Equity in Access and Success: Institutionalising a First-Year Experience Programme to Support Student Transition and Success

Equity in access and success, social inclusion, and diversity are critical national imperatives in higher education in South Africa post-1994. The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) policies and strategies to support student success align with these national imperatives. UKZN’s Academic Monitoring and Support Policy (2023) commits the institution to provide quality and responsive student support. The diversities and differentiation within our student population produce unequal preparedness. This compels us to envision socially just, inclusive, and humanising/ ubuntu approaches and practices. UKZN enrols up to 10,000 first-year students across its four Colleges at its five campuses annually. The institution’s planned enrolment prioritises quintiles 1 to 3 schools, which are no-fee paying and located in mainly rural and resource-poor communities. Between 60 and 70% of the students are from these quintiles; most are recipients of the national funding scheme and live in university residences. There is a relatively equal representation of students from urban versus rural communities, and more females than males. isiZulu is the dominant mother-tongue language of students, while English is the language of learning and teaching. The institution-wide, compulsory, and holistic year-long non-credit-bearing co-curricular First-Year Experience Programme (FYEP) supported by academic and curriculum advising is crucial to student transition from high school to university. The Bachelor’s degree rule (BR10) makes it compulsory for students to complete the FYEP in their first-year of study. The senior peer Mentorship programmes are pivotal to supporting students and building a sense of belonging. In the session, we will briefly discuss how our institutional policies align with the national imperatives for higher education and how the FYEP, alongside academic advising, supports student success and transition from high school to university.