First Year Student Experience (FYSE)

First-Year students grapple not only with self-adjustment that is required by the university environment to which they are not accustomed but also making sense of the culture, values and structures that constitute the university environment (Lebowitz, 2009).

The purpose of the programme is to provide academic support, psycho-social support and personal development to first-year students at DUT. Through the FYSE, the university seeks to ensure through appropriate academic development and academic advice that first-year students adapt with minimal difficulty to the university environment, its demands and challenges. While the focus of the FYSE is primarily on academic skills, academic advising is enhanced by referring students to the appropriate academic services of the university.

The broad aims of the FYSE programme are:

• To ensure a smooth transition for first-year students in areas of academic writing, reading, critical thinking and university life in general.
• To provide multi-pronged support and development to first-year students that takes the form of ongoing orientation during the first year of study.
• To initiate students into the academic literacies and other basic conceptual tools required for success in their chosen programmes.