2.7 STUDENT SUPPORT
2.7.2 T YPES AND THE NATURE OF STUDENT - SUPPORTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
One of the objectives, which this study wants to attain, was to determine the types of student-support interventions available in the broader higher education sector. To
establish the basis for this, this part of the literature provides some of important information generated from the existing body of related knowledge about the aspect of student support in the wider context of higher education. The preceding subsection of this chapter was delineated to the variety of descriptions on student support as inversely defined by the engrossed academic community who authored on the phenomenon. The idea behind such descriptions was to reveal the existing conceptual definitions of the student support facet and to, subsequently, formulate the empirical definition that becomes the view of this study on the aspect of student support within the higher education sector.
Therefore, this section is on the discussion about the existing kinds of support interventions that are implemented in higher education institutions to assist students to overcome dropout problem.
Ample evidence of types of support interventions, which are offered to students who are furthering their higher education studies both, locally and internationally, have been plentifully documented and stressed in the all-embracing literature. A myriad types of student supports palpable in the higher education literature incorporate psychological support, emotional mentoring (Pearson, 2012, p. 187), practical, social and informational support (Ramsay, Jones and Barker, 2007, p. 252-253), technological support (Bailey, 2013), lecturer, tutorial, discussion classes and counselling support. A recent study (Manik, 2014) which explored University of KwaZulu-Natal’s students’ perceptions to determine a myriad support services they need concluded that psychological (counselling to reduce personal and academic- related stresses) and physiological supports (like, food to reduce hunger) are some of the important support interventions students need to minimize dropout. Bailey (2013, p. 144) asserts that the technological support has infiltrated higher education domain and resulted in an increased need for technological competency transfer to the student population as well as a transformed support service delivery that encompasses e- learning and virtual environments executed by, amid others, lecturers and libraries.
Ramsay et al (2007, p. 252-253) focused limitedly on the first-year students in exploring the social companionship, practical, emotional and informational (communication) support to determine and understand the amount of support services received, sources of such support services and the degree to which students are
satisfied with the support offered to them. The non-availability of needed support result in detriment effect and stress to students, which then lead to an incapability to become compatible with the higher education contextual demands and, subsequently, dropout.
For instance, a failure to offer social and emotional support to students when they are profoundly indeed of them causes homesickness – a feeling of loneliness and abandonment (Vergara, Smith and Keele, 2010, p. 1499). Tajalli et al (2010, p. 100) define social support in academic world as being responsive to the needs of students by taking care of them through ensuring that they are comfortable with the educational setting and its demands and assisting them to realise a high level of self-esteem.
Support interventions usually come from the variety of sources. In their view, Vergara et al (2010, p. 100) argue that students’ supports come from lovers, friends, colleagues, physicians, families as well as community organisations.
Social support is a broad concept that encompasses the variety of interventions, which students need for adjusting with the higher education institutions’ expectations. Among those kinds of social supports are the peer, teacher and academic support (Wang and Eccles, 2012). The descriptions of these three social supports are based on the sources from which they come, that is, who provides them. Offering emotional and psychological support is regarded as one key responsibilities of every staff member in the university, be they administrative or academic staff (Simpson, 2006; Simpson;
2008; Tinto, 2006; Pearson, 2012, p. 187).
In addition to these sources of support for students in higher education institutions, lecturers, tutors, administrative officers executing support functions in academic institutions and governmental institutions or departments are some of the sources from which student support is offered. Within a single university, support services may be grouped based on which department, directorate or level of authority provide and administer such services as well as the platform used for the delivery of support services. For example, the Course Design and Features category support students with regard to course design and the delivery of content; departments and colleges may support students through course design and technical services, instructional support services, academic services centres, and services provided through student organisations; and University may offer support such as awards, scholarships, library
resources, retention and success programmes, orientation programmes, using technology and the general support services (Stewart et al, 2013, p. 295).
