Ms Thea van der Westhuizen.
The German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship is awarded to
outstanding young students and academics in South Africa with the aim of
qualifying young researchers and professionals with a spirit of
tolerance and openness at the very best institutions around the world
while promoting the internationality and appeal of Germany’s
Institutions of Higher Education.
Van der Westhuizen’s interest in self-motivation, with the focus on
entrepreneurship, inspired her to approach her research topic: “The
Development of an Action Learning Programme to Enhance Entrepreneurial
Self-Efficacy”, under the supervision of Professor Kriben Pillay and
Professor Shahida Cassim.
The values she explores in her research are also values she lives by
as she had applied for more than 30 scholarships with no success. Van
der Westhuizen persevered and kept on trying until she finally
succeeded. The result of her success is an In Country scholarship which
will fund her research to the value of R90 000 a year for three years,
and opens the opportunity to travel to Germany to learn from top
international institutions
‘My action research is an action learning project that will see
second year students being part of a nine-month teaching and learning
programme that is fun and creative. The project is called SHAPE which
stands for Shifting Hope, Activating Potential Entrepreneurship.’
Students will learn how starting a business is not only about a
business plan but it is also about self-motivation and self-confidence
which will enable them to keep going even after failure. Students will
also be given the opportunity to work in partnership with experienced
business professionals. The result will hopefully be a business start-up
of the student in partnership with an experienced professional.
‘I believe that as a researcher you have to be passionate about your
topic and not only do it so that you can get a qualification. You must
never give up and need to be able to deal with rejection because when
you do something, it is about the heart and not the mind,’ she said.
The programme, due to start running in March, will be Van der
Westhuizen’s data collection method as she will be observing its
progress and results.
‘The students will be placed in the business environment of our
sponsors, eThekwini Municipality and the Durban Chamber of Business and
Industry where they will not come in as interns but as equal potential
partners and explore ways of starting a business.
‘By the time the students are done with their qualification they will
have the experience of starting a business. This programme will allow
us to observe our research in action as it emerges, and evaluate it
successes and failures as it happens. It can be seen as part of the
Living Theory philosophical movement” said van der Westhuizen.
Since the Scholarship covers visits to Germany for study and research
visits and a lifelong partnership it also creates an opportunity for
ideas of collaborative research and mutually beneficial international
partnerships.
As her supervisor, Pillay had this to say about Van der Westhuizen’s
accomplishment: ‘Thea is a very good example of a focused goal-getter. I
witnessed her facing many difficulties with her research and her career
but through perseverance both her career and her research path have
dramatically changed and are on course. She seems to have personally
imbibed the principles of personal and social change from the Theory U
model that she is using in her research.’
As a current scholarship holder Van der Westhuizen is also invited to
the DAAD-NRF In-Country scholarship holders meeting taking place in
Stellenbosch in June.
More info about SHAPE can be found at shape@ukzn.ac.za or http://shapetechnology.wordpress.com/