A conference paper presented at the Widening Participation Conference 2012 'Discourse of Inclusion in Higher Education' 24-25 April 2012, UK

1. TOWARDS WIDENING ACCESS TO
UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS IN THE
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES: A CASE STUDY OF A
SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY
Abbey Mathekga* & Chaya Herman
UK
24 -25 April 2012
Widening Participation and Discourses of Inclusion in Higher
Education
abbey@hesa-enrol.ac.za
abbey200@gmail.com
* Presenter

2. Presentation outline
 Locating South Africa
 Historical background of HE
 Dawn of democracy
 Research context
 Research questions
 Data collection and analysis
 Research findings
 Concluding comments
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3. Map of South Africa
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4. Historical background of HE and
access in SA
 Historically access to HE was preserved
for whites only;
 In 1916 - Native College at Fort Hare was
established for Blacks;
 In 1946 Unisa was established – distance
education;
 Extension of University Act of 1959 led to
establishment of racially divided
universities, i.e. Blacks, Coloureds &
Indians;
 White universities: language divide
Afrikaans/English.
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5. Dawn of democracy - 1994
 Release of Nelson Mandela from prison
heralded new hope and drastic changes in
education including HE;
 Former Pres Mandela is passionate about
education and committed to equity,
redress and social justice;
 Legislation and policy changes – HE Act of
1997 aimed at creating a single, national
and integrated HE system;
 36 universities and Technikons were
merged into 23 universities: Traditional,
Comprehensive and Universities of
Technology. Widening Participation and Discourses
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6. Case study
 Biological Sciences at the University of
Pretoria (UP);
 UP was established in 1908 for white
Afrikaners (mainly Dutch descendents);
 In 1989 UP registered its first black
student;
 In 2012 UP enrolled a total of about 40
000 students with more than 50%
Blacks.
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7. Research questions
 What are the possibilities and limitations
of widening access to underrepresented
groups in the Biological Sciences at the
University of Pretoria?
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8. Sub-questions
 How access policy to the Biological
Sciences is understood and implemented
at institutional and departmental levels?
 What are challenges that students from
underrepresented groups are faced with
regards to access into Biological Sciences
at the University of Pretoria?
 How do students from underrepresented
groups negotiate access with success
within Biological Sciences at the University
of Pretoria?
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9. Data collection
 Purposive sampling;
 Interviews with policymakers, first year
lecturers in Biological Sciences;
 Questionnaire to select focus groups of
first year second semester students in
Biological Sciences;
 Document analysis.
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10. ‘Getting in‟ and ‘Getting through’
(Osborne & Gallacher 2004)
Getting in Getting through
Getting on
Student Orientation period
recruitment World of
Student support works
Student
readiness Epistemological access
Admission Institutional culture
process
Funding
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11. Access policy
 Government managed:
◦ Diverse student demography;
◦ Enrolment planning;
◦ Minimum admission requirement - NSC;
 Institutionally managed – Admission
criteria:
◦ Subject mix;
◦ Admission Point Score (APS);
◦ ‘Sociotechnic tools‟ (Goastellec and Discourses-of
Widening Participation
2010)
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2012
NBT; 11

12. Findings
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13. Race and gender distribution in one
module in the Biological Sciences
(2011)
Females % Males % Total %
Blacks 217 28.4 97 12.3 314 41.1
Whites 272 35.6 178 23.3 450 58.9
489 64 275 36 764
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14. Student recruitment
 Out /in-reach programmes;
 Partnerships between secondary
schools and university;
 Open days;
 Career days, etc.
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15. Students'medium of knowing about the unversity
44.0%
45%
40%
37.3%
34.2%
35%
30%
24.9%
25% 22.8%
20.2%
20% 1st Year Blacks
16.7% % of total respondents
15.5%
15%
10% 8.3%
5% 3.6%
1.00% 1.0%
0%
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16. Respondents' livelihood /home area
Township, 15.5%
Urban, 65.3%
Rural, 16.1%
Not Provided, 3.1%
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17. Black students' lifelihood and location of school attended
80% 76.2%
70%
58.1%
60%
53.1%
46.9%
50%
41.9%
38.1% 36.9%
40%
30% 25.0%
23.8%
20%
10%
0%
Rural Township Urban
Lifelihood % Local Schooling % Outside Schooling % N=84
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18. Student readiness for HE
 Practical work sessions;
 Workload;
 Language;
 High failure rate in first year.
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19. Student readiness for HE ...
 Poor schooling system;
 Wrong career choice;
 Structural breaks – introduction of NSC
– fluctuation and unreliability of grade 12
marks;
 NSC create expectations that could not
be fulfilled.
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20. Students’ perceptions of their level of preparedness for
university studies
59.5%
60.0% 56.0%
50.0%
42.0%
40.0%
28.6% 1st Year Blacks
30.0%
20.0%
11.9%
10.0%
2.1%
0.0%
Not prepared Prepared Not Provided
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21. Student Funding
 NSFAS (promulgated by former Pres.
Mandela in 1996);
 Policymakers – satisfied with the model;
 Students access NSFAS funds once
registered;
 Barrier to widening participation – lack of
funds, e.g. administration & registration
fees;
 NSFAS mainly caters for tuition fees -
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22. Student support
 Academic
◦ Tutors & mentors, extended
programmes, foundation year;
◦ Shift in university mandate: research &
knowledge production;
 Psychosocial
◦ Counselling;
◦ Policymakers – less popular – stigma.
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23. Student support received from the university
48.8%
50.0%
45.0%
40.0%
36.9%
35.2%
35.0%
31.6% 32.1%
30.0% 1st Year Blacks
23.8% % of total number
25.0% of respondents
21.4%
20.0% 17.6%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
Academic Financial No support Psychosocial
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24. Other emerging themes
 Admission process – Definition of
disadvantage;
 Orientation period – 2 weeks induction
to new students;
 Epistemological access – access to
knowledge, language used as medium
of instruction;
 Institutional culture: students’
experiences
◦ Do you „feel at home‟? “It was a cultural
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shock for me”.
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25. Concluding comments
 Data suggest that:
a) The best way to improve widening
participation is through better
cooperation with schools;
b) It is necessary to facilitate career
guidance at school level;
c) Majority of students come from urban
area;
d) Lack of preparedness at school level
affect retention at university level.
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