(Moore and Kearsley, 2005) posit that internal factors, such as students’ academic competence, satisfaction with the course or programme and a sense of belonging to the university; and external factors, such as gender and financial backgrounds (McGivney, 2004; Mills, 2015, p. 42) influence graduation rates. Families are also labelled invaluable in supporting their children and relatives through parental guidance and financial support. In a related study Simmons (2013, p. 71) found that grandparents are also helpful in the support provision for their nephews so that they are able to succeed compatibly in meeting the arduous higher education potentials during the switch from secondary schools to tertiary education zone. In response to students’ difficulties which are encountered during the transition from pre-tertiary schooling to a tertiary level, the CHE (2013, p. 152) recommended that the transition strategy must be developed and be led at national level by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). CHE (2013, p. 152-153) reflected that a temporary financial and administrative support for higher education institutions is essential for the execution of the proposed migration strategy which should incorporate students, professional bodies, support for and liaison with the institutions, financial and administrative planning. Although most of perspectives on what constitute a student support comprehend it as a functional activity, other views argue that it is a myth that acts as a symbolic function that build reality in higher education and enable the shared meanings. Myers (2011, p. 745) claims that student support is a social ritual that only indicate that students are cared for and recognised.
Albeit Ramsay et al (2007) concentrated on four types of student support in their research, several other types have been discussed in the profusion of the related literature, indicated as pivotal in enabling students, not only first year, to adjust with the academic life in its entirety. Student support in higher education system fall into the following clusters (Belot, Canton and Webbink, 2006, p. 264):
Basic grant: When paralleled with the other three categories the basic form of support is a mammoth support category, which is contingent on situation, such as living away from home or at home with parents and spouses.
Supplementary grant: This form of support is reliant on family variables, such as the income netted in the family
Loan: In this form of a support, students are granted financial assistance to be reimbursed to the source within a particular timeframe given after the accomplishments or even when they did not complete their qualification programmes. It is commonly used to assist students who did not meet the required academic achievements, but who are needy for financial support to further their higher education.
In-kind support: This type of support is designed to assist students with unpaid transport in the course of the week and on weekends and it is synonymously referred to as the travel pass.
Stewart et al (2013, p. 294) identify the variety of student support types which are pertinent in aiding higher education students to match the standards and expectations of their academic institutions and those are as follows:
Support during Admissions and registration periods
Academic counselling (career guidance)
Induction to the University
Induction to learning online
Teaching and learning (academic) support services
Awards and scholarship programmes
Support with regard to using technology and computing resources
Library services
Career placement
Articulations and transfer from other institutions
The study conducted by Lee, Srinivasan, Trail, Lewis and Lopez (2011, p.158) on the guidance offered to students in a course has identified three support interventions to respond to students’ needs, and those are technical, peer and instructional support.
Desa, Yusooff and Kadir (2012) advise that a good, reliable and prolific type of support to deal away with various students’ concerns is to urge them to communicate with their faculty members during and even after classes. In their view, Vergara et al (2010, p.
1499) posit that social and emotional supports are some of the foremost student
support needs which higher education institutions have to attend to, and are caused by, among other factors, homesickness –feeling loneliness. What even stress more other than homesickness are factors such as psychological, cultural, political, financial and academic demands and inability to speak a language of people whose culture students are not familiar with (Vergara et al, 2010, p. 1499; Pan, Wong, Chan, and Joubert, 2008). Within the borders of the South African education and training system, particularly in the college terrain, the student support range offered involve career counselling, social support, academic support, helping students to obtain bursaries and finish their programmes, helping them to find the relevant companies to do the practical element of their studies, and providing them with an aid in searching for employments following the successful completion of the programmes (Department of Higher Education and Training , 2013, p. 17-18).
To address the social support need of South African college students, sports and recreation facilities must be put into place (Department of Higher Education and Training , 2013, p.17). Wingate (2007, p. 398) advocates that a pre-induction can be a useful type of student support, offered between the admission period and the outset of the term. A practical epitome of a pre-induction initiative is Bournemouth University’s web-based module that is taught in the School of Design, Engineering and Computing and was entrenched from the following four reasons:
To condense the overload of information during the actual induction programme
To relieve worry and involve students at an early
To arrange important and meaningful series of activities for the Induction Week
To urge students to reflect on learning processes (Keenan, 2005).
