College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2022 25 advanced diplomas, short-learning programmes, and recognition of prior learning (RPL). These opportunities provide alternative access or articulation and are designed to prepare students properly for university studies. Promoting student performance and providing opportunities for the holistic development of potential graduates lies at the heart of the CBE academic project. Through its schools and departments, the College engaged in several measures aimed at providing a holistic learning experience for students. Key measures mainly aimed at UG students include: • First-year and senior student experience – The CBE plays a significant role in institutional initiatives to support undergraduate student learning. Soon after the First Year Seminar (orientation), various opportunities are provided by the Academic Development Centre (ADC), Centre for Academic Technologies (CAT), and the Library Information Centre for students to develop the kinds of skills needed to cope with the demands of university studies. • Integrated Student Success Initiative (ISSI) – In its current format, the ISSI focused on priority modules and was scaled down in 2022, given the development of a new approach focusing on student progress in a qualification. This new approach is expected to be used to identify appropriate interventions aimed at student success for implementation in 2023. • Operational and strategic tutor funding – With an average tutor budget of R8 818 961 and a strategic tutor fund allocation of R1 187 670, the total financing for tutor support was just over R10 million in 2022. Unfortunately, this total was underspent by close to R670 000. Attempts were made during the year to redeploy funds from potentially underspending environments to those in need. However, these efforts did not yield much success. Notwithstanding the underspending, the total spending of R9,33 million is a substantial investment in tutorial support and works out to an average of R512 per student on subsidised programmes in the CBE. Most of the tutorial support was for UG programmes, so the amount per UG student would be much higher. • UJ-funded e-textbook initiative for undergraduate students – This is an institutional effort to provide electronic access to textbooks in priority areas, considering module success rates and enrolment size. In 2022, a total of 8 modules involving six books in the CBE were supported through this initiative. • CBE Student Peer Mentoring Programme – This initiative aims to support first-year students in transitioning to a university environment. Given the lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, it was decided to include a standing online component in the Peer Mentoring Programme. Work commenced in 2022 and will be rolled out more substantially in 2023. • Student Personal Development Programme – This programme, aimed at first-year UG students, was piloted in the Department of Accountancy in 2021 and then rolled out to the wider CBE in 2022. In 2022, 1 237 students completed the programme. Students who did not complete the programme will be nudged to do so in their second and third years of study. • Work-integrated Education (WIE) – WIE features programmes with a strong practical orientation, such as marketing, tourism and hospitality, accounting, and business management. • UJenius Club – UJenius is an institutional initiative to provide incentives and enrichment opportunities for top-performing students. The number of UJenius members in the CBE increased by 30,7% from 502 members in 2021 to 656 in 2022. The 2022 membership consisted of 257 first-year and 399 senior students. Events and activities for UJenius students are expected to be arranged and hosted at school and department levels. Top-performing students are usually acknowledged at special awards functions. • School/departmental initiatives – Schools and departments provide discipline-specific support for student learning through in-person and online endeavours. • Monitoring of student performance – Whilst departmental heads and school directors are expected to play a pivotal role in monitoring student progress, discussions also occur within structures such as the College Leadership Team (CLT) and the CBE Teaching and Learning Committee (CLT). CAT monitors students’ levels of online activity, and weekly Blackboard Activity Reports are generated. The Vice Dean: Teaching and Learning analyses these reports and sends them to the school directors for consideration and action where needed. Specific concerns around student performance are flagged and discussed through special meetings led by the Vice Dean: Teaching and Learning. This occurred when concerns were raised about student performance in the first semester of 2022. This is elaborated on below. The following are some of the essential outputs relating to student performance in 2022:
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