Page 49 - UniZulu Annual Report 2020

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR
2020 MID-TERM TARGET
2020 ANNUAL TARGET
2020 MID-TERM OUTCOME
2020 ANNUAL OUTCOME
D. Research Output
Increase the University Research Output
Publication units per I/R staff
44%
44%
-
54%
Research masters graduates (weighted)
90
90
-
86
Doctoral graduates (weighted)
44
44
-
48
The comments on the shortcomings related to the access, success, efficiency and research output as per table 13 above are addressed below:
• Access: The first-time entering undergraduate
headcount enrolment fell short by a very small margin of 305 students. The overall headcount enrolment fell short by 777 students. Foundation enrolment fell short by 80 students, undergraduate enrolment by 364 students and postgraduate enrolment fell short by 205 students. The shortfalls can be attributed to the deregistration of some students during the COVID-19 lockdown imposed by the government, inability to fund studies and students not meeting entry requirements. UNIZULU has exceeded the enrolment by major field of study only on Business/ Management. This is likely to increase due to students being allowed to register for second-semester modules to complete their academic year 2020. No students have been enrolled through distance education.
• Success: A total amount of 4 198 students graduated from the University during the year under review, of which 834 were postgraduates and 3 364 undergraduates. The University conferred a total of 32 doctoral degrees and 81 master’s degrees. Graduation output was slightly below target, which is largely attributable to COVID-19, which caused delays in external examiner reports, moderation reports and impacted significantly on WIL and other practical requirements needed for the completion of degrees. Despite this, the overall success rate of the University was a staggering 83%.
• Efficiency: FTE instructional/research professional staff is still below the expected target of 463 and the headcount of permanent instructional/research professional staff reduced to 304. This can largely be attributed to the
difficulty to attract and retain quality academic staff due to the rurality of the Institution. Although vacancy rates have seen a reduction of more than 10% in the past five years, academic appointments remain behind target due to striving towards quality versus quantity. The percentage of staff with doctoral degrees increased to 50% during the year under review. The University participated in the DHET-sponsored New Generation of Academic Programme (N-Gap) aimed at developing future lecturers, thus increasing the pool of skills available at universities. UNIZULU had a complement of 11 N Gap staff members during 2020. The Ratio of FTE students to FTE instructional/research staff was 51.7 and above the target of 35.3.
• Research output: UNIZULU’s unofficial publication trend for all publications (books, journals and conference proceedings) in 2019 amounted to 267,3750.The awarding of research output units for accredited publications will only be known in December 2020/January 2021.
GRANTS AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Between January and December 2020, various grant applications and reports were submitted to DHET. These included narratives, financial reports and audit certificates. The narratives were developed by grant holders and the Department of Finance provided financial statements and audit certificates. The Office of the Executive Director of Institutional Planning coordinated report writing and submission to DHET. Table 16 displays earmarked grants (funding envelopes and infrastructure projects) for the year 2020 and how the University performed against these approved targets.
47
UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND ANNUAL REPORT 2020