In order for students to successfully adjust with the higher education institutions’ life, Desa et al (2011, p. 366) concurs with the notion to develop and implement an orientation programme during the first months in the academic institutions. The manner in which higher education institutions deliver education depends on many factors, which, among them, encompass blended learning. This form of learning support involves the use of various delivery modes, both traditional and modern pedagogies. The implementation of a blended learning business model leads to efficient and effective positive learning experiences (Garrison and Hakuna, 2004, p.
95).
The other type of support executed in higher education institutions is the bridging course, which is a pre-admission support intervention that students first undergo in order to improve admissibility so that they match the required admission standards.
This form of support is popularly practised in various higher education institutions across the globe. It addresses the problem of, among others, student unpreparedness that is a result of inadequate foundational basis offered by schools below the post- school education and training system. In a computer-mediated learning domain, Heift (2006) avows that the first-year students need support more than intermediary students do. This instructional support comprises responsive communications such as tailored remarks and constructive feedbacks (Lee et al, 2011, p. 162). In their study on whether the bridging programmes are effective or not, Ssempebwa, Eduan and Mulumba (2012, p. 140) found that the programmes are effective in preparing students for higher education. It is central to any South African post-school academic institution to provide support to those students who are insufficiently prepared for further studies through a number of programmes including the foundational and mentoring programmes.
Numerous programmes in higher education institutions are developed and implemented to support students. The academic qualification improvement programme (AQIP) which is implemented in the University of South Africa (Unisa) is an epitome of a support programme, albeit focused on postgraduate students employed permanently in the university. Postgraduate students enrolled for Masters and doctoral programmes are legible to apply for this support programme. If their applications have been found successful, students admitted to Master’s programmes temporarily leave coming to work for a period of two years to focus on their studies.
Doctoral students are given three years to complete their doctoral programmes.
Postgraduate students using this support programme have to appoint some on a provisional basis with the right qualification for replacement during the period of study.
With regard to students with disabilities in the South African post-school system, the department of higher education and training set a goal to provide them with support through managing information, policy formulation and support, conducting disability-
oriented research and providing the required resources to higher education institutions (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2013, p. xv).
Support for students in higher education has taken the variety of shapes and are given to various needy students. Many students from poor families and socio-economic backgrounds experience economic barricades to access higher education and, as a result, many countries across the world have introduced financial schemes to address students’ financial challenge. Curtailing a financial barricade to access expensive higher education demands a financial attention and support directed to students who, otherwise, would have not been able to further their studies in higher education institutions (Opheim, 2006, p. 277). As for academically deserving South African students seeking monetary support in the higher education domain, the South African Government established a National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in 1999 for study loans and bursaries (Department of Higher Education and Training , 2013, p. 33) to assist students financially, particularly those who are socio-economically deprived. Opheim (2006, p. 277) studied the effects of the Norwegian student support initiative (Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund) by examining the number and the opus of students offered support prior to and after the changes, and the amount of resources which the state allocate for the provision of support services between 2001 and 2004, and the findings showed that the capacity of resources allocated have been expanded because ofa rise in the number of students getting support interventions.
One of the foremost support interventions, which higher education students who are away from their home need, whether local or international, is the assistance with accommodation. Coles and Swami (2012, p. 87) accommodation for students studying away from homes must be provided at an early stage of adjustment. Other types of student support that Coles and Swami (2012) consider imperative for the inclusion in the early student support package for student adjustment is the course provision, student union gatherings and societies which are crucial in offering students with opportunities to socially assimilate with others and swiftly adapt to new experiences.
Within the scholastic discussion of student support phenomenon, communication emerges as both a form of student support and a mode of support delivery. Viewing it
as a type of support, Simmons (2013, p. 71) attests that communicating with the faculty aided the African American men student category to become and remain attuned and focused towards completing their degrees.