Students’ perceptions of a University access

(bridging) programme for social science, commerce

and humanities

Zaynab Essack, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Michael Quayle, University of KwaZulu-Natal*

Running head: Students‟ perceptions of an access programme

Keywords: UNIVERSITY, TERTIARY, ACCESS, BRIDGING, SOCIAL SCIENCE

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed:

Michael Quayle, School of Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville 3209, South
Africa. E-mail: quaylem@ukzn.ac.za
Abstract
Tertiary educational institutions in South Africa face the challenge of redressing past (and
continuing) inequalities in higher education by increasing accessibility to previously (and
currently) disadvantaged students. One means of doing so is through „access‟ or „bridging‟
programmes. This paper explores successful students‟ perceptions of one such programme at
the University of KwaZulu-Natal by means of qualitative focus group interviews. This
retrospective evaluation of the programme explores students‟ perspectives on the extent to
which the Access Programme (AP) has „bridged the gap‟ between secondary and tertiary
education as well as any potential negative outcomes generated by the programme, e.g.
perceptions of stigma. Results indicate that (1) interviewed students generally perceived the
programme as beneficial and legitimate in preparing them for their degree studies, (2) the
racial homogeneity and the isolation of AP students from mainstream students have resulted
in some negative outcomes such as perceptions of stigmatisation and inferiority and (3)
students enrolled in the programme and the programme management may have quite different
perceptions of the nature of the „articulation gap‟ that the programme aims to address.

1
Introduction
Although South Africa has recently celebrated ten years of democracy, the country is still
facing the challenge of redressing past inequalities. While apartheid policies and practices
have largely been repealed and renounced, all levels of South African society are affected by
their legacy. After the advent of democracy in 1994, the major challenge for the ANC-led
national government has been to address transformation in the political, cultural, social and
economic sectors of South Africa. Since higher education performs a gate-keeping function
in aspects of social, cultural and economic development, it is important in the broad task of
realising and producing social change. Investigations into the state of higher education in
South Africa (e.g. Kapp, 1994) have emphasised the need for increasing equitable access to
tertiary education, and access or bridgingi programmes have been recommended as a partial
solution (Education White Paper 3, 1997).

While many tertiary educational institutions in South Africa have been implementing access
programmes for some years now, there is limited information regarding the practical success
of such programmes. Although authors such as Van Tonder (1996), Troskie-de Bruin (1999)
and Bernstein (2002) have explored the success of access programmes from students‟
perspectives, much of the research into access programmes has been initiated and executed
by tertiary institutions. As a result it generally describes, and to a limited extent evaluates,
access and bridging programmes from institutional perspectives (de Villiers & Rwigema,
1998). Such evaluations generally assess performance by analysing statistics such as
improvement in students‟ marks, pass rates and throughput (e.g. Curtis & De Villiers, 1992;
de Villiers & Rwigema, 1998). This allows us to determine the formal success of access
programmes, but it leaves us guessing as to the subjective (but important) experiences of
students who pass through such programmes, particularly in terms of their later adjustment to
mainstream studies. Timm (2005) emphasises that student perceptions of access programmes
are an important indicator of the success of such programmes.

Curriculum evaluation involves making judgements about the effectiveness, value and/or
appropriateness of a curriculum and one method of achieving such an evaluation is by
examining students‟ experiences (Melrose, 1996). The present paper evaluates an access
programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal by exploring the perspectives and
experiences of a single cohort of successful students. The transactional (naturalistic)

2
paradigm of curriculum evaluation, which recognises the diversity of students‟ experiences
(Melrose, 1996), was the underlying philosophy for the evaluation of the programme. The
study aimed to assess students‟ perceptions of the value and function of the programme in
order to investigate their perspectives on its strengths and weaknesses. The study also
explored students‟ perceptions of the how well the goals and aims of the programme were
realised, namely, the extent to which the programme has „bridged the gap‟ between
disadvantaged secondary and mainstream tertiary education, as well as any unintended
outcomes potentially introduced by participation in the programme. Adhering to the
philosophy of the transactional paradigm of curriculum evaluation, this evaluation aimed to
provide stakeholders with insight into students‟ subjective experience of the programme, their
perceptions of its value and with a platform to modify and develop the programme in the
future.

