THE VOICE OF HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP

Supply of Prescribed and Recommended Books

‘Best Practices’

Background

The supply of prescribed and recommended:• Is an issue of access to HE for students in

financial need • This can dramatically affect the learning

environment of students • The role of Financial Aid units is critical to the

process• The effectiveness of other support

mechanisms is key• Environmental issues have an impact• Capacity of universities libraries

Introduction

• Identification and measurement of outcomes for administrative and support areas have not received the same level of attention as the measurement of students’ learning outcomes

• Outcomes of these areas and their benefits are clear but how to measure outcomes achievement requires attention

• Roles, impact and effectiveness of units involved need attention

• Finding common outcomes that apply to all universities and across student administration and support units have to be decided upon

• Deciding on the effectiveness of current processes is critical

• Creating and implementing benchmarking platforms

Preferred outcome

All students must have access to prescribed and recommended books on or before registration

Purpose

• Create awareness on the current practices

• Improve processes involved in the supply of prescribed and recommended books on the basis of comparison with the best practices

• Instill value of benchmarking for quality improvement in each university

• Ensure that there is a systematic approach for sharing information based on a common output and performance measure

Methodology

Using the Six Sigma methodology, the exercise wasorganised by:1. Setting objectives and defining the scope of supplying

prescribed and recommended books in HE2. Gain support from own institution3. Select a benchmarking approach 4. Identify benchmarking partners5. Gather information 6. Determine processes 7. Select and agree on best practices8. Pilot9. Implement

Central University of Technology, Free State• Students obtain quotations, R3 400 max• Financial Aid issues vouchers • Used EDULOAN until 2008• CUT EDULOAN processes were manual• Reconciling student lists and Wizard Cards issued was a

nightmare• Library capacity needs to be explored

University of the Free State

• Does not use EDULOAN • Allocate a fixed amount per student • Loaded on student cards (debit card)• Allows motivation for increase where necessary

(R3 400 allocated)• Funds available to students on approval of

NSFAS Loan • Balance reclaimed to reduce the loan at the end

of the academic year• Library capacity need to be explored

University of Cape Town

• Does not use EDULOAN• Allocate R2 000 per student • Loads funds on student bank cards on registration • Encourage students to explore other means of accessing

books other than buying them• Library capacity is huge

Vaal University of Technology

• Does not use EDULOAN• Students buy books cash• Financially needy students are allowed to use

registration funds for books while NSFAS applications are being processed

• Special cases are few and assisted differently • Some schools supply books on registration• Library capacity needs to be explored

Vaal University of Technology

• Does not use EDULOAN• Students buy books cash• Financially needy students are allowed to use

registration funds for books while NSFAS applications are being processed

• Special cases are few and assisted differently • Some schools supply books on registration• Library capacity needs to be explored

University of Johannesburg

• Uses EDULOAN and satisfied • UJ EDULOAN processes are electronic• EDULOAN accesses student lists from ITS• All students get Wizard Cards on signing of the

loan agreement • Loan applications approved immediately as long

as students are accepted by faculties • Response time for books is two days• Library capacity needs to be explored

Common Practices

These include:1. Use of EDULOAN2. Vouchers from Financial Aid3. Allocation for books on student card4. Allocation for books on student bank card5. Book cost build into the course costs6. Supply of compiled notes 7. Assumption that students can afford to buy

books

Shortcomings of current practices• There are cases where students do not have access to

prescribed and recommended books• These books are unavailable in book shops• Students getting books late• Students copying books• Libraries not used optimally

Conclusion

• Outcomes in administrative areas in general need attention

• Identifying common cross-institutional outcomes should form the bases for benchmarking

• All universities must be included in the survey• This will offer universities the opportunity to

measure their progress, benchmark themselves against peer institutions, and use the results to facilitate institutional change

• Quality audits focus on both student learning outcomes and the effectiveness of support unit

Thank you