Andile Sipenange is the Vice President of the Southern African Society for Cooperative Education (SASCE) facilitating cooperative education and research. He is also Chief Officer Qualifications and Research Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority South Africa (SETA). Andile graduated from various institutions of higher learning in a number of fields of study and holds the following qualifications: MBA, B.com; BEd; HDE; Post Graduate Diploma in Education Management; Masters Diploma in Business Studies. He is currently registered for Doctorate (Business Administration) at Durban University of Technology. Andile has gained considerable experience in research in particular programme evaluation and impact assessment studies and has worked on a number of private and public sector funded programmes. Andile has about 15 years’ experience as an educator having started at secondary school level and later lectured at Vista University Faculty of Education. He has also worked as a Small Business Development Consultant and Researcher before taking up the position as Provincial head of the Department of Labour in the Eastern Cape.

There is a great need for more ongoing research on Work Integrated Learning and development of research practitioners within this field. The development of learning programs to create an enabling environment for employability of graduates remains critical.

 

Aura Lounasmaa is a lecturer in the UEL Social Sciences Foundation programme, the director of UEL Open Learning Initiative (OLIve) programme and Research Fellow at the Centre for Narrative Research. The OLIve programme provides an introduction to the UK university system and the skills required to apply for and succeed in higher education for refugees and asylum seekers. The programme is funded by Erasmus+ and runs in collaboration with the Central European University in Budapest and the University of Vienna. Aura completed her PhD, funded by the Irish Research Council, in the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2013. Her research looked at Moroccan women’s organisations’ discourses around human rights, religion, culture and modernity. Her research interests are narrative research, gender and civil society. She has been part of UEL’s refugee education projects in London and Calais since 2015.

 

I am interested in exploring creative ways to work around barriers certain groups have in accessing higher education. I work with people from forced migration background and those who have been out of education for a long time and I look forward to sharing strategies about how to make universities more inclusive to people who are currently underrepresented in the HE systems.

 

Anouk Albien is a Psychology PhD student who has worked in the Kayamandi Township on the outskirts of Stellenbosch (South Africa) for 7 years. Her roles have included co-ordinating, training and lecturing career counselling with Stellenbosch Psychology Honours students for their community service-learning placement at Kayamandi high schools. Furthermore, she has lectured writing skills, research methodology and statistics classes. Her recently acquired research interests include narrative therapy, emotional intelligence and addiction, which she plans to use in conjunction with career psychology. The primary research focus of her PhD dissertation, under the supervision of Prof. Naidoo, is to explore the effect of a career intervention programme on the career adaptability and vocational identity of Grade 11 learners using pre-, post- and follow-up measures. In addition, individual interviews will be used to gain insight into adolescents’ perceptions of their career decisions as well as career adaptability and identity formation processes in a previously marginalised and under-researched group.

 

My expectations of the WISH workshop are to engage with a variety of researcher’s subjective experiences into the problem of access, unemployment amongst youth and how to facilitate adaptability competencies in young adults.

 

Asanda Ngoasheng lecturers political and business reporting as well as editorial management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Media Department. She holds a Masters in International Relations from Wits University and an Honours (International Relations) as well as a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism &Politics) from Rhodes University. Ngoasheng uses digital storytelling and other teaching interventions to facilitate difficult conversations between diverse students in her classroom. She is part of the group of academics at who founded decolonizing the curriculum seminars. When not delivering a decolonized curriculum, Ngoasheng conducts diversity and transformation training at universities for first year programmes and leadership conferences. She has almost two decades of media experience and has received a number of awards in her career namely, a Konrad Adenaur Stiftung (2004), a Clive Menell Media Fellowship at Duke University (2007) and being named a finalist in the Entrepreneurship Category of the Rising Star Awards (2014).

I am part of the decolonising the curriculum seminars at CPUT. As such issues of student access and participation are close to my heart. I would like to learn more about how these two issues are interpreted and navigated in the UK and SA (at other institutes outside CPUT). I am hoping to speak to my UK counterparts about possible exchange programmes for a small number of students even if it’s over a short period like a month.

