Assessment of the management of student affairs records

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess records management components, such as record scheduled, records appraisal, destroyed/disposed, retained, training of staff on the management of the student affairs records (SARs), provided access, the challenges associated with efficient management of SARs and strategies for effective management of SARs, to determine the extent the Student Affairs Department (SAD) complies with the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) records management policy. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses qualitative methodology of a triangulation of data collection and this included interviews, document analysis and observation. Findings The literature review, as well as the interview, revealed that findings on the UMP records management policy are multi-layered. A number of participants mentioned lack of records centre, records retention and appraisal of records, records management training and managing access to information as a challenge to the management of SARs. Research limitations/implications The research was only limited to the UMP, Student Affairs Division, with a population of 15 staff members even though the findings can be applied to all the universities in South Africa. Practical implications SAD has a unique contribution to make to ensure that records created within their division are managed in terms of the UMP records management policy by ensuring that components such as records storage retention and appraisal of records management training and managing access to information are adhered to. Social implications Failure to comply with the UMP records management policy by the Student Affairs Division will contribute to the loss of institutional memories, non-compliance with legislations such as Promotion of Access to Information Act 2000, National Archives and Records Services Act 46 of 1996 and the Protection of Personal Information Act No 4. Of 2013. Originality/value The research appears to be the first of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to assess SARs at the UMP, South Africa.

Responsibilities of archivist now and in the future as the result of COVID – 19; Case of ICA-SUV

“…It is against this backdrop that the present study is being undertaken to examine the strategies for the preservation of archival materials in the ICA SUV by the members and to make recommendations for the preservation of continued accessibility of archival materials during the COVID–19. The current paper modifies and extends the earlier papers by Netshakhuma (2019b, 2019c, 2019d, 2019a, 2016) to a larger group of archivists, using updated data that captures the greater interdependence in the world archives and in particular, the rise of information communication technology which led to the role of archivists to incorporate archivists.…”

“…Archivists are challenged to adopt information communication technology to manage archival materials in their custody (Wamukoya, 2015). The issue of providing online access to university archives in Africa deserves attention, as most of the archives are preserved manually (Netshakhuma, 2019a). The development of information communication technologies brought a need for the archival profession to engage in the rigorous analysis and encoded archival description demanded by the archival specific information systems, but on the other, it also led to a need for greater standardization of information (Benn, 2019).…”

Implications of Poor Management of Students’ Academic Records in Nigerian Universities

“…Chiwanza and Mutongi (2016) identified number of implications of not having proper records management in higher institution of learning such as: failure to have history of the organisation; fading away of institutional memory; arbitrary decision making; repetition of tasks which leads to waste of resources and time; failure to provide accurate student results; unable to trace students records if they come for reference years later; unable to reconstruct after a disaster etc. Other implications are difficulties in accounting for any decisions taken (Nyathi & Peterson, 2017), delay in decision making, overlapping of authority and responsibility among human resource and registry staff (Nkebukwa, 2019), loss of institutional memories (Netshakhuma, 2019).…”

Preservation strategies for student affairs records at the University of Venda in South Africa

“…The study conducted by Segaetsho and Mnjama (2012) indicated that the preservation of archival materials in Africa has not received adequate attention. The lack of preservation strategy contributed to ineffective collaboration between records and archives and student affairs divisions to preserve records and prevent loss of records (Wagner & Smith, 2012;Samuels 1992;Mnjama, Mooko &Manewe-Sisa 2016;Segaetsho & Mnjama 2012;Millar 1997;Ambira & Kemoni 2011;Erima & Wamukoya 2012;Netshakhuma 2019a;2019b;2019c;2019d). Few studies have examined student affairs records preservation strategies (Kezar 2003).…”

“…Students interact with communities surrounding universities on community projects and sponsorships. According to Chung (2018) and Netshakhuma (2019c;2019d;2020), institutions should be accountable to society by creating and retaining knowledge via records and archives.…”