Understanding the Learning Challenges of our Students: Towards a Holistic Approach to Student Success

Post date: Sep 27, 2016 5:32:5 AM

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Abstract

The South African higher education landscape is characterised by low throughput and high attrition rates for Black students (African, coloured and Indian). Given the historical context and the injustices of the past, these students face multiple learning challenges that impact their academic progress severely. The question is – what do we do as higher education institutions to provide all students with epistemological access?  

Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the learning challenges and their impact on students’ academic progress in order to identify the enabling factors needed for successful learning. The objective of the paper is to arrive at a holistic approach to students’ success. The paper draws on Tinto’s student integration model, Kuh et al’s Student Engagement Survey, and Strydom and Mentz’s South African Survey of Student Engagement.  A comparison is made between universities in America and South Africa to determine what we could learn from how they support and enable their students to complete their degree programmes successfully.

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