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DUT HOSTED THE SIYAPHUMELELA STUDENT SUCCESS TASK TEAM (SSTT) MEETING

DUT HOSTED THE SIYAPHUMELELA STUDENT SUCCESS TASK TEAM (SSTT) MEETING

The Siyaphumelela SSTT meeting was held at the Rendezvous Restaurant, Steve Biko campus on Wednesday, 12 October 2022.

Siyaphumelela is DUT’s institutional project aimed at improving undergraduate student success and the student experience more broadly. The hybrid-mode meeting was facilitated by the Hambisa (“Moving Forward”) focus area which is led by Mrs Nalini Chitanand and Dr Mzwandile Khumalo in the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT).

The Siyaphumelela SSTT occurs every quarter and the aim of the meetings are to share updates on the progress of the project and to highlight and share aspects of data collected within focus areas relating to student success. At the October meeting, participants discussed student feedback in the Hambisa Student Survey to better understand and address the multiple factors impacting student success.

Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, Professor Suren Singh, shared his welcome note and thanked everyone for attending the meeting, which included the Registrar, Dr. Maditsane Nkonoane and the Dean of Students Dr Clement Moreku.

Mrs Nalini Chitanand gave a brief overview of the Hambisa project.

Hambisa project adopts a collaborative and integrative staff and student development approach for student success. Hambisa also uses aprogrammatic approach that involves enhancing success for all students and it shifts from deficit framings to considering the full campus ecosystem and its impact. “The project also focuses on identifying and implementing strategies for enhancing success”, she said.

Dr. Koo Parker, Siyaphumelela Institutional Researcher provided an overview of the Hambisa Student Survey which includes biographical student data, questions on student motivation and engagement in their programme of study and several open-response questions that garnered student feedback on challenges and success factors.

The SSTT members divided into groups to discuss the responses to selected questions from the student survey. During group discussions the groups debated how to solve the difficulties affecting the students’ academic progress. A frequently mentioned challenge was access to WiFi and stable connectivity, which impacted on both students and staff. While some students believed that their living conditions were suitable, others did not, based on which residence they were staying in. The group discussions relayed that that some students experienced challenges related to water and electricity, some residences were too noisy, lacked study spaces, and posed a security risk. Students requested that the university locates them in conducive areas and to establish student-friendly areas with WiFi in all university buildings and residences.

The discussions highlighted the challenges for students staying at home such as household responsibilities, which reduce the amount of time they have for their studies. Another issue brought to the fore was that some students lacked the funding necessary for their education.

The Siyaphumelela task team members also discussed the issue of the tutors’ roles being misunderstood; they believe tutors put in a lot of effort yet receive inadequate compensation. They suggested raising the amount of money paid to tutors next year. Dr. Mzwandile Khumalo summarised the key findings from the survey in the conclusion to the SSTT meeting.

Pictured:  SSTT 12 October 2022 Hambisa Student Survey infographic.

Nomvelo Zulu

 

 

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