First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University

The emergence of the global pandemic has had devastating effects on institutions of higher learning. In South Africa, many universities had to swiftly switch to online teaching and learning in a bid to mitigate the effects of the pandemic without considerable repercussion on the academic project. Th...

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Main Authors: Fru, Raymond, Botes, Wiets, Felix, Alan, Awung, Felix, Wepener, Tiani, Moloele, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2024
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/24275/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/24275/1/51_66%20698792553141PB.pdf
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author Fru, Raymond
Botes, Wiets
Felix, Alan
Awung, Felix
Wepener, Tiani
Moloele, Richard
author_facet Fru, Raymond
Botes, Wiets
Felix, Alan
Awung, Felix
Wepener, Tiani
Moloele, Richard
author_sort Fru, Raymond
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The emergence of the global pandemic has had devastating effects on institutions of higher learning. In South Africa, many universities had to swiftly switch to online teaching and learning in a bid to mitigate the effects of the pandemic without considerable repercussion on the academic project. The paper investigates first-year undergraduate students’ experiences of induction as a critical phase of university transition at a South African university. The focus was to investigate how first-year undergraduate students transition into the unknown university environment as they come from various backgrounds. A case study research design was employed in the study. The population included first-year students across all schools in various areas of specialisation at the South African University. Given this population, a purposive sampling technique was employed in the study from which selected students to the tune of forty were interviewed. The findings revealed that the students had varying experiences of transition. Nuanced with the theory of resilience, these experiences were then interpreted following the constructions of deterioration, adaptation, and recovery. The study serves as valuable feedback on how South African universities can go about transforming their cultures, systems, and policies to better support first-year students during a phase of induction.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:242752024-10-17T02:49:47Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/24275/ First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University Fru, Raymond Botes, Wiets Felix, Alan Awung, Felix Wepener, Tiani Moloele, Richard The emergence of the global pandemic has had devastating effects on institutions of higher learning. In South Africa, many universities had to swiftly switch to online teaching and learning in a bid to mitigate the effects of the pandemic without considerable repercussion on the academic project. The paper investigates first-year undergraduate students’ experiences of induction as a critical phase of university transition at a South African university. The focus was to investigate how first-year undergraduate students transition into the unknown university environment as they come from various backgrounds. A case study research design was employed in the study. The population included first-year students across all schools in various areas of specialisation at the South African University. Given this population, a purposive sampling technique was employed in the study from which selected students to the tune of forty were interviewed. The findings revealed that the students had varying experiences of transition. Nuanced with the theory of resilience, these experiences were then interpreted following the constructions of deterioration, adaptation, and recovery. The study serves as valuable feedback on how South African universities can go about transforming their cultures, systems, and policies to better support first-year students during a phase of induction. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2024-07 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/24275/1/51_66%20698792553141PB.pdf Fru, Raymond and Botes, Wiets and Felix, Alan and Awung, Felix and Wepener, Tiani and Moloele, Richard (2024) First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University. e-Bangi Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 21 (3). pp. 51-66. ISSN 1823-884x http://ejournal.ukm.my/ebangi/index
spellingShingle Fru, Raymond
Botes, Wiets
Felix, Alan
Awung, Felix
Wepener, Tiani
Moloele, Richard
First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University
title First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University
title_full First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University
title_fullStr First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University
title_full_unstemmed First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University
title_short First-Year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a South African University
title_sort first-year students’ experiences of ‘transition as induction’ at a south african university
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/24275/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/24275/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/24275/1/51_66%20698792553141PB.pdf