A student-centred approach: a qualitative exploration of how students experience access and success in a South African University of Technology

This article investigates students’ understanding and students’ experiences of access and success at a Higher Education Institution. There is a growing discourse around how students at Higher Education Institutions experience access and success. These discussions are imperative so that educational practices, university systems and processes as well as educational development initiatives can be tailored to meet the needs of all students. This specifically relates to issues of how students access the university, both epistemically and culturally and what their stories of success are in their path to and through the university. Qualitative research methodologies have been used for data collection and analysis. This article describes a six-month pilot study, which falls under the Siyaphumelela (‘we succeed’) student success project. In this pilot, forty-five interviews were conducted with undergraduate students. This article is underpinned by Tinto’s theory of integration. Moving away from the discourse of unprepared and underprepared students, our approach advocates that institutions prepare better for students who have not had the advantage of acquiring the necessary skills and knowledges that would assist them to be successful in their higher education journey. This study has found that the institution is already providing services which are much needed by students for their success. However, an extension of these systems needs to take place so they reach the entire student population. Our approach in this project is holistic because we understand that how students experience access, success and student centeredness is intricately linked to becoming university students.