Literature Review

The imprints of apartheid on education

In apartheid South Africa, the quality and level of education an individual could attain was
inextricably tied to their race. Even today, previously disadvantaged schools continue to be
characterised by discrepancies in resources, facilities and teachers because of the effects of
Bantu Education and the under-funding of black education during the apartheid era
(Education White Paper 3, 1997). Many schools, although no longer officially segregated in
terms of race, lack the resources and infrastructure to produce students who are sufficiently
prepared for university.

The complex problems experienced by the school system means that many matriculants are
under-prepared for higher education (Nair, 2002). The majority of these students are black ii
and have suffered the residual effects of apartheid educational policies in previously
disadvantaged schools. These students are often ill-equipped to cope with the academic
challenges that tertiary educational institutions present. Clearly the academic under-
preparedness of large groups of students is directly related to the legacy of apartheid policies
of inequality (du Pré, 2003).

3
The new complexity
A decade after the dawn of democracy many black South Africans will have entered tertiary
institutions by meeting standard entrance criteria. Kahn (2005) suggests that black high
achievers tend to be concentrated in ex-Model C and private schools. These schools are able
to provide an increasingly adequate number of „prepared‟ black matriculants to fill available
places and meet racial quotas, although the process appears to be proceeding more slowly in
the sciences than in the humanities.

As student racial demographics begin to reflect population proportions, a new complexity

unfolds. Geographic and socio-economic constraints mean that many black students
(especially African students) receive their primary and secondary education at disadvantaged
schools. The fact that an increasingly large pool of „prepared‟ black students are entering the
tertiary education system via previously Model C schools, may distract authorities from the
huge body of students who continue to be disadvantaged by inequalities in the education
system. These social changes are likely to result in a system of inequality defined
geographically and socially rather than purely racially as it was in the past. The challenge for
access programmes in the coming years, then, is not so much about issues of race as it is
about redressing structural social inequalities by making the gatekeepers of the social elite
(i.e. universities and other tertiary education institutions) more permeable to poor students
who have so far been underprivileged with regard to educational opportunities.

Bridging programmes as an alternative route to access

Many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are employing bridging programmes as an
alternative for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who fail to meet tertiary entrance
requirements (Nair, 2002). Bridging programmes focus on providing pre-degree assistance to
students who are educationally disadvantaged (Snyders, 1999). These programmes aim to
address the „articulation gap‟ between secondary and tertiary institutions and to compensate
for the under-preparedness of students by providing them with additional support in
preparation for mainstream studies (du Pré, 2003). Access programmes are developed by
many HEIs as a solution to two problems: (1) the need to increase access to black students
who were disadvantaged by the apartheid system and (2) to equip these students academically
for higher-level study (Kapp, 1994).

Factors Contributing to the Effectiveness of Access Programmes

4
Pavlich, Orkin and Richardson (1995) have highlighted factors that increase the ability of
access programmes to focus on students‟ existing strengths in order to enhance their
capacities. They argue that effectiveness is determined by:
 The development of sensitive alternative selection procedures, i.e. identifying the more
capable students regardless of their matriculation results.
 The extent to which the faculty, administration and the student body perceive the
programme as “legitimate”.
 The use of appropriate learning technologies (e.g. tutorials, computer-assisted learning,
etc).
 Intra- and inter-programme management structures.
 Ensuring that disadvantaged students are catered for in non-academic ways (in terms of
financial aid, counselling services, etc).

The limitations of Access Initiatives: Developing strengths versus addressing weaknesses

Some authors argue that access programmes, by definition, are problematic as a final solution
because they treat individual students, rather than the education system as a whole, as
defective. However, Pavlich et al. (1995) argue that, although access programmes initially
sought to redress deficits in knowledge, they are increasingly acknowledging the importance
of harnessing existing strengths in students rather than focusing on weaknesses. However,
five years later, Mabokela (2000) examined academic development programmes at two
historically white universities and found that they still focused largely on addressing students‟
deficiencies. He argues that
the deficiency model of labelling black students has the potential not only to
stigmatise black students as inferior but also to impede the ability of these universities
to critically interrogate the relevance of their academic programs to the incoming
student group (Mabokela, 2000, 147).
Clearly there is potential for such programmes, by attempting to redress past educational
inequities, to increase students‟ perceptions of inferiority or stigma. Troskie-de Bruin (1999)
found that access students are critical of this „backward looking‟ stance of access initiatives,
considering such remedial education as a waste of time. Nevertheless, in light of the extent
of inequity in the South African education system, it is widely agreed that access programmes
are a worthwhile stopgap measure.

