Dr Talita Calitz in Italy

Dr Talita Calitz, from the Department of Education Management and Policy Studies, participated in a CICOPS Scholarship at University of Pavia, Italy. It was a Research Fellowship, which allowed her to conduct research as a part of an international team.

The CICOPS project proposal looked at the complexity of universities in the 21st century in the Global South, and how higher education institutions could become more responsive to the needs of poor, marginalised university students? This project details a Student Participation Index© adapted to the resources and needs of vulnerable undergraduate students, who must grapple with poverty while trying to participate equally in higher education. Drawing on the principles of sustainable human development, the project conceptualises these well-being indicators using a structural, holistic approach to the needs of students navigating higher education institutions.

The theoretical design of these indicators draws on functional medicine’s commitment to individualised care, with a strong political focus on advancing justice through wellbeing. The project will be conducted in collaboration with Prof Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti who is based at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Pavia. The study aims to utilise her multidimensional approach to poverty, inequality, and development, which has been developed using the human development and capability approach.

The project draws on a South African case study, where the resources required for achieved wellbeing are unequally distributed, leaving many individuals vulnerable to exclusion and poor quality outcomes. Research collaboration: Designing the Student Participation Index© - the primary aim of the scholarship was to collaborate with Prof Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti, based at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Pavia, Italy, a leading world renowned political economist and founding member of the Human Development and Capability Association. She met with Prof Michelle Rostan, Director of Higher Education Research Centre, and Dean: Student Affairs to discuss mutual interests in first-generation student participation and his surveys on student participation.

Dr Enrica Ruare, project manager at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Pavia worked closely with logistical side of the research collaboration initiative and assisted with administrative matters.