Bonginkosi `Mandla` Mthethwa started working for the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in June 2011 as KwaZulu Natal Provincial Coordinator to establish the office of the newly established department and to support the Technical Vocational Education and Training colleges, Adult Education and Training, and Sector Education and Training Authorities. He acted as Mthashana TVET College principal and later as KZN Regional Manager. He is currently responsible for the skills development and support in KZN. Mandla was born and bred in KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa. He is married and a father. He graduated as an English and History teacher at the Indumiso College of Education, obtained a bachelor`s degree (University of South Africa) , a library diploma (University of KwaZulu Natal), Bed Honours (University of Pretoria) , and is currently doing his Master` Degree in Social Justice Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Mandla is a community and political activist, the member of the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party. He believes in a socialist future of South Africa. Mandla believes the task of the youth is to learn and that education and training will help address South African challenges of inequality, unemployment and poverty.

I hope WISH will provide space to reflect and to share different experiences on skills development, work integrated learning, success and participation.

 

 

Bruce Snaddon is a design educator at CPUT. He interested in learning spaces and how to facilitate deep learning that is productive of dispositions in young designers that are more responsive to our complex and fast changing world.

I hope to gain from the workshop new insights into how to facilitate deep learning, with a focus on democratized learning, and curriculum enacted through dynamic pedagogy. I am currently busy with my PhD with the above topic and so am actively looking for ways to apply and align my research within the needs of my faculty and the creative industry in SA.

Danielle Tran is a Senior Lecturer in Learning, Teaching, and Professional Development within the Educational Development Unit at the University of Greenwich​. Her responsibilities include being programme leader of the PGR teaching, learning, and assessment course and course leader of the professional development in HE module that is part of the PGCertHE. Danielle is also Co-ordinator of the accredited Greenwich Opportunities for Learning and Development, and Editor of the Compass Journal of Learning and Teaching. Before this, Danielle was based at other HE institutions including Brunel University London and Middlesex University London. Danielle’s research interests focus on assessment and feedback, identity and belonging, and widening access and participation in HE. She is a Senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I am excited about the opportunity to be part of a critical dialogue in which colleagues from the UK and South Africa reflectively and prospectively explore strategies for making positive change in vital areas of HE.

 

Dianne Long is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the University of South Africa. She is working on a project titled International Distance Education and African Students. The project is funded by both the Economic and Social Research Council and the National Research Fund, and is a joint collaboration between the Open University in the UK and the University of South Africa. She has a PhD from the school of Geography and Archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand.

My expectations from this workshop are; one, that it would help me conceptualize some of the key issues around access and quality education. Secondly, that it will help me gain a broader understanding of issues I should be focusing on in my research. As someone who is relatively new to researching higher education in South Africa, I expect that this workshop will really help improve my knowledge base.

 

Eddie Berg is a specialist in film, media and the arts with a successful track record of establishing the vision for and leading major cultural venues and culture-led regeneration projects and programmes with a strong focus on learning and community engagement. He is currently the CEO of Rich Mix which is a large-scale independent arts space located in the heart of Shoreditch in east London, one of the most diverse and socially contrasting neighbourhoods in the world. Rich Mix has a wide ranging international programme of music, performance, visual arts and film as well as being a home to more than 25 creative and cultural businesses. Prior to this he was Director of Partnerships at the British Film Institute from 2011-2014 leading the BFI’s lottery investment and strategic partnerships across the UK in film exhibition, education and skills. Previously he was Director of BFI Southbank, successfully leading the transformation of the former National Film Theatre site into one of world’s premier venues for film. He is also the Founder and former CEO of the £12m FACT Centre in Liverpool. which opened to popular and critical acclaim in 2003 and was an important element in the city’s successful bid to be European Capital of Culture in 2008. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

I would like the opportunity to address the questions of  how to foster collaboration between HEIs and arts organisations to support creative development of people from traditionally disadvantaged background – and the wider questions generated through the programme – with people from a range of organisations and backgrounds in a focused way. I’m particularly interested in how we might be able to devise and test solutions that will have both local and international value.

Henri Jacobs was born in Bloemfontein and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Higher Education Diploma from the University of the Free State during 1989. He then furthered his studies at the University of South Africa where he graduated with an Honours Degree in Economics during 1994 after which he completed a Master’s Degree in Higher Education Studies (cum laude) at the University of the Free State during 2010. He obtained a doctoral degree (DTech: Business Administration) from the Central University of Technology, Free State during 2016. He joined the then Technikon Free State during 1996 as a Coordinator for Experiential Learning and is currently employed as Deputy-Director: Work Integrated Learning & Skills Development at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) with 20 years experience in Work Integrated Learning.