5
The present study
Programme evaluation involves an appraisal of the effectiveness of instructional programmes
(Fleischman & Williams, 1996). The purpose of this evaluation was to explore the
experiences of an access programme through the eyes of the students who have passed
through it. In addition, the present study will explore students‟ perceptions of whether the
access programme prepared them for their degree studies as well as whether the concerns of
academics expressed in the literature are reflected in the experiences of students in a local
access programme.

Method and sample

The Participating Access Programme
The access programme of interest (hereafter referred to as the AP) was developed by a
faculty of humanities and social science at the University of Natal (now the University of
KwaZulu-Natal) in response to an emergent awareness that many of the students accepted
into the faculty were not sufficiently prepared for university studies. The AP was designed as
a one-year bridging course for academically disadvantaged students and those who failed to
meet university entrance criteria. Eligible students were generally identified as matriculating
from schools that were still disadvantaged in terms of materials, facilities and teacher-pupil
ratios. Additionally, many of these students spoke English, the language of instruction, as a
second language. However, students were also enrolled if their secondary education did not
result in the equivalent of a South African matriculation exemption, for example, students
who completed their schooling in neighbouring SADC countries.

Students enrolled in the AP mostly completed courses exclusive to the AP, such as an
academic literacy course, designed to address the „articulation gap‟. However they also
participated in a limited number of mainstream first-year modules (some of which were
credit-bearing) in order to provide students with a framework for further study in degrees
such as Commerce, Arts, Social Science, Law and Education. In general, this programme
aimed to equip under-prepared students with the resources and skills to pursue degree studies,
with the envisaged outcome of increasing the success rates of these students.

Method

6
Programme evaluation involves “the use of social research methods to systematically
investigate the effectiveness of social intervention programs” (Rossi, Lipsey and Freeman,
2003, p. 29). The study adopted a qualitative focus, which was consistent with our intention
to explore students‟ subjective experiences of the access programme and subsequent degree
studies. Data was collected using semi-structured focus group interviews (see Appendix 1).
Questions for the focus group were developed after consultation with the programme
counsellor. Data collected in focus groups are valuable because group discussion helps to
provide insight into shared experiences revealing details and intricacies that may not be
readily apparent from individual interviews. Further, focus groups are a popular method of
collecting data about perceptions (Melrose, 1996).

The sample
The sample was purposively selected and the 2001 cohort were sampled largely because it
was anticipated that these students would be in the second or final year of their degree studies
and would be able to provide valuable insight into the efficacy of the access programme. The
cohort consisted of 71 students, 70African and one coloured, 40 males and 31 females all
above the age of 18. Twenty-six of these students were enrolled for commerce degrees, thirty
in the social sciences, fourteen in education and one in theology.

Due to practical constraints the study focused only on students who were enrolled in degree
studies (i.e. 51 of 70). Therefore the sample was biased to the extent that it only considered
successful students who may obviously have different perceptions of the programme
compared to other students. Of the 51 students still enrolled in degree studies at the time of
sampling we randomly selected two groups of eight participants to recruit for focus groups
using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet function. All selected students agreed to participate, but
only three of the eight selected participants attended the first focus group and six of the eight
attended the second, resulting in a sample size of nine (all were black South Africans; five
were female and four were male). Although this turnout was disappointing, it was
understandable since sampling was carried out quite close to exams. However, this further
suggests that the results of this study should be understood to come from a particularly
successful (given that they were still enrolled in degree studies) and organised (given that
they attended the focus groups in spite of academic pressure) subset of students. Although
this by no means invalidates the findings of the study, since this successful subset of students
had insightful observations and important criticisms related to their experience of the AP, it is

7
likely that other subsets of students – particularly those no longer enrolled in degree studies –
would have quite different perspectives on the programme. It is recommended that future
research be undertaken with students who have been academically unsuccessful or who have
dropped out for other reasons.

