An exploratory study of first-year students at a historically black university campus in South Africa: their academic experiences,success and failure

Abstract

This article reports on a study focusing on the first-year academic experiences, success and failure of a cohort of students at a historically black university campus in South Africa. It examines their academic experiences and factors which influenced their success and failure at the end of the first year. Views were sought from a sample of 100 lecturers and 500 first-year students using quantitative (survey) and qualitative (questionnaire) data collection methods. The results indicate that on the one hand, academic success for this cohort was influenced by class attendance, completion and timely submission of assignments, and group discussions/group work. On the other hand, academic failure was attributed to late submission of assignments, inability to ask questions and poor communication skills. The results also point to a need to pay serious attention to improving the academic learning environment of first-year students in order to enhance students’ chances of success.     

The role of first-year seminars and first-year college achievement for undeclared students

Higher Education - It is commonly stated in both literature and news outlets that undergraduate college students, who are undeclared (i.e., have not declared a major), are at a higher risk of...     

The potential skills contribution of international students to South Africa

Abstract

There has been a significant increase in the number of international students, especially in those from other African countries, at South African universities over the last ten years. This has elicited some research, notably from Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999); Hall (2004); and Snowball and Antrobus (2005; 2006). However, none of these scholars considered the possibility of exploiting the skills potential of international students in South Africa, especially at a time when the country faces skills shortages. The authors conducted a survey at six higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2008, which sought to determine the skills profiles of international students in South Africa. It was found that the majority of international students are registered in disciplines where skills shortages exist, that a significant number of these students are young and that many would like to remain and work in South Africa. Labour policy makers in South Africa seem to be unaware of this, hence policy is ill-adapted to derive economic benefits from international students.     

Comparison between bridging students and traditional first-year students in engineering technology

To stimulate a flexible lifelong learning system students can enter university via lateral entry. Unlike traditional first-year students, lateral entrance students are not well-studied. Therefore this study focuses on comparing first-year students with a specific group of lateral entrants, namely bridging students at the Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven. Using Astin’s Input-Environment-Outcome model resulted in (1) Input variables, namely prior education and initial learning and study strategies, (2) Environmental influence, measured with a questionnaire focussing on perceived transition to university, and (3) Outcome variables, namely dropout and academic achievement. Analyses resulted in similarities for the outcome variables, but differences in terms of secondary education. Regarding the input (LASSI) and environmental questionnaires, for only two of the 13 scales a moderate effect was found (perceived preparedness and test strategies). Consequently, research findings of first-year engineering students can be compared, taking into account their specific differences, to the context of bridging students.     

Education in Post-apartheid South Africa: Some lessons from Zimbabwe

The racial inequalities of the Rhodesian education system are outlined. The paper then assesses the conservativereforms of the transitional governmentof 'Zimbabwe-Rhodesia' (1978-80), and the more radical approach pursued since independence. A case study is made of nine secondary schools in Harare. The policies pursued are compared with the interim measures of the South African government since 1990, and lessons derived from the Zimbabwean experience are applied to the situation which will be inherited by the first post-apartheid government in South Africa. A new education strategy must seek to avoid the replacement of racial divisions with class divisions. It will need to re-think what the State can provide, and formulate strategies for funding what the State cannot provide, in order to minimise inequalities of opportunity.     

Early, late and non-participants in sexual intercourse: A profile of black South African first-year university students

This study investigated the differences among early-, late-and non-participants in sexual intercourse. 1817 first-year black South African university students completed a structured questionnaire, which tapped their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices about sexuality. The results revealed significant differences among the three groups with regard to their sources of sexual knowledge, approval of pre-marital sex, first intercourse partner relationship, number of sexual partners, contraceptive use, satisfaction with first sexual intercourse and parental communication about contraception.     

