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Studying engineering is tough: 6 insights to help university students succeed

Studying engineering is tough: 6 insights to help university students succeed

ENGINEERING courses are a popular choice among South African university students. But these courses are also gruelling and the attrition rates are high. The Council on Higher Education reports that half of the engineering students enrolled at South African universities do not complete their studies. That figure is similar in other parts of the world. CURWYN MAPALING, Senior Lecturer, University of Johannesburg Yet, some students weather the storms of an engineering degree with remarkable resilience, ensuring not just survival but success. How do they do it? I am a senior lecturer and trained academic advisor, registered as a clinical psychologist,…
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South African university students use AI to help them understand – not to avoid work

South African university students use AI to help them understand – not to avoid work

WHEN ChatGPT was released in November 2022, it sparked many conversations and moral panics. These centre on the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the information environment. People worry that AI chatbots can negatively affect the integrity of creative and academic work, especially since they can produce human-like texts and images. TANJA BOSCH, Professor in Media Studies and Production, University of Cape Town CHIKEZIE E. UZUEGBUNAM, Lecturer & MA Programme Coordinator, Rhodes University ChatGPT is a generative AI model using machine learning. It creates human-like responses, having been trained to recognise patterns in data. While it appears the model…
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How the pandemic is hurting university students’ mental health

How the pandemic is hurting university students’ mental health

EMMANUEL OJO, Senior Lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand ANNIE BURGER, PhD student, Stellenbosch University ANTHONY J ONWUEGBUZIE, Senior Research Associate, University of Cambridge BRYAN JASON BERGSTEEDT, Lecturer (Clinical Anatomy), Stellenbosch University SAMANTHA ADAMS, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Psychology, Stellenbosch University TALITHA CROWLEY, Senior lecturer at the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Stellenbosch University INSTITUTIONS of higher education worldwide are undergoing unprecedented change because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Universities and colleges have been forced to switch to online teaching and learning. Many were unprepared for this move to what is termed emergency remote teaching and learning. It is now just more…
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We asked university students to tell their own stories in photos: here’s why

We asked university students to tell their own stories in photos: here’s why

MIKATEKO MATHEBULA, Senior Researcher at the SARCHI Chair's Higher Education and Human Development Research Programme, University of the Free State IN South Africa, university students who come from low-income households in rural areas are at a disadvantage. Having generally attended poorly resourced schools, they’re not well resourced or prepared to participate in the processes of making and sharing knowledge at tertiary education level. When they enter universities, they tend to have lower English language proficiency than middle class, urban students. They also tend to be less comfortable using the modes of expression that dominate South African universities. They may find…
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Nigerian university students find online learning painful: here’s why

Nigerian university students find online learning painful: here’s why

ISRAEL OLASUNKANMI, Lecturer, University of Ibadan, University of Ibadan IN response to the compulsory closure of institutions of learning as part of measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria, efforts were made to keep students busy with academic activities during the lockdown. Thus, schools, especially privately owned universities, engaged students in different kinds of online learning approaches. This was limited to private schools because the government owned universities were on strike. To fully understand how students feel about online learning during COVID-19 pandemic, our study investigated the views of students of Anchor University, a private higher education…
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