Journal of Student Affairs in Africa

“Giving back is typical African culture”: Narratives of give-back from young African graduates

2024-04-22T10:05:31+00:00

This article presents a collection of narrative examples on how a cohort of African graduates, who are beneficiaries of a scholarship from a global foundation, understand and practice giving back. The scholarship programme aims to cultivate and support a network of like- minded young leaders who are committed to giving back by providing training and mentorship that reinforces the core values of transformative leadership and a commitment to improving the lives of others. To investigate these ideas, the Human Sciences Research Council is tracking recent graduates of the scholarship programme using a longitudinal cohort study design consisting of a tracer study, annual qualitative interviews with scholarship alumni, and smaller collaborative enquiries. Beginning in 2019 and tracking alumni for a five-year period, the study involves alumni from seven study sites. Findings from the study show that alumni exhibit a strong sense of social consciousness including an alignment of their understanding and practices of give-back with deeply embedded African notions of give-back as a ‘ripple effect’, reciprocity and ubuntu. Alumni acknowledged that there was not only one way to give, indicating that they participated in give-back in relation to their capacity, usually beginning with contributions to the family. As they became more established in their careers, their sphere of give-back increased with their reach expanding to the broader community. A low proportion of alumni felt that they were making an impact on an institutional or systemic level. Findings also show the impactful position that university partners hold in fostering give-back engagement among students and their potential role in supporting alumni after graduation. The article argues that nurturing social consciousness in young people and an understanding of give-back as collective movement building can contribute to solving development and social justice problems in Africa.

Ubuntu as a valued capability for university students in South Africa

2024-04-22T10:14:02+00:00

Universities in South Africa have the potential to advance various dimensions of human development, including well-being. However, this potential can be constrained by historical processes of oppression and the negation of indigenous ways of being and doing. Applying the capabilities approach (Sen, 1999) as a normative framework for the outcomes of university education in the South African context, we argue for a focus on the centrality of capabilities (real freedoms) in assessing how well universities are doing in supporting student well-being. We pay special attention to one capability which we see as architectonic for other freedoms, which is ubuntu. Although ubuntu is generally understood as a moral philosophy, in this article we articulate it as a valued capability in the space of higher education. Our argument is based on data collected through qualitative and participatory approaches in two longitudinal research projects that were carried out between 2016 and 2021 with undergraduate students in different South African universities. In the discussion of the findings, we explain how ubuntu underpins the ways students tend to relate to each other – as interdependent partners of a learning community, rather than as independent individuals who happen to be in the same learning environment. Building on these descriptions of deeply relational ways of being at university, ways that embrace an African indigenous worldview, we argue that creating the conditions for students to achieve the capability of ubuntu has decolonial potential.

An analysis of digital stories of self-care practices among firstyear students at a university of technology in South Africa

2024-04-22T10:48:29+00:00

This article reports on a qualitative study that explored self-care practices among first-year students in managing stressors related to the first-year experience in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative data were collected using a purposive sample between March and June 2022. A total of 26 first-year students registered at a university of technology in South Africa participated in the study by producing digital stories sharing how they practised self-care. The domains of self-care were adopted as a framework and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Six domains of self-care practices emerged from the data and were categorised as physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, professional, and psychological. The findings show that first-year students engaged in a range of self-care practices across the domains of self-care including exercising, listening to music, performing ancestral rituals, donating blood, following successful people on social media, and learning new skills. Further, relational self-care was the most fundamental domain that underpinned first- year students’ wellbeing. In contrast, oversleeping or sleep deprivation, reckless spending, and eating unhealthy food to cope with stressors related to the first-year experience pointed to unhealthy self-care practices in managing the stressors. Unhealthy self-care practices can threaten first-year students’ well-being and possibly academic success. Student affairs and services need to design self-care programmes and curricula to prevent harm and support adequate self-care. In designing self-care programmes, social involvement and engagement are fundamental principles that should be emphasised. Future studies can develop a self-care inventory to identify students at risk of poor self-care and design targeted interventions to promote self-care.

