Medical students' transition from high school to university can lead to academic and social challenges, disconnection from university life, and possible drop out. Hence, some medical education institutions use remediation programmes to address these transition challenges. This study used a social learning and integration theory to identify factors…

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in March 2020 gave rise to a number of challenges for first-year experience activities at universities globally. One of the key challenges was the process of onboarding first-year students through an orientation programme that could not take place face-to-face as per the norm. In 2021, the first-year orientation at…

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…

The research on students' sense of belonging in higher education has evolved into a prominent theme worldwide. Institutional research focuses on the institution understanding itself and helps leaders to rethink improvement initiatives. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has required of institutions to revise student support programmes and approaches…

A switch to emergency remote teaching, learning, and assessment (TLA) has become necessary as a result of the social distancing brought about by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were forced to switch from face-to-face to online teaching and learning to ensure successful completion of the academic year as well as…

Higher Education Institutions in South Africa continue to experience considerable dropout rates of students during the first year, especially those from previously marginalised population groups. The aim of this research was to evaluate how the use of life coaching interventions providing first year students with psychosocial support, influenced…

Change is an inevitable part of life, more so for gender non-conforming students who have to confront prejudice and hostile environments as they transition from school to university. An understanding of the issues faced by first year students with diverse sexual and gender identities is important to ameliorate many of the challenges presented…

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…

Signature strengths, such as gratitude, can assist students in navigating the demanding first-year experience. However, more research is needed to explore the role of gratitude in relation to cognitive benefits for students. This article reports on a constructivist grounded theory study that explored South African students' conceptions and…

University students were regarded as a vulnerable population as they not only had to endure significant levels of mental health problems and financial distress, but also academic challenges in the transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, the tumultuous nature of the pandemic and consequent sheltering as well as other…

Research on student support in the global North indicates possible benefits of life coaching interventions in improving students' persistence and well-being. There is emerging research on life coaching interventions and their potential benefits in the South African higher education context, but empirical evidence is scarce. We report results from…

This article offers an account of the development of student leaders' agency within the institutional culture of their residences at Stellenbosch University (SU). Residences at formerly white universities such as SU are struggling to align their welcoming practices and cultures to the requirements for immersion of the diverse students who now live…

In response to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President of South Africa declared a national lockdown that commenced on 27 March 2020. This posed numerous challenges to the higher education sector, one of which was the preparation of students forced to stay at home to be able to study remotely under unique and often unfavourable…

In an era when education researchers and policymakers alike are paying increasing attention to the cultivation of global mindedness among teacher candidates, the current push for accelerated teacher preparation programs, combined with increasingly stringent state assessment requirements, has had the unfortunate effect of steering the focus away…

The outward migration of skilled migrants has disproportionally affected the Global South, particularly in countries in Africa, producing what is commonly referred to as 'brain drain'. Within this literature, there has been considerable focus on the future migration intentions of international students, who symbolise skilled migration. However,…