Adjustment to university and academic performance among disadvantaged students in South Africa

Adjustment to the university environment is regarded as an important factor in predicting university outcomes. This study explores the pathways taken by adjustment and other psychosocial variables (help‐seeking, academic motivation, self‐esteem, perceived stress, and perceived academic overload), in relation to the success of economically and educationally disadvantaged students at university. Participants were 194 first‐year students on need‐based financial aid at a South African university; they completed questionnaires that measured these psychosocial variables, and their final first‐year academic results were obtained via the university’s records office. Path analyses showed that adjustment did not function as a pure mediator on academic performance as the dependent variable. Furthermore, the psychosocial factors explained much (59%) of the variance in the students’ adjustment and 20% of the variance in their academic performance. Hence, the psychosocial variables better explained the students’ adjustment to university than academic performance.     

Dissonance in first-year students’ reflections on their learning

This paper presents the findings of an interview study of first-year engineering students’ approaches to study. Data is presented to illustrate the construct of “dissonant study orchestration” as it is manifested in the everyday academic reality of these students’ learning behaviour. This data is theorised within a student’s-experiences-oflearning framework and patterns of study approach considered atypical of or theoretically undesirable within, the model used to determine them are presented and discussed. Individual-level, qualitatively different patterns of “dissonant” orchestration are articulated. The conclusion to the paper argues that the qualitative distinctions apparent amongst dissonant approaches present particular challenges to academic practitioners whose aim is the improvement of these students’ learning behaviour.     

南非大学:推进非洲大陆的开放与远程学习

南非大学在推动非洲远程与开放学习方面具有重要的战略作用,虽然在非洲,增加高等教育的机会仍然是一个潜在的迫切需要,但南非大学和非洲远程教育理事会（ACDE）决心不能以牺牲开放与远程学习所培养学生的能力、课件内容、教学和学习、学生支持等的质量为代价。为了实现这一目标,南非大学已经参与了一系列合作、质量保证,以及大学层面和非洲层面的数据分析。在大学层面,南非大学旨在通过合作伙伴关系、制定一套前沿的质量规则、周密的数据聚合,促使制定能在国家政策环境下成长和发展的最佳的、适当的决策,从而提高南非大学的影响力及其对开放与远程学习的贡献。在非洲层面,南非大学积极参与了一系列创新举措,本文将深入探讨这些创新举措,从而洞察非洲大陆开放远程学习的现状,以及南非大学在其中所起的作用。     

南非斯坦陵布什大学汉语推广概况

南非斯坦陵布什大学的汉语教学始于2000年,是目前为止南非唯一所进行正规中文面授教学的高等院校,中文部设在该校的文学院现代外语系。根据中南双方签署的双边教育合作协议,中国国家汉办于2005年首次向该校派遣汉语教师。南非与中国相距遥远,建交时间短,中国语言文化对于大多数南非人来说比较陌生,所以汉语推广在南非还存在若干的问题需要各方不断努力。     

Negotiation of learning and identity among first-year medical students

The demand for medical schools to produce competent doctors to meet health needs in South Africa has increased. In response to this challenge, the Faculty of Health Sciences at a relatively elite university introduced a problem-based, socially relevant curriculum in 2002. The classroom environment is designed to facilitate a learning context where students from diverse backgrounds engage critically and learn from each other. This study draws on data from a larger qualitative case study to describe how a group of ‘black’ students who failed their first semester experienced the school–university transition. Drawing on post-structuralist theory, this article analyses how the students negotiated learning and identity. The argument is made that the students re-positioned themselves in deficit, outsider subject positions in order to survive their first year. This article ends with a consideration of the implications for developing a learning environment which recognises difference and fosters diversity.     

Gender-group differences in the learning behaviour of entering first-year university students

This study explores the existence of structural gender differences in the learning behaviour of first-year students on entry to university, based on responses to an extended form of the Approaches to Studying Inventory. The focus is on underlying dimensions of variation, that distinguish between the manner in which male and female students recalled and reported on their most recent experience of studying Science in their final secondary school year. Such differences as emerge are only partially interperatble in terms of classic deep or strategic structures. It is argued that gender-sensitive sources of variation, as manifested, are worth of further investigation and are of potential strategic value to university departments insofar as they are able to locate difficulties that students bring with them early in their undergraduate studies.     

