3.1 Summarise what the university considers to be the key issues in enhancing student support and development.
Enhancing student support and development is conceptualised at UJ as necessitating an institutional response instead of a piece-meal approach that is common in many higher educational contexts. This aims to avoid the overly student focused deficit approach that was typical in the past. For student support and development to have the intended effect (of assisting students towards timeous qualification completion), both the student and the institution need support and development. UJ builds it’s thinking on this matter on Vincent Tinto’s longitudinal interactionist approach augmented by Reason’s Comprehensive Model of Influences on Student Persistence as well as Invitational Education, all seen within a social justice framework that contends that every student that is accepted should be provided with a reasonable chance of success. This approach implies that many of the student support and development activities at UJ are institution-facing whilst all still aiming to influence student behaviour and the student experience. The following key issues have been identified at UJ:
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At risk identification and student tracking. Data-driven decision-making in a context of poor student performance combined with limited resources is crucial. It is a well-known fact that many of the students who need support and development will not approach the institution or its representatives in good time for the required help. As a result, the need for unilateral, regular and research-based risk identification and mitigation has grown. This involves data collection and analyses as well as student tracking throughout the undergraduate study life-cycle. Available data are then used to unilaterally identify risk as early as possible and as often as feasible. It is also important to carefully consider the time and content of all communication with students and other stakeholders as well as the nature and timing of interventions.
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A tiered approach to interventions aiming to optimise intervention effectiveness. UJ takes approximately 10 500 first year students and has an undergraduate student population approximating 42 000 students. In this context, traditional individual consultations (for a variety of purposes) are not tenable as a strategy to make a large-scale impact on student support and development. As a result, a tiered approach through which all students have access to online and computerised support and development opportunities (Level 1); group interventions of various sizes and kinds (Level 2) and individual and small group interactions (Level 3) are made available. Students are expected and encouraged to first access the computerised resources before the other two levels are used in regard to student development and support activities. The main exceptions to this are in instances where students require medical or psychological support that often requires immediate individual attention.
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Identification of key systemic blockages and challenging transitions within the system. The previous two items refer to data collection and analyses and a more planned and guided strategy of interventions aimed at improving student support and development. This third point is connected to the first two. Instead of using a “scatter gun” approach, UJ is aiming to identify key blockages and problems with the system and to address these as a matter of priority by focussing resources at these points. This includes the identification of priority modules based on module size and student success rate, and intervening in modules that have been designated as gateway modules (i.e. where a significant percentage of students are failing to progress). Another example is the creation of an intensive revision programme linked to the supplementary assessment process (both discussed in further detail below).
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A scholarly approach to student support and development. This involves problem identification and investigation, as well as investigating the efficacy of implemented interventions. This approach is also linked to theory development and a strengthening of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at UJ.
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Creating an institutional experience for the student population (as in FYE and SSE) instead of peripheral support. Many student support and development offerings are planned individually (by specific departments or support groups) and implemented as a needs-based response. At UJ the student undergraduate experience and the concurrent student support and development activities are conceptualised and implemented as institutional efforts called the UJ First Year Experience (FYE) and the UJ Senior Student Experience (SSE) respectively. In both of these initiatives, important stakeholders are involved in the planning and implementation of an institutional approach aimed at improving student success as well as the student experience. The Faculties are crucial role-players because the largest part of the student experience is created inside the classroom and as a result, student support and development must be integrated and dovetailed with what happens there. It must also include as many aspects of the student experience (physical needs, institutional interactions, administration etc.) as it possibly can.
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Addressing all major obstacles to student persistence and success in innovative ways. Student support and development has often just been “more of the same” and in the changed context of South African Higher Education this often leads to a mismatch between the actual problems at hand and the interventions intended to mitigate their effect. Innovative ways of supporting and developing the students that are actually entering our institutions are required and when innovations are implemented, their efficacy should be investigated and understood.
3.2 During Phase 1 of the QEP, what changes at institutional level (a) have been made, (b) are in progress, or (c) are in the planning stages that relate to enhancing student support and development?
