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The aim of this section is to show how structural and cultural influences (Archer 1995) in the context of the UoT have conditioned (via their emergent properties) the human agency of new lecturers by enabling and/or constraining them. According to Archer, human beings are inescapably born into a social context not of their making, and confront social and cultural structures in their daily lives (Archer 2007a). My research question, which focuses on the conditions that enable or constrain the exercise of agency among new academics at the UoT, is aimed at exploring these conditional contexts to see which aspects feature more strongly than others in accounting for how new lecturers exercise agency.

4.2.2.2 The university of technology (UoT)

The UoT as a differentiated higher education institution is of significance to this doctoral study as it provides a further layer of conditioning for the new academics who are located in this particular institutional context. In the early 2000s, the government, under the leadership of Minister of Education, Kader Asmal, led a process of differentiation through the creation of three institutional types (Lange 2012) and the restructuring of institutions into merged institutions. This has been discussed in an earlier section; suffice it to add here that the objective of the differentiation process was to decide on the orientation that universities would adopt in relation to teaching, learning, and research. The conceptualisation of differentiation underpinning the mergers hinged on an understanding that differentiation was a means of reassessing a problem and not an end in itself (Lange 2012). As such, differentiation was conceptualised contextually to consider the size of the population, current and envisaged higher-education participation, the difficulties of the schooling system, the availability of human and financial resources, and the socio-economic reality of the different provinces to offer a nuanced response (Ibid.).

Related to the size and shape of HE providers (CHE 2000), ‘fitness for purpose’ (Harvey and Green 1993) was a key aspirational goal for the development of quality at merged institutions, as well as the development of a common but unique identity shaped around the differentiated provisions of teaching, learning, research, and social responsiveness in keeping with institutional mission and vision statements. UoTs have a strong corporate orientation and industry linkages, with a substantial focus on service to industry and community as their knowledge production is based on applied research and technology innovation in career-focused education in niche areas such as Science, Engineering and Technology (SET).

While the concept of a technical university is not new, and exists in various technical institutions around the world, the ‘technikon’ legacy which underpins UoTs is a uniquely South African concept, in existence from 1979–2004. However, it is neither well recognised nor understood internationally, making qualifications difficult to align (CHE 2010; du Pré 2010). The technikon was discursively considered inferior to universities and the quality of graduates produced was regarded as substandard to universities (du Pré 2010). For a long time, technikons struggled to shrug off the negative associations with the discourse of ‘glorified high schools’ (Jansen 2002). This discourse invokes the notion of rule-governed and rule-administered tertiary education provision, in stark contrast to the autonomy,

collegiality and academic freedom hard fought for and viciously defended at traditional universities.

The technikons’ commitment to industry training continued in the UoTs, which offered ‘work ready’ qualifications to meet the needs of poor black students, who, having been denied access to HE, enrol at UoTs as a means of getting better employment and improving material conditions for themselves. This has profound implications for teaching and learning as these very students come with particular orientations to learning and so-called learning ‘problems’ (Boughey 2012a). Cooper and Subotzky’s Skewed Revolution (2001), discussed earlier, shows how participation numbers at technikons and UoTs increased significantly from 1990 onwards. The UoT seemed to play a specific role in widening access and increasing participation of students, in keeping with the transformation goals of 1994 but, in this role, the necessary challenges of teaching diverse students with differing learning capacities were exposed. Two structural innovations were designed to boost this: the establishment of a unit focused on work-integrated learning (WIL), to offer a training-on-the- job component for students at the UoT today, and the granting of degree-awarding status to technikons in 1993. This was recognition of the contribution this sector had made to the creation of a critical mass of graduates educated specifically for the world of work.

