Providing tools to gauge research productivity

As a subject librarian and expert in cataloging, Niamh Brennan was asked to join the team developing Trinity College Dublin’s Current Research Information System (CRIS). In particular, she was to produce a standards-based approach to describing research outputs and train researchers how to use the new system.

Why race is still needed in UCT admissions

Admission policy of students to the University of Cape Town and other top universities in the country must be vigilantly and diligently discussed.

Should Libraries Fret Over Mischievous Users?

ARL's Brandon Butler responds to a common concern of librarians: the fear of library liability for nefarious uses of copyrighted library collections material by patrons. Butler says, "Put simply, it is almost impossible that you or your library, when acting on the basis of your good faith beliefs about fair use, could be held responsible for the bad acts of your patrons who abuse the access you provide..."

How not to treat patrons

UCT's admissions policy

Social scientists would be hard-pressed to find a better lens into identity, privilege and race in post-apartheid South Africa than the University of Cape Town’s admissions policy debate. One of the many discussion points it has raised is that of a black middle-class yearning to redefine being black.

South African universities have become, wrongly so, some argue, places where issues of inequality, poverty and the redress of decades of apartheid come to a head. In January this year, when Gloria Sekwena, a 47-year-old mother of two, was killed in a stampede of students and parents hoping to gain last-minute admission to the University of Johannesburg, it highlighted again that university education is still viewed by most as the sole route out of poverty toward economic prosperity.

Higher education minister Blade Nzimande said, after the incident, “The problems of applications for admissions are symptomatic of a larger challenge. Universities alone cannot, nor should they, cater for all post-school education. This annual crisis requires that we change the widely held perception by most South Africans that universities are the only acceptable option for post-school studies.”

Student Living Conditions

Many students living in ‘appalling’ conditions – Report

Sharon Dell18 March 2012 Issue No:213
A significant portion of South African students are living in “appalling” conditions, which is jeopardising their academic endeavours and creating health and safety risks. Some are also starving, according to a report on student housing released recently by the Department of Higher Education and Training.