André van Zyl

University of Johannesburg | uj · Academic Development Centre (ADC)

Multiple, interrelated narrative methods were employed in a doctoral study purposed to investigate the student identity development of seven first-year participants. This approach provided them with multiple opportunities to convey their unique first-year experiences and revealed rich understandings of how they constructed their identities at a pri...

Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest higher education (HE) participation rate of any region in the world at under 10%. Large numbers of students are entering the various systems, often from non-traditional backgrounds, which contributes to making an already difficult transition even more difficult. In many instances, well-intended interventions and in...

Since the dawn of democracy, South African universities have seen increased access to higher education from African students, the majority being first-generation students (FGS). This increase to access came with challenges of retention and throughput amongst first-year first-generation African students (FYFGAS). Despite these challenges, there have...

Low levels of student success in South Africa have persisted as a seemingly intractable problem. Therehave been some gains in student success over time, but with a participation rate of approximately 18%,the current success rates still represent massive financial and human losses to the country. Internationallythere is a trend to move towards inter...

Although there are several studies on first-year, first-generation students internationally, their focus have predominantly been on reasons for dropping out, transition issues and the students' pre-entry attributes. However, few studies have focused on the first-year, first-generation African students (FYFGAS) in the African context. This article e...

The low level of student success in South Africa is an intractable problem, with levels of success differing between the various groups that make up South African society. One of the major constraints influencing student success involves the socio-economic status (SES) of newly entering students. In the South African context, with its very high lev...

Student academic dishonesty is increasing locally and internationally and universities are devising strategies to address this problem. The first year of academic study lays the foundation for future years of study and, as such, is critical in the establishment of adherence to academic values. As part of a larger project, the perceptions about acad...

This study aimed to explore the understanding of and attitudes towards academic ethics of first‐year students at a South African University using a paper‐based survey that yielded 3611 respondents. A degree of confusion and ambivalence regarding academic ethical issues exists. The relative wealth of respondents also appears to influence the underst...

Student academic success is an important issue in South African (SA) higher education (HE). The transition from school to HE is a critical time that a student must successfully negotiate in order ultimately to succeed at university. Tinto (1993) identified the first phase of the transition process as the separation phase during which the student st...

INTRODUCTION Academic development and academic counselling have traditionally been important components of the job description of student counsellors. The function of student counselling has become more important because the majority of students struggle with adapting to the academic demands of tertiary studies, and due to the focus on improved thr...

This article reports the results of an investigation into the predictive value of 33 pre-entry attributes, divided into six broad categories, for predicting the academic performance of first year students at an urban South African university. Low levels of student success are a salient problem in South African higher education. Students tend to dro...

This study aimed to explore the understanding of and attitudes towards academic ethics of first‑year students at a South African University using a paper‑based survey that yielded 3611 respondents. A degree of confusion and ambivalence regarding academic ethical issues exists. The relative wealth of respondents also appears to influence the underst...