Examining the Efficacy of Student Academic Support Systems for ‘At Risk’ First Entering Students at a Historically Disadvantaged South African University

Abstract

The study sought to establish what academic support programmes, policies and systems were in place to support first entering students who were at risk of not succeeding with their studies at a historically disadvantaged rural based South African University. The study examined institutional frameworks for supporting at-risk students and systems used to monitor academic support systems, existing relationships and practices that prevailed, and lecturers’ attitudes towards support systems for students who were academically ‘at-risk’ at the university. The study is premised on the qualitative research paradigm and the chosen research design was the case study design. An open-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 100 ‘at-risk’ students, 20 lecturers, and 1 Information Management System Officer who was directly dealing with first entering students in the University. The findings showed that the university support systems were inadequate as both the students and lecturers indicated that support was either not forthcoming, or they did not know where to get it. The study recommends vigorous marketing of academic support programmes to both staff and students, appropriate training for mentors and monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness of existing programmes.