I am looking forward to share and contribute towards making a meaningful contribution in the lives of others.

 

 

 

Jolanda Morkel is passionate about all things design: education, environments and experiences. She’s a registered architect and senior lecturer in the Department of Architectural Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in Cape Town, South Africa, where she teaches design in the undergraduate architecture studio, offered through a university-industry collaboration with OpenArchitecture. Her focus is on the design and facilitation of flexible and blended learning environments for culturally diverse and non-traditional students and technology-mediated learning experiences including simulated tutor apps, QR codes and digital storytelling. Her current doctoral research explores the synchronous online student-tutor learning interaction. She regularly publishes, presents at conferences and facilitates workshops in learning design.

I am keen to share ideas and explore solutions to wicked design problems, with experts across the world. I would like to get feedback and give inputs and help formulate design proposals that can be implemented at the host Universities as examples for broader adoption. .

 

Julie Botticello is a senior lecturer in public health at the University of East London. An anthropologist, her doctoral research with Yoruba Nigerians in London focused on their global aspirations for wellbeing through local and transnational connections, while her postdoctoral research concerned local knowledge in the context of global trade and global shifts in production. Since coming to UEL, her work has focused on understanding how knowledge, values and power structures impact on health care access for marginal communities. She also formed the Many Voices Reading Group to create a physical and emotional space for decolonized narratives and experiences to emerge and be validated within the university environment.

I am passionate about social justice and wish to transform higher education to recognize the diverse skills of students as well as meet their needs. I am excited to be part of this international team of researchers dedicated to making higher education accessible, meaningful and rewarding for all students.

Lenina Rassool is current the Head of News for a community news television show and content strategist for Cape Town TV. She has a varied media background, from starting in women’s magazines, moving to PR, tutoring and the communications in the NGO space – largely youth development – and is currently producing a live community news show every weeknight. Her role includes training to a large degree, as her team is made up of journalism interns. The mandate for her show is to elevate the voices of the people, which means we cover a lot of issues that are relevant to people on the ground, in a way that’s accessible in structure and language for them.

My expectations of the WISH workshop is to interrogate the current tertiary sector, addressing a structure that does not cater for  the state of our current youth – who, even with matric – are often not equipped to deal with tertiary level language, information, environment and material. I believe that technology could hold the key to bridging this gap and look forward to connecting with like-minded and experienced people to try to find workable solutions to these problems.

 

Louis Rice is a member of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Healthy Urban Environments. He is an architect and senior lecturer in healthy architecture and urban design. His research approach is to widen participation of contribution to knowledge. A healthy city requires knowledge and experience from all communities. Working with colleagues at ‘Hands-On-Bristol’ to encourage and strengthen knowledge exchange between education programmes and local communities through collaboration on live projects and action research. The hands-on projects are a form of critical pedagogy for students who learn to deal with the ethical transformation of the built and social environment. Simultaneously the community and other actors in the process become expert contributors who critically develop a shared consensus for community based projects. The ‘health’ of a community is a complex and contested issue; it is incumbent upon researchers to look to the widest possible range of knowledge and praxis to begin to open up opportunities for improving public health ethically and equitably.

I am excited about the opportunity to collaboratively explore new perspectives on widening participation in higher education. I am particularly keen to draw on SA and UK experiences for expanding and diversifying the field of higher education.

 

Marita Grimwood is a freelance Academic Developer who works on learning and teaching enhancement with a range of universities and national bodies in the UK, and is developing a research profile in this area. She has a particular interest in internationalisation and decolonisation of the curriculum, and worked with the University of Brighton on a Higher Education Academy funded project to produce a reflective toolkit for internationalisation of the curriculum. Prior to working for herself, she held senior roles in academic development at Newcastle University for several years. Until last year, she was Fellowships Co-ordinator for the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA). She has a PhD in Literary Studies from Newcastle University (UK) and has taught and published in that field. Her book Holocaust Literature of the Second Generation, was published by Palgrave (New York) in 2008. She is a Fellow of the Staff and Educational Development Association, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

I believe that it is impossible to effect change without a deep understanding of the nature of existing barriers, and a vision of future success. Research on curriculum often has much to say about issues and problems – I hope WISH will be weighted towards solutions.

