Challenges and Mitigating Strategies

STRATEGIES FOR STUDENT SUCCESS

Student Development and Support (SDS) is armed with enabling strategies to face various challenges that come with helping students on their path to academic success and personal well-being.

These factors, among others, formed part of the Strategic Priorities of SDS and have served us well to mitigate the risks that we faced, including increased demands for resources such as bed spaces, effi cient utilities, infrastructural support and personal support services. STUDENT AFFAIRS, globally, has literature speaks of the ever-diversifying experienced a surge in the uptake of student and staff populations, burgeoning students through massifi cation, as eff ects of contextual and environmental the demand for higher education grows. challenges, the advent of the Fourth While broader access is desired, this Industrial Revolution and technological comes with challenges. International advances in our digital age.

AS STUDENT AFFAIRS PRACTITIONERS WE NEED TO STAY ABREAST OF CRITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN OUR FIELD, SUPPORT STAFF IN THEIR DEVELOPMENT, AND ENSURE FLEXIBILITY AND CREATIVITY AT ALL TIMES.

Innovation, transparency, fl exibility

As student aff airs practitioners we need to stay abreast of critical developments in our fi eld, support staff in their development, and ensure fl exibility and creativity at all times. Higher education in South Africa and the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) SDS is not impervious to the aforementioned international trends.

We should recognise that challenges are not necessarily negative and that it could be viewed as opportunities to move forward and even develop enhanced practices to support our students. In respect of Career Services, some of the challenges that have presented opportunities for innovation include ill-preparedness of students in accessing career opportunities after graduation.

SDS has demonstrated transparency through student engagement. We have applied the provisions of the SRC Constitution and Election Regulations to ensure credible elections, implemented voter education, including creating a tutorial video outlining the processes for the nomination of candidates and voting, and used eff ective marketing tools on social media platforms. The review of student governance and the SRC Election Regulations are also on the cards.

Careers and funding

The staff of Careers Service have collaborated successfully with academic champions in faculties who, in turn, have allowed for job search presentations to targeted student groups during lectures and lunchtimes, and embedded job search exercises into the curriculum. These initiatives have increased student agency and broadened the depth and breadth of career services. The implications of the Covid-19 lockdown enabled the Careers Service to seamlessly off er its service virtually.

Another persistent challenge has been students’ inability to access funding for their studies. This is partly due to incorrect data and consequently SDS’s ability to identify deserving students. Students do not also read UWC communications emails timeously about funding possibilities.

Careers Xplora is a comprehensive, web-based career service management solution for careers service staff, students and recruiters. Dr Lwando Mdleleni, soccer player and coach, at a graduation ceremony. At Student Development and Support, we understand this moment would not come about without a strategy to ensure students have a conducive learning environment.

Sport for student development

While the university has enjoyed many sporting accolades with the advent of national Varsity Sports and Varsity Cup competitions, areas for further consideration, such as funding and development, have also become clear. These areas include initiatives towards a multi-purpose indoor sports facility, artificial surface facilities such as hockey AstroTurf, continuous upgrading of sports fields, additional vehicles to ferry student athletes between training and sporting events and an increased budget for sport merit awards to attract a greater pool of talent.

What has gone well in terms of mediating the immediate challenges such as insuffi cient facilities or fullaccess appropriate facilities, SDS has managed to provide transportation to students between campus and off campus facilities. The drawback of this is that it takes students away from their academic project for longer periods. In terms of attracting more talent, SDS has also managed to increase sports merit awards allocation. What has been encouraging is the university’s current investment in growing its standing through sport by resurfacing of the athletics track, the establishment of a resource centre (a computer lab that students can use whilst at the stadium), and the establishment of a High Performance Gym and its services to ensure that athletes achieve their best.

Happy homes on campus

In recent years, a shortage of student accommodation and fi nancial hardships have sparked student protests that disrupted operations and services at the university. This impacted negatively on conducive living and learning conditions and had repercussions for the academic performance. Furthermore, blockages were caused to the placement process for the following new intake.

These consequences caused frustration for students and staff alike. Outdated access control infrastructure resulted in illegal occupation of residences. These challenges were mitigated by not providing temporary placements and rather to source private accommodation

for displaced students and students who could not be placed in UWC residences. The university secured the services of a dedicated staff member who manages private accommodation and is responsible for building and nurturing relationships with private landlords, sourcing new placements and maintaining an updated database, and supporting students where challenges arise.

There were engagements between RS and the Central House Committee about the roles and responsibility during the placement process. While residence access points and locks have been updated in many residences, deferred maintenance remains a key challenge and impacts the student’s experience and perception of the institution.

Mental health check

In terms of the holistic eff ort to support students with their psychosocial, co-curricular and academic lives, an increasing number of students have accessed counselling services. Once adopted, the Student Mental Health and Wellness policy will go a long way to address issues that pose a risk to students and the institution.

Residential Services, an important part of the work that SDS does, is offered from here at the Res Life Centre on campus.

The University of the Western Cape’s winning volleyball team would not have been able to achieve success without adequate investment in student sports teams. Enid Heynes

Connecting students with funding opportunities

ENID HEYNES started her career in 2004 at the Financial Aid Offi ce. Her tasks included administering the donor funding for students and informing learners across provinces, as part of the campus recruitment team, about funding opportunities. She liaises closely with parents and students about their funding. She is acknowledged for being professional, cheerful, dependable, enthusiastic, courteous and always willing to go the extra mile.

In 2015, she completed the Higher Certifi cate in Economic Development. After a break, she registered in 2019 for the Advanced Diploma in Public Administration. She juggles her work-studies-life well and is on track to complete her studies in 2020. Her creative leadership is refl ected both in lectures and her work. Students hold her in high esteem and she is proud of reading about their success in the world of work.

Enid refl ects: “This makes my eff orts worthwhile, when reading about the success of students who passed through our door, knowing that we were able to touch their lives in some small way.”