It is not everyday that you hear of alumni becoming permanent staff members at a university faculty. If there’s a department that has achieved this, it is the Department of Education Leadership and Management (DELM) at UJ. On what brings people back or inspires them to be part of the university as staff, Head of the Education Leadership and Management Department at UJ, Dr Suraiya Naicker, said they’ve always wanted to show students that achieving your goals in academia can be done. Dr Naicker explains: The scholarship programmes and work-related opportunities are avenues for students aspiring to pursue academia. As some permanent staff and part- time staff are alumni, we often share our own student experiences and passion. We thus
serve as role models which students have stated it has
Dr Suraiya Naicker, Head of the Education Leadership and Management Department.
provided them with inspiration to achieve and progress. If we did it, students form the mindset that they can follow suit. According to Naicker, five PhD students have worked in departmental programmes over the last three years. Another team of ten Master’s online students have come on board in a pilot project to supervise Honours online students. Yet another team of 12 Master’s online students have joined in 2023 to be mentored as Honours supervisors. Supervision capacity is an area of strain which led to the development of a different model for Honours supervision. It should be noted that alumni ought to have the research skills, and could be mentored as supervisors. Dr Naicker is a UJ product herself, having completed her Honours, Master’s, and PhD at UJ and she is currently serving her fourth year as HOD. When asked what it takes to achieve such a tremendous achievement, she said a disciplined work ethic led to her success: After ten years in the field, becoming a scholar bridged the theory that was lacking in my professional practice. This discovery resulted in a passion for
Role modelling provides students with inspiration: An alumni’s reflection
leadership studies and together with a disciplined work ethic led to my success. For potential students who are in a leadership position already, they will be able to enhance their practice, develop and grow. She concluded that hard work, effective time management, persistence, resilience, and commitment to one’s studies are attributes that will yield success. With her leadership portfolio, however, comes challenges the department has to face. In dealing with various challenges, Dr Naicker said the department has expanded its programmes to fully online global offerings, in line with the vision of UJ:
online Master’s of Educational Management, the online Bachelor of Honours in Education Leadership and Management and the online Advanced Diploma in School Leadership and Management. The carousel model in the Department programmes means that every eight weeks there are twelve online modules running simultaneously. This is no easy feat to manage with just seven lecturers and hence the Department staff has been expanding over the last two years. Bringing in alumni as part time colleagues is thus strategic as it assists the department to manage the change and the volume of work. Finally, Dr Naicker added that UJ is a fountain of opportunity with a supportive academic environment.
The Department is unique in that it offers three carousel model programmes namely the
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ALUMNI IMPUMELELO
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