Introduction: South Africa has a unique history of racial inequality, which in turn contributed to gender inequalities in the country -- also within higher education. Gender equality is one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Higher education can contribute to this SDG by setting an example in the community for creating…

Despite women's increased participation in academic employment patterns, a global gender gap on senior leadership in universities remains. This mixed methods study explores toxic leadership as a potential contributing factor to the gender gap on senior management levels in universities in South Africa. The Schmidt Toxic Leadership Scale (2008) is…

Background: South African narratives of and by early childhood development (ECD) practitioners often focus on policies, practices and perspectives in research. While these are important for the development of the field, the voices of ECD practitioners, in this marginalised space, are silent. Aim: This article aims to understand: Who are the ECD…

Neoliberal ideology globally prioritises competition and productivity over staff well-being in higher education, leading to exploitative practices and heightened stress among academic faculty, culminating in what can be termed modern academic slavery. This study investigates the contemporary impact of neoliberalism on South African universities,…

The aim of the study was to ascertain the expectations and perceptions of engineering graduates regarding an engineering career in the world of work, and compare them to perspectives of academic leaders of the engineering disciplines in which these graduates studied. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study firstly entailed a quantitative survey…

This article reports on how the traditional way of teaching and learning in a third-year undergraduate education, training, and development (ETD) module was transformed at a traditional university in South Africa. Many ETD scholars argue that curricula taught to students in the ETD profession are not relevant to the South African context and do…

Corporate norms and values, characterised by an enterprise ethos, became the new parameters that defined the academic environment. Academics are increasingly becoming concerned about the commodification of higher education and its impact on academic quality and the standards of quality graduates. The voices of South African academics and their…

It is important to note from the outset that the duty of preparing students for careers rests with the educational community. Internship before graduation appears to offer students experiential learning, better opportunities for employment and better knowledge of real work environments. The institutions benefit by obtaining more resources at a…

The paper focuses on assessing and identifying the factors that affect the morale of employees in the institution of higher learning in South Africa. Employee morale is a drive to keep the organisation growing and achieve its objectives. In the worldwide ranking there are two institutions of higher learning that are featured in the top 250 of the…

The unprecedented extended COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns forced higher education institutions (HEIs) to find innovative ways to effectively deliver student tuition and support. The lockdown brought many challenges to the education sector, including increasing the blurring of the work-home boundaries. This study investigated how COVID-19 accelerated…

This paper explores the career experiences of women academics at three South African universities. To understand the experiences of women academics, we conducted an intersectional interrogation of the politics and practices of belonging in departmental cultures. The sample consisted of thirty women academics whose interviews were analysed through…

The study investigated the existing organisational culture and how it affects staff turnover at a selected rural-based university. A quantitative method, using cross-sectional and survey design, was employed. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from 60 respondents in the two selected faculties (Faculty of Education and…

Although accounting students are well trained in the field of ethical behaviour, recent technological developments have created challenges in the workplace. Having focused on the concept of virtue ethics and the fundamental principles of ethical conduct imposed by professional accounting bodies, the findings of this study revealed the need to find…

An increase in research productivity is of vital importance in the development of countries worldwide. However, when research outputs are measured, many higher education faculties neither meet the expectations regarding quality nor quantity despite the increasing drive towards publications. This paper examines how academic managers can reform a…

This study investigated the impact of work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) lecturers on their industry expertise and teaching skills. WIL was introduced to address the inadequate work experience of TVET lecturers and improve their capacity to deliver quality teaching. The study used…