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WomenOfKovsies Dr Hoppener research affects access of rural youth to university
Dr Mikateko Höppener is also the author of a book titled, Engineering Education for Sustainable Development: A Capabilities Approach, which is based on her PhD research.

Since September 2016, Dr Mikateko Höppener and a team of researchers have been engaged in a four-year long investigation of the multidimensional factors and dynamics that influence low-income learners’ opportunities to access, participate, and succeed in higher education.

Dr Höppener is a Senior Researcher at the university, working under the leadership of Prof Melanie Walker, South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chair and Director of the Higher Education and Human Development Research Programme.

Women in academia

Dr Höppener is part of a team comprised of women whom she constantly learns from and who inspire appreciation.. “I am filled with gratitude for being in the position I am in as a young woman. I have the privilege of working with a team of very inspirational, motivating and encouraging women. The Miratho Project is led by a woman and the rest of the team members are also women,” she says.

Access to higher education
The Miratho Project is undertaken in collaboration with Thusanani Foundation, a youth-led, nonprofit organisation. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and the UK’s Department for International Development. Rural and township learners from low-income backgrounds are the subject of this multimethod, longitudinal study which tracks their progress into higher education and through to employment.

Among its key objectives, Miratho aims to develop a multidimensional learning outcomes index as an instrument of public debate and guiding government policy. As such it contributes to transforming and decolonising higher education.  

News Archive

Health Sciences dean’s term extended
2008-09-17

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) has unanimously decided to extend the term of office of the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Prof Letticia Moja, by another five years.

Prof Moja became the first black woman to be appointed dean of a medical faculty in South Africa in 2003.

She has been at the helm of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS for the past six years, first as the Acting Dean and then as the Dean. Under her leadership the faculty has achieved great successes and remains one of the leading Health Sciences faculties in South Africa.

However, she still faces many challenges that she hopes to overcome in the next five years to fully accomplish the mission of the faculty to promote the well-being of the community by means of education, research, community service and comprehensive health care delivery.

She hopes to achieve this by attracting and retaining dedicated and well-qualified staff to the faculty, supporting students in all aspects of their life, implementing regular assessment of the teaching and learning environment, mentoring young researchers and increasing the intake of students from previously disadvantaged communities.

Prof Moja is the current vice-president of the Health Professions Council of South Africa and the treasurer of the central region of the South African Association of Health Educationalists.

She is also the director of the UFS’s Grow Our Own Timber project which is aimed at developing black academics. She is a member of the Medical and Dental Council and also serves on its executive committee.

Her current term of office expires on 30 November 2008.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za  
17 September 2008
 

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