It should be remembered that the aim of this study was not to provide an exhaustive account
of all attitudes towards the AP, or the extent to which such attitudes are representative of the
student body. On the contrary, we aimed to obtain idiosyncratic narratives that would extend
our understandings of the types experiences that may be important to students on similar
programmes.

Analysis
The recorded focus groups were transcribed verbatim, resulting in a data corpus of
approximately 7500 words. Informed by Terre Blanche and Kelly (1999), transcripts from
focus groups were analysed using thematic analysis, which involves inductively coding
interviews to find common themes. While themes are being developed, data is coded by
means of grouping and regrouping in analytically relevant ways. Once themes have been
induced and coded, they are elaborated on to capture the finer meanings that were missed
during the coding stage. Finally data are interpreted in light of the emergent themes.

Results
Several themes have emerged from the data and these may be grouped along two dimensions,
namely, themes that relate to the structural and practical elements of the AP and themes that
relate to the social aspects of the programme.

1. Students‟ perceptions of the effectiveness of the practical components of the AP

The AP as an alternative route to access.

One sentiment expressed by the overwhelming majority of participants (eight of nine
participants) was that the AP was beneficial to students from disadvantaged schools and
backgrounds because it provided them with an avenue to enter tertiary education and to
pursue degree studies. Students noted that without the AP they would have been denied
access to university because they did not fulfil the admissions criteria stipulated for entry into
the university with regard to exemptions and the minimum entry points, for example:

8
Extract 1: Focus Group 2
P1: And I also think it was very helpful for people who didn‟t get things like
exemptions and stuff like that.
Extract 2: Focus Group 1
P1: Firstly I say that uh [pause] without enough points to go straight to LLB, I found
that it was good for me because if they didn‟t select me to do the access programme
I‟d be staying at home. I wouldn‟t be here at varsity.

Participants perceived the AP as a legitimate and viable alternative route to university entry
and even suggested that the AP increase the number of students it enrols, and thereby
“accommodate more students” (Focus group 2, Participant 4).
The extent to which students‟ perceived that they were prepared by the AP for their degree
studies was related to the specific degrees that the participants pursued when they entered
mainstream first-year studies. The commerce students in the group commented that they
were less prepared in general than participants who pursued other degrees within the Faculty.
Extract 3: Focus Group 2
P5: No, I didn‟t think it [the AP] prepared me „cause I was gonna do BCom [pause]
when I came to first year BCom, everything was different and then I had to change
my degree to B Social Science, as it was too difficult. I couldn‟t handle it.
Extract 4: Focus Group 2
I: How did it feel going from the AP straight into your degree?
P2: It was more difficult.
P3: For us who were doing B Social Science, it was easy.

Students pointed out that the faculty to which the AP was attached offered courses in a great
variety of disciplines that each placed different demands on students. Students argued that
these differences, as well as differences in individual students‟ limitations and potential, had
not been completely addressed by the general approach of the AP. The „faculty‟ is an
organisational entity that groups numerous disparate subjects and disciplines for
administrative convenience. The use of this administrative grouping in defining the AP may
have masked important differences in the skills and abilities required for individual target
disciplines conglomerated in the faculty. Students argued that the AP should be more
thoughtful about preparing access students for the unique demands of specific disciplines
within the faculty rather than taking a „one size fits all‟ approach.

The nature of the articulation gap

Students readily acknowledged the „gap‟ between high school and university and recognised
the role of the AP in bridging that gap by increasing access to previously disadvantaged

9
students. However, as mentioned previously, students reported different perceptions of the
nature of the „gap‟ that the AP aims to address.
Extract 5: Focus Group 1
P1: …it‟s like when you are coming from high school, you don‟t know exactly what is
happening at varsity…
Extract 6: Focus Group 1
P3: For me I think [inaudible] if I can compare myself to some students doing first
year who were doing Standard 10 last year, I can do, I can do well.
Extract 7: Focus Group 1
P2: From like school they got all the advantages so I definitely understand that I‟m
coming from a disadvantaged school. So, for us it‟s not easy to have equal points.
Extract 8: Focus Group 1
P4: I just will support her in saying that you‟re actually better than the person who
comes straight into first year.