 

Marc Boothe is widely recognised as a creative producer who has been responsible for innovative initiatives across digital art forms, particularly film and new media. As Founder and Creative Director of media arts network B3 Media, he has supported over 3,000 Black and minority ethnic creatives both nationally and internationally over the last 5 years. Marc has worked across film, cross-platform digital arts projects and talent development programmes with a wide network of public and commercial sector partners, including Arts Council England, British Council, BFI, Creative Skillset, Film Four, Channel Four, and BBC Films. More recently, he developed and produced Commonwealth Shorts, a digital global short film project in collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation which resulted in some award-winning works by filmmakers from the Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Kenya and New Zealand. Currently, he is producing B3’s cross-platform slate of projects as part of it’s partnership with Nottingham University’s Mixed Reality Labs.

The main focus of my career has been in breaking down barriers for artists coming from minority ethnic backgrounds, who may not necessarily have found a level playing field when entering the industry, for a number of different reasons. My passion has always been about supporting, nurturing and developing emerging talent, particularly from the UK’s minority ethnic communities. I’m really excited and honoured to be part of the WISH programme and look forward to working with the peer group and my fellow UK colleagues.

 

Mark Watson studied Philosophy at the University of North London as a mature student where he became President of the Students’ Union and National President of the Mature Students’ Union. After University Mark trained as a Careers Guidance Adviser and quickly specialised in working with young people who had experienced disadvantage. Mark has worked in the Foyer Movement since 2002 where he has pioneered strengths based, “advantaged thinking’ approaches to supporting homeless young people. In recognition of his work Mark was featured as one of 21 stories illustrating the achievements of the foyer movement. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

I am interested in exploring new ways to inspire young people who have experienced disadvantage to consider Higher Education as a viable option for their future. I work with young people who have talent and ability in abundance but who have never considered HE as a possibility and through participation in WISH I would like to help to develop collaborative projects to tackle this issue.

 

Martin Heaney is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Theatre at the University of East London. The modules he teaches include Cultural Entrepreneurship, where students devise work in response to commissions from local arts organisations to develop professional skills and employability. He has previously worked as an actor and producer in Theatre in Health Education, devising projects on, for example, HIV awareness. He has also freelanced as a producer and evaluator of arts education programmes. Recent examples include Prosper, a report on a large-scale programme in Kent of arts-led social regeneration. This collaboration involved artists, arts organisations, local authorities and universities in innovative partnerships that tested experimental ideas of arts-led social intervention with a particular focus on ‘place-making’ and interdisciplinary practice. He is also researcher and evaluator for My Creative School, a two-programme of primary school curriculum reform and innovative teacher-artist partnerships. His doctoral research focused on the representation of male adolescence in British Theatre and has led to other conference papers on representations of intergenerational crisis, apprenticeships and ‘hooliganism’.

 

I am particularly interested in exploring the idea of the ‘porous’ university and how the university functions as a transitional space in educational development. I would like to further discuss and investigate emergent effective practices in reconstructing relationships between universities, local communities and the creative industries to widen participation in higher education for marginalised young people.

 

Motshidisi Anna Lekhu is a senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, in the Faculty of Humanities of the Central University of Technology, Free State. Currently, she teaches Chemistry and Physical Science methodology to pre-service Bachelor of Education students. She is a mentee in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Her research interests are in science teachers’ efficacy beliefs, teaching science for conceptual change, constructivist learning environments and science teachers as reflective practitioners.

Since the WISH workshop’s mission is to foster a link between UK and RSA researchers, I believe that it will create a strategic space between these two countries’ scholars towards delivering market compatible findings, in the development and improvement of their Higher Education system. I am confident that if properly managed, WISH can leave a sustainable impact, which will benefit the future of these two countries’ Higher Education.

 

Nick Lunch is an experienced Participatory Video facilitator, working at home in Oxford and in over 20 countries since 1996. His passion for the methodology grew from experimenting in handing over control of the camera and film project to indigenous youth in Nepal. Nick co-founded InsightShare with his brother Chris, and has helped lead the organisation through an eventful journey of ongoing learning, and evolution. Today his focus is on honing the organisation’s capacity building skills, working with community animators to support a growing grassroots Participatory Video movement. Much of his fieldwork has involved repeat visits to indigenous partner communities in Africa, Asia and South and Central America; working together to preserve and promote traditional knowledge, advance the cause of indigenous rights, and support local representatives as delegates at key global gatherings. Nick has completed accredited training in Non-Violent Communication, Theory U (Presencing Institute), and Permaculture Design.

 

I’m hoping to explore with my fellow workshop participants new, de-colonising approaches to education that enable people to gain new and relevant skills/knowledge, whilst valuing and connecting with traditional knowledge and cultural beliefs. Recognising the traditional/technological, cultural/intellectual divides, I hope to explore the use of participatory video with young people to equip them not only with creative and technical video skills, but also the skills required to facilitate discussion and debate, to reveal and amplify issues that concern them the most.

 

Orson Nava is a filmmaker, lecturer and researcher. He has a background directing dramas and documentaries for the BBC, C4 and ITV, and music videos for EMI, Universal and Polydor records. He has also run numerous participatory video projects with young people throughout the UK. Orson is a graduate of the Northern Media School and The National Film and Television School and has taught Media, Film Studies and Creative Industries modules at Middlesex University, the University Of East London, Central Film School and Sheffield Hallam University. He also is a visiting fellow at the Research Centre For the Study of Migration refugees and Belonging at UEL. In 2015 he was awarded a University of East London excellence bursary for a three-year PhD research project focusing on the role of race and cultural identity in the Creative Industries regeneration of East London.

I welcome the opportunity to find out more about how organisations in South Africa are developing strategies for creating greater inclusion in higher education. I am also interested in seeing how my own research translates into a different national context, forging links between cultural organisations in East London and Cape Town, and developing international post-doctoral research projects

 

Sam Fongwa is a researcher at the Education and Skills Development Unit of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Pretoria. He has been involved in a number of higher education related projects, including the profiling of HE in the SADC region (SARUA, 2012), the 20-year review of HE in South Africa (CHE, 2016), and is part of a CODESRIA funded initiative for diaspora support for HE in Africa. Sam joined the HSRC from the UFS where he was a post-doc fellow in a three-year British Council funded project on graduate employability across four African countries. He was also part of the HERANA 1 research project focusing on HE and knowledge production across eight African countries (www.chet.org.za).

I aspire, through this workshop, to stimulate and engage with different theoretical, contextual and ideological perspectives regarding critical debates/issues on HE challenges and opportunities in South Africa within a global space.

 

Sara Felix is a lecturer of learning development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her work includes researching and developing a wide portfolio of mechanisms to support diverse students in their learning. This includes creating workshops, lectures and other ways of ‘teaching’ academic discourses to students. She also collaborates with three departments (Sociology, Media & Communications, and the Gender Institute) to create innovative ways to engaging students in the learning process. She has a Doctorate of Education from the University of Sussex. Her doctoral research redefines critical thinking in higher education to be subjectively-framed, including a focus on the self and identities within complex contexts, and is therefore developed through the use of student narratives. Her current research interests involve reframing ‘study skills’ through a decolonising the curriculum lens to better understand the assumptions made about university study and diverse students.

I am looking forward to meeting other researchers who share an interest in meeting the needs of diverse students, focused on both success and transforming higher education practice. My hopes from WISH are to work jointly to impact practice to break down structural barriers to teach at diverse, decolonised universities.

 

 

Seun Oyekola is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering, CPUT, South Africa. He is the postgraduate studies coordinator in this Department. He holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry & a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town, respectively. His research interests include bioprocess engineering and environment protection through biological waste treatment & waste to energy technologies. He has over 50 publications in peer-reviewed academic journals, conference proceedings and other knowledge hubs.

My expectations are to establish international collaborations, share research expertise and learn from others through interactions on better pedagogies. I would like to learn on how to balance globalisation and decolonisation of pedagogies and adapt content to meet the needs of diverse populations. I would also love to learn from experienced design thinkers on how I can improve on success and employability of disadvantaged and diverse students.

 

Shaun Borstrock is in pursuit of luxury, a notion that seems far removed from today’s world of excessive consumption. He works as an independent consultant to luxury brands and associations all-round the globe. The focus of Shaun’s research considers and establishes how notions of luxury, designer, consumerism and manufacture have played a role in determining the emergence of the ‘designer luxury’ market. He explores current perceptions of luxury and consumption with the intention of recovering, reviving and disseminating important historical aspects of luxury in order to expose the impact of influence and marketing on the perception of luxury brands today. In addition, he is exploring the potential impact and opportunities additive manufacture may have on creating bespoke luxury using both traditional and digital techniques to create products through the development of modeclix, the world’s first fully customizable 3d printed textile. As Associate Dean Business, Innovation and Projects, Head of Design and the Design Research Group / Digital Hack Lab in the School of Creative Arts, he teaches on both under graduate and post-graduate programmes in the School. He also supervises post-graduate research at Masters and PhD levels, including projects on branding, fashion, product and graphic design and illustration. His success in the fashion industry, collaboration with industry and personal viewpoint make him a valued contributor to education.

