Exploring the experiences of postgraduate Lesotho students at Stellenbosch University
Date
2018-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT : This thesis focuses on the experiences of six international students who attended Stellenbosch
University, a Historically White Institution, for their postgraduate studies. The six participants
chosen for this study each had two or more years of experience as postgraduate students at
this university. They completed their undergraduate studies at the National University of
Lesotho. For these students, there was an expectation that they would have some knowledge
and the skills to navigate their studies at a university in a foreign context. However, little is
known about how international postgraduate students experience the institutional culture of a
new foreign university. Not much research has focused on the experiences of postgraduate
students from a predominantly black African country who attend a Historically White Institution
in South Africa for their postgraduate studies only.
This qualitative study provides an interpretation and analysis of students’ experiences by
responding to the question: How do postgraduate students from Lesotho experience their
education at Stellenbosch University? Situated in the interpretive paradigm, the research
explored the educational and non-education experiences of participants who completed their
undergraduate degrees at The National University of Lesotho. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept
of cultural capital, and Yosso’s (2005) notion of Community Cultural Wealth, this study shows
how the participants draw on various forms of capital in order to navigate and mediate their
postgraduate studying experience in an environment that is culturally dissonant to the previous
university and home culture. Through purposive sampling, the students who were doing the
Honours, Masters and PhD degrees were chosen from different faculties of SU. A focus group
interview and individual in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with students in
order to understand how they established their experiences at Stellenbosch University. The study’s findings showed that the challenges they experienced included difficulties in making
friends, difficulties in keeping up with academic work due to cultural differences, learning to
adapt to a different institutional culture, and language differences. Key to the students
navigating and adapting to the culturally dissonant university field in which they found
themselves was the support and assistance they received from the international office, as well
as support from their family in Lesotho, and friends in Stellenbosch University. What this shows
in relation to Bourdieu’s notion of playing the game is that the students used their cultural capital
strategically in an attempt to navigate the university, in consequence of which they were able
to open a productive, if culturally challenging, educational path which secured their university
success.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Geen Afrikaanse opsomming geskikbaar nie.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Geen Afrikaanse opsomming geskikbaar nie.
Description
Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2018.
Keywords
College students -- Social conditions, Culture and education, National University of Lesotho -- Graduate students, Bourdieu, Pierre, 1930-2002 -- Theory (Sociology), Stellenbosch University -- Graduate students, UCTD