From the above extracts it is evident that some students viewed the AP merely as a means to
attain the bureaucratic requirement of exemption, in other words perceiving a practical gap
(see Extract 7). Such students did not see themselves as academically „under-prepared‟, nor
did they express the belief that the programme had addressed any potential lack of
preparedness, or decreased the „articulation gap‟. Rather they saw the AP as a means to an
end for those who fail to meet the usual university entrance criteria. Other students reported
that the AP addressed social deficits by initiating them into university culture and preparing
them to access social resources (see Extract 5), for example, by giving them the confidence to
approach educators. Finally, a few students recognised that the AP addressed pedagogic
deficits by bridging the gap between their secondary and tertiary education (see Extract 6 and
8).

2. Social components of the AP

Socialisation into university culture

Participants agreed that an advantage of completing the AP was that by their first year they
were sufficiently socialised into the university culture and hence were more adept at adjusting
in their first year and at choosing courses:
Extract 9: Focus Group 2 (P5)
P5: I think the good part of it again, is probably for first year you get to know the
whole university, part of it, and you can decide which courses you wanna do. You
can research them when you‟ve got time…
Extract 10: Focus Group 1 (P1)
P1: I thank the programme for that because I learnt how to approach lecturers.

10
They also suggested that the discipline enforced in the HSAP to attend lectures did extend to
their current degrees. Participants said that the programme helped improve their capacity to
communicate and express themselves both verbally and in writing essays, and they enjoyed
the cohesive nature of small classes in which strong and enduring friendships were formed.

Disenchantment with the Racial Composition of the Student Body

According to the majority of participants (eight of nine participants), one of the negative
aspects of the AP was the fact that the programme enrolled only African students.
Extract 11: Focus Group 2
I: And any negative parts of the AP?
P5: There were only blacks! [Africans]

Students pointed out a disparity between rhetoric and practice in that the AP is advertised to
be an alternative route of access to university for all students who did not meet standard
university entrance requirements of the matric exemption with the specified number of
points. However, in practice, access seemed restricted to African students only, even though
the AP was “theoretically” open to non-African students. Some students pointed out that
there are certainly many White, Indian and Coloured students who fail to meet standard
entrance criteria and yet were not enrolled in the AP, for example in Extract 12:
Extract 12: Focus Group 1
P2: Because even in our group, I think there was only one White and one Indian who
just, uh, came here and there.
P1: Two Indians.
P2: I just didn‟t understand what was going on, you know, and it just made me
question the whole process of the access programme.

Participants argued that limiting enrolment to African students, instils feelings of being
separate from the rest of the university and being different from mainstream students who
learn in an integrated environment. They suggested that, by enrolling African students only,
issues of race are accentuated which might perpetuate feelings of inferiority in students.
Extract 13: Focus Group 2
P2: I think that [inaudible] at least they should be mixed with other first year students
getting a feel of at least the first year you know, modules and attend lectures with
them [pause] so that they won‟t feel inferior.

Some participants reported that they entered university hoping for an opportunity to interact
with people of different races and from different cultures. In an interview with Troskie-de

11
Bruin (1999) an African student remarked, “I‟ve met most of my friends from the Coloured
community on the Bridging Programme and we are still very good friends”, which reflects
the importance students attach to studying in an integrated environment. In our study one
participant suggested that the racial homogeneity of the programme mirrored the environment
of a disadvantaged high school.
Extract 14: Focus Group 2
P5: „Cause we thought when we‟d come to varsity we would interact with all kinds of
races.
I: Ja
P3: It was more like high school.
Van Tonder (1996) suggests that it is important that students in access programmes feel part
of university life. However, participants argued that, by enrolling only African students, the
AP limits their social development in that they do not interact with students from other race
groups. However one participant did argue that it is not the intention of the programme to
target African students but rather that the programme was aimed at disadvantaged students,
the majority of whom are African:
Extract 15: Focus Group 2
P4: …the intention of the course is not mainly based on integrating different races but
it is to encapsulate people who come from different backgrounds, that is who have
something in common. And that thing being a disadvantaged background… you find
that those people actually come from those such backgrounds are actually black in
colour [Africans] or come from a particular race.