I am interested in design-led innovation where design comes first—not as a service to fulfill a business strategy but as a visionary path where design is considered to be an intrinsic part of decision making. This invites a new kind of collaboration for staff and students from different disciplines, from different schools, across a variety of countries and cultures.

 

 

 

 

Sindi Gordon’s interests lies in stories, freedom, play and social justice. At the University of Sussex she works with a team of academics and students committed to shaping policies and initiatives related to equality and diversity. She recently participated on a project in Sicily working with Protected Isolated Minors, using creativity and storytelling as a methodology for education and psycho-social healing. She consulted on an educational project, ‘Unfolding Identities’; creating a DVD to facilitate engagement by school pupils in issues of cultural and racial diversity, belonging and identity. Sindi has worked in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique. She was a producer on a documentary series, Matters of Race working specifically on Native Americans reservations. She is currently developing a collaborative research project with the University of Sussex and Libraries Without Borders. The objective is to look at innovative pedagogies, practices and technology and how they can be applied to unconventional learning spaces.

Bringing people together from different continents, experiences and expertise both in and outside academia will create a dynamic dialogic space. The workshop opens up areas for debate; to dispute, inspire and provoke new, innovative initiatives and ideas. Exploring ways to locate theory within practice and make it central to the lives of ordinary people.

 

 

Tumelo Ngwako currently works as an Impact Assessments Manager for the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA). He is a young but accomplished researcher who is passionate about broader socioeconomic development and highly familiar with recent best‐practice and areas of contention in the field. He has a proven track record in research, strategic planning, policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation, project implementation, stakeholder engagement and cross cultural communication. He has over years actively been involved in post school education and training, supporting and in some cases leading skills planning, research programmes, and stakeholder engagement strategies and monitoring and evaluation within the PSET space. He hold a master’s degree in International Development Studies from the Universite Joseph Fourier in France. This in addition to a BA.Honours in Development Studies and undergraduate bachelors in Applied Economic and International Relations – both from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Beyond stimulating engagements with colleagues in the higher education space, I expect to realise a collaborative project on promoting access to higher education and tracing/measuring impact.

 

 

Venicia McGhie is a Senior Lecturer and HOD, Department of Academic Development, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. Venicia taught Communication Studies at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, and thereafter, became an academic development practitioner in the Faculty of Ecomomic and Managenent Sciences in 2002. She holds a D Phil Degree in Education from the University of Stellenbosch. Her areas of specialisation are Education and Linguistics. She is a Fulbright Post-doc Scholar and spent more than a year in the United States – first at the University of Missouri-St Louis campus in St Louis, and later at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. Her research interest is in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and she has done intensive research on successful student learning and retention. She is currently in the final stages of publishing an academic book entitled: Accessing post-school studies: A student’s GPS to successful learning.

I am interested in learning new ways and techniques that could assist me to support and empower my students to success in their respective degree programmes. Thus, attending the workshop and being part of this team will not only aid my work but it will help with my professional development because it relates directly to what I do, what I am interested in, and the area in which I conduct research in.

Xena Cupido is an Academic Development lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She is located in the Student Learning Unit which forms a part of Fundani: Centre for Higher Education Development. The student learning unit is responsible for student academic development. Her responsibilities include the co-ordination and implementation of tutor, mentor and teaching assistant training. Xena Cupido has recently completed her PhD in Educational Psychology. Her research interest include: student inclusiveness, engagement and support, raising critical consciousness and finding ways of having meaningful conversations about diversity, privilege, and social justice. She a board member of the Community Advice Centre (NGO) where she volunteers her time and expertise to provide various services to the community.

 Universities I believe find’s themselves at a crossroad, which requires some redefining, introspection and forward thinking. In terms of where I find myself at professionally, I see myself playing a significant role in this process as a student, academic and a citizen of South Africa. My motivation for applying to attend this workshop is to meet with like-minded and possibly unlike-minded individuals, to share our collective experiences and establish research focus areas so that the academic project may continue.