Browsing by Subject "South African universities"

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    Open Access
    Accessibility of academic libraries for students living with disabilities in selected South African Universities
    (2025) Du Toit, Sarah; Shongwe, Mzwandile
    Grounded in the social model of disability (Oliver, 1990), this study assessed the accessibility of academic libraries for students living with disabilities (SWDs) in selected South African universities. Academic libraries are central to higher education, yet systemic, physical and technological barriers often hinder access for students with mobility and visual impairments. The study investigated how academic libraries facilitate accessibility and inclusion for these students by evaluating their ability to engage with library services without assistance. The research adopted a qualitative multiple case study design, focusing on two South African universities: the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eighteen participants, comprising four library staff members and fourteen SWDs, alongside non-participant observation and document analysis. Non-participant observation was conducted in various library spaces to examine the accessibility of building entrances, service desks, computer workstations, signage, shelving arrangements and the availability and use of assistive technologies. The analysed documents included UCT's Disability Policy (2021), Transformation Report (2023), and Disability Policy Council Report (2022), as well as UWC's Policy on Students with Disability (2007) and Library Annual Report (2021). The study was guided by the following key objectives: to examine the accessibility measures currently implemented in academic libraries, evaluate existing policies supporting physically and visually impaired students, identify physical and non-physical barriers to access and assess the role of library staff and assistive technologies in creating inclusive learning environments. Findings revealed that while various accessibility measures and assistive technologies are available, gaps remain in the areas of infrastructure, staff training and institutional policy implementation. Contributing factors included financial constraints, limited awareness and inconsistent institutional commitment. The study recommended the development of formal accessibility policies, dedicated funding for accessibility initiatives, targeted training programmes for library staff and structured feedback mechanisms to strengthen inclusive service delivery. This research contributes to the discourse on disability inclusion in higher education and offers recommendations for improving academic library services for SWDs in South Africa.
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    Open Access
    From re-traumatisation to rightful recourse: designing just and victim-supportive policies for disciplining campus sexual misconduct
    (2025) Moyo, Grace Vongai Zvidozvashe; Smythe, Dee
    The issue of sexual misconduct in universities has come to a head in South Africa in recent years. Among the concerns that have been raised in student protests, scholarly studies, and research by the Department of Higher Education and Training is the question of effective institutional mechanisms to resolve complaints of sexual misconduct. This research is concerned with the disciplinary processes employed by universities to adjudicate complaints and impose disciplinary measures. The question asked is whether South African universities have policies on sexual misconduct that provide for just and victim-supportive processes, and what measures must be put in place in order for them to do so? My premise for this thesis is that an outcome is just if the determinative method is just, and as such I rely on the theory of Natural Justice and procedural fairness as the framework for developing a just process. I approach this question from a policy perspective, with a focus on developing and implementing policies that lay out disciplinary procedures for sexual misconduct that are responsive to the needs of victims and cognisant of the procedural fairness rights of accused students. I do this by analysing the sexual misconduct policies of thirteen public universities to understand their disciplinary procedures and institutional approaches to sexual misconduct as a whole. I find that, in general, university policies are lacking in so far as providing clear procedural rules and guidelines for disciplinary tribunals that allow for just and victim supportive adjudication. Current policies provide for an imbalanced adjudication system or do not provide sufficient guidelines for adjudication at all. Ultimately, I make recommendations on how a hybrid model of adjudication can be fashioned; one that takes into account the need for procedural fairness in administrative decision-making, while simultaneously incorporating victim-supportive practices to minimise the trauma that disciplinary processes can inflict on victims of sexual misconduct. Among these recommendations are the inclusion of restorative justice practices in adjudication and sanctioning, the creation of an accusatorial/inquisitorial hybrid model of adjudication, and imposing justifiable limitations on the rules of Natural Justice to create a disciplinary process that is both just and victim-supportive.