Stigma
Participants also discussed feeling stigmatised as AP students, saying that the organisation of
the programme results in perceptions of inferiority.
Extract 16: Focus Group 1
P1: We have that attitude, we have that. We feel like we were treated different from
the varsity students, like we like, I don‟t know – we like inferior or we don‟t qualify
because we like got those small classes, separate.
Extract 17: Focus Group 2
P2: I think that [inaudible] at least they should be mixed with other first year students
getting a feel of at least the first year you know, modules and attend lectures with
them [pause] so that they won‟t feel inferior.
Extract 18: Focus Group 1
P1: I don‟t think that other people were treating us badly, it‟s just that you,
individually, you feel like inferior because I‟m doing the thing [the AP] you know.
It‟s not recognisable.

The majority of participants agreed that they felt different from mainstream university
students during their year in the AP. Participants reported that they rarely had the
opportunity to interact with mainstream university students in an academic environment and

12
suggested that the structure of the programme, as well as its racial homogeneity, perpetuated
feelings of inferiority as students felt isolated from the rest of the university. Students
reported that this was accentuated by the fact that many mainstream students had a limited
knowledge, if any, about the AP.
Extract 19: Focus Group 1
P3: Some people ask us „what are you doing here?‟ When we say [the AP], they say
„what is that?‟

AP students reported that they were often “reminded” of their deficiencies by members of
staff, which may feed into feelings of isolation, inferiority and stigmatisation.
Extract 20: Focus Group 2
P5: And we were always told that we were from the disadvantaged schools.
P3: We were reminded over and over again.
Extract 21: Focus Group 2
I: Did you feel different during the AP, from the rest of the varsity students?
P4: In many ways, but I will name two. Okay, one way, something that we actually
complained about, that we know we come from disadvantaged backgrounds, now to
actually keep on reminding us that we are second language speakers was the problem.
We knew that we were second language speakers… Now if you keep telling us that
we are second language speakers as if you are saying to us a particular language is
superior to others is a problem. Also the fact that they kept reminding us that we are
in access, not in university - we were being told that we were not yet in university.

Although students‟ reported that staff had developed their strengths as students, they noted
that this was accomplished in a context in which their limitations were often emphasised.

Discussion
Pavlich et al. (1995) suggests that the effectiveness of access programmes is partially
determined by the extent to which the faculty, administration and student body perceive the
programme as legitimate. In the case of the AP, participants overwhelmingly reported that
the programme is a viable and legitimate alternative route to university access. In general
students found the programme valuable and helpful in preparing them for their degree
studies, particularly in terms of lecture attendance and in developing relationships with
educators and other students. They also reported that without the AP many students would
not have had the opportunity to access a university education and they credit the AP for their
success in their degrees. Students believed that the programme equipped them with both
academic and social skills that enabled them to prosper in mainstream studies.

13
Access programmes are usually initiated and implemented to address the articulation gap
between disadvantaged secondary and mainstream tertiary level education. However,
students perceive this „gap‟ in three ways: 1) as a pragmatic barrier impeding entry to the
institution, 2) as a social resource because they are unfamiliar with the culture of the
university environment, and 3) as the pedagogical gap identified by educators. Many
students do not overtly acknowledge the role of the AP in „bridging the articulation gap‟.
This demonstrates two things: firstly, that the students in AP‟s may consider themselves to be
„administratively impeded‟ rather than „academically disadvantaged‟. Of course given the
potential for perceived stigmatisation that we will discuss below, this may be a more useful
self-image! Secondly, it may be beneficial for APs to focus on the social gap identified by
students as well as the more conventional goal of addressing educational deficits. In fact the
participating AP included certain activities designed to address this, for example requiring
that students approach and interview mainstream educators as part of their studies.

Focusing too exclusively on the „articulation gap‟ may potentially disguise great variation in
the needs of students. Regarding AP students as a homogenous „disadvantaged‟ group has
the potential to result in programmes in which staff aim to prepare students for mainstream
studies by addressing their deficits. As students point out, this focus has the potential to
create an unintended consequence of stigmatisation. Similarly, Troskie-de Bruin (1999)
found that the „one size fits all‟ approach was critiqued by students in other APs at another
South African university.

