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08 August 2025 | Story Martinette Brits | Photo Barend Nagel
Dr Rouxan Fouche
Dr Rouxan Fouché, Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at the University of the Free State, whose award-winning research explores the impact of language in multilingual computer science education.

Dr Rouxan Fouché, Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at the University of the Free State (UFS), earned national recognition when he received both the Best Informatics Paper and the Overall Best Paper awards at the 54th Annual Conference of the Southern African Computer Lecturers’ Association (SACLA 2025). Held in Bloemfontein from 30 July to 1 August, the conference brought together leading voices in computer science education from across the region. Dr Fouché’s award-winning paper, Beyond Language Barriers: Programme-Specific Effects of English Medium Instruction in South African Computer Science Education, explores the nuanced impact of language on student learning in multilingual computer science classrooms.

“It was incredibly humbling and exciting to receive this recognition,” said Dr Fouché. “When they announced the Best Informatics Paper Award, I was already thrilled, but when they called my name again for the Overall Best Paper Award, I was genuinely shocked.”

The paper, which investigates how English-medium instruction affects students differently across different types of modules, stood out for its relevance to both educational policy and classroom practice in multilingual contexts. “As a researcher, you hope your work will make an impact,” Dr Fouché reflected, “but to have it recognised at this level by peers across the computer science and informatics community in Southern Africa was beyond my expectations.”

Representing the UFS at SACLA added another layer of significance. “Our university has such a rich tradition in computer science and informatics education,” said Dr Fouché. “The Free State context, with our incredibly diverse student population representing all 11 official languages, provides a unique lens for understanding multilingual education. I was proud to show how the UFS is leading research into practical solutions for South African higher education challenges.”

 

Rethinking language barriers in STEM education

The award-winning study stemmed from a broader investigation into student attrition in computer science. “Language barriers represent just one component of the various factors I'm studying that affect student success and retention,” explained Dr Fouché. “Like many educators in South Africa, I knew that a very low percentage of our Department of Computer Science and Informatics students are native English speakers, yet we teach everything in English.”

What the research uncovered was unexpected. “Students with language difficulties weren't struggling uniformly across all modules as we might expect,” Dr Fouché said. “Instead, there were dramatic differences depending on the type of content.” In particular, programming modules seemed to pose very little additional difficulty for students with language barriers, while business-related modules presented significant challenges.

“The most significant finding was that programming education appears to naturally transcend language barriers,” said Dr Fouché. “We found negligible differences in perceived difficulty between students with and without language difficulties in core programming modules – effect sizes of just 0.017 to 0.041, which is essentially no difference.” Surprisingly, students with language difficulties actually found mathematics and physics modules easier than their English-proficient peers, while business modules showed the opposite trend.

“These findings suggest that instead of treating all technical subjects the same, we need programme-specific support strategies,” he said. “Computer science education might offer a more equitable pathway to technical careers for our multilingual student population.”

Dr Fouché hopes the findings will inform more tailored teaching approaches: “We should emphasise visual representations, multiple symbolic systems, and hands-on applications that play to students' compensatory strengths for mathematics and physics. We need targeted interventions for business-related modules and additional support for the dual cognitive load of processing both technical and business terminology simultaneously.”

 

A research journey driven by equity

Dr Fouché’s academic journey spans human-computer interaction, digital inclusion, and educational equity. His doctoral work used a community-based action research approach to address the digital divide in marginalised communities. “The connection between these areas is really about equity and access,” he said. “Whether it's digital inclusion in marginalised communities or language barriers in technical education, I'm interested in understanding and addressing the systemic factors that prevent people from fully participating in our increasingly digital world.”

He credits mentors such as Prof Tanya Stott and Prof Liezel Nel for shaping his research path, and values collaboration with colleagues such as Dr Wynand Nel and Dr Pakiso Khomokhoana, among others. His advice to emerging researchers? “Embrace the South African context as a strength, not a limitation. Our linguistic diversity, postcolonial educational legacy, and unique challenges aren’t obstacles to overcome, but valuable perspectives that can contribute to global knowledge.”

Dr Fouché is now planning a longitudinal study to track students over time and explore how early advantages or disadvantages related to language shape long-term academic and career outcomes. His work continues to position the UFS as a leader in evidence-based, inclusive computer science education.