The UJ SSE has been launched and linked to the UJ FYE. The UJ FYE initiative was launched in 2010 and focussed specifically on the transition from school to university. The FYE initiative is continuing strongly at UJ but there has always been recognition of the fact that there are many other (than the first year) important points of transition for students during their undergraduate studies. As a result, the UJ Senior Student Experience (SSE) initiative was launched in 2015. The SSE is aimed at more than improving student success rates. It also aims to address aspects such as graduate attributes and work readiness, alumni and student options after obtaining their first degree. The UJ SSE, where appropriate, distinguishes between student needs and interventions aimed at the “middle years” (2nd or 2nd and 3rd years) and final year students. The SSE is defined as a holistic initiative aimed at facilitating higher levels of student success and satisfaction, throughout the undergraduate (excluding the first year) student life cycle, as well as the transition into the world of work and/or postgraduate studies.
The SSE takes place in the complex nexus between senior students (with their experiences and needs) and the institution and its people, places, policies, programmes and processes. The SSE working group identified the following eight initial focus areas for the UJ SSE, but envisioned that these areas might expand over time:
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Working with careers,
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Literacies development,
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Senior student involvement (tutors, senior tutors, residence academic advisors, Community engagement),
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Barriers to persistence (money, food, time, psycho-social problems),
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Academic structuring,
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Academic professional staff development and support,
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Alumni advocacy (to raise awareness of being an alumnus) and
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Developing graduate attributes.
The establishment of the SANRC and the first FYE conference
The South African National Resource Centre for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition (SANRC) was established at UJ late in 2014. The SANRC is housed on the Auckland Park Bunting Road Campus of UJ and consists of four full-time staff members focussed on developing the FYE movement in South Africa as well as developing and disseminating scholarly knowledge about first year transitions. The SANRC is hosted by UJ, but is a separate entity serving all South African institutions. The SANRC has also concluded a written agreement with the National Resource Centre for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition, housed at the University of South Carolina. This agreement opens the possibility to share resources and to work closely together.
SANRC initiated and hosted its first National FYE conference at the Indaba Hotel during May 2015. Traditional pre-conference workshops were replaced by three research incubator groups aimed at fostering collaborative research on important focus areas. This was followed by a supported research development session for all participants in the afternoon. The key-note speakers were from the NRC in the USA and the very successful conference was attended by 180 colleagues from 22 institutions. During the conference the inaugural First Year Summit was also hosted during which 25 colleagues from across South Africa, joined by the two NRC colleagues deliberated on the key issues facing first year students. Consequently, a list of priority areas was identified for future action and research.
The University of Johannesburg English Language Programme (UJELP) was developed and initial implementation took place during 2015. The Literacies Unit in the Academic Development Centre at UJ developed the UJELP to provide an online language development tool for all UJ students. This allows students to test their language proficiency as well as to develop their basic English skills without having to be registered students, and it allows all UJ students to develop their language skills while studying. The UJELP programme is currently being registered as an official UJ Short Learning Programme
Using more senior students to create a more supportive institutional environment. Student support and development activities are often hampered by a lack of funding, given the enormity of the task in a high-enrolment university. One of the most important ways in which the student needs can be addressed and the problem of large class teaching mitigated is the more extensive use of senior students in the teaching and learning context. The various roles senior students can play have also been shown to benefit both the senior students and the people they are assisting. To this end, UJ has expanded its tutor programmes, employed Senior Tutors and assistant lecturers, expanded the Residence Academic Advisor Programme, is planning to expand the peer buddy system and is planning to use more volunteer mentors to assist newly arriving students. This also feeds into the academic pipeline and it is hoped that some of these students will ultimately enter higher education as a profession.
3.3 Provide one or more (but not more than 5) exemplars to illustrate specific aspects of the change(s) that are successful. Provide evidence for claims of success. Where an activity is in the planning stages, indicate what evidence will be collected.
The South African National Resource Centre for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition (SANRC) initial establishment and implementation. After receiving the DHET grant the SANRC has been successfully established on the Auckland Park Bunting Road Campus of UJ. Three of the four posts have been filled and an offer to the fourth candidate is currently pending. The SANRC successfully hosted its first conference in May 2015 with 180 people from 22 organisations and institutions attending the conference. The SANRC has also established its own visual identity and website (www.sanrc.co.za) and it has successfully initiated numerous national and international partnerships. Most notable amongst these is the cooperation agreement signed between the SANRC and the American National Resource Centre (NRC) (hosted at the University of South Carolina). The SANRC are also in the process of releasing its first national report based on the results of the first iteration of the International Survey of Peer Leadership and selected papers from the conference will be published in a special edition of the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa (JSAA) during 2016. Evidence for the efficacy of the SANRC will include the resources and professional development opportunities created by the SANRC; the growth of the FYE sector in South Africa and an evaluation of the role it plays in the higher education sector.