AP management reported that students were encouraged to use English (the language of
instruction) as much as possible, but that mother-tongue use was certainly not prohibited.
However, students reported that some AP staff criticised mother tongue use, giving the
impression that “a particular language is superior to others” (Extract 21). Students reported
that they were sometimes criticised and subtly demeaned for their inadequacies. Mabokela
(2000) argued that focusing on students‟ deficiencies has the potential to stir feelings of
inferiority and stigmatisation in students. Indeed many of the interviewed students reported
that they felt “inferior” and “stigmatised” during their year in the AP. This is not necessarily
an objective indictment of the AP or the staff members to which the students are referring,
and it is important to note that students in this context may be very sensitive to anything that
may emphasize their difference or disadvantage. Nevertheless, this is an important reminder

14
to educators to avoid activities or comments that may intentionally or unintentionally
highlight differences and thereby result in feelings of inferiority or stigma.

While AP management reports that the programme is open to any students who have failed to
qualify for general university selection criteria and had attended disadvantaged schools, in
practice, the AP is primarily aimed at students from ex-DET schools, i.e. African students.
This is consistent with the purpose identified by Kapp (1994) who suggested that APs are
developed by many HEIs to increase access to black [African] students. Although apartheid
policies resulted in educational hierarchies such that educational disadvantage is most often
experienced by African students (de Villiers and Rwigema, 1998), the exclusive focus on
these students masks the fact that apartheid policies have academically disadvantaged other
race groups as well. While racial homogeneity in an AP of this nature may be difficult to
avoid, participants have identified the lack of racial diversity among students as a negative
outcome of the programme that may result in feelings of stigmatisation, inferiority and
isolation. One student even suggested that the racial composition of the AP reproduces
aspects of their disadvantaged school. This reveals a great dilemma for APs in general: they
are by nature defined by the needs of a particular social group (the educationally
disadvantaged) and are therefore inevitably homogenous – and yet such homogeneity may
accentuate the sense of inferiority that they are designed to address. This issue clearly needs
to be tackled if APs are to continue as a means of providing access to disadvantaged students
in years to come. One potential solution suggested by students is to structure AP studies so
that AP students are spatially and socially integrated with the mainstream student body.

The question of whether APs should continue into the future is a thorny one, since, after more
than a decade of democracy, issues of race and disadvantage are becoming more blurred. As
the proportion of black students receiving their education through advantaged schools
increases, so the importance of access programmes in achieving equitable student
demographics decreases. However, even once an institution‟s demographic spectrum is
achieved by drawing a full complement of students from advantaged schools, there will still
be a massive body of (largely African) students from disadvantaged schools who lack access
to tertiary education. If AP‟s are conceptualised as interventions to address disadvantage
then they will continue to be important in years to come. However, if they are conceptualised
as entities that intervene on the level of race then they may appear to be unimportant once
issues of demographic representation are satisfied through conventional (and cheap) selection

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criteria. Incidentally, students in the present study criticised the difference between rhetoric
that frames the intervention in terms of „disadvantage‟, and practices that intervene on the
level of race. At present, the legacies of apartheid make race an important part of this social
pattern of inequality, but in the future assuming that race is a good proxy for disadvantage
will be problematic in two ways. Firstly, increasing numbers of advantaged African students
will enter universities via mainstream selection procedures, satisfying equity criteria and
thereby disguising the vast and persistent inequalities in South African society. Secondly,
disadvantaged students who are not „African‟ will be further disadvantaged. APs therefore
need to clarify these issues by revising their selection procedures to redress social rather than
racial issues.