Hand Read the paper: Beyond Language Barriers

News Archive

Heart diseases a time bomb in Africa, says UFS expert
2010-05-17

 Prof. Francis Smit

There are a lot of cardiac problems in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to the largest population of rheumatic heart disease patients in the world and therefore hosts the largest rheumatic heart valve population in the world. They are more than one million, compared to 33 000 in the whole of the industrialised world, says Prof. Francis Smit, Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS).

He delivered an inaugural lecture on the topic Cardiothoracic Surgery: Complex simplicity, or simple complexity?

“We are also sitting on a time bomb of ischemic heart disease with the WHO (World Health Organisation) estimating that CAD (coronary artery disease) will become the number-one killer in our region by 2020. HIV/Aids is expected to go down to number 7.”

Very little is done about it. There is neither a clear nor coordinated programme to address this expected epidemic and CAD is regarded as an expensive disease, confined to Caucasians in the industrialised world. “We are ignoring alarming statistics about incidences of adult obesity, diabetes and endemic hypertension in our black population and a rising incidence of coronary artery interventions and incidents in our indigenous population,” Prof. Smit says.

Outside South Africa – with 44 units – very few units (about seven) perform low volumes of basic cardiac surgery. The South African units at all academic institutions are under severe threat and about 70% of cardiac procedures are performed in the private sector.

He says the main challenge in Africa has become sustainability, which needs to be addressed through education. Cardiothoracic surgery must become part of everyday surgery in Africa through alternative education programmes. That will make this specialty relevant at all levels of healthcare and it must be involved in resource allocation to medicine in general and cardiothoracic surgery specifically.

The African surgeon should make the maximum impact at the lowest possible cost to as many people in a society as possible. “Our training in fields like intensive care and insight into pulmonology, gastroenterology and cardiology give us the possibility of expanding our roles in African medicine. We must also remember that we are trained physicians as well.

“Should people die or suffer tremendously while we can train a group of surgical specialists or retraining general surgeons to expand our impact on cardiothoracic disease in Africa using available technology maybe more creatively? We have made great progress in establishing an African School for Cardiothoracic Surgery.”

Prof. Smit also highlighted the role of the annual Hannes Meyer National Registrar Symposium that culminated in having an eight-strong international panel sponsored by the ICC of EACTS to present a scientific course as well as advanced surgical techniques in conjunction with the Hannes Meyer Symposium in 2010.

Prof. Smit says South Africa is fast becoming the driving force in cardiothoracic surgery in Africa. South Africa is the only country that has the knowledge, technology and skills base to act as the springboard for the development of cardiothoracic surgery in Africa.

South Africa, however, is experiencing its own problems. Mortality has doubled in the years from 1997 to 2005 and half the population in the Free State dies between 40 to 44 years of age.

“If we do not need health professionals to determine the quality and quantity of service delivery to the population and do not want to involve them in this process, we can get rid of them, but then the political leaders making that decision must accept responsibility for the clinical outcomes and life expectancies of their fellow citizens.

“We surely cannot expect to impose the same medical legal principles on professionals working in unsafe hospitals and who have complained and made authorities aware of these conditions than upon those working in functional institutions. Either fixes the institutions or indemnifies medical personnel working in these conditions and defends the decision publicly.

“Why do I have to choose the three out of four patients that cannot have a lifesaving operation and will have to die on their own while the system pretends to deliver treatment to all?”

Prof. Smit says developing a service package with guidelines in the public domain will go a long way towards addressing this issue. It is also about time that we have to admit that things are simply not the same. Standards are deteriorating and training outcomes are or will be affected.

The people who make decisions that affect healthcare service delivery and outcomes, the quality of training platforms and research, in a word, the future of South African medicine, firstly need rules and boundaries. He also suggested that maybe the government should develop health policy in the public domain and then outsource healthcare delivery to people who can actually deliver including thousands of experts employed but ignored by the State at present.

“It is time that we all have to accept our responsibilities at all levels… and act decisively on matters that will determine the quality and quantity of medical care for this and future generations in South Africa and Africa. Time is running out,” Prof. Smit says.
 

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