Responding to Covid‑19: Experiences of Ashesi University’s Student Affairs Team

Adjei, Millicent; Pels, Nina Nana Aba; Amoako, Vanessa Nana Darkoa

doi:10.24085/jsaa.v9i1.1433

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Some studies indicate that the purpose of student development in higher education is to develop students' psycho-motor and affective skills as well as fostering leadership transformation and cultural consciousness (Astin, 2005;Magolda and Astin, 1993;Tinto, 2017). In the African higher education context, studies indicate that student development is a growing practice with special focus on psycho-social, identity and leadership development (Adjei and Amoako, 2021).…”

Section: Student Development In Higher Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mainstreaming African Indigenous Epistemologies into Student Development in Higher Education: A Case of Zimbabwe

Mr.

Prof.

Prof

2021

EAJESS

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Framed in the context of decoloniality, this study advocates for the embedding of African indigenous epistemologies into student development in university education in order to emancipate it from the pervasive Eurocentric hegemony. The thesis of this paper contends that student development in higher education has remained firmly anchored on Eurocentric ways of knowing at the expense of other epistemologies especially those from the Global South. Indigenous epistemologies are interiorized and marginalized. Efforts to Africanize the curriculum have largely been piecemeal and student development theory has continued to be underpinned by Eurocentric epistemology with a devastating impact on student identity and character development. This study employed the qualitative research paradigm in which three state universities in Zimbabwe were purposively selected as research sites. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with student affairs practitioners and were analysed qualitatively through coding of emerging themes and this was complimented by the use of the NVivo qualitative data analysis software. Results revealed that Eurocentrism is largely the dominant epistemology in student development while African indigenous epistemologies are marginalized, invisibilized and interiorized. The findings also exposed several challenges that are faced by student affairs practitioners with the major ones being; inadequate institutional funding, unavailability of Afrocentric literature on Student Development as well as well as lack of space on the timetable. The study recommended the inclusion of African indigenous epistemologies into student development through the adoption models that imbue cultural values and ways of knowing of indigenous people.

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Section: Student Development In Higher Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mainstreaming African Indigenous Epistemologies into Student Development in Higher Education: A Case of Zimbabwe

Mr.

Prof.

Prof

2021

EAJESS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…here, the institution should play a role in actively supporting resilient responses (Adjei, Pels & Amoako, 2021). This constructive resilience is relevant not just in relation to the crisis of Covid-19 but should also be developed through curricula, in response to the ongoing challenges of inequality, genderbased violence, environmental degradation and other global problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Inglis

Combrinck

Simpson

2022

Sotls

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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.

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Responding to Covid‑19: Experiences of Ashesi University’s Student Affairs Team

Cited by 2 publications

References 16 publications

Mainstreaming African Indigenous Epistemologies into Student Development in Higher Education: A Case of Zimbabwe

Mainstreaming African Indigenous Epistemologies into Student Development in Higher Education: A Case of Zimbabwe

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

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