Papers by EFIRITHA CHAURAYA
This paper makes an analysis of undergraduate students’ experiences of their research supervision... more This paper makes an analysis of undergraduate students’ experiences of their research supervision at a state university in Zimbabwe. Undergraduate students’ research supervision experiences during their studies varied, mostly dichotomously. While some students experienced rewarding and gratifying experiences, others, however, underwent frustration, constringent and stressful experiences. Faculties did not show any significant variations, but mode of entry did. Most visiting/block students recorded more negative than positive experiences about their supervisory process. The study concludes with suggestions to reduce student vulnerability and enhancement of the quality of the supervision process. Key suggestions included that: faculties set up research project monitoring focal persons, supervisors be trained in research supervision, and also that both supervisors and students be
Management in Education
This study explores the implications for the Education 5.0 framework on promotion opportunities f... more This study explores the implications for the Education 5.0 framework on promotion opportunities for female academics in Zimbabwean universities. The framework emphasises research, lecturing, community service, innovation and industrialisation as job performance areas for a university lecturer. The qualitative research adopted a multi-case study design and purposively sampled 24 female lecturers from two universities in Zimbabwe. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and analysis of official documents like staff-list records and research repositories. The study reveals that the expectations of the Education 5.0 framework are gender blind and tend to obstruct the promotion opportunities for female academics. Lack of funding in research activities, training in scientific writing, functional innovation hubs as well as the burden of domestic chores were the main obstacles to female academics’ promotion chances. The study recommends provision of research...
International Journal of Gender Studies in Developing Societies
Teaching and learning transactions depend on lecturer attributes which in turn influence the way ... more Teaching and learning transactions depend on lecturer attributes which in turn influence the way the way lecturers teach. This study sought to establish how university students in one selected Zimbabwean university assessed their lecturers’ attributes. The study adopted a descriptive survey approach which utilized both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Data were solicited from students in five selected faculties in the one selected university. A convenient sample of 110 students participated in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were analysed with the aid of the SPSS statistical software package version 21. Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis method and presented through verbatim quotations of the respondents. The study found that respondents assessed lectured as strong in areas that include preparedness, enthusiasm in teaching and learning, content mastery, approachab...
Perspectives in Education, 2014
This article explores concerns about gender inequality in Zimbabwean state universities. The rese... more This article explores concerns about gender inequality in Zimbabwean state universities. The researcher's interest arose from the realisation of persistent gender inequalities despite initiatives to close gender gaps. Of particular concern is the conceptualization and operationalisation of gender equality in institutions. Focusing only on the student admissions sector, this paper critically surveys the experiences of the departmental chairpersons and students who enrolled through affirmative action, their vision of gender equality and the impact thereof on the inclusion of the said students in the mainstream. The study applied a gender perspective to development as well as in-depth and focus group interviews with purposively sampled stakeholders. The findings of the study shed light on the adopted tailoring model of gender equality by the institutions and how the model blinkered the other qualitative gender dimensions of the mainstream, rendering the envisaged goal of gender equ...
Marriage as an institution in the traditional African society is a vital mechanism for social con... more Marriage as an institution in the traditional African society is a vital mechanism for social control and social stability. Zimbabwe like any other patriarchal society regards marriage as a cornerstone of development and the general maintenance of society in its most traditional form. In the Zimbabwean society, for the marriage to be morally and socially acceptable and respectable, lobola (bride wealth) must have been paid by the bride groom. However, it is the contention of this paper that lobola exacerbates gender based violence (GBV) in these marriages. Most critics of lobola argue that this traditional practice has been commercialised because of the dollarization of the economy and has since lost its real value and function as men use it as a tool to oppress, exploit and dominate women. The sample for the study consisted of forty participants who were victims, survivors and perpetrators of gender violence. Qualitative methodology using modified grounded theory techniques was use...
Online Submission, 2012
Tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe face the daunting challenge of increased need for university ed... more Tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe face the daunting challenge of increased need for university education by students. In response to the challenge, universities in Zimbabwe embark on strategies that increase accessibility to university education by disadvantaged students. One way through which the Zimbabwean universities are addressing the challenge is the BP (Bridging Program). This paper evaluates the BP at a Zimbabwean university by exploring the perceptions and experiences of students who have entered the university through bridging, those who entered through direct entry, as well as those of the lecturers who teach them. The study explored their perceptions and experiences by means of qualitative direct interviews with both students and lecturers and also through a questionnaire to the students. The results indicated a noble purpose of the program, however, voices of conflict between students and lecturers, students and students, and lecturers and lecturers on the intellectual and social frames of the program. The paper made several recommendations, the key of which is the need to: keep the BP as a stopgap measure, finically support the BP and achieve institutional change to remove stigma attached to bridging, and also remove gender discrimination.
Academic terrains in Zimbabwe universities, and indeed in universities everywhere, are undergoing... more Academic terrains in Zimbabwe universities, and indeed in universities everywhere, are undergoing unprecedented change as they face the many challenges brought about by new economies of knowledge, efficiency and excellence. The issues of academic excellence in particular, have seen many lecturers at the universities embark on research and further study. Based on academic mobility paths of PhD students at one of the most leading universities in Zimbabwe, this paper is concerned with identifying and examining gender inequalities in transnational academic mobility of lecturers, as well as, strategies to confront these barriers. A preliminary survey by the researcher had recognized a glaring deficiency of female lecturers in the transnational mobility paths of the lecturers. It was with this background that this study sought to unpack the nature of conditions and constraints inhibiting transnational education of the female lecturers at this institution. A combination of the social const...