Graduate transitions in Africa: Understanding strategies of livelihood generation for universities to better support students

2024-04-22T10:52:47+00:00

Graduate transitions and pathways do not naturally involve moving smoothly or sequentially from education into the world of work. Instead university graduates move through employment, entrepreneurship, unemployment and continued further education as they generate livelihoods. For African universities to be student-centred, with a focus on student development and success, the nature of these livelihood pathways must be examined in order to provide appropriate and relevant training and transition support. This article uses quantitative and qualitative data from African graduates who received a scholarship to complete their degrees at 21 universities (nine in Africa and 12 from other countries). Their post-graduation pathways are mapped and explored to determine how graduates generate livelihoods. The findings show that a minority of African graduates move smoothly from education into employment, and that for the majority, pathways are multidimensional and complex. While some move into the world of work with ease, most develop portfolios of income. By developing initiatives based on these findings, universities can help graduates navigate the challenges of income diversification, provide them with the necessary skills and resources, and foster a supportive ecosystem that encourages entrepreneurial thinking and diversified career paths.

Learning from students: Factors that support student engagement in blended learning environments within and beyond classrooms

2024-04-22T13:10:29+00:00

Technology is key to making education systems more resilient to disruptions. In the South African higher education sector, technology will continue to play a much larger role than in the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology, however, cannot replace the value gained through social contact and concerns about relational disengagement in curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular spaces have been noted. Drawing on large-scale qualitative data collected as part of the South African Survey of Student Engagement, this article explores what students consider as the most important factors in supporting their learning and development and how these factors might be translated to technologically enhanced learning and teaching spaces. Such insights from students’ experiences could inform blended learning and teaching spaces that leverage technology to enhance relational engagement.

Access to and effectiveness of support services for students in extended curriculum programmes at a South African university

2024-04-22T11:02:42+00:00

In South Africa, many students enter university without the skills required for success in higher education. Extended curriculum programmes (ECP) were developed to provide students who showed potential but were underprepared with the necessary foundations to achieve success in higher education. Student support services are essential to student success. This has been apparent especially in universities enrolling academically underprepared students. This study, conducted by the Office of the Academic Advisor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University, aimed to explore the effectiveness of and participation in support services available to students in the ECP. The last cohort of ECP students was accepted at the faculty in 2018 for the MBChB, BSc Physiotherapy, and BSc Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy degrees. On successful completion of the ECP, students join the second year of their respective mainstream programme and are tracked throughout their academic career with dedicated support services offered to them. As students transition from the ECP, they need to utilise their own agency to access the support services available. A quantitative survey including qualitative responses was used for data collection and was explored using thematic analysis. Specifically, the study explored students’ awareness and utilisation of, and their expressed interest in, the available support services. It was important to investigate the support needs of ECP students as an increasing need for support services had been identified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, minimal data were evident on support needs of senior ECP students and especially on this population in health sciences. The research gave greater insight into students’ support needs. The findings indicated that students were familiar with and had accessed support services to an extent that they were able to share firsthand experiences of accessing support at the university.

Leading higher education transformation: The role of student affairs

2024-04-22T11:21:39+00:00

Student affairs practitioners and researchers are well positioned to contribute holistically to student success and as such could play a strategic role in the transformation of higher education. The aim of this article is to illustrate that a key strategic objective of student affairs is to contribute significantly towards student success. This article reports on a study (January, 2021) entitled ‘Towards a qualitative framework for blending equity and excellence in transforming South African higher education transformation to achieve development’ in which the promotion of student success is viewed as central to institutional transformation. The purpose of the study was to contribute to a more comprehensive qualitative framework for higher education transformation in South Africa by reconciling notions of ‘equity and excellence’. Interviews were conducted with sixteen leaders in the field of higher education in South Africa. Thereafter, interview data were triangulated with strategic documents of various entities concerned with higher education transformation. The theoretical framework encapsulated the human capital and human capability theories and argues further for a reconciliation of these theories to promote social justice and human well-being. The study used grounded theory methods to analyse and present the comprehensive qualitative framework. The study found that student success was the most critical factor driving institutional transformation. In addition, four other interrelated elements were presented as the core elements of a comprehensive framework. Based on these findings, this article explores the implications for student affairs further, using unpublished input gathered by the author through reflective conversations with stakeholders at the University of Cape Town. In this regard the notion of a set of student learning imperatives (graduate attributes) becomes relevant to the discussion when student affairs practitioners and researchers collaborate with faculties and departments on strategic projects.