4.2.2.3 Mergers

As discussed, from the government-led restructuring of the higher education system, and following the reconfiguration in 2005 of higher education providers from 36 to 23, UoTs emerged as differentiated universities with particular goals and purposes aligned to the needs of industry in a knowledge economy. However, merger policy was seldom implemented in merger practice and, according to Jansen (2002), there were twin logics underpinning the mergers: the logic of resolving the apartheid legacy in higher education, and the logic of incorporating the higher education system within the context of a competitive, globalised economy. In understanding these political imperatives of transition, one can begin to comprehend the nature and intensity of the contestation surrounding the merger process and its outcomes in South Africa.

4.2.2.4 The UoT in this study

In this study, the university of technology was the result of a merger between two technikons, historically divided along racial lines in the old dispensation. The UoT is predominantly urban-based and is a contact, and to some extent, residential university. The

majority of its students are drawn from the Western and Eastern Cape and it operates across a number of campuses. It is currently organised into six faculties and its programme and qualification mix (PQM) focuses predominantly on offering National Diplomas and Bachelor of Technology degrees, a few national certificates, and a limited number of master’s and doctoral degrees.

Unlike other mergers which occurred between universities and technikons, this UoT combined two technikons, and this highlighted the causal link between its conditioning as a technikon and its ability to transition from technikon to university, without the dispositions, traditions and capacity available to support the transition to university (Boughey 2011). The structural morphogenesis created by the merger was not matched by a parallel change in the cultural stasis in each technikon, making the disjunction between the two greater, and the harmonisation between the two entities more difficult to realise. This has a conditioning influence on new academics entering this UoT, creating a situational logic that they have to mediate at the social and socio-cultural interaction level.

4.2.2.5 Situational Logics at the UoT as a result of the merger

Phase 1

New lecturers entering the UoT are confronted with an institutional context that predates them. When the two previous technikons (historically one white and one black) were amalgamated (through structural morphogenesis) to form a new higher education institution, a situation of necessary contradictions (Archer 1996) prevailed between different parts of the structural and cultural systems at the UoT, which constituted problem-ridden situations. The structural relations between the two former technikons were necessary and internal, as they both formed part of the new HE landscape as a merged social structure and therefore needed each other to exist. On the level of the cultural system, the effects of the merger meant that each technikon had to give up something or lose something in the act of uniting with the other. This meant that despite the physical union of their component parts, the unique histories, values, and beliefs which they brought with them and which prevailed (cultural morphostasis) had to be negotiated. This put a strain on ideational relations, making them contradictory and not mutually reinforcing, which manifested as a threat to the endurance of their former separate identities as HE tertiary providers. When this is the case, according to Archer (1995), the situational logic invoked is one of correction and both parties need to adapt, leading to structural containment and cultural syncretism. As one lecturer in this study commented,

I think what makes it way more difficult as new lecturer is the merger . . . remember you know . . . it’s been 5 years now . . . plus minus and it’s still . . . not a merger . . . and you know that I had to teach (on different campuses) so thank goodness all of us teach on this campus now and it makes it much easier but people still talk about . . . (belonging to the different technikons) (TDP participant).

At the structural system level, strategic action was called for by agents who had to weigh up options so that differences and disparities were minimised and contained. Containment, which can be both authoritarian and sectional (Archer 1995), is a strategy to prevent differences from becoming visible.

We had to have a change management workshop to deal with [the] merger because people still say ‘these (technikon) people’ . . . ‘those (technikon) people’! (TDP participant)

At the social interaction level, new academics as agents worked to make the situation more compatible, and the disjunction between structural and cultural systems suggested a logic of compromise. At the cultural systems level, the sinking of differences between ideas and attitudes, which Archer refers to as syncretism, was mutually beneficial to minimise differences at the ideational level and to foster cultural cohesion. Socio-cultural interaction was thus focused on unifying the disparate entities, while agents (both corporate and primary) worked to influence this positively by the cautious balancing of losses and gains (Archer 1995: 224). It often happens in this situation that while one group is devoted to promotion of their vested interests, the other works to contain the dissent so that the situation is made more compatible.

That was before we arrived . . . and after they merged, we were sort of thrown into the mix . . . and expected to cope (TDP Participant).

