed under withwork, he would make time for a student or a colleague.’Although a Clinical Pathologist, Joubert’s knowledge extendedfar beyond his field of expertise. An example ofthis is the capable way he administered the DOE-fund aswell as his strong contribution in the construction of theSkills Laboratory and the recent refurbishment of some ofthe campus buildings.Clarke added that Joubert was always prepared to rise toa challenge. He made decisions and accepted responsibilityfor them. Under his leadership, things happened.Over the past year, Joubert had known he was terminally ill.Yet he was prepared to take on the position of Acting DVC.He continued with his daily duties as HOD, Director of theSchool and DVC as if there was nothing wrong. ‘It was hiswish that we continue with our work in the same mannerand with the same dedication as he taught us to do.’Clarke spoke for everyone when she closed, ‘I can onlybut admire his courage, his perseverance and his loyaltyto Medunsa. It was a privilege to work with him and hetouched the lives of all of us. We will surely miss andremember him.’Karin van Staden, Principal Medical Technologist in theDepartment of Chemical Pathology, wrote a poem forJoubert on the day he passed away.Familiar footstepsforever fadedchairbehind layered deskforever empty.Footprints leftin hearts, careers, mindsforever embeddedamongst memories ofmany a conversation sharedin tearoomat braai-fire’s lightA bakkie in the parking lot,that pipe!Laughs…Poultry, camouflaged greensWisdom,A vast knowledge, sharedEmpowering.Always time to listen, Katryn…Never too busy, Meraai…Prof, you are missed!Not only by man,but best friend tooWhat you werewill comfort, remain‘til that dayWhen time comesfor us tooto depart.P A G E 5

It’s a new worldFROM COUNTRYSIDE TO CAMPUSAT THE BEGINNING of each academic year, thousandsof new students stream onto the two main campusesof the University of Limpopo. The total studentenrolment at the beginning of 2012 was just over 21 500,of which at least a quarter are first-years. For many ofthem it’s a wrenching transition from a deep rural backgroundto the increasing sophistication of the rapidlydeveloping campuses at Medunsa and Turfloop.But the days when it could be accurately stated that allnew students on Turfloop are under-prepared to begin auniversity education are waning fast.‘There’s a positive trend emerging,’ says Dr SegopaneSeroka, the university’s Dean of Student Affairs. ‘In linewith this trend, I would say the ratio of under-prepared toprepared now stands at around 60/40. Does this indicatea gradual improvement in the quality of schooling in theprovince? Perhaps. I think it certainly suggests that theuniversity’s outreach efforts into local high schools arebeginning to bear fruit.’Seroka explains that the tendency for the cream ofLimpopo school leavers to join the big five urban-basedSouth African universities 1 , while still going on, was notalways the blanket rule. ‘Increasingly,’ he adds, ‘theuniversity’s Turfloop campus is becoming the institutionof choice for many students. This is because the universityis offering more accredited programmes – for example, inaccountancy and pharmacy, and from next year we’ll beenrolling our first fully-fledged medical students.’So the University of Limpopo can no longer realistically beconsidered a B-stream ‘bush’ institution. There’s simply toomuch evidence to the contrary. Apart from the argumentsgiven above, sometimes real brilliance shines through.Consider the case of Regina Maphanga. She grew up andwent to school in a remote village to the west ofPolokwane. The village had no electricity (until 2010), andher high school had no laboratories or computers. Nevertheless,she sailed through her BSc degree at Turfloop,majoring in mathematics and physics. Until this point,Maphanga had never touched a computer; only duringher postgraduate studies did her computer experiencebegin. Nevertheless, working in Turfloop’s Materials ModellingCentre, she was soon so proficient in the computersimulatedmodelling of alloys that she was sent toCambridge (in the UK) where she linked more than ahundred processors in parallel to establish the optimumoperation of various battery materials. Maphanga was 26when she was awarded her doctorate, and four yearslater she won a major NRF award as a ‘distinguishedyoung black female researcher’.Is Maphanga an exception to the rule? Almost certainly.Perhaps that is why so much emphasis has been placedon bridging programmes, foundation years, and now onextended degrees which have a foundational/bridgingcomponent built into the additional first year. Some of thesolutions for under-preparedness that have been devisedat the University of Limpopo (and at the University of theNorth and Medunsa before the merger) are the mostcomprehensive in the country.Professor Monie Naidoo, head of the university’s Centrefor Academic Excellence, was quoted in 2010 as saying:‘The university plays an incredibly important role inproviding students from one of the poorest provinces theopportunity to get into higher education – while showingtotal understanding of how disadvantaged their schoolinghas been. We see students who haven’t had access towater, electricity, laboratories, or proper schooling. Ourconstant focus is on the way we invite these students tojoin our community.’Dr Seroka explains what this means in practical terms.‘We try to make entry into the university a really positiveexperience. Obviously, this begins with registration, whencrowds of students converge on our campuses. We try todeal with the busloads of foreign students who comedown from our SADC neighbours. We provide them withcatering facilities where they can cook their food, and wemake sure they have access to water and toilets. We alsohave special assistance for students who are at risk ofbeing excluded for various reasons. Some are at riskacademically, others for financial reasons, and some onsocial or psychological grounds. Among the last categoryare the disabled, whom we can assist through theregistration process and offer permanent on-campusassistance. Other services we offer on the spot are one onone counselling and financial assistance, including adviceon available bursaries and access to student loans.‘Then, after registration, we take new students on a oneweekorientation programme, which includes an introductionto the Students Representative Council, a tour tofamiliarise them with the campus environment, as well aslectures on study techniques and rules of academicP A G E 61 UCT, Stellenbosch, Wits, and the universities of Pretoria and KwaZulu Natal

Dr Segopane Serokaconduct when such issues as plagiarism and cheating aredealt with, but in a deliberately positive and proactiveway.’But Seroka admits that a major remaining challenge concernson-campus student accommodation. As the studentpopulation has grown, the available places in the residenceshave not. The current situation on the Turfloopcampus is that 73 residential units provide accommodationfor 6 590 students, while at Medunsa, 12 units accommodate3217 students. These figures mean that at least75 percent of Medunsa’s students are satisfactorilyaccommodated on or near the campus, while the situationat Turfloop is that only around 30 percent of the currentstudent population can be accommodated on the campus.Visitors to Turfloop will notice the privately ownedaccommodation that has proliferated close to the universitygates. Much of this is rudimentary, failing tocomply with the minimum standards laid down by theuniversity, and students making use of these off-campusalternatives, have been susceptible to crime, exploitation,and even several instances of rape.‘Our response to this challenge,’ says Seroka, ‘has beento explore the possibility of using private-public partnerships(PPPs) to make up the shortfall. The universityhas plenty of land. So the idea would be to invite privatecompanies to build and operate residences for a profit,but without pricing the accommodation beyond the reachof the student market. After a set term, say twenty years,full freehold ownership of the facilities developed in thisway would revert to the university.’Seroka said that a sum of R700-million had been madeavailable from the Department of Higher Education andTraining to ease the accommodation crisis on campusesacross the country, but with a bias towards the previouslydisadvantaged institutions. ‘With our share, I’m sure wewill be able to get the PPP idea off the ground,’ he adds.‘In fact, we’re hoping to have new accommodation readyas early as the beginning of 2013.’P A G E 7

It’s a new worldMEET THE FIRST-YEARSTHEY’RE BRIGHT, THEY’RE confident; they’refashionable – and they’re on the cover of this edition ofLimpopo Leader. These young women, all in their lateteens, started their academic careers on the Turfloopcampus at the beginning of 2012. They’re studying law,and accountancy, and local government. They’re all livingin campus residences, and they’re an impressiveadvertisement for the increasing quality of students beingattracted to the University of Limpopo.Meet Kgwerano Mpamonyane, a super-assured 17 yearold from Lebowa Kgomo, erstwhile capital of the oldLebowa Bantustan. She went to the well-known privateschool at Eagles Nest where she earned two As and fiveBs in her IEB matriculation exams. She’s studying for aB.Com Accounting degree in Turfloop’s recently SAICAaccreditedSchool of Accountancy.Meet Reitumetse Nchoe. She was born in Tzaneen, buther parents divorced when she was only two. So shemoved a lot, finally doing her matric in Randfontein. Hermother moved to Polokwane in 2010 to manage the localfacility of the South African National Blood Transfusionservices. After taking a ‘gap year’, she enrolled at Turfloopwhere she’s studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Administrationand Local Government.Meet Karabo Maredi, who was born into a loving andstaunchly Christian family in Leydenburg. Later theymoved to Tzaneen, where Karabo went to school,emerging finally with two As, two Bs and a few Cs in hermatriculation exams. Her stepfather is a pastor in theLutheran Church and her grandmother a councillor.Karabo came to Turfloop to study for a Law degree.Meanwhile, Kgwerano Mpamonyane says: ‘I’m here atTurfloop by choice. The accreditation of the School ofAccountancy makes the University of Limpopo a veryattractive option. I am one of five girls in my family. I havea twin sister who is at the moment studying at Wits. Icould have applied there, but I chose Turfloop. Educationhas always been very important in my family. My parentswere politically active during the struggle. My father hadto go into exile. But they knew that education was vital forour futures – and for the development of a healthy democracy.’Reitumetse Nchoe agreed that expertise in her chosenarea of study, administration and local government, wassorely needed in a country with so many dysfunctionaltown and city municipalities. ‘My local government lectureris very supportive,’ she says. ‘He really cares about hissubject, about the country – and about his students.’P A G E 8

