Exploring student support services of a distance learning centre at a Namibian university
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22110384 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lukas Shikulo (Namibia University of Science and Technology), Mapheleba Lekhetho (0000-0001-8019-2855, University of South Africa, corresponding author) |
| Editors | Liang Chen (0000-0003-1553-2846, Sun Yat-sen University) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cogent Social Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2331-1886 • E-ISSN: 2331-1886 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23311886.2020.1737401 |
| OpenAlex | W3012271888 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 20 |
Effective student support services (SSS) are a vital means of enabling students to cope with the academic and personal pressures of distance education. This research explored the implementation of SSS at eight regional centres of the Namibia University of Science and Technology, in order to identify the challenges experienced and determine students’ needs. It adopted a mixed methods approach and used a questionnaire to collect data from 109 students and semi-structured interviews for textual data from eight regional coordinators (RCs). The findings indicate that most students opt for distance education because it allows them to work and study at the same time. However, many of them take longer to obtain qualifications due to high failure and repetition rates. This could be linked to a shortage of resources and their underutilization by students, lack of collaboration between marker-tutors and lecturers, and poor attendance of tutorial classes by students and lecturers/tutors. The research proposes a model for effective implementation of SSS in order to improve students’ academic experience and success rate
Attendance · Business · Distance education · Economic shortage · Higher education · Mathematics education · Medical education · Political science · SSS · Computer Science · Engineering · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Higher Education Research Studies · Medicine · Online and Blended Learning · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |