Chapter 3. Methodology: Contexts, Concepts, and Methodological Processes 3.1 Introduction and Overview of 1 Introduction and Overview of Chapter
3.5 Research Design and Process
3.5.1 The selection of the University of KwaZulu-Natal as the institutional case
In addition to my positional interest in UKZN (as explained in the Author note in the
introductory pages of this thesis), the selection of UKZN as the case for this study was justified along two central lines. As a study of the phenomenon of exceptional academic achievement in South African higher education, it was deemed appropriate to explore this phenomenon within an
institution that is both comparatively high performing, and demographically and socio-politically representative of South Africa.
In addition to being one of the largest public higher education institutions in South Africa
(DOHET, 2013b), UKZN features consistently in various world university ranking systems33 and is described as one of the top five research-intensive and research-led higher education
institutions in South Africa (Kahn, Vlotman, Steyn, & Van der Schyff, 2007). In the 2013 Webometrics of World Universities rating, UKZN ranked as the top university in Africa, and obtained a world ranking of 381 (Cybermetrics Lab, 2013). The use of various world university ranking systems to justify the inclusion of a higher education institution in a study of exceptional academic achievement at undergraduate level does pose some potential limitations. In particular, world university rankings do not appear to measure undergraduate academic achievement
directly, and so in some ways the use of these rankings is at best a proxy indicator of the phenomenon of interest in the current study. In this way, it is acknowledged that the
phenomenon of exceptional academic achievement in undergraduate higher education could indeed have been investigated at any number of South African higher education institutions, including those that do not feature regularly in international ranking systems.
UKZN is, however, the only “merged” South African institution among those that feature
regularly in international ranking systems, being constituted in 2004 as an outcome of the merger between the University of Durban-Westville and University of Natal. Since 2002, the South African higher education system has witnessed the mergers of several historically disadvantaged and historically advantaged higher education institutions (Mabokela & Evans, 2009). Although there were a number of reasons that propelled the merger processes, those most critical included the need to “create an equitable and accessible system of higher education” that would redress
“racial, ethnic, linguistic and gender disparities” (Mabokela & Evans, 2009, p. 209). The merger process that formed UKZN is representative of integrative transformation of previously
33 See Academic Ranking of World Universities/ARWU, http://www.arwu.org; QS/Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd, http://www.qs.com; Times Higher Education World University Rankings,
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk; and Webometrics, http://www.webometrics.info).
disadvantaged and advantaged systems of higher education in South Africa. Currently, UKZN has favourable student and staff equity profiles relative to other South African higher education institutions (DOHET, 2013b). In addition, UKZN increased its access for African students from 49% of the total UKZN student population in 2004 (DOE, 2005) to 64% in 2012 (DOHET, 2013b). In terms of staffing, 53% of UKZN instruction and research staff is black against a national higher education sector average of 45%,34 and 48% of UKZN instruction and research staff is women against a sector average of 45% (DOHET, 2013b). These figures give an indication of the rapid and significant transformation of the university. UKZN’s high national and international performance rating and profile coupled with a concomitant commitment to and achievement of diversity, demonstrates how both equity and excellence can be realised in a South African higher education institution (Odendaal & Deacon, 2009).
Based on the above-mentioned ways, the selection of UKZN as the institutional case study for this study on exceptional academic in South African higher education was justified. As identified earlier, case study research is commonly used in activity theory inspired research, and can be constituted by the exploration of “a bounded system (a case) … over time … involving multiple sources of information” (Cresswell, 2013, p. 97). This institutional case study is a combination of both an intrinsic and instrumental case study. Whereas Stake (1995) originally differentiated between an intrinsic case study and an instrumental case study research, I argue that UKZN as an institution has both intrinsic interest (i.e., uniqueness, and my own positional interest) as well as instrumental potential. The instrumental potential is justified in that the exploration of the institution is likely to be instrumental in furthering an understanding of exceptional academic achievement in South African higher education. Although the findings and interpretations from this institutional case study will be specific to UKZN, the aim was still to generate ideas about the phenomenon of exceptional academic achievement in South African higher education.
However, I argue that UKZN is a representative example of a high-performing South African higher education institution, and so the findings may be transferable to the notion of South African higher education in general. Therefore, when presenting the findings and interpretations
34 By way of comparison, the other four high-performing South African higher education institutions have an average black instruction and research staff component of 25% (DOHET, 2013b).
for this study, I will refer interchangeably to UKZN, as well as South African higher education in general.
UKZN is currently structured according to four Colleges, namely the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Sciences, the College of Health Sciences (including Medicine), the College of Humanities (including Education), and the College of Law and Management Studies (UKZN, n.d.). Admission to study as an undergraduate student at UKZN, as at other South African
universities, is based primarily on the matriculation score derived from the national matriculation examination results.35 Admission is however subject to redress considerations in selected
programmes such as various alternative access and bridging/foundation programmes, and in the College of Health Sciences. Due to extremely high demand for spaces in the College of Health Sciences, in addition to matriculation score, admission is stratified by race to accommodate quotas that are reflective of the demographics of the province within which the University is situated (UKZN, 2013b).