The University of Johannesburg English Language programme (UJELP) is based on the Council of Europe’s “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages” (CEFRL). These common reference levels categorise language learners into 6 levels:
• Basic User (A1)
• Basic User (A2)
• Independent User (B1)
• Independent User (B2)
• Proficient User (C1)
• Proficient User (C2).
The UJELP materials have been successfully developed and the first students were tested and placed during 2015. During 2016, the UJELP course will be made available to all UJ students and intensive research projects will be started to investigate the efficacy of the programmes. These results will be used to determine if the UJELP places students accurately enough and if participation in the UJELP programme is actually assisting students to effectively improve their English.
The UJ Senior Student Experience (SSE) has been implemented from 2015 onwards. This is a follow up of the institutional approach developed to assist students with their first year transitions as embodied by the UJ First Year Experience (FYE) initiative discussed in detail as a “promising practice” below. The UJ SSE is aimed at assisting senior undergraduate students towards graduation as well as preparing them for the world of work and/or post graduate studies in an intentional institutional approach. A high level UJ SSE committee has met in 2015 and the UJ SSE coordinator is assisting in driving the process forward. The effectiveness of the SSE is difficult to measure directly as it consists of a variety of initiatives aimed at assisting students with various transitions. The results will, however, be measured by looking at student success figures, evaluating students’ performance and readiness when entering the work environment or postgraduate studies.
The use of data and targeted interventions to address student success and to remove institutional blockages. Students’ academic performance is shaped by their interaction with the institutional environment. There are a variety of reasons why students fail and/or drop out. Some of these reasons are structural and are the (often unintentional) result of institutional practices and/or policies. At UJ the institutional and structural blockages are taken very seriously and a data-driven approach to identifying these has yielded interesting results. A mathematical model was developed to create a priority index (PI) for all undergraduate UJ modules. The PI provides a priority list of where in the system the majority of students are failing to progress. Targeted interventions involving academic staff and support services will be devised to ensure that where possible, these blockages are cleared by providing more targeted academic and social assistance to students and lecturers. Approximately two thirds of students who drop out during their first year at UJ, do so because of institutional academic exclusion. A system of widening access to a supplementary assessment in conjunction with an intensive revision programme is being put in place to address this issue. The intensive revision programme will provide students with an opportunity of extra tuition and other support in preparation for writing the supplementary assessment. It is envisioned that students who have a final mark of 40% will be permitted to write the supplementary assessment, if and only if they have attended a full intensive revision programme. Thus, those who score between 40% and 44% will be compelled to attend the IR week to be allowed access to the supplementary assessment while for those with a final mark between 45% and 49% attendance of the IR would not be a prerequisite to writing the supplementary assessment. Evidence for the efficacy of these two initiatives will be gathered by doing a longitudinal analysis of student results and throughput rates to gauge the extent of student success in the Priority Modules as a result of the intensive revision intervention, and to undertake a faculty comparison of the success of this initiative. These two evaluation strategies have been built into the planning for these two interventions.
Literacies development planning at UJ. The majority of students (almost two thirds) entering UJ report not being English first-language speakers while instruction is almost universally in English. As a result student academic literacies have been identified as a major area on which student development and support should focus. A tiered approach to supporting students’ literacy development is being implemented at UJ. The first level of intervention is the UJELP programme that became available in 2015 and is potentially available to all students. UJELP is an online self-study course with a small number of contact sessions to ensure that all developmental areas are covered. In addition to UJELP, all UJ students also have access to the Programmed English Reading Language System (PERLS) online reading development programme. This programme is aimed at assisting students with developing their reading ability and it is currently being customised for UJ. A second level of intervention takes place in groups where students are exposed to a structured language and literacies development module. This takes the form of a circulated, often credit-bearing module aimed at developing student literacies. Examples at UJ include the English C and D modules offered by the Faculty of Humanities as well as the integrated Language for Science, Language for Law and Language for Economic and Financial Sciences modules that are offered by the Academic Development Centre. A third tier consists of group interventions organised by academics such as literacies development workshops and group interventions by the UJ Writing Centre staff. UJ has well established writing centres on all four campuses that provide departmental, group and individual interventions. The efficacy of this tiered approach has been supported by various investigations into the components of the system. For example, student results in the formal modules are tracked and monitored to ensure good performance and where possible all interventions are linked to real academic tasks. In this regard, feedback from faculties and academics provide valuable feedback on the efficacy of these interventions.
