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19 April 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Charl Devenish
Dr Nashua Naicker
Dr Nashua Naicker, lecturer and Chairperson: Learning and Teaching Committee (SoHRS) in the Department of Optometry, UFS School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, graduated on Thursday (April 18) with the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Health Professions Education.

A strong need to improve the general standing of optometry as a profession and to create lifelong learning opportunities for locally trained optometrists beyond what currently exists, is what led Dr Nashua Naicker to pursue a PhD in this field.

Dr Naicker, lecturer, and Chairperson: Learning and Teaching Committee (SoHRS) in the Department of Optometry, UFS School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, says he feels an overwhelming sense of relief with a keen sense accomplishment by achieving what he set out to through persistence in the face of adversity.

He graduated on Thursday (18 April) at the Faculty of Health Sciences April graduation ceremony with the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Health Professions Education through the Division of Health Sciences Education. “I am pleased and hope to change the narrative on this new path as an accredited researcher from ‘how long are you going to take to finish?’ to ‘what have you learnt in this journey?’. We are far too focused on chasing a timeline rather than focusing on the contribution that one makes and the self-development in this journey of discovery,” says Dr Naicker. 

His supervisor was Prof Alvin J Munsamy from University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and co-supervisor Dr CB Written from the UFS.  

Need for educational expansion

His research was focused on establishing a framework for postgraduate programmes in specialty fields of optometry for South Africa. The investigation was carried out with practising optometrists as the primary stakeholders and with optometric academics as the custodians for education and training in the country.

“With an overwhelming need for educational expansion found in this investigation, a conceptual framework was proposed as the innovation to take the profession forward in South Africa. Improving patient care from being upskilled and receiving professional recognition for the additional competencies and proficiencies that would be gained, was the motivating factors identified by optometrists to consider further education and training,” says Dr Naicker.

According to him, being in the educational fraternity for almost two decades and as a former education committee member of the professional board of optometry, he was able to see where the shortcomings were in the profession which set him on this path to pursue this research. With most optometrists in clinical practice and no clinical postgraduate qualifications available except pure research-based qualifications in SA, Dr Naicker explains that this hindered optometrists’ professional trajectory and career path opportunities into various special interest areas. 

“By developing a framework for horizontal articulation pathways towards coursework postgraduate qualifications in various clinical specialty fields, this would be the contribution in addressing the educational gap that would guide higher education institutions in their programme development process. The beneficiaries of this expansion would not only be the health professionals but the patients who access optometric care from the optometrists who would have advanced skills and competencies to deliver comprehensive eye care services.”

Stayed motivated

Dr Naicker says the journey to his PhD was challenging from the outset as the country went into hard lockdown due the COVID-19 pandemic just five weeks after he registered for his PhD. Working on a PhD was not a priority at the time when your survival and that of your loved ones was uncertain as thousands of people fell victim to the coronavirus. Further to this, he continues, multiple changes to his supervisory team and the overhaul and revitalisation of the administration and management of the UFS Division of Health Sciences Education, also impacted his progress in his doctoral research at that time. He had felt despondent after a year of being registered when stability arrived with supervisory assistance that re-ignited his drive to pick up the slack and keep moving forward.

“The words ‘push through it’ were verbalised to me by a stranger I met in passing.  While chatting about research I found those three words to be so profound and with such depth that they resonated with my experience of facing adversity but remaining vigilant to preservere and not drop the baton in the race against time to conclude my research. Gaslighting yourself and questioning your potential to complete a PhD only compounds your procrastination which was all too apparent. The goal is to rise above the self-doubt, brush off the devil with the fork sitting on your shoulder and just ‘push through it’.”

Dr Naicker, who is currently supervising four master’s of optometry students in their research undertaking, as well as undergraduate research projects, says he is in the process of publishing the research manuscripts generated from his PhD and is also part of a task team with the professional Board of Optometry for setting up the board exams for foreign-qualified optometrists. He would also like to work on research involving educating the educators of visually impaired learners.

News Archive

New multi-purpose residences open in January 2015
2014-06-18

The UFS is currently busy with exciting new accommodation developments on both the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses.

This includes a new residence with a hotel and a conference/lecture hall on the western part of the Bloemfontein Campus and the building of another residence on the Qwaqwa Campus.

“We have done what was possible in our quest to maximise the number of beds available in the older residences on the Bloemfontein Campus,” says Quintin Koetaan, Senior Director: Housing and Residence Affairs at the UFS. “This we achieved by converting underutilised and unutilised dining halls and kitchens into bedrooms, which was totally insufficient to address the dire need for beds.”

“The new residence building will have different types of accommodation. I am very excited and look forward to the completion of this project. And this particular residence also brings a very exciting architectural design to the university environment.”

The residence, with multiple blocks for different accommodation, will be wheelchair friendly and numbering and signage will also be in braille. This futuristic-designed building will stand the test of time and will be provide student accommodation until 2030.The R60 million project is funded by the UFS and the Department of Higher Education and Training.

In step with international university accommodation trends – as with Yale's residential college system – this residence will house female first-years who will be mentored by postgraduate students. Postgraduates will be headhunted with the support of the Student Representative Council’s (SRC) postgraduate committee. These postgraduate students will represent all the faculties. Block A and B will accommodate 184 female first-years.

Each floor in this residence will have a study room, two lounges, a kitchen and a laundry for 25 students. Security will be very tight, with three levels of security: entrance to residence, corridor and individual bedroom door. There will also be perimeter camera surveillance and a security officer outside and inside the residence. 

 
Block C will accommodate postgraduate students. The ground floor will house eight single-bed roomed flats. The first floor will have 16 single rooms sharing a bathroom, kitchen and living room, as well as one double room with its own bathroom. The second floor will have 21 single rooms sharing a bathroom, kitchen and living room.

Block D will house 18 hotel-like en suites, with a dining room where breakfast will be served. The target market here will be visiting academics and other university-affiliated visitors. Prices will be competitive to those of local guesthouses and hotels.

Bookings have already opened. Guests will be able to book in and access the hotel desk 24/7. The dining room, accommodating up to 60 people, will not only be open for hotel guests, but also for postgraduate students and UFS staff. Bookings will therefore be essential.

The expansion of bed spaces also took place at the Qwaqwa Campus. In 2012 a 200-bed residence with a state of the art computer room was completed. As a follow-up to this development, another 248-bed residence is now being built. In this particular residence, there will be designated post-graduate accommodation for 48 students.

The project will be handed over at the end of October 2014, with the first intake planned for January 2015.

Another development at the Qwaqwa Campus is the Chancellor’s House Bed & Breakfast. This B&B, with its 5 en suite rooms, is open for business for all UFS staff.

 

For enquiries or bookings at this new accommodation facility, contact:

- Undergraduate (first-year ladies’ residence):
Monica Naidoo at +27(0)51 401 3455 or NaidooM@ufs.ac.za  

- Postgraduate:
Hein Badenhorst at +27(0)51 401 2602 or BadenH@ufs.ac.za  

- Hotel:
Ilze Nikolova at +27(0)51 401 9689 or NikolovaI@ufs.ac.za  

- Chancellor’s House Bed & Breakfast on Qwaqwa Campus:
Olga Molaudzi at +27(0)58 718 5030 or molaudziOD@qwa.ufs.ac.za

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