Using a student organisation to promote student-centredness at a South African university

2024-04-22T11:35:24+00:00

This reflective article focuses on the Chemical Engineering Students Association (CESA) at a South African university, which was established as a voluntary student organisation to alleviate the problems of student isolation and inadequate orientation programmes by promoting student-centredness and development. The article aims to examine CESA’s role in promoting student-centredness and to highlight CESA’s role in community engagement. CESA was initiated by two lecturers in the chemical engineering department who served as departmental representatives. Following the Gibbs reflective cycle, data in the form of reflections were collected and analysed from the CESA departmental representatives to ascertain CESA’s effectiveness in alleviating the problem of student isolation by creating a student-centred environment and engaging students in community service. The community engagement activities consisted of a Nelson Mandela Day stationery drive and a Women’s Day sanitary towel drive to contribute to a local women’s and children’s shelter. The students actively participated in these activities, demonstrating their commitment to social responsibility and community service. CESA also organised various student development activities to equip students with essential skills and knowledge for their future careers. The students actively participated in these workshops, showing a keen interest in their personal and professional growth. Successfully implementing CESA was made possible through collaboration and support from other faculty members in the chemical engineering department, and the university’s community engagement and marketing departments. The article emphasises CESA’s practical contributions and presents it as a model for other institutions in establishing effective student organisations. Overall, the reflections indicated CESA’s effectiveness in promoting student-centredness.

Diaries of establishing an entrepreneurship incubator at a health sciences university

2024-04-22T11:41:02+00:00

Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) conferences and students’ entrepreneurial intervarsity competitions have brought awareness and insight to students, academics, and other higher learning institution (HEI) stakeholders to the value that entrepreneurship can provide them and their communities. A reflective practice account on entrepreneurship development interventions at a South African health sciences university was conducted using a qualitative ethnography research method and living theory. This study reflects efforts in integrating entrepreneurship at a university that does not offer management and economic sciences. The method was to benchmark and emulate occurrences at universities leading in entrepreneurship and the use of qualitative inputs from the EDHE. Integration of entrepreneurship into the mainstream university core functions is grounded in futuristic curriculum theory which recognises the necessity of re-organising current needs to meet future global changes and trends, traverse existing circumstances, and the imagined future and challenges. The current South African environment is faced with high unemployment, especially of the youth. This has also necessitated HEI to review their graduate attributes and refocus students’ mindsets towards entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education can be demonstrated through business start-ups and incubation initiatives that might provide the missing gaps for growing an entrepreneurial university. This article presents views, challenges and experiences on the implementation of an entrepreneurship incubator at a health sciences university in South Africa.

Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) – Advancing and supporting leadership development in South African higher education through scholarship

2024-04-22T11:53:46+00:00

No Abstract

Call for papers: Students and Internationalization in Africa: Key stakeholders, silent voices

2024-04-22T13:03:11+00:00

No Abstract.

Towards community-engaged, student-centred universities

2024-04-22T09:42:06+00:00

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Transdisciplinarity and ubuntu ethics as principles for responsive, engaged, and student-centred African universities

2024-04-22T09:57:16+00:00

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Global perspectives on student affairs and services: A handbook by B. Schreiber, R. B. Ludeman, C. R. Glass & G. Blanco (2023). Boston, US: Center for International Higher Education

2024-04-22T12:35:04+00:00

Book Review

Global perspectives on student affairs and services: A handbook by B. Schreiber, R. B. Ludeman, C. R. Glass & G. Blanco (2023). Boston, US: Center for International Higher Education

Reviewed by Chris R. Glass

Student peer support initiatives in higher education: A collection of South African case studies by X. Cupido, N. Frade, T. Govender, E. Samkange & S. Pather (Eds.) (2022). Stellenbosch, SA: African Sun Media

2024-04-22T12:54:35+00:00

Book Review
Student peer support initiatives in higher education: A collection of South African case studies by X. Cupido, N. Frade, T.Govender, E. Samkange & S. Pather (Eds.) (2022). Stellenbosch, SA: African Sun Media 1 Dr Kasturi Behari-Leak, Associate Professor: Higher Education Studies; Dean: Centre for Higher Education Development, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Email: kasturi.behari-leak@uct.ac.za. ORCid: 0000- 0001-9744-510X

Reviewed by Kasturi Behari-Leak1