Conclusion
This exploratory study aimed to evaluate an access programme by investigating students‟
perceptions of the extent to which the AP has “bridged” the “gap” between secondary and
tertiary education. It also aimed to explore any potential negative outcomes generated by the
programme. The present study has identified important strengths and weaknesses of the
programme. Firstly, while the majority of students perceive the AP as a beneficial and
legitimate alternative route to access, a divide exists across disciplines regarding students‟
perceptions of the effectiveness of the programme in preparing them for their degree studies.
This emphasizes the importance of approaching access students as a varied group of students
with different needs, rather than approaching them as a homogenous group who share the
same „disadvantage‟. This study reveals that individual students may have vastly different
needs, expectations and requirements of such a programme. Students generally identified
three different „gaps‟ addressed by the AP, namely, the pragmatic gap of obtaining
exemption, the social gap of acculturation to university life and the „articulation gap‟ that
such programmes are generally designed to address.

Issues of racial homogeneity of the student body and stigmatisation have been discussed as
negative outcomes of the programme. While these are clearly unintended consequences that
are difficult to avoid, they have nevertheless had a powerful impact on participants‟
perceptions of the AP.

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These results suggest that APs should take issues of variation amongst „disadvantaged‟
students seriously. In particular it is recommended that APs:
 expand the conception of the gap that is being addressed to incorporate the practical and
social as well as the academic requirements of students; and
 adopt an ideology that avoids practical isolation and racial homogeneity of AP students
from the mainstream student body.

Undoubtedly, access programmes have a significant purpose to fulfil in the process of

transformation envisaged by the democratic government. Since the abandoning of apartheid
policies and practices, these programmes have played an important role in increasing access
to tertiary institutions for the many students who have been academically disadvantaged.
While the majority of previous research regarding access programmes has focused on the
viewpoints of educators, this study has focused on students‟ perceptions. As such, it has
illuminated factors that have the potential to impact on the efficacy of access programmes
and which may have important implications for their future implementation and development.

However, this paper should not be misunderstood as an objective appraisal of the

participating AP. Firstly, only students who had successfully remained in their degree studies
for three years were sampled and students who had either not been accepted into degree
studies or who had later dropped out would probably have different perceptions of the AP.
Secondly, while students are important stakeholders, they do not necessarily have full insight
into the benefits or limitations of the AP through which they have passed. Thirdly, they were
interviewed retrospectively about a programme they completed a few years previously and
their memories may have been clouded by their consequent experiences in their degree
studies. Nevertheless, the opinions they put forward were sophisticated and are an important
voice in the ongoing debate about APs in South African education.

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Appendix 1: Interview Schedule

1. If you think back, what do you remember most about the AP?
2. What were some of your positive experiences of the AP?
3. What were some of your negative experiences of the AP?
 Why?
4. How did if feel going from the AP into your degree?
5. Do you think that you were better prepared for your degree studies because you
completed the AP?
 What aspects of the programme were most effective in preparing you for your
degree?
 What aspects of the programme were least effective in preparing you for your
degree?
6. Were there any specific courses that you feel prepared you better for your degree?
 Which ones?
7. Did you encounter any problems in your first year that you feel the AP should have
prepared you for?
 What did you think that the AP could have done to prepare you for this?
8. Did the AP provide you with any support during your degree studies?
 What type of support would you have liked to receive from the AP during your degree
studies?
9. What aspects of the AP were most enjoyable?
10. Was it difficult to adapt to the freedom and independence of your current degree as
compared to the discipline and structure of the AP?
11. Do you think that you would have coped well in your first year if you did not complete
the AP?
12. During your year in the AP did you feel different in any way from mainstream university
students?
 Socially?
 Resources?
 Lecturers?
13. Would other people be aware that you entered university through the AP?
 How would they know?
 How do you feel about others knowing that you were an AP student?

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14. Do people treat you differently when they know you‟re from the AP?
15. Do you think that the AP would be better if it comprised students from other race groups?
16. Would you recommend the AP to other students? Why?
17. What comments and criticisms could you offer about the AP?
18. What could change about the AP in order to improve the learning experiences of future
students?
19. What comments and criticisms could you offer about the access programme?

Endnotes

i
For the purposes of this paper, the terms “access programmes” and “bridging programmes” will be used
interchangeably.
ii
Classifying social groups by race is always problematic, and there is little agreement in the literature as to
whom the term „black‟ refers to. For the purposes of this paper, „black‟ refers to any person who would have
been prejudiced by inequitable conditions under apartheid, i.e. people previously classified as „African‟,
„Coloured‟ and „Indian‟.

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