At the end of the formal period of merger, which lasted five years, the new merged university was structurally more equipped to cope with transformation goals, but the emergent ideational context still bore the brunt of the two racially segregated campuses as well as the technikon legacy of compliance with authority (Boughey 2010). Thus a weak disjunction developed between the structural system, that changed significantly (structural morphogenesis) owing to HE transformation, institutional differentiation and merger policies, and the cultural system, that remained slightly impervious to societal and institutional transformation (cultural morphostasis).

While, on the face of it, the UoT appeared to have transformed in size and shape, culturally it remained fractured and disparate as a result of the cultural morphostasis. Although the homogeneity of the past structural system had been replaced by a diversity of race, class, language, and ethnicity (structural morphogenesis) at the chalk face, its cultural counterparts lagged behind. The merger accentuated issues arising from different discourses associated with diversity and transformation, and a further disjunction developed between the values, ideas and beliefs of the merged institution and the goals of transformation in HE. Changes suggested in the DoE White Paper 3 (1997) for the transformation of higher education were better handled structurally than culturally at this UoT.

As classrooms were now being dominated by students of greater diversity and differing academic capabilities, attention was drawn to the need for more quality teaching to meet the academic literacy and pedagogic needs of students. Problems of race, class, language support, and ethnicity created an extra burden in the classroom and impinged on all levels of the university. Unfortunately, the new university was culturally too polarised and diversified to address these issues head on, so it ushered in a suite of staff development courses for teaching and assessment to perform this function, not just to induct new staff, but to even out discrepancies between the past and present. As a result of the contradictions, lecturers who had been employed by virtue of their industry experience were now being coerced to adopt a teaching identity as well. This also opened up spaces for agents (old and new) to interpret the situation on the ground idiosyncratically, depending on orientation, expertise, roles and rank, bargaining power, vested interest, etc. To respond to the high rate of structural morphogenesis, agents reluctant to change returned to cultural morphostasis, creating further disjuncture between the structural and cultural systems.

Phase 2

The UoT then entered a situational logic of contingent complementarities. The new university, which is dependent on funding based on high throughput rates, is in a contingent relationship with the DHET and other professional bodies (engineering, accounting, nursing) that exert considerable external pressure on the UoT for the professionalising of qualifications and curricula. These relations are contingent as external influences are capable of being exercised in an open system, resulting in ‘projected identities’ of faculties and departments. In this period of greater state intervention than before, particularly in the areas of planning, funding and quality assurance, relations are also complementary, as both parties need each other. However, in such a contingency, it is difficult to develop corporate agency when primary agents are struggling to find their feet, with undue pressures of work

overload, timetabling issues, etc. This leaves the door open for powerful social actors (older and from previous technikons) to step in to bring about change based on promotion of their vested interests.

A situational logic of opportunism prevailed and, to handle discrepancies and unevenness, strong actors stepped into management positions to specialise their efforts. As a result, the top became more managerialist towards lecturers, with more administrative requests, form filling and bureaucracy; less academic freedom and autonomy; and more compliance with systems and structures. These constraints are borne by the new academics in this study (see Chapter Five). Performance management was used to keep people in line and dissenters were sectionalised. Simultaneous demands were placed on educators for research outputs and teaching, but teaching overload constrains research growth and development. Thus practice and discourse are further polarised. New academics’ agential choices, given these situational logics, were a combination of strategic actions which were in addition to the enabling and constraining contextual conditions that they had to mediate as newcomers (discussed in Chapter Five).

4.2.2.6 Mission and Vision

The UoT’s vision to be at the heart of technology education and innovation in Africa contains two important conceptual elements that reflect its understanding of its identity as a university of technology: (1) its career-oriented programmes, and (2) its focus on research, with the specific purpose of supporting development at the regional, national and international levels (HEQC 2011). The extent to which a university is understood to be ‘of quality’ is related to the mechanisms and procedures that are in place to ensure that the purpose is achievable and achieved (Boughey 2011). Within this understanding, teaching and learning need to be informed by the purpose a university has identified for itself. In turn, teaching and learning then drive the purpose through the way they are conceptualised and organised (Ibid.).

