Problems of university adjustment experienced by undergraduates in a developing country

A considerable amount of information is available concerning the adjustment problems that students from developed countries experience when they transfer from school to university. Comparatively little is known about the problems of African students, despite the existence of a number of factors which might be expected to produce large numbers of problems and relatively severe problems. Having adopted certain criteria regarding the acceptability or otherwise of adjustment problems, a preliminary survey was conducted at the University of Zambia in order to see whether adjustment problems existed and to give some insight into the type of problem experienced. The survey indicated the presence of a large number and wide variety of problems and a questionnaire was subsequently developed in order to test the potency, generality and persistency of the student's difficulties. The results obtained with a representative sample of 242 first-year and 60 fourth-year students showed that there are problems which are sufficiently potent, general and/or persistent to be a cause for concern to the university authorities.