“Students who are worried about food” has emerged as a major issue at UJ. Research among first year students conducted during the sixth week of class indicates that since 2010 more than 25% (up to 35% in 2015) of students indicated that they are worried about not having enough food to eat. With a student population of approximately 50,000, this implies that literally thousands of UJ students are going hungry on a regular basis. The University decided to address this very serious issue in phases. The first phase involved a collaborative effort between the UJ Student Affairs office, ADS and two Non-Governmental Organisations. UJ provided substantial financial support and the two NGO’s (Gift of the Givers and Stop Hunger Now) provide two hot meals a day to approximately 3000 students and in addition dehydrated meal packs are made available to any student requiring meal assistance. All of this is free of charge to the students. Students wishing to access the two hot meals are required to be interviewed and provide proof of family income and other forms of support are made available to them too. The programme has had a very good uptake and it is reasonable to assume that the group of students who are worried about food are almost certainly made up of students who would qualify for NSFAS. As can be seen from the graph below, at UJ, students who qualify for NSFAS but have either been approved or not for the grant, have been able to outperform their less impoverished counterparts for the past few years. It is very difficult to track the true effectiveness of the food-provision initiative as students who are worried about food need to be protected from unnecessary exposure that could embarrass them and as a result their identities are kept confidential. But it is reasonable to infer that the food being provided to these very poor students is almost certainly a contributing factor to their excellent academic success.
The National Student Financial Aid (NSFAS) distribution at UJ is as problematic as at most other SA institutions. There is never enough money to provide for all qualifying students and those who get NSFAS often require funds in addition to the NSFAS grant. UJ augments the National Government contribution to expand the impact of NSFAS. The impact of NSFAS funding on student success at UJ is conclusive. As a category, students who were granted NSFAS funding by UJ have outperformed all other students since 2010.
Changes to the UJ timetable for 2016. The UJ annual timetable has been re-designed for 2016. This will have the impact of making more time available in the beginning of the year for orientation-related activities to be implemented once the students are registered. It will also allow students more time to get the required finances to register as the academic year will begin a week later than at present. In addition, the extended recess period at the end of the first semester allows for the intensive revision programme before supplementary assessment occurs.
Work integrated learning (WIL) and Service Learning (SL) programmes. A new focus aimed at formalising partnerships, specifically with the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) is in place, with a series of SETA and related stakeholder breakfasts and ongoing meetings with the industry sector. UJ has 45 programmes with a formal WIL component (5366 WIL students in the workplace). A new development is the introduction of a WIL component in the National Diploma in Accounting, the first time WIL features in the Faculty of Economic and Financial Sciences. UJ offers 27 Service Learning modules, in which 2646 students are registered for in 2015.
Optimal utilisation of information technology to meet the needs of university career services, and those of it constituents, mainly students, graduates and employers, is commonplace today. Effective use of technology provides a winning solution for university career services, and enables students to connect effortlessly with employers, and also enables career services staff to communicate easily with the student population.
To this end, Career Services within the Centre for Psychological and Career Development (PsyCaD) has partnered with Symplicity Corporation, a service provider of note providing online career services software solutions to over 800 universities and colleges worldwide, to utilise Symplicity’s Career Services Manager (CSM). PsyCaD Career Services has branded the career services manager as the YourCareer portal, and hosts the platform on the uLink student portal. YourCareer is a one-stop comprehensive career services management solution for students and graduate employers supporting the university. It allows employers to set dynamic company profiles for students to view, seamlessly post job opportunities, register for and manage on-campus events such as career fairs and interview schedules.
