Related Papers
Perspectives on Student Affairs in South Africa
2014 •
McGlory Speckman
The goal of Perspectives on Student Affairs in South Africa is to generate interest in student affairs in South Africa. The papers contained herein are based on best practice, local experience and well-researched international and local theories. The papers in this book deal with matters pertaining to international and national trends in student affairs: academic development, access and retention, counselling, and material support for students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are linked to national and international developments, as described in the first two papers. This publication will assist both young and experienced practitioners as they grow into their task of developing the students entrusted to them. All contributors are South Africans with a great deal of experience in student affairs, and all are committed to the advancement of student affairs in South Africa. The editors are former heads of student affairs portfolios at two leading South African universities.
Journal of Student Affairs in Africa
2014 •
munyaradzi madambi
Journal of Student Affairs in Africa
Student affairs professionalization programme launched in South Africa
'Mateboho Green
Research in Comparative and International Education
Whose fault is failure? Contested perspectives of academic support in tertiary educational institutions in South Africa
2019 •
David Jeffery-Schwikkard
This paper explores the argument that to widen participation in higher education, educational institutions should bear a greater responsibility for students’ learning. Central to this debate is the notion of ‘academic support’. There are many perspectives on what works to scaffold student participation and learning but rarely are the perspectives of those receiving support taken into account. This paper reports the findings of an exploratory ethnographic study in which students in a vocational college in South Africa reflected on the nature of academic support and access to it. Student narratives that underpin their understandings of how the support system ‘worked’, and what responsibilities they and the college respectively bore for their studies, are compared to the official prescript on student support services in South Africa – the so-called ‘Student Support Services Manual’ which was developed by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The data ind...
Academic Support: How do students think about it? A study in a South African TVET College (MSc. Thesis)
David Jeffery-Schwikkard
In response to widening participation in vocational colleges, the South African Department of Higher Education and Training has prioritised the development of student support services in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. The present study investigates how students in a TVET college in South Africa reason and deliberate about academic support and what socio-cultural beliefs shape this. The study employs an interpretative methodology, using interviews with students and researcher immersion in the research site. The study finds that students consider in-classroom instruction to be the primary source of academic support provided by the college. Students consider support provided by the lecturer outside of class to be discretionary and auxiliary. The study subsequently identifies four themes of socio-cultural beliefs which shape students’ deliberations about academic support. These pertain to the nature of college, expectations of college, personal responsibility, and embarrassment. The study then reflects on the contemporary literature and the implications for the design and implementation of student support services, and suggests directions for further research.
A REVIEW OF ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT PROVISION IN A HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: CONTEXT, CHALLENGES, MISCONCEPTIONS AND SOLUTIONS
Munienge Mbodila, Fhatuwani Ravhuhali
Academic Development (AD) as a fairly new field in South Africa has experienced a manifold degree of challenges. In spite of this, academic development practitioners have continued to make strides in providing professional development initiatives in higher education institutions. The main aim of this paper, therefore, is to provide a historic and current context of academic development practice by interrogating its strategic positioning within a higher education institution. In doing so, the paper sketches the context within which AD operates and provides a brief of professional development initiatives undertaken by AD practitioners in a particular university located in South Africa. The paper discusses challenges experienced by AD practitioners and their misconstrued identities as well as misconceptions about Academic Development (AD) field. The study recommends ways in which academic development practitioners can begin to position themselves within higher education institutions and central to these recommendations, is close working relationship with academic departments.
Supporting At-Risk Learners at a Comprehensive University in South Africa
2016 •
Razia A Mayet
This paper reports on a study done within the Learning Development Unit (LDU) at a South African university. It addresses the issue that many students who arrive at university lack the requisite academic skills needed for success in higher education which increases the time taken to graduate. One of the multiple reasons for this is the ‘articulation gap’ between school and higher education in South Africa and in other countries. This articulation gap is exacerbated by the assumption about prior learning on which South Africa’s traditional higher education programmes are based. The purpose of this study is to explore whether learning development interventions can change student attitudes and confidence levels, and develop some of the skills necessary to succeed. The study allows the academic counsellors who provide support a sense of whether their interventions are working. The study was undertaken by analysing student responses to learning development interventions. The data is glea...
Wide-lens angle: International students’ constructions of academic support in a selected South African university
2020 •
PEACE NWOKEDI
The study is an attempt to better understand the complex nature of academic support in higher education, particularly, drawing from the voices of the existing international postgraduate students at a selected university in South Africa. This qualitative study is explorative and participatory in nature and draws on the question: what are the international postgraduate students’ constructions of academic support in a South African university? 12 full time international students were purposively selected. The main findings are illustrated and discussed under 3 broad themes namely: intrapersonal relationships and resilience’s; improved interpersonal relationships among international students; as well as the effect of postgraduate strategic teaching and learning programmes. Significantly, the findings of this study revealed that the international postgraduate students reported a slightly higher level of agency towards their academic activities. A possible explanation may be found in the ...
Widening student participation in higher education: challenges for policy and practice in South Africa: a case study
2004 •
Mirriam Lephalala
The transformation of the higher education system in South Africa emanates from the Reconstruction and Development Programme of 1994 with its focus on redressing past racial inequities. The thesis seeks to explore the extent to which political, educational and social imperatives for increased student access are realised in the face of multiple structural forces at the institutional level. While, in general, higher educational institutions seem to be responding positively to the policy imperatives about widening student access, several factors including the continued low retention and optimum throughput levels indicate that the realities of a diverse and non-traditional student population are not being met. Indications are that, for a country deeply divided by race, language and access to resources, change needs go beyond increased student numbers and challenge the existing power relations underlying institutional as well as societal beliefs, values and practices. To understand these...
The Anthropologist
The Interplay between South African Higher Education Context and Academic Development
2014 •
Livingstone Makondo
