Chapter 4: Science Access Education in South Africa and the UKZN Foundation Programme
4.3 Foundation or Access Programmes for Science Education
The terminology for foundation, bridging, augmented and access are often used at various times but really mean the same. (Hay and Marais, 2004, cited in Bass, 2007, p.2). The Department of Education (2006, p.2) states that “the term ‘foundation programme’ is often used to refer to learning activities, at the lower end of the higher education band, that are intended to enable students from disadvantaged educational backgrounds to acquire the academic foundations necessary for succeeding in higher education”. According to Wood and Lithauer (2005, p.1002) the main function of a foundation programme is to provide entry into tertiary education by empowering them with the knowledge and skills they need “and in addition to knowledge and skills, well-constructed foundation programmes also provide students with values and attitudes outside the purely academic sphere”.
Pavlich, Orkin and Richardson (1995, cited in Essack and Quayle, 2007, p.74) argue that the following factors contribute towards the effectiveness of access programmes:
• The development of sensitive alternative selection procedures, i.e. identifying the more capable students regardless of their matric results
• The extent to which the faculty, administration and the student body perceive the programme as ‘legitimate’
• The use of learning technologies (tutorials, computer assisted learning etc.)
• Intra-and-inter programme management structures
• Ensuring that disadvantaged students are catered for in non-academic ways (in terms of financial aid, counselling services etc.)
Thus a number of factors need to be considered in the offering of an access programme. Alternative selection procedures are helpful as matric results for access students might not necessarily reflect their ability (Grussendorff, Liebenberg and Houston, 2004, p.266). Its more a reflection of their schooling environment.
For the Department of Education their main objective is “to ensure that students who enter Foundation Programmes actually succeed in them and do so from an educational perspective”
(Menon, 2008). The progress reports of each institution help them monitor the institutions’
implementation of the provision of access and helps them decide on funding they release for the foundation programme (Menon, 2008). When trying to address issues of access the Department of Education does so from multiple levels not just by the provision of Foundation programmes at universities (Menon, 2008). They try to “improve the academic quality of the programmes by increasing the infrastructural capacity of institutions and improve the matric throughput rates so they help increase the number of students available for entrance into university etc.” (Menon, 2008).
Rollnick (2010, p.16) states that a number of options are available for redress: extra tutorials that run alongside regular courses, zero-level pre-degree courses, reorganised degree structures involving one or more extra years and complete restructuring of the degree. “By 2001, almost every university in South Africa has been offering some sort of intervention providing access to disadvantaged students” (Pinto, 2001, cited in Rollnick, 2010, p.44). Table 4.1 provides a list of access programmes in South Africa at post school or university level.
Table 4.1: Access Programmes in South Africa
Merged institution Previous name Programme
University of South Africa University of South Africa Access Programme University of South Africa Technikon SA Open Access Programme University of KwaZulu-Natal University of Natal, Durban UNITE
National Access Consortium of the Western Cape
NA Leaf Programme
Zululand University Zululand University Foundation Programme for Science and Agriculture
University of the Witwatersrand University of the Witwatersrand College of Science Cape Peninsula University of
Technology
Cape Technikon Foundation Programme
Fort Hare University Fort Hare University The Enriched and Foundation Year Programme EFYP
University of Limpopo Medunsa Foundation Courses: Chemistry,
Mathematics and Physics Durban Institution of Technology ML Sultan Technikon Augmented programme in
Analytical Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Durban Institution of Technology Natal Technikon Engineering Foundation Course Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University
Port Elizabeth Technikon Pre-technician Programme
Tshwane University of Technology
Pretoria Technikon Certificate for Lab Assistants
University of Johannesburg Rand Afrikaans University Science Foundation Programme Tshwane University of
Technology
Technikon North-West Foundation Year Programme
University of Johannesburg Technikon Witwatersrand Academic Support unit ASU University of KwaZulu-Natal University of Durban-Westville Science and Engineering
Foundation Programme SEFP University of KwaZulu-Natal University of Natal,
Pietermaritzburg
Science Foundation Programme SFP
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
University of Port Elizabeth University of Port Elizabeth Advancement Programme UPEAP
North West University University of Potchefstroom TECHPUK Career Preparation Programme
University of Pretoria University of Pretoria Foundation Year Programme in Mathematics and the Basic Sciences UPFY
University of Limpopo University of the North University of the North Science and Mathematics Foundation Year UNIFY
North West University University of the North West Science Foundation Year Programme
Walter Sisulu University for University of the Transkei Science Foundation Year
Technology and Science Programme SFP
University of the Western Cape University of the Western Cape Science Foundation Programme University of the Witwatersrand University of the Witwatersrand Engineering Foundation
Programme Walter Sisulu University for
Technology and Science
Border Technikon Tertiary Foundation Course TFC
North West University University of Potchefstroom OPIPUK Academic Support Programme for Engineers Rhodes University Rhodes University Science Foundation Programme University of Cape Town University of Cape Town General Entry Programme in
Science GEPS
University of KwaZulu-Natal University of Natal, Durban Augmented Science Programme University of Pretoria University of Pretoria Extended Degree Programme University of Stellenbosch University of Stellenbosch Physical and Applied Sciences
Foundation Programme SFP University of Johannesburg Vista University 4-Year BSc
University of Stellenbosch University of Stellenbosch Engineering Foundation Programme
Free State Technikon Free State Technikon Context Advancement Program CAP
University Free State University Free State The resource-based learning Career Preparation Programme CPP
Private Private Star Schools
NGO NGO Protec
University of Pretoria University of Pretoria Technology Access Programme TAP
South African Government Dinaledi Programme
(Pinto, 2001 cited in Rollnick, 2010, p.61)
As can be seen in the above table access programmes at Universities in South Africa are referred to in a variety of ways.