Explicitness of criteria in peer assessment processes for first-year engineering students

This article will outline the motives for the implementation of peer assessment as put into action at the first year of the Civil Engineering course of the University of Minho. The implementation of new assessment methods was a consequence of the successful implementation of peer assessment at other engineering courses. During the semester, three assessment moments took place, in which students assessed the work of their peers. Assessment criteria were defined in a negotiation process between students and teacher. The students subsequently graded the work of their colleagues and had to provide a clear justification for each given grade. The aim of this method is to involve students in the subject, enhance their motivation and deepen their learning. Advantages and disadvantages of peer assessment are discussed. The results that have been obtained so far draw attention to the nature of assessment criteria and the corresponding explicitness.     

南非大学如何应对新世纪的挑战

南非大学的历史可以追溯到1834年南非学院成立之日。继南非学院成立后，相继又有一些学院涌现出来。1858年大众考试委员会成立，这一委员会负责指导在好望角附近非洲南部的不列颠殖民地其他院校的考试事宜。1874年大众考试委员会与一所1873年新建立的大学合并，被命名为好望角大学，就是在这所大学的基础上产生了而后的南非大学。当时这所大学与英国伦敦大学的运作形式大体相似，仅仅是一个考试机构，主要是为那些准备参加大学入学考试的学习者提供服务。如今仍有一些院校保留着此种功能。 几乎是由于对邻近区域产生的直接兴趣，导致了1875…     

The Debate on University Transformation in South Africa: the case of the University of the Western Cape

This paper examines issues in the transformation of the university system in a democratic South Africa utilising the University of the Western Cape as a case study. In particular, it questions how the University's 1982 Mission Statement, which defined its oppositional role in the apartheid period, might be revised to shape the universities radical traditions to the tasks of the contribution of a new social order.     

Choosing a University: Important Attributes Used by Access Students in South Africa

Universities in South Africa are operating in an increasingly competitive environment with each institution aiming to attract the best students and meet their enrolment targets. The Department of Education’s (DoE’s) strategy to address the inadequacies of the past and the shortage of skills in maths and science in South Africa has also affected how universities operate. In responding to the DoE’s strategy to address past inadequacies many universities offer access programmes to students from previously disadvantaged schools. This paper highlights the factors or attributes that are important, specifically to access students, in their selection of which university to attend for their tertiary studies and makes recommendations in terms of a marketing strategy for universities targeting this group whose background and needs are different to students who come from more advantaged schools. Marketing implications for access programmes are provided.     

How first-year students perceive and experience assessment of academic literacies

Abstract

First-year university students’ underdeveloped academic literacies can lead to dissatisfaction and poor performance. University teachers find it difficult to take action without an understanding of students’ perceptions and needs. This study investigates first-year Chinese students’ perceptions and experiences related to assessment of academic literacies in an English-as-a-foreign-language university context. The datasets include student focus groups at two different time points over their first university year, self-reflective essays written by students at the end of the year, and audio records of nine units of teaching in three teachers’ classes. Findings highlight that fostering students’ academic literacies incorporates both linguistic development and epistemological adaptation. Students held mixed feelings towards alternative assessment other than examinations. Their personal learning goals of using English in everyday scenarios dampened their commitment to teachers’ goals of developing learners’ academic literacies. Findings suggest assessment can be an effective ‘card’ played by teachers to nurture students’ appreciation of new learning goals, communicate areas for improvement in learning strategies, and demonstrate their visible progress.     

The learning and study strategies of Norwegian first-year college students

In this study, we examined the learning and study strategies of 173 Norwegian first-year college students and compared the resulting profiles to those of the American students who established the norms for the selected strategy measure (i.e., Learning and Study Strategies Inventory [LASSI]). In addition, we compared the strategy profiles of students with different levels of perceived ability, gender, and age. It was found that the profiles of the Norwegian students were remarkably similar to the profiles of the American norming sample, with only the Motivation subscale of the LASSI showing a large difference between the two samples. Moreover, students with high perceived ability reported using more strategies than students with low perceived ability, and female students, on the whole, reported using more strategies than males. Finally, the age differences in reported strategy use were rather small among the Norwegian students. The results of this study are discussed in both cross-cultural and practical perspectives.