SA students struggle to finish higher education courses: UP vice-chancellor
The vice-chancellor of the University of Pretoria was invited to join a panel discussion at the World Academic Summit.
CAPE TOWN - One of the challenges facing higher education in South Africa is that many students don’t complete their degrees or take a long time to finish their studies.
Professor Tawana Kupe highlighted the problem at the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit in New York last week.
The vice-chancellor of the University of Pretoria was invited to join a panel discussion at the three-day event.
Kupe says it’s a problem facing universities everywhere.
"That causes all sorts of problems, costs the student and their families much higher and it does also cost the university much higher to carry students who are not completing on time, but it also closes places for those who want to come into the system".
Kupe believes the reason students drop out could also be because of psychological, financial, and family-related issues.
"Assessing students from one assignment to the other, making interventions immediately after a student is not actually doing work, making reference to appropriate terms of support, be it faculty-student advisers, be it our counselling services and other related interventions".
