Disrupted access and success: Students’ transition to university in the time of Covid-19

Abstract

The transition to university is complex and plays an essential role in determining students’ success in higher education. In South Africa and other global South contexts, students come from diverse backgrounds, and many have to cross what Boaventura de Sousa Santos calls an 'abyssal line'. Students in university in 2020 experienced an abrupt additional transition: to online learning, as universities responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. The current study investigates second-year engineering students' perceptions of the impact of the lockdown on their own studies, and their impressions of how first-year students might have felt this impact, through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. We sought to uncover the particular discourses that students draw on when describing what it was like to experience engineering study within a global pandemic. Throughout the student narratives, we identify a multiplicity of discourses around their identity as university students: as formed through connections with peers, lecturers, the university and the physical campus; as challenged by conflicting demands when studying at home; positioned as able to manage time and work; and vulnerable to threat from failure and the immutable force of online learning. We conclude with implications for universities and student success beyond the pandemic.

A Constellation Model for Mentoring Undergraduates During COVID-19

“…Like others (e.g. Czerniewicz et al 2020;Inglis, Combrinck, and Simpson 2022), though, we believe that understanding community experiences of this disruption better prepares us to address issues of equity and quality not only in future moments of challenge, but also during more stable academic years. The mentoring constellation model offered us a framework to examine the impact of the pandemic on students' multiple mentoring relationships.…”

“…Relationships in higher education in the United States (and elsewhere) were reimagined amidst the global health and race crises (Felten and Lambert 2020). Globally, students found it difficult to form meaningful relationships while physically distanced, and this challenge was amplified for first-year students transitioning to higher education (Inglis, Combrinck, and Simpson 2022). As part of a larger study of mentoring relationships, this article examines how mentoring relationships fared during these extraordinary circumstances, both campus-wide and in a program we highlight as a case study.…”