Reitumetse Nchoe Kgwerano Mpamonyane Karabo MarediThe young law student, Karabo Maredi, spoke about lifeon the campus, the strangeness after the safety of home,the seemingly unstructured management of time. Shesays: ‘you are thrown into independence and you have tobe very disciplined. If you make a mess of things, youhave to clean it up for yourself. Personally I found thechurch structures on campus very helpful. The prayergroups and discussion groups and other church-relatedactivities provide a foundation around which to build yournew university life.’One of the students observes that the first experienceof living on campus is ‘like a desert’ for first-years. ‘Itcertainly isn’t paradise.’ But generally they agree that theorientation offered to first-years is very comprehensive,longer in duration than the orientation offered at UCT,as someone says. The young women also agree that thesystems of peer councillors, mentors and tutors developedon the Turfloop campus are effective and provideconsiderable reassurance as newcomers try to fit in.Nevertheless, loneliness is a widespread problem. Drugtaking offers a ‘quick fix’, as do boys for lonely girls. Somemale students deliberately prey on first-year girls, ‘doingthe rounds’ of the first-year female residences. Somehave cars and money, which enables them to offer tripsinto Polokwane and other treats.Is there sexual harassment on campus? The girls smile.‘Yes, of course,’ they reply, ‘but it isn’t always blatant.They sit and watch you going by. They’re very observant,nearly always noticing if you’ve changed your hair.’When it was suggested that male students who tooobviously chased any girl in sight simply identified themselvesas unsuitable for stable relationship, let alonemarriage, Karabo and Reitumetse and Kgweranolaughingly agreed.Behind the jokes and the youthful confidence, all threeyoung women seemed anchored in a deadly serious senseof purpose. This position was epitomised by somethingKgwerano had said. She was the one studying to becomean account- ant. ‘But after that, I would like to take law.I think that one day I would like to serve as a Judge in theConstitutional Court.’Here’s an example of big dreams on a campus that isincreasingly equipped to help fulfil them.P A G E 9

It’s a new worldCAE OFFERS EFFECTIVE STUDENTSUPPORT ACROSS THE BOARDAll universities in South Africa are concernedabout the large numbers of students who either take manyyears to complete their qualifications or drop out of universitywithout completing their degrees. This is a greaterproblem at the undergraduate level and the University ofLimpopo has introduced a number of mechanisms to confrontthese challenges head-on.The university’s Centre for Academic Excellence (CAE),which operates successfully across both campuses, is constantlyrevisiting its programmes and structures to ensurethat it is up to date as far as student development andsupport needs are concerned – whether they are social oracademic.‘Firstly, the management of the University acknowledgesthat most of its first-entering students come from educationally-disadvantagedbackgrounds and need variousforms of additional support to succeed. Many studentshave the potential to succeed, but lack the fundamentalacademic skills that they should have acquired at school,’explains Professor Monie Naidoo, Head of the CAE.‘The university has ensured that there are many differentdepartments offering training, development and supportto equip the students to cope with the challenges of universitylife. Student mentorship and first-year orientationprogrammes are useful strategies for assisting studentsto cope with the transition from school to university andto adjust to different social and academic environments.’She says that the image that the University of Limpopostrives to portray ‘is that we care – from the highest leveldown; that every student is important; and that our desireis to help them succeed to their best potential. The aim isto ensure that from the very first day, students are givenor made aware of the tools they need to develop holisticallyin their new environment, whatever their scholasticor home backgrounds.’The university’s approach is multi-faceted. The CAEoffers study and information management skills trainingon aspects such as goal setting, study methods, timemanagement and organisational skills and the Libraryoffers skills training on information management. CAE, theDepartment of Information Communication Technology(ICT) and the Department of Computer Science offertraining in computer literacy. CAE and the Department ofEnglish offer training to students on academic writing.One of the most successful strategies for addressing academicunder-preparedness is the extended degree programmes(EDPs), which are offered in six degree coursesand are available for about 10 percent of students. Theseare MBChB, BA, LLB, BA Media Studies, BSc, and BCom Accountancy. In these programmes, the academicsupport is integrated into the curriculum and students doother foundation modules in the discipline. Some researchconducted at the University of Limpopo shows that EDPstudents’ academic progression is better when comparedto that of students in the particular regular programme.‘Students receive the greatest support from lecturerswithin each programme,’ notes Naidoo. ‘Astute academicstaff use a variety of mechanisms to assist strugglingstudents. Tutorials are organised and mentors also offersome guidance. Some lecturers use an early warning testto identify students at risk early in the year. Their earlyintervention and regular monitoring of students’ progresshas helped to reduce the high failure and dropout rates,particularly among first-year students.’While the university provides development and supportsystems, students also need to be guided towards takinggreater responsibility for their learning and life choices,values and goals to prepare them for responsible citizenship.Attendance of lectures is important and studentsare trained on note-making. They are also trained in theuse of Blackboard, the learning management systemused by the university. An increasing number of lecturerspost their learning guides and develop additional on-linematerial for students to use before and after lectures.Student support services play an important role inaddressing the various economic and psychosocial factorsthat negatively affects students’ academic performanceat all levels of study. These support services are moreeffective when they form part of a comprehensive integratedsystem for student development and support thatcaters for the academic, health and wellness, and financialsupport of students in all years of study. Early identificationof students in need of assistance, referrals, monitoringP A G E 1 0

At the end of 2011, a new structure for the CAE wasapproved by the University of Limpopo’s ExecutiveManagement Committee which specifies the principlesand focus of the CAE as academic development andsupport for teaching and learning; academic staff trainingand development; alignment of activities to the developmentand support needs of the faculties; and balancingcentralisation and decentralisation of functions betweenfaculties and the CAE.The three broad performance areas within the CAE’smandate are:Professor Monie Naidooand tracking student progress and academic performanceprovides a useful safety net to reduce student failure anddropout.The university has also ensured that life skills training andsupport is offered by many different departments, suchas the Department of Counselling and CAE, to provideinformation and to help students cope with issues suchas managing relationships, unplanned parenthood, drugand alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS and sexually-transmittedinfections that negatively affect students’ academicperformance. Early identification of needs and provisionof training and support are needed to address suchchallenges. Lecturers, matrons and wardens of residences,and peer counsellors trained to identify such needs, playan important role in identifying students with problems atan early stage.It’s what Naidoo calls ‘scaffolding their learning’. She addsthat it involves steadfastly avoiding a silo approach tostudent support and working closely with other departmentsand structures in the university.Teaching and Learning Support• Access and admission of students includingadministration of the National Benchmark Test, andalternative admission through Recognition of PriorLearning (RPL)• Co-ordination of Extended Degree Programmes(EDPs)• Management of the evaluation of learning andteaching• Management of the Reading and Writing Centre• Supplemental Instruction• Promotion of scholarship of teaching and learningStudent Academic Development andSupport• Academic orientation and lifeskills• Co-ordination of activities that promote studentacademic excellence, such as student excellenceawards• Management of Student Referral and SupportSystem• Management of the Peer/Mentorship programmeAcademic Staff Development• Facilitate academic staff orientation and induction• Manage teaching and learning development• Co-ordinate and promote staff Teaching and LearningExcellence AwardsNaidoo is excited about the potential for greater effectivenessin more students’ and staff members’ lives by theCAE with its new structure. She emphasises that thecentre’s activities and related programmes will bemonitored and evaluated continuously for the highestlevels of efficiency and effectiveness.P A G E 1 1