4.2.2.7 Students

Based on the National Benchmark Test (NBT) to identify the entry-level competencies of students, the UoT has a large number of disadvantaged or underprepared students with one of the lowest success rates for African students among the universities in the Western Cape (HEQC 2011), and provision is made through extended programmes, tutors, academic and numerical literacy programmes, and academic mentoring in residences to support student learning. This poses a fundamental challenge for student success in the area of teaching and learning. The responsibility for the academic development of students, lies with the

university’s Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED). Although participation is voluntary, students do not make optimal use of available services such as academic development, disability assistance or poverty relief, in order to avoid the perception of stigma attached to them (HEQC 2011). Notwithstanding, in an audit summary of the UoT, the HEQC (2011) noted that students were not always satisfied with the preparedness or professional training of new lecturers to teach and facilitate student learning competently. This is significant for this study, as it relates to the nature of induction programmes and the support of new lecturers in their teaching capacity. Further, and specifically in regard to the transformation of student life, the HEQC (2011) stated that some students reported feelings of mistrust, anger, insecurity and vulnerability in relation to both administrative and academic service provision in some departments.

4.2.2.8 Institutional Culture

The absence of an integrated conceptualisation of the relationship between the student curricular experience and the socio-cultural environment of campus life offered at the UoT is a challenge, and a Transformation and Diversity Office has been created in the Vice- Chancellor’s portfolio to take care of these issues. While the Transformation Charter and the Transformation Strategy (Winberg and Garraway 2014b), inspired by ministerial task teams to address transformation in HE, provide a framework at the UoT for a systematic approach to transformation, there is still a need for a deeper engagement with the charter to create an inclusive institutional culture, within which critical challenges relating to curriculum transformation, student governance, the student experience, residences and staff demographics can be addressed (HEQC 2011). The university has adopted a unitary management structure since the merger, with all management decisions being taken by the Vice-Chancellor and the executive management team.

4.2.2.9 Teaching and Learning Policy

Many structural enablements ensure that teaching and learning at the UoT is governed and guided by a rigorous framework. The Teaching and Learning Policy requires all teaching staff to attain a basic level of teaching and learning competence in work-integrated teaching and learning. The Teaching and Learning Plan highlights the need for staff development in the field of innovative teaching and learning, particularly in educational technology. A further structural support is the requirement that all new staff members who are not in possession of a basic teaching qualification enrol for the Teaching Development Programme, which is offered by CHED. The faculties are structurally supported by teaching and learning

committees, which include CHED representatives, while the institution has a Teaching and Learning Committee reporting to Senate, in which the faculty teaching and learning reports and other pertinent issues are discussed.

Structurally, the UoT is currently configured as six faculties, each comprising a number of departments and research entities: Applied Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, Health and Wellness Sciences, and Informatics and Design. The social actors in each faculty comprise deans, assistant deans and HoDs with line management functions, as well as heads of programmes who report to HoDs. A substantial enablement comes through four portfolio coordinators per faculty – Teaching and Learning, Language, Information Technology, and Research – who draw on their roles in the structures to enact and implement policies, through discourses in the cultural conspectus at the UoT.

4.2.2.10 Teaching and Learning Strategy

A teaching and learning strategy is an operational structural plan, intended to prioritise and enhance key areas in teaching and learning in alignment with the institutional vision, mission and values, and other institutional policies and strategic objectives. The UoT aspires to be an excellent provider of career-focused education, producing graduates who are ready to enter the world of work and able to apply knowledge to new situations (HEQC 2011). The curriculum and the institution’s pedagogical approach are informed by the philosophies that underpin co-operative education, WIL, experiential learning and service learning. Conceptualisation, implementation and monitoring of these elements at faculty and departmental level (HEQC 2011) draw on discursive constructions of teaching and learning