Similarly, the YourCareer portal engages students with an attractive user interface that integrates single sign-on student authentication through the uLink student portal. The system offers students access to a host of online career services, including viewing employer profiles, a dynamic CV builder and Cover Letter writer, applying for jobs, signing up for employer interviews, and integration with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
The YourCareer portal has been in place for the past 18 months and is well supported by our students and graduate employers. PsyCaD Career Services is looking forward to further optimise this comprehensive web-based career services solution, to continue providing more services to our employers and students than ever before while increasing efficiency and attracting greater numbers of users in the coming year. The effectiveness of the YourCareer portal will be evaluated in a number of ways. Student satisfaction will be evaluated as well as its value in preparing and placing students in the world of work.
3.4 Provide one or more (but not more than 5) exemplars of changes that have not been successful and suggest reasons.
UJ has been grappling with the usefulness and the use of the National Benchmarking Tests (NBTs) for its wide constituency for a number of years now. The numbers of students who have written the NBT tests have increased every year and a number of research projects into the usefulness of the NBT results in the UJ context have been undertaken. Although it has become clear that the NBT’s do provide additional information when used with the NSC results and would allow UJ to place students more effectively, their value has not proven to be as clear-cut as in some other institutions. Originally the broad bands of NBT results (proficient, intermediate and basic) were used to see if they provide a more accurate prediction of student success. The relationship between NBT-band and student academic performance was not as strong as expected. Not only this, but the original bands were only standardised for degree purposes and could not be used for Diploma students which caused an extra level of challenge in the context of a comprehensive institution such as UJ. UJ is working closely with the national NBT team to see how the underlying constructs and the newly set parameters can be used more effectively at UJ. It is however clear that the use and usefulness of the NBT is and will continue to be research-result dependant.
UJ’s approach to issues of student success and student development has increasingly been data driven and institutional. One of the needs that have been identified is for an institutional student tracking system that would allow risk identification and some forms of communication to be automated. A lot of the underlying research has been done and the institution is constantly improving at identifying risk at the various transitional points of a student’s academic journey. There are however a variety of databases on which student data are kept and these databases currently have to be queried manually to be able to identify risk. This makes the process of risk identification and communication slow which often makes it difficult to intervene timeously. Some Faculties have devised their own manual student tracking and risk identification systems which are often very successful, but laborious. The institution has investigated products such as those linked to the HEDA system but no proper institutional tracking and communication (to staff and students) system is commercially available in South Africa. Currently, Blackboard Analytics is being investigated as a likely solution to fast, easily-accessibly student performance data. The already impressive efforts at improving student development and success at UJ would be augmented and strengthened if such a system could be implemented. It would free up a number of human resources to intervene face-to-face, and it would allow an automated risk identification and communication system to be implemented, as well as a tracking system of student intervention to be used to track student actions.
3.5 If possible, identify one or more promising practices related to this focus area. Describe the practice and provide evidence for success. Suggest what the key features might be.
The UJ FYE initiative as an example of the use of data driven initiatives supported by top management.
Faced with the serious and complex problem of lower than desired student success and throughput, UJ decided to follow the international trend that started in 1972 of focusing on the first year transition of its students. The broad approach is called a First Year Experience (FYE) approach. The FYE is a combination of curricular and co-curricular efforts across the whole institution aimed at enabling first year student success. Following a consultative process involving all relevant stakeholders, an FYE proposal document was created and approved. The information below sums up the UJ FYE approach:
Definition of the UJ FYE
The FYE has been conceptualized as a holistic initiative that encompasses all aspects of the first year student experience in the context of an invitational and equitable institution. It comprises both curricular and extra-curricular initiatives, and is far more than a single event, programme or course. It attempts to establish an ethos and a way of life, through which all first year students will experience the transition into university life.
First phase of implementation from 2010
It was decided to follow a phased approach to the implementation of the UJ FYE. The following seven broad initiatives were identified, as constituting a first phase of implementation.
1. Placement testing, aimed at assisting Faculties in selecting and placing students in the most appropriate qualifications and modules. This involved research on the NSC and the NBT as placement tools.
2. The initial two-week Orientation programme was re-designed. This programme ‘kick-starts’ the FYE, by orienting students to studying at UJ and building an initial awareness of the academic expectations, activities and values associated with UJ. The current First Year Seminar (FYS) is the third generation development and approaches the orientation project in a completely new way.
