Chapter 12 - What Is Being Done? “Ubuntu” in Student Support Programs in Public Higher Education Institutions in South Africa

Abstract

The direction of higher education in South Africa took a new turn upon South Africa becoming a democracy in 1994. The gist of this trajectory comprised of widening access to the previously disadvantaged, particularly the majority African population. However, it has been argued locally and internationally that widening access is paralleled by challenges of student progression and student attrition. These have currently become the grand narratives in higher education discourse in democratic South Africa. This chapter critically examines a selected array of student support programs that have been introduced by public higher education institutions located in diverse geographic and socioeconomic contexts across South Africa in an effort to achieve higher levels of student progression and reduced student attrition rates.