It’s a new worldLEARNING ABOUT SCIENCEthe Science Centre on the Turfloop campus; and theScience Centre visits outlying high schools, sometimesstaying for as long as a week.Hundreds of Grade 10, 11 and 12 learners visit the Centreeach week. They come in busloads for a taste of a simplelaboratory experiences coupled to their syllabuses, andfor special lectures and video screenings on sciencerelated subjects. Although the Centre possesses only asingle outreach vehicle, it is kept busy with school visits,where the focus is on the most under-resourced schools,often with unopened science-in-a-box kits that theteachers don’t know how to use. ‘Often classes are heldout of door, under umbrellas,’ says Centre manager,Annelize Potgieter, ‘it’s remarkable that some of our firstyear students know as much as they do.’The Centre also devotes attention to the many scienceand technology students already studying at Turfloop.This takes the form of ‘media round tables’ wherescientists and media people have a public dialogue onsome aspect of science; of ‘cheese and wine cocktaillectures’, and regular ordinary lectures. ‘We encourage allstudents to attend, not only those studying some aspectof science,’ Potgieter says.HUNDREDS OF LIMPOPO students attemptingscience or technology degrees walk into a laboratory forthe first time in their lives only when they start theiruniversity studies. In a province where nearly 90 percentof the population still live in a rural setting, it follows thatmany first-year students are from under-equipped schoolswhere under-qualified teachers probably taught them.This has huge implications for the production of highqualityscience graduates, particularly from a rurally situatedcampus like Turfloop.One important response to this situation by the Universityof Limpopo was the establishment in 2007, of the UniversityScience Centre, a facility that offers informallearning experiences in all aspects of science, technology,engineering and mathematics through interactive exhibitsand displays as well as interactive educational programmes.The Centre spends a considerable amount of timeattempting to stimulate the interest of school children intothe excitements – and varied career opportunities –presented by the sciences and applied sciences. Thisis done in two main ways: senior school learners visitSome of the subjects covered recently include nanotechnology,stem cell research, and the advances currentlybeing made in hydrogen fuel cell technology.Six postgraduate NRF and NSTF science interns, usuallyat Masters level, staff the Centre, and cope with theinteractions at school level, teaching both learners andunder-qualified teachers. And for the last four years thecentre has also been awarded a volunteer from Japanwho assists with exhibit building.In addition to working with senior school learners anduniversity students, the Science Centre hosts severalimportant annual events: most notably the NationalScience Week, Antarctica Month and Astronomy Month.These more general activities, designed to stimulate interestin science generally and thus to prepare communitiesin Limpopo province for the world of the twenty-firstcentury, also serves as an important tool to encouragetalented school learners from South Africa’s most ruralprovince into the growing ranks of science and technologyundergraduate and postgraduate students at theUniversity of Limpopo.P A G E 1 2

It’s a new worldFINDING RELEVANT INFORMATION‘IN THE PAST,’ says the University of Limpopo’sexecutive director of libraries, Makgabela Chuene, ‘we’dput all the first years in a hall and talk to them about theimportance of the library and about the services it offers.These days, our approach is much more detailed. Weactually bring the new students into the library and sitthem down at the computers. When you see how manyof them actually lift the mouse off the table and point itdirectly at the screen, you realise how much work you’veactually got to do before these young people will be able,gainfully, to make use of the databases and searchfunctions with which our libraries are now equipped.’This hands-on introduction to library computing is supplementedby a video that shows a young student goingthrough the whole process of borrowing a book, as wellas personal interaction with the various subject librarians.(The Turfloop library has a subject librarian for each of theeleven schools in which students can be enrolled on thatcampus.)More and more, though, it is the computer and the OPAC(Online Public Access Catalogue) that provides the first lineof investigation. The Turfloop library is currently equippedwith 70 computers for student use, and Chuene is hopingto be able to afford a further 80 in due course. ‘I wantstudents to see the library as a classroom away from theformal lecture halls,’ she says. ‘But students must haveenhanced access to information for this to happen.’At the moment, subject categories, books and authors,can be located on the library hardware. In addition, thereare around 40 online databases containing hundreds ofjournals and other periodicals. New software – calledFederated Search Software – is shortly to be tested thatwill enable users to search for specific information invarious databases simultaneously. New databases, especiallysubject-specific ones, are also on the Chuene musthavelist. ‘We are trying to ensure regular updates andenrichments of our electronic resources. Funding is oftenthe problem. But this should not be allowed to divert ourattention away from a central fact that access to informationis a cornerstone of academic education, and thatthis access is increasingly dependent on computers.’The library has also designed a comprehensive InformationLiteracy course that is beginning to be incorporated intothe first year curricula of some (but currently not all)faculties and schools across the campus. The coursebegins by answering two fundamental questions. What isinformation, and where is it to be found? From thatstarting point, the course explains the various informationsources available in a library and the steps to be taken togain access to them. Search strategies and the evaluationof sources are explained; and the course ends withattention being paid to academic integrity, copyright,referencing techniques and styles, and care of the libraryas an irreplaceable resource.The course, and simpler instructions on how to use thelibrary, are also available online, through the distancelearning software called Blackboard. So it’s back to computersonce more.P A G E 1 3

It’s a new worldOPENING UP THEIR WORLDWITH ENGLISHlower. This means that during the first quarter, much of thework done in the English Department is catching up to try tobring the youngsters to the level they should have been at.According to the results of the National Benchmark Testin 2011, only 24 percent of Medunsa’s first-year studentspassed the literacy component. The department also runsits own comprehensive language proficiency test to determinethe strengths and weaknesses, as well as to identify25 percent of the youngsters who need the most help andare selected for special support.Dr Valayil Gheevarghese‘THE LIMITS OF my language mean the limits of myworld.’ Austrian Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein emphasisedthe great value of proficiency in one’s language to enhancethe ability to communicate one’s learnings and understandings.That’s also the raison d'être for Medunsa’s EnglishDepartment.‘It’s a crucial course in the first-year curriculum. To becomegood doctors, researchers, scientists, or healthcare workers,it’s imperative to have a high proficiency level in yourlanguage of study. You must be able to fully understand thematerial and translate it comprehensibly,’ says Dr ValayilGheevarghese, HOD of the Department of English at Medunsa.His department, which has a staff of four, is responsible forimproving the English skills level of 750 first-year studentswith the aim of building an understanding and appropriateuse of academic English. Medunsa’s first-year students allattend English classes, with the exception of BSc students,but this is due to change next year.The first two months are used for improving general English.This is often where difficulties come in, notes Gheevarghese,as students are expected to be at level 4 in English(proficient), but because of the standard of education andthe lack of facilities in many of the disadvantaged schoolsthat they come from, their language skills are often muchIn the second quarter, Academic English is introduced,specifically content-based reading and academic readingconventions. Medical students are also taught ‘medicallanguage’, which includes learning thousands of new words,often in Greek or Latin, and learning how to decode thosewords.At the same time, the weakest students will get supportintervention to bring them up to the required level, becausea fail in English in first year, means failing the year.Other interventions undertaken by the department includeidentifying youngsters with learning difficulties and referringthem to the Centre for Academic Excellence, identifyingstudents with personality-related learning difficulties andreferring them to the Psychology Department; and offeringcomputer literacy to students who have had limited or noaccess to computers.The e-learning laboratory, which has 30 computers and is inthe process of being upgraded, is also used to help studentsimprove their language skills. Three software programmesare available – general reading; grammar-based Englishword power; and software developed by the departmentbased on identified needs – and extra learning time isallocated to students who have demonstrated special needsin any of those areas.‘These youngsters, far more than in other universities, are upagainst the odds with the disadvantages they have faced inlife. But what never ceases to amaze and delight me is howthey cope. The overwhelming desire to succeed is evidentamong the majority of the students – and that’s why we areprepared to go the extra mile with them, day after day.’P A G E 1 4

It’s a new worldFEEDING THE HUNGRYNO ONE CAN concentrate on their studies on anempty stomach. There’s no getting around that. Yet, despitevarious bursaries, funds, and structures in place forstudents on the Medunsa campus, there are still somestudents from underprivileged circumstances who struggleto feed themselves from one day to the next.Some of these students might have bursaries that coverfees and books, but not support; or their funds for mealsare limited and run out; or – as is quite common – manymight be repeating a year and finding it extremely difficultto source support as empathy tends to run low forstudents who have ‘failed’.This situation came to the attention of Deidre Pretorius,Social Scientist and Lecturer in the Department of FamilyMedicine and PHC at Medunsa when she first joined theuniversity in 2002, lecturing on the subject of child abuse.The nature of the subject encouraged students to cometo her to talk about their problems – all sorts of problems,including hunger.‘Taking R10 out of my purse every so often to help astudent just wasn’t a sustainable answer,’ says Pretorius.Working with the SA Medical Students Association, theystarted fundraising to help students who were battling tomeet their own basic needs. The initiative gained groundand soon there were about 25 students being supported.Then Pretorius started sourcing unofficial sponsorshipson and off campus and distributing funds among theneediest students. But that created its own set of complicationsas far as looking after and disbursing fundswas concerned. The next step was to link students withsponsors so that emotional support could be added tothe financial support.The ‘food for hungry students’ initiative has evolvedthrough various stages, responding to developments andneeds as they arise. It’s what Pretorius calls, ‘co-ordinatinggoodwill’. Students who are given assistance areassessed by Medunsa’s Financial Aid Officer, KarenHerman, who has access to all student records and backgroundinformation, ensuring that ‘chancers’ don’t drainthe much-needed funds.At this stage, about 52 students are receiving regularsupport, with about 30 on the waiting list. Support hasdwindled as the economic downturn has hit sponsors’From left: Tsakani Ndobe, Senior Natural Scientist withthe Department of Physics and a Student Guardian;Mmapula Ramorola, Assistant Librarian; DeidrePretorius, Social Scientist and lecturer in the Departmentof family Medicine and PHC; and Sheila Nkobeni, amember of the Medunsa Institutional Forumpockets. About six years ago, more than 120 studentswere being helped.But there is hope. The initiative is taking a big stepforward. Sheila Nkobeni, a member of the Medunsa InstitutionalForum (IF), has joined forces with Pretorius andthe initiative is being transferred to operate under theauspices of the IF within a sub-committee. ‘This is encouraging.The people on the IF are like-minded andpassionate about helping students in need. This move willalso make it an official Medunsa project; enabling a costcentre to be established and opening doors for furthersponsorships and donations,’ adds Pretorius.Important too, is that the team makes it a priority to findsustainable options for ensuring students are not forcedto face their demanding studies on empty stomachs –such as planting food gardens, including one meal per dayin residence fees, or finding part-time work for students.‘It makes a difference to students if they don’t haveto worry about where their next meal is coming from,’ isthe bottom line for Pretorius and her compassionatecolleagues.P A G E 1 5