3. An ‘extended orientation’ approach, which involves scheduling themes from the initial Orientation throughout the first semester. ‘Extended Orientation’ includes strands on academic development (literacies and learning skills), Library orientation, and ULink orientation, each of which is often integrated into core first-year curricula.
4. Ongoing tracking of student performance and immediate identification of students who appear not be ‘engaging’ and therefore may be, or are, ‘at risk’, with appropriate interventions. As stated above, this has been an elusive goal to achieve.
5. Senior students: The involvement of senior students takes a number of forms such as tutorial programmes, mentoring programmes and community engagement. Senior students are seen as a key element in facilitating successful student integration.
6. Co-curricular activities, e.g. organised sport, clubs and societies, and cultural activities, provide a wide variety of learning, and friendship building opportunities and facilitate a ready acceptance of the diversity in the UJ community. Such activities are widely promoted and form a fourth strand of ‘extended Orientation.’
7. Focus on residences as centres of academic excellence. UJ is working to create an optimal learning experience for the relatively limited numbers of students in residences, and those associated with day-houses; this involves the establishment of guided learning communities, which have been shown to have a very positive impact on student learning.
Subsequent developments
Steady progress was made on all the initial initiatives with a number of working groups and sub-committees having been established at UJ. The work of the UJ FYE is driven by a central UJ FYE committee chaired by the Executive Director Academic Development and Support and is implemented by the various Faculty committees with the aid of the UJ FYE coordinator.
In an effort to reach more students an initial UJ FYE website was created and Facebook and Twitter is being used to communicate with students. The website is designed in a ‘frequently asked questions’ format with various stakeholders providing input on the most prominent questions students ask. National and international links have been forged and an FYE community is growing in South Africa. The time students are spending on academic activities and their contact with staff and tutors during their early experiences at the institution are currently receiving dedicated attention.
The UJ FYE has made a promising start in addressing the issues that have a bearing on student success that are to some degree within institutional control. The holistic and systematic approach enables an institutional response which harnesses the institutional resources more effectively. Top management support at UJ has been invaluable to enable the required momentum of the UJ FYE and growing levels of student involvement will ensure that the student voice also informs the FYE going forward.
Evaluating the UJ FYE and its impact has been a core component of the UJ FYE. To this end an initial UJ FYE evaluation was undertaken after 3 years of implementation. This 2012 evaluation consisted of a number of strands including:
The results of the Initial Student Experience Survey (ISES), completed annually since 2010 by first year students after their first six weeks at UJ. The ISES results confirmed that institutional processes (such as the UJ FYE) yield slow but steady and encouraging results. In all areas where the UJ FYE has focused its attention there have been noticeable improvements of up to 10 percentage points. At the same time, the ISES has provided detailed information concerning the conditions under which typical UJ students are striving to succeed at university. These conditions are becoming increasingly challenging. This is borne out by higher percentages of students having concerns about money and food.
Qualitative feedback from 202 first year UJ students from all four campuses was obtained through a participatory learning and action research approach, implemented with the assistance of PsyCaD peer buddies (fellow students) who facilitated the feedback discussions. This research strand showed that most UJ students are very happy studying at UJ and that most student support and FYE initiatives are appreciated.
A national and an international expert were each asked for their views on the UJ FYE: Both reacted favourably to the basic tenets, theoretical underpinnings and initial implementation of the UJ FYE. According to their evaluations, the UJ FYE has started well and is on the right track. Both reviewers made crucial recommendations and suggestions about the way forward, and these formed part of the discussion about the future direction of the UJ FYE. Both stressed the importance of sustaining momentum in an initiative such as this and ensuring that gains are consolidated.
Finally, an evaluation of the role of the FYE coordinator within UJ clearly showed that an activating agent who is a functional specialist is crucially important for such an institutional initiative. This role ensures that ideas and good practices are shared and that developments within the various faculties stay on track.
