Mandy Hlengwa, Mellon lecturer at Rhodes University’s Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL) recently won a top award for the “Best proposal, literature review or theoretical survey” at a national annual research indaba. The indaba was hosted by the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Education.

Hlengwa holds a National Diploma in Child and Youth development and a B-Tech in Youth Work from Technikon Natal, a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Melbourne in Australia and is currently working on her PhD at Rhodes. Her PhD is on Higher Education Studies focusing on Service Learning - where, why and how service learning can be infused into the curriculum. Her goal is to develop a service learning framework for Rhodes. She hopes that theoretical explorations of service learning structures needed at Rhodes undertaken in her PhD research will contribute to informing future policy deliberations regarding implementation decisions of service-learning in curricula. But her eye is also on the bigger picture and Hlengwa further hopes that her study will conribute to wider systematic considerations regarding service learning implementation issues at universities across South Africa and Africa.

Hlengwa has worked closely with the community engagement directorate, previously Dr Joyce Nduna and now Dr Margie Maistry, on issues of higher education and community engagement, especially those surrounding curriculum, teaching and learning. She said that her work on service learning research and helping organise the service learning symposium in March she has led to her being called upon by different departments which has made her feel like she has unofficially become the service learning coordinator on campus.

As a Mellon lecturer, 50% of her work is her PhD research and the other 50% is the work she does at Rhodes. She works on activities around academic staff development; course evaluations, peer reviews, service learning assessments and she co-teaches the Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education (PGDHE).

Hlengwa is also a warden at Phelps House, St Mary's Hall. She said that this is her way of interacting with undergraduate students, which is where both her heart and her expertise lie.?

The University of Pretoria annually hosts a research indaba where they showcase their PhD students' research papers. The Dean of Education at the University of Pretoria sent out invitations to other institutions to send their 'star' PhD students papers for presentation at the indaba. "Prof George Euvrard, Dean of Education, send my name in after getting it from my supervisor, Prof Chrissie Boughey, and co-supervisor, Ms Jo-Anne Vorster," Hlengwa said. For the indaba, students were asked to prepare two abstracts, a 300 word piece which they would present and a longer piece which they would be judged on. The criteria were the extent to which the proposal was informed theoretically and the extent to which theory had been used to develop an analytical framework.

There is a committee that sits and rates these abstracts and "mine was chosen as the best."

The prize includes a R1000 cash prize as well as all expenses paid for a local conference of the winner's choice. "This is great because I get recognition nationally. There were people from all over the country with a lot more field work done on their research than I had on mine, but I still felt I could hold my own," she said.

She also said that it was a boost for her each time that she presents her work to new people. "It is always nice to have a broad set of people to present to. Hlengwa has presented at conferences around the country and has had the opportunity to present her work in New Zealand and feels that people are beginning to understand her use of the critical realism approach to the Basil Bernstein and other substantive theories.

Hlengwa's supervisor, Prof Boughey, said that she was not surprised at all by Hlengwa's achievement. "Her work is excellent, she's doing original research - looking at the problem in a new way," said Boughey. She also said that they were all very pleased for her and "she's an excellent example of how persistence and hard work can pay off."

PHOTO CAPTION: Prof Irma Eloff, Dean: Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, Mandy Hlengwa, Mellon Lecturer, CHERTL, Rhodes University, and Prof Neil Roos, Chairperson: Faculty of Education Research Committee, University of Pretoria.

By Nompumezo Makinana