Nursing in SAIS THERE A CRISIS OF SUPPLY?IN MAY 2009, a report by the Solidarity ResearchInstitute asserted that it was ‘incontrovertibly true’ thatSouth Africa’s medical system was not functioningoptimally. The report then focused on the shortage ofnurses and the reasons why the shortage existed.‘Research shows,’ it said, ‘that a shortage of nursescontributes to death in hospitals that would otherwisehave been avoidable. The shortage of nurses is thereforeliterally a matter of life and death.’Yet, according to the South African Nursing Council, asubstantial growth in the total number of nurses hasoccurred over the period 2002 to 2011. At the beginningof the period the total stood at 172 868, and at the end238 196. That’s a growth rate of just under 38 percent.During the same period, the country’s overall populationgrew by only 12 percent, from 45,17-million to 50,59-million at the end of last year.How can this apparent contradiction be explained?To start with, we need to understand that there are threecategories of nurses: nursing auxiliaries, who receive noformal training; enrolled nurses, who go to the nursingcolleges and do several years of on-the-job training; andregistered or professional nurses who are qualified enrollednurses or who have studied nursing at a university.The category increases (that go to make up the overall 38percent between 2002 and 2011 quoted above) are 42percent for nursing auxiliaries, 70 percent for enrollednurses, and just under 25 percent for registered nurses.This means that in terms of training, the nursing workforcehas become subject to a process similar to juniorisationwhile in terms of the average age of highly qualifiednurses, the opposite trend pertains.According to the World Health Organisation the worstcaseratio for registered nurses to population is 1:500.Although South Africa as a whole falls within theacceptable range, there is considerable variation betweenprovinces. Limpopo, for example, has a nurse to populationratio of 1:630. Gauteng, on the other hand, enjoysa ratio of 1:371.There are other factors as well that need to be taken intoaccount when deciding on the scale of our national nursingcrisis:• No one knows how many of the country’s registerednurses are dormant, but the number might besubstantial• South Africa’s health services continue to be placedunder strain by large numbers of migrants fromSADC countries• South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV/Aidsin the world, and the epidemic continues to overloadthe health services across the country.The combination of a high disease burden, ageing nurses,and the fact that possible maladministration of publichospital funds leads to a vicious cycle where diseaseburdens increase because of inadequate care. ‘This,’according to the Solidarity Research Institute reportquoted above, ‘is a reflexive cycle that must be broken.’But how does all this impact on the nursing departmentson the Medunsa and Turfloop campuses of the Universityof Limpopo? The short answer is ‘considerably’. Nowturn the page to discover the detail.P A G E 1 6

Nursing in SATHE NURSING ‘POCKET OFEXCELLENCE’ AT MEDUNSATHE PASSION FOR excellence in the Department ofNursing Sciences at Medunsa is palpable after just a fewminutes of discussing its activities with a cohort of thedepartment’s stalwarts. Lecturer Baile Selaledi, LecturerMary Madumo; Senior Lecturer Dr Joyce Mokoena; andSenior Lecturer Dr Malmsiy Sengane are keen to share theprogress they have seen in the past couple of years – notleast of which is their move to spanking new premises in thebasement of Medunsa’s Skills Centre.The department has a staff complement of 20 (including fourskills facilitators), with one full professor – HOD, ProfessorElsie van Aswegen – three with a PhD, six registered for aPhD, one lecturer busy with a Master’s Degree, and severalother highly qualified and committed team members, suchas the Jubilee Learning Centre Manager (Anna Mkowenya,University-based Nursing Education SA - UNEDSA - PhDScholar); and DOE Skills Facilitators (Marietjie Theron andYolinda Uys, UNEDSA PhD Scholars). Probably even morenotable than the impressive array of qualifications in thedepartment, is the tendency towards long-service. Theyears that have been invested in the Medunsa NursingSciences Department by the staff amount to hundreds – andit shows.The basic course offered is the four-year B Cur degree,which incorporates general nursing through all four years,community health nursing from the second to fourth years;and psychiatric nursing and midwifery for the third andfourth years, all of which is in accordance with the SANursing Council Regulations. About 40 students graduatewith B Cur degrees from Medunsa each year.Then onto the topic of post-basic training and the conversationgets more interesting. The team talks abouthaving re-organised themselves – specifically to accommodatethe needs of students, as well as the needs ofthe profession to provide a more comprehensively needsbasedtraining programme.New to the programme is a post-basic course for aDiploma in Occupational Health, which is run part-timeover two years for nurses who want to work in the privatesector, running clinics and managing healthcare centres.It’s popular and is attracting students from SADC countries,as well as from Nigeria, West Africa, Eritrea, and Rwanda.Professor Elsie van Aswegen‘Our post-graduates studies are expanding to keep up withchanges in the nursing environment and with needs in thehealthcare sector,’ explains Mokoena. ‘We are adapting theway we run these courses as well as the curricula content toensure that our graduates are well equipped to meet thechallenges they will face in the workplace.’Other post-basic courses that remain popular includeNursing Administration; Nursing Education; and CommunityHealth. At any one time, the department has about 40students in its postgraduate programme.A project for providing UNEDSA scholarships, whichMedunsa shares with the University of Pretoria, is linkedto the postgraduate programme, which will, the enthusiasticteam believes, ‘increase our research output’. Focusareas for research for scholarships are related to healthcareproblems and needs that have been identified, such as:• Peri-natal and maternal and mortality• Reproductive health, including teen pregnancies• HIV/Aids and Malnutrition• Gender related violenceP A G E 1 7

From left: Mary Madumo, Baile Selaledi, Dr MalmsiySengane, Dr Joyce Mokoena.‘We are trying to find answers and be in a position to makerecommendations to reduce the impact that these issueshave on our communities, particularly our underprivilegedcommunities,’ they explain. The department has compiled acomprehensive list of research questions which scholarshipstudents are encouraged to examine to determine wherethey will focus their research.An issue that is close to the collective hearts of the NursingSciences team is maternal and child care, and genderviolence. They’re facing it in the communities they serveregularly and are set on finding answers on why it happensand how it can be managed, through their postgraduatestudent research.Apart from the research, the department has othersustainable interventions that it has been implementing tocontribute to the alleviation of the identified problems. Suchas an outreach into the local community in response to thedesperate issue of teen pregnancies, which saw a team ofB Cur students recently visiting Soshanguve Central High totalk about unplanned pregnancies. The response from thestudents was exceptionally positive. It made a differencethat the message came from young people, not so differentfrom themselves.Another is ongoing training of professional nurses in bestpractice workshops run under the auspices of the NursingScience departments of Medunsa and UP. These workshopsare designed to ensure that the nurses in the field stay up todate with healthcare developments, with issues that facetheir profession, and how best to deal with them.An initiative that further extends the department’s reachis a satellite healthcare centre operating out of JubileeHospital in Hammanskraal. The main focus areas areMedical Legal Services and reproductive health includingrelated services.Dr Joyce Mokoena, at the entrance to the new premisesto the Nursing Science Department at MedunsaInternational collaboration going back for many yearsalso adds to the richness of the department’s offering andincludes affiliations with Jönköping University, Sweden;Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland; LovinsebergDiakonale College in Oslo, Norway, and the University ofWales in Swansea.Nursing summitBut while this department clearly operates as a pocket ofexcellence within the greater healthcare environment, it isnot an island, and is inextricably linked to the nursingprofession. Reflecting on this, the team is encouraged bythe National Nursing Summit that took place in April 2011 tocritically reflect and discuss key issues that affect nursesand the profession. Nurses came from far and wide to talkabout issues they face – such as salaries, nursing education,workplace support, and more – and how these issues couldbe dealt with.A task team was set up and there is a real sense thatprogress was made and that nurses are working hardbehind the scenes to overcome the problems facing theprofession; there is also the conviction that a sustained andpositive voice should be heard about nursing in the mediawhich reflects the excellence and diligence within theprofession and not just the problems and shortcomings. Tothat end, Dr Khanyisa Nevhutalu, DoH Director for HealthResearch, was appointed to the position in an Actingcapacity until a full-time person can be appointed.A Ministerial Task Team looking into the needs and positionof Nursing Colleges within Gauteng has also been appointedand Dr Joan Dippenaar, Senior Lecturer in the Departmentof Nursing Sciences is an active member of this Task Team.The team believes that the Nursing Summit heralds the wayto a brighter future for nursing in South Africa – both for thepatients and for the nurses themselves.P A G E 1 8

