South African students - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

A free messaging app seemed useful for disadvantaged South African students: why they didn’t agree

SOUTH African higher education is plagued by inequalities due to the social and economic legacies of apartheid. More than 50% of enrolment in higher education is from black, working-class, disadvantaged households from rural areas who depend on state-funded student aid. At the same time, some institutions of higher learning are also historically disadvantaged: they were designated for non-white students during the apartheid era. These institutions suffered discrimination, underfunding and limited resources, creating disparities in the country’s higher education system. FAZLYN PETERSEN, Information Systems Senior Lecturer, University of the Western Cape In a rapidly evolving digital era, one of the big…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

South African students shrug off Omicron and fret about exams

COVID-19

TIM COCKS THE students knew their South African university was the epicentre of a new COVID-19 variant spreading panic across the globe, but over the past week, many worried more about how Omicron would mess up exams and holiday plans than about catching it. At the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), in the capital Pretoria, learners languidly walked across the green campus shaded by trees, chatting, buying soft drinks, staring at their phones and sitting on benches overlooking a pond. Most wore masks; a few didn't. Many were vaccinated; some obstinately were not. Around 30 students interviewed by Reuters were…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

During lockdown, South African students wrote a book about ‘a world gone mad’

LITERATURE

SOUTH African student voices have largely remained unheard in formal discussions around COVID-19. A pandemic that should not be put to waste, COVID-19, on some podiums, is seen as laying the groundwork for germination of seeds of change. PEET VAN AARDT, Coordinator: Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN) & Lecturer: Academic Literacy, University of the Free State BRIAN SIBANDA, Lecturer/Researcher: Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of the Free State, University of the Free State The students in this collection of stories by the Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN, a project within the Academy for Multilingualism at…