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CEDU research excellence lauded by journal

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Dr Noma Madikizela-Madiya, Chair of the Department of Educational Foundation

There is joy and jubilation in the College of Education (CEDU) and congratulatory messages are pouring in for Dr Noma Madikizela-Madiya (Chair of the Department of Educational Foundations). Her paper entitled "Mistrust in a multi-campus institutional context: a social-spatial analysis", published last year, has received a Best Article Award from the editorial staff of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management.

Prof Velisiwe Gasa, Head: Graduate Studies and Research at CEDU, says that the paper is one of the most read and talked about in higher education online PhD forums. "As an advocate for research excellence, it brings so much joy to me to witness the hard work of a researcher being recognised internationally," she says. "This achievement is not beneficial to her only but also to the college and university. I believe that in few years to come, she will be counted among the renowned scholars and that will increase CEDU’s visibility in terms of research excellence."

Madikizela-Madiya’s paper identifies mistrust as one of the prominent features of managerialism. "Similarly, multi-campus institutional studies have interrogated mistrust in various ways," she says. "However, there is limited research on academics’ experiences of how mistrust relates to their understandings and values of their academic profession in multi-campus contexts. This article contributes knowledge to narrow this gap. It draws from a study that examined academics’ experiences of how space enables or constrains their practices towards academic identity construction in an open distance learning institution in South Africa."

According to the article’s abstract, a total of 12 academics who work on satellite campuses of the institution were interviewed. The social production of space framed the analysis. The paper findings indicate that a multi-campus institutional context aggravates mistrust and impinges on academics’ interaction and prospects for development within a wider institutional space. Recommendations are made about how to reduce the influence of mistrust on academics’ practices in multi-campus contexts. Click here to read the article.

Commenting on the award, Madikizela Madiya says that she was caught by surprise. "As an academic, I just write to disseminate knowledge that I generate from research projects, without really thinking about how it will be received out there," she says. "I regard it as an overwhelming achievement, not only for myself, but also for my department, CEDU, all the colleagues I collaborate with in my research projects and my University. I am humbled by the congratulatory messages that I received from all my colleagues in CEDU, particularly from the Prof Gasa. If it was not for her announcement of the award, not so many people would have been motivated by it. It is in moments like these that one gets to see the power of the Almighty God in action, through people’s good wishes."

She concludes by saying she wishes the same success for all her colleagues in CEDU and beyond. The humble and excited Madikizela-Madiya will receive her award on 30 September 2019 in Adelaide, Australia


* By Edgar Rathelele, Marketing and Communications Officer, College of Education

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Publish date: 2019/08/16

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