Nursing in SAA CRISIS OF DISTRIBUTION?WELL, DO YOU think there's a crisis of supply? 'Yes,there is an inadequate supply of professional nurses,' repliesProfessor Masamo Lekhuleni, head of the Department ofNursing Science in the School of Health Sciences on theTurfloop campus.Professor Lekhuleni and her colleagues provide this soberingexplanation. After 1994 and the advent of a new approachto healthcare provision in the country, attention (and funding)turned very specifically to the provision of Primary HealthCare (PHC) and the District Health Care model which placedadditional emphasis on preventive and promotive healthcare,as well as curative services to every geographicalcorner of the country. Many clinics were built to make heathcareaccessible to the rural communities. PHC training wasthen introduced and professional nurses were taught healthassessment, treatment and care. Rural allowances and OSD(Occupation specific dispensations) were also introduced toencourage professional nurses to work in the clinics.Prior to1994, hospital-centred healthcare ensured anunequal distribution of healthcare services, with hospitalsmore staffed than clinics. Now, 18 years into democracy,the reverse has become true. Nurses clamour for jobs inthe clinics, to be eligible for the OSDs. The result is aperiphery that is stronger, certainly in terms of nursing staffs,than the centre, a situation that causes considerable strainto the healthcare system as a whole.Nevertheless, it is with remarkable cheerfulness that theeight lecturers in the Turfloop’s Department of NursingScience are committed to the education and training ofnurses so as to provide quality and equitable patient care.'We are given a student quota by the University of Limpopothat is based on the Department of Higher Education andTraining directives,' Lekhuleni says. 'In 2010 our quota was70 first years. In 2011, the quota had to include 55 Grade12s. We try to comply, but inevitably our intakes shrink asthe year progresses. At the moment in 2012, we have 57 firstyears, 56 second years, 55 third years and 30 fourth years.'Therefore, the number of graduates does not meet thedemands of the Province. It was explained that the intakeswere limited by the capacity of the clinical and academicfacilities available at Turfloop and Mankweng Hospital.'There's also the problem of financial support. There are nobursaries and no stipend available from the provincialgovernment. So many students drop out along the way.'The basic nursing degree course on offer in the TurfloopbasedDepartment of Nursing is the four-year Bachelor ofCurationis (B Cur), which incorporates an Honours qualification.On the postgraduate side, an M.Cur is now availableand a PhD degree could be available in the near future.Also available is a one-year postgraduate diploma in primaryhealthcare.Professor MasamoLekhuleniDr Rambelani Malema Pamela Mamogobo Tebogo Mothiba Professor Nozizwe JaliP A G E 1 9

The women directorsWOMEN ARE PLAYING THEIR PARTWOMEN ARE BECOMING increasingly influentialin the affairs of the University of Limpopo. Thistrend is long overdue, particularly where black women areconcerned. In Limpopo Leader 26, figures were publishedwhich indicated the contribution women are making atacademic staff levels – they comprise 45 percent of thetotal complement. That’s not bad. But a closer look revealsthat women academics tend to occupy more juniorpositions than their male counterparts. Even so, womendo the bulk of the research (60 percent) emanating fromthe Faculty of Humanities and 37 percent of the researchin the Health Sciences. But how well are they representedin the ranks of senior management?Let’s start with the University Council. Of the 23 councillorswhich comprise this important decision-making body, fiveare women – including the chairperson, Judge Lucy Mailula.Mailula, who was born in a small rural village not far fromthe university’s Turfloop campus where she first studiedlaw, is now (since 1995, in fact) a member of the bench ofthe High Court. Other women Council members are: DrSanette Boshoff, who has been the head of academicplanning at the University of Pretoria since 2005; JudgeMonica Leeuw, South Africa’s first woman JudgePresident, who serves in that capacity in the North WestJudicial Division; Professor Teresa-Anne Mashego, whohas degrees from South African and American universities,is head of Clinical Psychology on the Turfloop campus ofthe University of Limpopo; and Nare Makuse, who has anMSc degree in Public Nutrition and lectures in theuniversity’s Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics,is the non-senate academic representative on the universityCouncil.But what is happening at Faculty, School and departmentallevel? The four faculties at the university are headed byexecutive deans, all of whom are male and three of whomare black. The picture changes somewhat at School level.Of the 16 Schools spread across the four faculties, fiveare headed by women directors (although some of theseare acting in that capacity; and quite a few of the 72departments operating in the schools now have femaleheads.It needs to be remembered, however, that this is asignificant advance on the situation which pertained 25years ago (say in the late 1980s when apartheid was inthe process of collapsing) when it is to be doubtedwhether any black women would have been found evenat head-of-department level.But what’s it like at school director level, which is aboutthe highest level women have climbed to thus far? Andwho are the women who have scaled these heights?In the pages that follow, readers will find profiles of threewomen directors working in schools as diverse as HealthSciences and Mathematical & Computer Sciences on theTurfloop campus, and the huge ten-department School ofMedicine at Medunsa.Professor Maseka Lesaoana Dr Nonceba Mbambo-Kekana Professor Nazeema EbrahimP A G E 2 0

The women directorsFIGHTING OFF THE ISOLATION‘WHEN I FIRST started in my position as Director ofthe School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Iwas confronted head on with one of the most pressingproblems facing the teaching of maths and science at auniversity like ours. I’m talking about the quality of bothstudents and staff, and also about the tendency forstudents to be underprepared.’This is Professor Maseka Lesaoana talking. It was inJanuary 2009 that she was appointed as Director of thiscrucially important School, which teaches the vastmajority of students studying for their various degreesacross the entire spectrum offered by the Faculty ofScience and Agriculture on the Turfloop campus.‘Most of our students have matriculated from rural ortownship schools,’ Lesaoana continues. ‘Many of theseschools are under-equipped and desperately short ofproperly qualified maths and science teachers. Of course,in spite of such handicaps, potentially brilliant studentsdo emerge from the rural areas. The tendency, though, isfor these to be attracted to the big five universities in thecities – which means that we get left with the second level.’Lesaoana knew that she would have to tackle thischallenge very vigorously if she was to be successful asdirector of this important school. She made use ofeverything in the university that could help her: extendeddegree programmes, special support packages forstudents, as well as the kind of partnerships that alreadyexisted between the university – which is comparativelywell equipped and staffed – and surrounding high schools.She turned her attention to the quality and motivationlevels of her academic staff. She asked why the School’sresearch output was low. She encouraged staff toimprove their qualifications and to engage in the university’sgeneral efforts to develop a dynamic researchand scholarship culture.Professor Maseka LesaoanaBut in every aspect of the status quo that she tackled,she recognised a common thread. There was a sense ofisolation that pervaded many levels of her School’sactivities. Whether emanating from its rural setting or itsapartheid past or its sense of being second best anddisadvantaged, and the idea of being isolated from themain mathematical stream in the country, tended to devaluethe host of interventions at her disposal to improveboth the teaching/learning and research outputs from theSchool.P A G E 2 1