The quotation below is from the conclusion of the 3 year evaluation report and summarises the broad findings of the report succinctly:
“The vast majority of stakeholders seem convinced that the first three years of the UJ FYE have been a great success with many structural improvements and incremental improvements in the student experience. Going forward it will be crucially important to consolidate the gains that have already been made as well as to use them as building blocks for further progress. An institutional FYE approach with top-management support, a committee structure, faculty involvement and an FYE coordinator seems to be the best way forward when trying to improve institutional readiness and the environment into which the students step when arriving on campus. All the stakeholders have also contributed many insights that will inform the U FYE committee when it embarks on its next phase of planning during November 2012.”
Since then, another 3 years of FYE implementation has passed and although it is still impossible to measure the impact of the UJ FYE directly (because of the complexity of the issues involved) the following encouraging evidence has emerged.
In the first instance, UJ’s undergraduate success rates have continued to improve over time from a low point of 74.9% in 2009 to 84.5% in 2015. The improvement has been incremental and has taken time and cannot only be attributed to the implementation of the UJ FYE, but it is also important to note that the UJ FYE was implemented from 2010 and this initiative has surely made valuable contributions to the improving student success rates.
A more nuanced analysis shows even more exiting and important progress. One of the main aims of higher education support and development activities is to move from what Morrow (1994) termed formal access (to the actual institution) to epistemological access (to the knowledge an institution “distributes” and creates). The implication of this term is that it has become more and more imperative that equity is not only reached in terms of access to HE institutions by a diversity of groups, but that we also move much closer to equity of success. In other words, it should not matter if you are male or female, rich or poor, what racial grouping you belong to, or any other demographic indicator. All students entering higher education should have a relatively equal chance of success.
At UJ, there has been remarkable incremental progress in this regard. For degree programmes, the success rate of black African students in 2009 was 71.7% whereas it was 83.0% for White students. This has changed and in 2014 African students had a success rate of 83.7% and White students 87.9%. The gap had been narrowed by 63% from 11.3% in 2009 to 4.2% in 2014. Among diploma students, progress is even more impressive. In 2009 African students amassed a success rate of 74.3% while White students achieved 85.6%. By 2004, that gap had been narrowed with African students achieving 84.7% and White students 87.2%. This represents a 78% improvement from a difference of 11.3% to a mere 2.5% difference in 2014.
This increase in epistemological access at UJ is truly encouraging and is an indication that this previously almost intractable problem is now being successfully addressed. UJ’s institutional approaches to student success and the fact that the University is taking the issue of student access and success seriously has shown an encouraging way forward. The UJ FYE is therefore identified as a promising practice as long as it meets the requirements listed below:
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Top management and structural support for student success is essential for success. If student success efforts are peripheral, their impact is very limited.
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An institutional approach to student transitions and student success is imperative to effectively address the problems faced in South African Higher Education.
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Know your students: Student support and development approaches should be based on data about the institution’s students.
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Know your institution and your course: Institutions need to understand their own habitus (being) that is reflected in their people, policies, programmes, places and processes.
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Meet the students where they are.
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Staff and students have a responsibility to make this work.
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Making the implicit explicit about student success to all the right people. Communication about various issues surrounding student success should reach all the important stakeholders.
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Developmental time. Improvements in student success take time on an individual and an institutional level.
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Intentionality is crucial. Student success does not improve in a sustainable way by accident.
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Theoretical grounding and practical usefulness are both crucial elements in improving student support and development
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Taking staff and students along on the road to student success. The classroom is the place where the real student experience is shaped and academic staff and students all have to play their part.
3.6 Identify the main challenges the university still faces in relation to this focus area.
UJ has become aware that first year student drop outs at the university is far too high. The majority of these students are being excluded because of poor academic performance. UJ is already in the process of arranging targeted interventions to address this issue. Two of the main initiatives are the Intensive Revision (IR) programme and the High Impact Module Intervention. The IR programme will be implemented from 2016 and will be linked with the supplementary assessment process.
Reaching all classrooms with integrated initiatives aimed at improving student success. A lot of progress has been made in terms of improving teaching and learning at UJ, but improvements in teaching effectiveness are not always widespread and instantaneous. There are still lecturers and class settings that would benefit enormously from rethinking, reflective teaching approaches and innovations.
Linking more programmes to industry through WIL and SL as well as WIL funding. The draft DHET Policy Framework on Workplace-Based Learning (WPBL) is important, especially as it will address many of the current issues highlighted by UJ and other HEIs, regarding partnerships and funding related to WIL and other forms of WPBL.
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