Internationalisation

The Faculty continued to implement its policy of using a small number of high-prestige institutions and individuals from the global university community as part of its international networks and linkages. In this regard, a carefully selected team of international research experts and advisors led teaching, research and evaluation in the Faculty drawn from institutions such as Stanford and Harvard Universities in North America, Utrecht, Twente University in Europe and Hiroshima and Melbourne Universities in Australasia.

Evaluation of Programmes

The Faculty of Education institutionalised a Faculty-wide evaluation programme that included a comprehensive evaluation of the distance- and contact education programmes. In this respect, a number of international experts were called on to lead these evaluations, including the South African Institute of Distance Education and the Open University in the United Kingdom.

Funding

The Faculty continued to benefit from the allocation of an unprecedented spread of external research funds for international projects and from international agencies, including:

• Norwegian (NUFU) study on science and mathematics education in Southern Africa
• SANPAD (Dutch) funding for advanced research on integrated schools
• National Institutes of Health study on AIDS and Education, in collaboration with Yale University in the USA
• World Bank study on secondary education in Africa
• Funded research (Japan, JICA) on the use of lesson study in rural science classrooms
• UNICEF study on education finance and the costs of schooling in South Africa
• Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement

The Faculty also recorded a record award of external research team grants from local and international foundations.