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21 April 2023 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Striving to make a difference in the field of biodiversity conservation, Dr Katlego Mashiane decided to pursue a PhD in Geography, focusing on the spatial modelling of grassland diversity and nutrients in subalpine environments. He received his PhD during the recent April graduation ceremonies on the Qwaqwa Campus.

In the small village of Ga-Mabotia about 25 km outside of Polokwane, Dr Katlego Mashiane grew up, surrounded by rocky mountains characterised by boulder outcrops, where he interacted with nature from an early age. 

He recently obtained his PhD, majoring in Geography, from the University of the Free State (UFS), which was conferred on him during the April graduation ceremonies that took place on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus. The title of his dissertation is Grass nutrients estimation as an Indicator of rangeland quality using satellite remote.

Predicting the presence of biodiversity and nutrients in an area

Based on the principle that diverse grasslands tend to perform better, environmental changes threaten the resilience and services these grassland ecosystems provide. The study examined how many different types of plants and animals can be found at a particular place to enhance our understanding of the ecosystem’s value to humans, and that biodiversity loss will reduce these ecosystem services. Focusing on spatial modelling of grassland diversity, Dr Mashiane specifically investigated the influence of topography and remotely sensed satellite data on species richness and diversity in subalpine environments, and how they are affected by the availability of grass species. To determine this, he used a random forest machine-learning algorithm to find the best information in the data that could be used to estimate the levels of species richness, diversity, and nitrogen in a protected national conservation park. 

His study discovered that some data types – such as the near-infrared variable and certain vegetation data (EVI and SAVI) – were especially useful for determining the number and variety of species in a certain area. With this information, scientists can create models that predict the presence of different types of biodiversity and nutrients in an area.

Playing a key role in protecting our natural assets

Equipped with this knowledge, one will be able to understand how to protect and preserve different types of biodiversity and promote the nutritional value of both plants and animals in the environment. “Land managers could use this information for conservation strategies,” states Dr Mashiane, who decided to pursue this study because he was curious about how environmental changes will affect species.

“Grasslands provide important ecosystem services underpinning human well-being, and therefore warrant our protection; I would like to play a role in protecting our natural assets and contribute to understanding our biomes, especially in the context of global change,” he says.

In the next five years, Dr Mashiane plans to pursue further research and mentor other students in his field of study.

News Archive

Inaugural lecture: Prof. Annette Wilkinson
2008-04-16

A strong plea for a pursuit of “scholarship” in higher education

Prof. Annette Wilkinson of the Centre for Higher Education Studies and Development in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS) made as strong plea for a pursuit of “scholarship” in higher education.

She said in her inaugural lecture that higher education has to deal with changes and demands that necessitate innovative approaches and creative thinking when it concerns effective teaching and learning in a challenging and demanding higher education environment. She referred to a recent research report prepared for the Council for Higher Education (CHE) which spells out the alarming situation regarding attrition rates and graduation output in South African higher education and emphasises factors leading to the situation. These factors include socio-economic conditions and shortcomings in the school and the subsequent under preparedness of a very large proportion of the current student population. However, what is regarded as one of the key factors within the sector’s control is the implementation of strategies for improving graduate output.

She said: “The CHE report expresses concern about academics’ adherence to traditional teaching practices at institutions, which have not changed significantly to make provision for the dramatic increase in diversity since the 1980s.

“Raising the profile of teaching and learning in terms of accountability, recognition and scholarship is essential for successful capacity-building,” she said. “The notion of scholarship, however, brings to the minds of many academics the burden of ‘publish or perish’. In many instances, the pressures to be research-active are draining the value put on teaching. Institutions demand that staff produce research outputs in order to qualify for any of the so-called three Rs – resources, rewards and recognition.

“These have been abundant for research, but scarce when it comes to teaching – with the status of the latter just not on the same level as that of research. From within their demanding teaching environments many lecturers just feel they do not have the time to spend on research because of heavy workloads, that their efforts are under-valued and that they have to strive on the basis of intrinsic rewards.”

She said: “It is an unfortunate situation that educational expertise, in particular on disciplinary level, is not valued, even though in most courses, as in the Programme in Higher Education Studies at the UFS, all applications, whether in assignments, projects or learning material design, are directly applied to the disciplinary context. We work in a challenging environment where the important task of preparing students for tomorrow requires advanced disciplinary together with pedagogical knowledge.”

Prof. Wilkinson argued that a pursuit of the scholarship of teaching and learning holds the potential of not only improving teaching and learning and consequently success rates of students, but also of raising the status of teaching and recognising the immense inputs of lecturers who excel in a very demanding environment. She emphasised that not all teaching staff will progress to the scholarship level or are interested in such an endeavour. She therefore suggested a model in which performance in the area of teaching and learning can be recognised, rewarded and equally valued on three distinct levels, namely the levels of excellence, expertise and scholarship. An important feature of the model is that staff in managerial, administrative and support posts can also be rewarded for their contributions on the different levels for all teaching related work.

Prof. Wilkinson also emphasised the responsibility or rather, accountability, of institutions as a whole, as well as individual staff members, in providing an environment and infrastructure where students can develop to their full potential. She said that in this environment the development of the proficiency of staff members towards the levels of excellence, expertise and scholarship must be regarded as a priority.

“If we want to improve students’ success rates the institution should not be satisfied with the involvement in professional development opportunities by a small minority, but should set it as a requirement for all teaching staff, in particular on entry into the profession and for promotion purposes. An innovative approach towards a system of continuous professional development, valued and sought after, should be considered and built into the institutional performance management system.”

As an example of what can be achieved, Prof. Wilkinson highlighted the work of one of the most successful student support programmes at the UFS, namely the Career Preparation Programme (CPP), implemented fourteen years ago, bringing opportunities to thousands of students without matric exemption. The programme is characterised by dedicated staff, a challenging resource-based approach and foundational courses addressing various forms of under preparedness. Since 1993 3 422 students gained entry into UFS degree programmes after successfully completing the CPP; since 1996 1 014 of these students obtained their degrees, 95 got their honours degrees, 18 their master’s degrees and six successfully completed their studies as medical doctors.

Prof. Wilkinson said: “I believe we have the structures and the potential to become a leading teaching-learning university and region, where excellence, expertise and scholarship are recognised, honoured and rewarded.”

 

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