This article is a nuanced and systematic gender interrogation and appraisal of African proverb. T... more This article is a nuanced and systematic gender interrogation and appraisal of African proverb. The article does so in the quest for gender equity as a crucial and critical aspect of human categorizations in modern society. The article offers a rebuttal to the holding views that the African worldview has ‘men exclusive’ and ‘women exclusive’ lives in hierarchical order. The article arrives at the indication that this used to be the order of the day then, but now acknowledges that there is significant crossing of traditional gender boundaries in almost all social activities in most African countries. The article concludes that it is now time the African proverb shakes off its numbness and muteness and responds to the changing social, political and economic transformations that are greeting modern Africa. The researcher is of the view that its time the African proverb transcends time and embraces more gender sensitive ways of human representations. Culture (in which the prover...
The Education for All Act in Zimbabwe has endeavoured to provide education to all irrespective of... more The Education for All Act in Zimbabwe has endeavoured to provide education to all irrespective of gender. The performance of the girl child has been unsatisfactory nationally. The study investigated gender –based factors which impact on performance in these school leaving examinations. The survey design was employed and 20 randomly selected schools in Gweru Urban Education District were used for the study. Purposive sampling was used to select 240 (120 girls and 120 boys) pupils from grade 7, 20 teachers and 20 school heads. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from the school heads, teachers and pupils. The data gathered was organised and presented in the form of frequency schedules, counts and percentages where descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. The findings revealed a significant difference in performance between boys and girls in examinations. School, community, individual and school factors affect girls more than boys. The study re...
Universities In Zimbabwe ’ is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted hav... more Universities In Zimbabwe ’ is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references.
Whereas African gender policies and programmes have been crafted and implemented to eradicate gen... more Whereas African gender policies and programmes have been crafted and implemented to eradicate gender gaps, this paper situates debate on their failure to attain their goal. The paper amply demonstrates that the African worldview continues to be relevant to the success of the implemented gender policies and programs in Africa and concludes that, unless thorough research into the African lifeworld is contacted before crafting and implementation of the gender policies and programs to understand the African psyche, and establish a gender communicative interchange between the African and the Western views on gender, ills of ineffectiveness will continue to be witnessed regardless of how grand the gender projects of the West may be. The paper finds this critical for the sustainability of development efforts in Africa. Insights informing the paper were gleaned from various texts, researches done on African gender policies and programs and the world wide website. The paper recommends a rese...
Introduction The commuter omnibus in Zimbabwe is by far the largest means of transport of most ur... more Introduction The commuter omnibus in Zimbabwe is by far the largest means of transport of most urban commuters. No other means of transport rivals it, especially since there are no urban trains, and few commuters own cars. However, even though the commuter omnibus's core business is ferrying commuters, this researcher (as one who normally uses commuter omnibuses), noted a subsidiary function of this means of transport. The subsidiary function is textual communication through use of word posters and other writings on the bodies of the commuter buses. As Nyoni, Nyoni & Jinga, (2010, p. 307) say of any written message, the posters are not just matter-of-fact, flat, technical, lifeless pieces of discourse, but are rich literary products not devoid of content, style and structure, hence equally deserve recognition, as any other form of literature. Though this trio talk specifically of short text messages through mobile phones, this researcher finds this equally applying to posters on...
This article is part of a larger study carried out by this researcher on gender mainstreaming in ... more This article is part of a larger study carried out by this researcher on gender mainstreaming in Zimbabwean state universities. Although the larger study utilised both qualitative and quantitative analysis, this study is qualitative main, as it sets out to determine the paradigm(s) through which the institutions mainstreamed gender. The qualitative examination revealed that the gender mainstreaming paradigm utilised by Zimbabwean state universities was the Integrationist Women in Development (WID) approach. The paradigm's transformative potential had driven the institutions to a point of no proficiency in terms of the envisaged gender evolution. The study recommends a paradigm shift in gender mainstreaming in Zimbabwean state universities so that the hopes and dreams for institutional gender equality are turned into reality.
This article explores concerns about gender inequality in Zimbabwean state universities. The rese... more This article explores concerns about gender inequality in Zimbabwean state universities. The researcher's interest arose from the realization of persistent gender inequalities despite initiatives to close gender gaps. Of particular concern is the conceptualization and operationalization of gender equality in institutions. Focusing only on student admissions sector, this paper critically surveys the experiences of the departmental chairpersons and students who enrolled through affirmative action, their vision of gender equality and the impact thereof on the inclusion of the said students in the mainstream. The study applied a gender perspective to development as well as in-depth and focus group interviews with purposively sampled stakeholders. The findings of the study shed light on the adopted tailoring model of gender equality elusive due to the exclusion of the students from the mainstream. Based on the findings, useful recommendations are made to resuscitate the almost paraly...
This study sought to establish students’ perceptions of the usefulness of teaching approaches emp... more This study sought to establish students’ perceptions of the usefulness of teaching approaches employed by lecturers in one university in Zimbabwe. The study was informed by the constructivist theory of learning. The study adopted a descriptive survey approach which utilized both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Data were collected from students in five Faculties in the selected university. A random sample of one hundred and ten students, comprising of sixty-five male and forty-five female students participated in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were analysed with the aid of the SPSS statistical software package version 21. Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis method and presented through verbatim quotations of the respondents. The study found that students held different perceptions on what they deemed effective teaching approaches. The study concludes that exposure t...
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Papers by EFIRITHA CHAURAYA