So Lesaoana embarked upon a programme designedspecifically to break the isolation and the insularity ittended to provoke. In short, she opened all the School’swindows and doors and invited the world inside.Before we get into some of the detail of this bold move, weneed to ask: just who is this woman, Maseka Lesaoana?She was born in the mountains of Lesotho and did herfirst degree – a BA in Statistics and Economics – at theNational University there. After working for variousgovernment agencies in Lesotho, she was offered theopportunity to further her studies abroad. She thereforewent to Canada in the late 1980s and did a Master’sdegree in operations research at Waterloo University. Shethen spent four years at Southampton University in theUnited Kingdom where she graduated with a doctorate inoperations research. Back in southern Africa, she joinedthe University of the North (now Limpopo) in 2003, first asa senior lecturer then serving as head of the Departmentof Statistics and Operations Research, and then asDirector of the School of Mathematics and ComputerSciences.Here are some of the contacts Lesaoana has establishedthat are serving to break the isolation and improve theperformance of her School:• In 2010, it was arranged that a dozen NationalResearch Foundation (NRF) interns spend time at theSchool to work as temporary tutors and researchassistants. They brought with them fresh ideas andenthusiasms that positively influenced manystudents, and Lesaoana persuaded the university topermanently retain three of them.• Lesaoana’s School has signed a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) with the National University ofScience and Technology situated in Bulawayo inZimbabwe. The arrangement includes student andstaff exchanges, and collaborative research. Senioracademics from Bulawayo have held seminars withstudents and staff at Turflooop.• In September 2010, the School hosted the nationalconference of the Operations Research Society ofSouthern Africa, one result of which was invitationsto four lecturers and four students from Turfloop topresent research papers at the 2011 conference heldat the Victoria Falls.• Another MoU has been signed with the LouisianaTechnical University (in the USA) which has openedup exchange possibilities and brought the TurfloopSchool into direct contact with the well-knownstatistics and operations research expert, ProfessorJim Cochran, who has visited Turfloop, given akeynote address there, and is co-supervising aTurfloop-based PhD student.• In July 2011, four representatives from Lesaoana’sSchool went to Australia to attend the triennialconference of the International Federation ofOperations Research.• An MoU recently signed with the CSIR has resultedin the appointment of two additional part-timelecturers at the School of Mathematics andComputer Sciences, courtesy of the CSIR.The internal response to all this fresh new air in the Schoolis described by Lesaoana as ‘wonderful’. ‘The students’,she says, ‘have even established a club called COSMAwhose main concern is rectifying the poor reputation andpoor performance of the School. This is extraordinarilyencouraging and convinces me that the School is in theprocess of reinventing itself.’Last word can come from Professor Hlengani Siweya,executive dean of the Faculty of Science and Agriculturein which Lesaoana’s School is situated. Writing in hisannual Research Report for 2011, he observes that ‘theSchool of Mathematical and Computer Sciences ismaking steady progress and will need support, bothhuman and financial, to become a productive school inthe future’.Clearly, the Faculty helps those who help themselves.P A G E 2 2

The women directorsI’M NOT IN APOPULARITY CONTESTTHIS STATEMENT – I’M not in a popularitycontest – says a lot about Dr Nonceba Mbambo-Kekana’smanagement style. And her follow-up assertion – but Ido have empathy – says even more.Mbambo-Kekana was appointed to the position ofDirector of the School of Health Sciences on the Turfloopcampus in 2010. The physiotherapy academic previouslyfrom the University of the Witwatersrand had big plans forthe School, and she needed all the empathy she couldmuster to gain the confidence of the seven departmentsunder her care.‘My method during my first year in this job was straightforward,’ she said, ‘I did a lot of listening to the concernsand aspirations of departmental heads and staff. But Iknew as well that I had to be prepared to say yes or no,and to make difficult decisions. I needed staff to haveconfidence that I was on their side but also needed themto play their part.’She also quickly realised that there needed to be aparadigm shift both by herself and the staff. Developing agood working relationship with the heads of departmentswas of utmost importance to her in those early stages. ‘Ican proudly say that we are now on the same page – andwe’ve achieved a lot in a short space of time.’The School held its first joint oath-taking and prize-givingceremony in 2011 which was achieved through teamworkof the different departments led by their HODs.Mbambo-Kekana had joined Wits in 2002 as the head ofphysiotherapy department. By the time she left to comenorth she had completed her doctorate in physiotherapyeducation through Wits – which was awarded in 2009.Her dissertation examined the predictors for academicsuccess of African physiotherapy students. ‘The successof students is important to me’ she said. Wits affordedher the opportunity to develop her skills in research andleadership and to learn to use challenges as growthopportunities.Dr Nonceba Mbambo-Kekana‘One of my main goals at Turfloop,’ said Mbambo-Kekana,‘has been to ensure that we provide our students withgood quality programmes which are relevant to the SouthP A G E 2 3

African context, and that our graduates can stand theirground in the world of work.’To that effect, after not many months in her new job,Mbambo-Kekana facilitated a three day workshop forSchool staff. The fundamental question that was discussedwas: given this emphasis on relevance and excellence inteaching and learning, what must be put in place to getwhere we want to be – which is to be the premier Schoolon the Turfloop campus. A long list of priorities emerged,which included throughput rates of students, staff qualifications,increases in research output, evaluation andquality control mechanisms, and accreditation of all programmes.Mbambo-Kekana smiled. ‘It certainly was a long list andit needed a firm commitment,’ she said. ‘But I’m a personwho likes to do new things. I have to be challenged; thatis why I always keep my eyes on the ball. One of thethings that my move to the University of Limpopo hasoffered has been a definite opportunity to be so muchmore than an administrator. It has enabled me to tacklethe deepest challenge of all, which is the changing ofmindsets, and where necessary to take academics out oftheir comfort zones.’This approach has paid some dividends. For instance, theDepartment of Pharmacy, which had challenges withregard to accreditation, was now able once again toadmit first year students. More recently, the OptometryDepartment has had a generally successful accreditationvisit by the HPCSA. These successes are due both tohands-on leadership and academics who were preparedto do things differently.Mbambo-Kekana was born in Langa township, CapeTown. Early in her life she took advantage of a studentexchange programme that enabled her to complete hergrade 12 year at the Ricky River High School in Ohio inAmerica.‘On my return in 1982 I was refused admission to Wits(I couldn’t get the necessary permit) so in 1983 I went toMedunsa instead, qualifying as a physiotherapist there in1986. From there I worked at Groote Schuur Hospital inCape Town and Frere Hospital in East London, beforereturning to Cape Town to work as a junior physiotherapylecturer at the University of the Western Cape.’By 1993, she was back at Medunsa as a lecturer. Twoyears later she took on the responsibility of acting ashead of Medunsa’s Physiotherapy Department, a positionthat became permanent in 1997 and which she held until2002 when, as we have seen, she headed for Wits.Asked whether she was glad that she had given up thecity to come to the rurally situated University of Limpopo,Mbambo-Kekana laughed. ‘Of course, I’m glad. The university,and the School of Health Sciences, has providedme with challenges galore. This is why I took on the jobin the first place. I have set myself goals here, and I thinkI’m achieving them.’Theodora Phalane, a pharmacist at St Rita’s hospital, the firstdisabled woman pharmacist trained at Turfloop campusOptometry students do vital community outreach in thevillages surrounding TurfloopP A G E 2 4

The women directorsSHE BRINGS A WEALTH OF SKILLSTO THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINEBE CAREFUL WHAT you wish for; it could just cometrue, says Professor Nazeema Ebrahim with a smile asshe recounts the bold step she has taken from herposition as Associate Professor in Medunsa’s Departmentof Radiography to her new position as Acting Director,School of Medicine.'I had felt that the time for a change was imminent, butthis is a far bigger change than anticipated,' she adds. Itis big. The School of Medicine is the University’s largestschool – with 28 departments – but it follows a sound andvaluable investment of 29 years in Medunsa by Ebrahim.It does, however, signify a new era in Ebrahim’s careerand she’s excited about the new challenges she faces.She’s never shied away from challenges before in her lifeand is clearly unlikely to start now. A born and bredCapetonian, she started her training in radiography atGroote Schuur Hospital in 1969 as one of the first five‘people of colour’ to be accepted – and graduated with aDiploma in Radiography and the Best All Round Studentin Radiography Award.After five years at Somerset Hospital, in 1975, Ebrahimleft South Africa to study and work in Britain. In fact, sheleft just two weeks after marrying Hoosain Ebrahim(Director of Medical Illustration and Audio-Visual Services– MIAAVS – at Medunsa and featured in Limpopo Leaderno. 25) as he had been admitted to the Polytechnic ofCentral London to study Photographic Science andTechnology. After two months of acclimatising, Ebrahimobtained a post at Middlesex Hospital on MortimerStreet, London.In December 1981, Hoosain was invited to present hisresearch on Kirlian Photograpy at Medunsa, Nazeemaaccompanied him, and was invited to return to SouthAfrica to start the first Body and Brain ComputerisedAxial Scanning Machine at Dr George Mukhari Hospital(then Ga-Rankuwa Hospital). At the same time, Hoosainwas asked to start the MIAAVS Department at Medunsa.This department started working in July 1982. In January1983, Ebrahim was appointed as a Lecturer at Medunsaand was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer.Professor Nazeema EbrahimShe elaborates on some of her subsequent challengesP A G E 2 5

and achievements. 'Throughout my years in Britain I builta portfolio of evidence of courses that I attended,including a Further Education Teacher’s Certificate. Thenwith my position at Ga-Rankuwa Hospital and at Medunsa,I started publishing. I had also developed a posturalsupport stand for patients undergoing radiographicexaminations of the hip joint, for which I subsequentlyobtained a patent and which helped Medunsa formulateits policy on Intellectual Property. As a result of all thesefactors, I was allowed to enrol for my MSc Radiography(Diagnostics) Anglia Polytechnic, Cambridge, UK, nowthe Ruskin University, Cambridge, which I did by distanceeducation and which was based on outcomes.'In 2003, Ebrahim was appointed Deputy Dean: Allied Healthand Nursing Science; a position she held for six years,and a year later was appointed Associate Professor, whichwas an ad hominem promotion based on her research work.Over the years, Ebrahim has produced 19 publications,six of which are on evidence-based practice, and in 2001was awarded the Research Excellence Award at Medunsa.Having achieved her Masters in 2003, she startedfocusing on another of her passions – research ethics.Funded by Fogarty International, Ebrahim achieved herpostgraduate Diploma in International Research Ethicsfrom the University of Cape Town in 2004. She has sinceserved on the Medunsa Ethics Committee and has beenVice-Chair of the committee since 2007.'In 2008 I was approached by the Brits-HartebeespoortHospice to serve on the Board of Directors as theirEthics Advisor. I now serve as Secretary and EthicsAdvisor, which has given me an opportunity to serve thecommunity and also understand the role of palliativecare in medicine,' says Ebrahim.Ebrahim believes that all the experience she has gainedover her years at Medunsa has more than equipped herfor this new role at the head of the School of Medicine.One of the strengths that she believes she brings to theposition is that she is not a clinician in the jointestablishment and is therefore not committed to thehospital to offer a service. All her attention is here – atMedunsa, on the school.There are other key elements that also indicate to Ebrahimthat she is equipped to handle this post. 'I have maturityon my side; I have the ability to patchwork my day; I makesure I look after myself through the day; I am patient;I maintain, as I always have, an open-door policy; I listen;I have an extremely positive outlook on life – and I havean extremely positive outlook on the future of Medunsa.The proposed demerger will give people a much-neededsense of security and will offer us opportunities to build.It’s good.'A few short weeks into her new role, Ebrahim had morethan rolled up her sleeves and was tackling the newresponsibilities with verve and vigour, while coming toterms with the reality of 28 departments. 'I’ve beendealing with curriculum development and presentationsfor the accreditation of the undergraduate programme;finding out about the staffing and the registrarprogrammes and building a mentoring programme; aswell as building research in response to our socialaccountability policies and our aspirations towardsachieving the government’s 10-point plan for highereducation and training, among other tasks. It has beena whirlwind start to the year and it’s very gratifying.Every day I go home feeling satisfied.'She concedes that she is on a steep learning curve andthat it will take some time to get to understand fully whatthe job entails, but in the meantime, she is gettingexcellent input from her new team of staff members, andfrom staff who have previously held this position.But even in the early stages of this learning curve,Ebrahim is thriving at the thought of overcoming newchallenges. Such as encouraging innovation in research;tangible product research with real community benefits.And that idea is no doubt the start of a myriad ofdevelopments and ideas that will stand the school ingood stead in years to come.However, Ebrahim’s overarching aim – and one that shealready seems to be well on the road to achieving – is tobring a sense of stability to the school.P A G E 2 6

Research profilesAFRICAN LEADERSHIP,GLOBAL EXCELLENCEWHEN WAITING TO be put through to a Universityof Limpopo telephone extension, very often callers willhear a rich velvet voice giving contact details for bothcampuses and then announcing, almost seductively, thatthe university is reaching for ‘African leadership and globalexcellence’.Are these empty words or legitimate claims?Twenty years ago, as the old University of the Northlanguished under the dying embers of apartheid, withsoldiers on the campus and a virtually non-existentresearch output, of course they would have been emptywords. But no longer. Everywhere on both campusesthese days there’s a rising sense of purpose that extendsacross all three legs of the institution’s core business.Community outreach has been given a definite boost bythe multi-discipline co-ordinating role of the recentlyestablished Rural Development and Innovation Hub. Thehealth of the teaching and learning component is amplyillustrated by the increase in students attemptingpostgraduate studies.But it is in the research component of the institution’score business that perhaps the best evidence of theuniversity’s rising sense of purpose can be seen. Thedramatic increase in research funding since 2009provides one means of calibrating the move towards‘African leadership and global excellence’. But there isanother meaning in the phrase that warrants closerscrutiny. It implies external contribution far more than itdoes internal improvements. And right at the heart of thephrase lies a determination to contribute to the Africanresearch situation.What is this situation? The University of Limpopo Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mhalo Mokgalong, answered thisquestion pretty accurately during his address at theAnnual Research Excellence Awards held in Decemberlast year.‘Our researchers have a specific obligation to fulfil,’ hesaid. ‘Their research has, mostly, to be African centred.Why is this important? Because it helps to position Africaas an independent centre of intellectual activity, a hub ofP A G E 2 7

knowledge that owes no allegiance to Western conceptionsof consultancy-based research.’Mokgalong quoted Professor Mahmood Mamdani 2 ofUganda’s Makerere University as saying that the globalresearch market tended to relegate Africa to providingdata to outside academics who process it and thenre-export their theories back to Africa. The result of thistrend was that African researchers tended to be reducedto the role of assistants, and that this lack of real collaborationwith Africa had led to a general impoverishment oftheory and debate.‘We live on a continent,’ Mokgalong continued, ‘that hasbeen historically demonised, denigrated, humiliated, usedand abused by empire builders and megalomaniacs. Ourpeople have had to face the scorn of not being held withthe intellectual regard they deserve.’But we as Africans in our own continent, he concluded,were uniquely situated to do meaningful and relevantresearch, and to challenge the prevailing paradigm which(quoting Mandani again) had turned the dominant Westernacademic experience into a model which ‘de-historicisesand decontextualises other experiences’.‘We do not need to continue to follow our internationalcounterparts. We are definitely able to lead, and toproduce good African-based research. After all, the wellknowndictum reads: Africa sempre aliquid novi offert –Africa always offers to our notice something new.’Three university of Limpopo academics who are addingto the drive for original African research were honoured atthe Annual Research Excellence Awards at whichMokgalong spoke. They were Dr Gloria Selabe and DrChantelle Baker, highlighted in the box on this page.Recipient of the best overall upcoming researcher award,Professor Peter Masoko, is profiled on the pages thatfollow, as is Professor Lily Cherian, who has won theprestigious Clute Institute’s Best Paper in Session Award.THE RESEARCH AWARD WINNERS FOR 2011TURN TO PAGE 29 for a profile on the winner of the best overall upcoming researcher award, Professor PeterMasoko. The other two prize winners honoured at the banquet were:Dr Gloria Selabe of the Department of Medical Virology at Medunsa who receivedan award of R10 000 for being adjudged the Best Overall Female Researcher in theuniversity for her work on viral hepatitis B and C and HIV co-infections. Theresearch investigates the genetic diversity of these viruses on diagnosis, therapyand vaccine design. With the advent of antiretroviral regimens capable of controllingHIV replication and prolonging the life of HIV-infected patients, co-infection with thehepatitis viruses is an emerging clinical problem. All three viruses share major riskfactors and can potentially be transmitted together, and it is likely that liver diseasefrom chronic hepatitis B will emerge as a serious problem.The researcher who generated the largest research income was Dr Chantelle Bakerwho also received an award of R10 000. Baker, who is director of the ElectronMicroscope Unit at Medunsa, raised more than R5,5-million from the Departmentof Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation for the purchaseof a Supra 55 Variable Pressure Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope. Thisinstrument is for high-resolution imaging and has a magnification capability of up to1 000 000x. Baker is currently the Director of the Electron Microscope Unit on theMedunsa campus, and is also serving as the Vice-president of the MicroscopySociety of Southern Africa.P A G E 2 82 Mahmood Mamdani is Director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research and the Herbert Lehman Professor ofGovernment at Columbia University in New York.

Research profilesHE’S BUILDING A PLACEFOR HIMSELFPROFESSOR PETER MASOKO has toldLimpopo Leader that he is currently engaged in buildinga house for himself in Polokwane. Limpopo Leader wasinterviewing Masoko as the winner of the University ofLimpopo’s ‘best overall upcoming researcher award’ for2011. The interview soon revealed that he was building aplace for himself in this province in more ways than one.Masoko is a microbiologist in the Department of Biochemistry,Microbiology and Biotechnology on the Turfloopcampus of the university. His chief research interest is inthe field of ethno-biology: in other words, he’s applyinghis science to the herbal medicines being widely usedacross Limpopo, which is South Africa’s most ruralprovince. More about this later, but first let’s describe theman.He’s a well-spoken and charming 38-year old, havingbeen born in May 1974 near Zeerust in the WesternTransvaal (now the North West province). He matriculatedin 1993 at the Motswedi High School in the homeland ofBophuthatswana. He came to the then University of theNorth, where he graduated with a BSc Medical Sciencesdegree in 1998. This was followed immediately by aMasters in Microbiology, with Professor RachmondHoward, currently the university’s Director of Research, inthe supervisory role. He worked as a contract lecturer andresearch assistant at Turfloop for four years beforemoving south to the University of Pretoria to undertakehis doctorate.His focus now homed in on phytomedicine, which is thescientific name for the medicinal properties of plants, andhis dissertation dealt with the antifungal compoundsisolated in the Terminalia and Combretum species ofplants growing widely in Limpopo. He was awarded hisPhD degree in 2006, whereupon he returned to Turfloopwhere he took up a position of postdoctoral fellow andcontinued his research into the healing effects of antifungals,particularly in the presence of infection. Hebegan lecturing again in 2008, becoming a senior lecturerin 2009 and a full professor in August last year, a signalachievement in an academic so young.Professor Peter Masoko‘I enjoy teaching,’ Masoko says, ‘but research is my firstlove. Teaching takes up too much of my time,’ he addsP A G E 2 9

