Attrition of first-year university students remains a global problem, and this is also of great concern in South African higher education. In an effort to address this challenge, many higher education institutions offer peer mentoring programmes to assist first-year students with their adjustment to university life, in order to improve their…

Universities today are facing challenges regarding students' persistence and success especially among first year students who converge from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and anticipate a smooth academic and social adjustment to the university setting. However, contextual and individual factors play important role in the academic…

The University of Pretoria (UP) began offering formal academic student support in 2011 when the first faculty student advisor (FSA) was appointed. Although many more FSAs were subsequently appointed, assistance to all the students in need of support remained insufficient. However, financial assistance through the collaboration grant received from…

This study uses the agentic capability theory of Albert Bandura (Bandura 2009; 2012) as its lens to explore international students' experiences in a South African higher educational institution. The agentic capability theory "adopts an agentic perspective toward human development, adaptation, and change" (Bandura 2006:164). This implies…