Page 143 - UniZulu Annual Report 2020

developed a national feeder school database. The University has developed an interactive dashboard through open-source software to profile schools and students in order to develop tailor-made interventions to support learning and student success. The feeder school database has been updated and a report was produced and shared with the Institutional Planning Directorate. This report has been updated to show a list of the top 30 feeder schools in UNIZULU and their associated average success rates, a list of well- performing schools as well as the Dinaledi schools to inform the recruitment and publicity or marketing of Engineering programmes.
Success Rates and ‘At-risk Modules’
The purpose of these reports is to identify the drivers of ‘at-risk students’ for the University to apply appropriate intervention strategies. Deans and HoDs had access to these reports, which included trends and analysis on modules that have unusually-high failure rates in each faculty. Success rate reports for 2019 to aid in the preparations of student success interventions for 2020 in the faculties have been developed and distributed. A dashboard has already been developed on PowerHEDA, and it has been published.
Facts and Figures Dashboard
The University has developed a web-based live dashboard on PowerHEDA of the Facts and Figures booklet. This will help reduce the turnaround time for reporting and publishing the Facts and Figures booklet.
Foundation Programmes Data Cohort Analysis
The data analysis for the DHET Foundation Programme reporting template has been completed for 2020. In addition to the template data, the cohort analysis for the narrative report has also been completed.
Research Data Management and Analysis (RDMS)
It is important to note that the University did not have a Research Data Management System in place. All records were kept on desktops and laptops, exposing data integrity risks. A Project Implementation Plan was developed for the RDMS and dates were set for training of key nominated personnel.
PhD Review Data Analysis
As part of the ongoing preparation of the Self-Evaluation Portfolio of the national PhD reviews, Strategic Analytics and Business Intelligence has mined and analysed data as per audit guidelines. The analysis of data is based on the HEMIS
submission and triangulated through the ERP ITS Integrator, covering the period between 2013 and 2018. Support for the SER write-up and other review data queries continue to be attended to as they emerge. The analysis covers six years (2013-2018) for staff and students. The cleaning of data is done minimally without distorting or changing it.
Risk Register
The Risk Register dashboard has been developed and can be accessed through a login on the PowerHEDA platform.
Registration Report and Quotas Update
Guided by the approved Enrolment Plan 2020-2025, the University finalised and published the 2020 enrolment quotas in November 2019. Since the beginning of the registration process in 2020, the office monitored the enrolment on a day-to-day basis, working together with the Registrar’s Office. A dashboard will be created on the PowerHEDA platform, which will track the registrations automatically and ease reporting.
STUDENT SERVICES
UNIZULU is committed to encouraging students to treasure academic life and to enhance academic excellence through its co-curricular programmes. Central to this are efforts aimed at improving students’ throughput rate and ensuring that students find adequate work opportunities post-graduation. Student Services encompasses a wide range of activities – student accommodation; guidance and counselling; first- year orientation; governance; health services; teaching and learning; development; sports; etc. Service delivery to students remains a key performance area and under the leadership of the Dean of Students, the Institution worked closely with the SRC and student societies to make the year under review a success despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
As stated in the Report of the Chairperson of Council, Student Services at UNIZULU focuses on ensuring that students receive opportunities for academic development to enable them to complete their programmes with minimum challenges. It encourages increased student retention and success by providing a conducive environment for teaching and learning and research, and effectively and efficiently provides all integrated services that are required to create a student-centred environment underpinned by safety, good health, wellness and good citizenry.
It is the objective of UNIZULU to promote a culture of excellence through advocacy, role modelling and engagement programmes. This is achieved through the training of peer educators and of Faculty councils, societies
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UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND ANNUAL REPORT 2020