with a laugh; ‘it’s a distraction that tends to break one’strain of thought as a scientist.’Nevertheless, he’s managing to keep a reasonablebalance between the two activities. He’s already published27 peer-reviewed research papers, and as a bridge tobasic teaching is currently supervising four Mastersstudents and one who is working towards that covetedPhD degree.It’s interesting to glance at Masoko’s list of publishedresearches. Here’s a paper entitled Medicinal and valueaddeduses of plants: a chemical, biochemical and ethnobotanicalperspective, and another called Biologicalactivities of Typhaceae from Limpopo province. Among thelong list of titles, there’s plenty of references to antifungalproperties and activities in specific traditional herbalmedicines, in vitro and in vivo testing of antifungals servingthe purpose of antibiotics, and the genetic characterisationof these processes.Simply put, Masoko’s research has taken him deep intothe world of traditional medicine where he has isolatedthe substances in naturally growing plants that performthe medicinal benefits that tradition has ascribed to thewhole plant. How has he done this?‘During my PhD research,’ he explains, ‘I developed amethod for doing assays (chemical analyses) on a varietyof plants. It then became theoretically possible to isolatethe beneficial chemical compound and to enhance itsefficacious properties. I then began to conduct experimentsin the laboratory and on the bodies of small animals.We actually created wounds which are then treated byapplying a variety of enhanced antifungals to establish themost effective formula.’It was at this point in the interview that Masoko said hewas building a house in Polokwane. Did this mean that hewould be staying permanently in Limpopo province?Masoko smiles. He replies to the question by saying thatthe potential of working in his chosen field in Limpopowas ‘immense’. Nearly 90 percent of the population stilllived traditional lifestyles, and the distribution of traditionalbotanical remedies was widespread and plentiful. ‘It ishere in this province, in the back yard of this university,that the potential is most accessible,’ he says.‘The oral tradition,’ he explains, ‘is naturally subject tovariation. But this doesn’t invalidate it. Now black scientistsare beginning to unearth – and to enhance – the deepwisdom it contains.’It was also important to understand that the ongoingresearch into antifungals, and ultimately into othertraditional medicines, would serve a much wider purposethan a merely remedial one. After the in vivo tests hadbeen completed, it would be necessary to involve thepharmaceutical companies to undertake market relatedresearch on how most effectively to dose, and how mosteconomically to mass-produce the product.These developments would in turn lead to seriousconsiderations relating to the conservation and massproductionof the species. ‘The initial research is multidisciplinaryin nature, involving inputs from Botany,Chemistry and Veterinary Science into the original microbiologicalresearch. And it would remain multidisciplinaryduring the next phase, when pharmaceutical companieswould become involved, as would conservationists,agriculturalists and forestry people, as well as economistsand marketing specialists concerned with the selfsustainabilityof the economic spin-offs. ‘So you can seewhat we’re doing here at the UL is just a cog, but admittedlyan important one, in a much larger machine,’Masoko says.Small wonder, therefore, that the National ResearchFoundation has recently rated Masoko as a Y2 researcher,and featured him on the NRF website as an ‘emergingresearcher'. Without doubt, he is building for himself aplace of honour in the scientific affairs of his adoptedprovince.P A G E 3 0

Research profilesTHE GOOD NEWS AND THE BADTHERE’S GOOD NEWS and there’s bad newsconcerning the School of Education’s Professor LilyCherian. For 20 years she’s been a familiar figure on theTurfloop campus of the University of Limpopo. Aftercompleting her undergraduate degrees, a BSc inZoology, Botany and Chemistry, and a B.Ed, both atKerala University in her native India, she did a Mastersin Science Education and Educational Psychology at theUniversity of Wales in Cardiff. After spells with theschools and universities of Zambia and then the Transkei,she came to the University of the North (now Limpopo)in 1992. At Turfloop she completed her doctorate inEducational Psychology in 1996. In July 2004 she wasappointed acting director of the School of Education,but she turned down the position in favour of researchand teaching.This decision has paid off handsomely. Her list of researchpublications is impressive; and she has several timesbeen recognised with awards for her work. Latest is herwinning of the ‘Best Paper in Session Award’ at the CluteInstitute’s conference held in Las Vegas in October 2011.Her paper, entitled Substance use among secondaryschool pupils in South Africa, was one of 200 presentedat the conference.Listen to some of her other (but related) research interests.Her doctoral dissertation examined the attitudes ofgrade 12 learners at Limpopo schools towards thesciences. More recent directions have included: theeffects of corporal punishment on learning; literacylevels among school dropouts; and a comparisonbetween matriculation exemption standards anduniversity entrance tests (hardly 40 percent of thoseachieving a matric exemption are passing the universityentrance tests) and then coupling this comparison withfirst-year university performance. Cherian has alsoexamined Limpopo teacher and learner attitudestowards HIV/Aids, uncovering some disturbing misconceptionsand myths.Professor Lily CherianHer award-winning paper on substance abuse revealedsome equally troubling results. Of her sample of over 212high school learners in the Mankweng area (adjacent tothe Turfloop campus), more than 40 percent used alcohol,13 percent smoked tobacco, nearly ten percent usedinhalants, and just over seven percent smoked or ingesteddagga. Not surprisingly perhaps, males had higherprevalence rates than females.P A G E 3 1

Another research project in which Cherian is currentlyengaged examines young children’s attitudes to theirteachers and other aspects of their experience of school.Cherian invites children in grade R to grade four to takephotographs of their schools, and then she analyses theirchoice of subject. The result is qualitative insights into theeffectiveness of individual schools, as well as into the wayin which the education process impacts on individualchildren.Asked why her interest in research had been so strongand sustained, Cherian replied: ‘I suppose there are fourmain reasons. First, I want to make a contribution to thesociety in which I live. I can best do this by investigatingaspects of my specialities and making recommendationsaimed at improving existing situations. My secondreason is because research generates money with whichto do more. In other words, it becomes financially selfsustaining.Thirdly, my research activities have enabledme to see a great deal of the world. I’m a globetrotter,and a by-product of this is that I have developed aworldwide network, and not only in my specialities butalso in understanding so many different cultures andvalues.‘Finally, I do research because I find it so rewarding. It isdeeply self-fulfilling, I suppose because it constantlyreminds me that I exist in the fullest sense largely inrelation to others.’Cherian told how one day a struggling student hadadmitted to her that if she (Cherian) had not been at theuniversity ‘I would have left’. ‘That was one of the mostvaluable comments ever made to me,’ she admittedwarmly. One postgraduate student named her daughterLily to remember her lecturer.The picture that emerges of this talented and indefatigableacademic is undoubtedly GOOD news for education inSouth Africa generally, and more particularly for theUniversity of Limpopo. So, what’s the BAD news?In a nutshell: After 40 years in Africa, Professor Lily Cherianis leaving. She’s going home to India.‘No,’ she said, ‘not retiring. Not at all. My family runs aschool and college in Manipal, a coastal town nearBangalore. Attached to the college is an educationresearch institute. That’s where I’m going, when I leavetowards the end of next year (2013). But I’ll continue tosupervise postgraduate students from my School ofEducation here at Turfloop if needed.’It should come as no surprise to anyone who hasunderstood Cherian’s passion for research that she hasrecently published a paper in the Stellenbosch-basedSouth African Journal of Higher Education entitled Pupilcontrol ideology in South African and Indian schools: acomparative study.‘It was published earlier this year,’ she explained. ‘Actually,I must tell you about that particular edition of the journal.Here on Turfloop in July 2011 we held a workshop forstaff of the School of Education to encourage an interestin research. The result was that 12 research papers werewritten. For some of our academics, this was their firstresearch publication of their careers. It was remarkable,and made especially so when all 12 of our papers(including mine on Indian and South African pupil controlideology) made it into a special University of Limpopoedition of the South African Journal of Higher Education.’Here’s more evidence of the quality of Cherian’s continuingcontribution to educational research, a contribution thatnow switches from African imperatives to those of hernative country. But what had her forty-year stay in Africaultimately meant to her?‘A great deal,’ she responds. ‘I came when I was veryyoung, and Africa provided me with a chance to do myHonours degree and eventually my doctorate. I havegained a wealth of knowledge from this continent. In fact,it has taught me everything.’P A G E 3 2

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