Adjustment Dynamics of First-Year Students to University Life at a Rural University in South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22257539 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matsolo Mokhampanyane (0000-0002-3674-2183, Central University of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Pages | 1238-1249 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | E-Journal of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2720-7722 • E-ISSN: 2720-7722 |
| Publisher | Noyam Publishers (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.38159/ehass.20245714 |
| OpenAlex | W4400581635 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 32 |
This research paper discussed the adjustment dynamics of first-year students to university life. Registering for the first time at the university seems to impose various challenges on newcomers. Most first-year students experience adjustment challenges in university life, which seem to lead to poor academic performance. Their performance stimulated the need to find the challenges and find ways to enhance adjustments and challenges to improve academic performance. The theory underlying this paper was Critical Emancipatory Research Theory. Participatory action research was employed in this study to collect data and a thematic approach was used to analyse data. A WhatsApp group was created to facilitate group conversations for data collection. The paper responds to two research questions: What adjustment challenges are experienced by first-year university students? In which ways can adjustment challenges be overcome? Participants in the study were ten first-year university students from two faculties. The study found that the factors contributing to difficulties in adjustment were a university workload, lack of residential accommodation, and lack of financial support. In light of the findings, the study recommends support strategies and programs that promote interaction with and among those who are newcomers at the university and the building of more residences for students. This paper contributes to the continued discussion about how newcomers can be supported to ensure they are settled in a conducive academic environment. Keywords: Workload, Residential Accommodation, Academic Adjustment, Social Adjustment
Accommodation · Citizen journalism · Data collection · Economics · Management · Medical education · Participatory action research · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Workload · Higher Education and Employability · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Higher Education Research Studies · Medicine · Psychology
Post-Covid Teaching and Learning of Religious Education in the Context of School Violence in South Africa
Critical Emancipatory Research Approach to Enhance Performance Among Progressed Learners in Life Sciences
Tracking the first-year experience in English medium instruction
‘I feel lost and somehow messy’
Is member checking the gold standard of quality in qualitative research
Causes and Institutional Responsesof Social Unrest in South African Universities
An Empirical Study on Emergency of Distant Tertiary Education in the Southern Region of Bangladesh during Covid-19
What, if anything at all, do African societies themselves owe to their own citizens in terms of health
Fair enough?! Investigating the specific challenges of diverse university first-year students
Navigating, subverting, and replacing conventional academic structures and expectations to co-create with participatory action research (PAR) teams
Understanding first-year students’ transition to university
Engaging critical emancipatory research as an alternative to mitigate school violence in South Africa
Student Academic Performance
It was nothing to do with the university, it was just the people
Participatory action research and the construction of academic identity among postgraduate research students
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |