Adjustment Dynamics of First-Year Students to University Life at a Rural University in South Africa
Matsolo Mokhampanyane 
Issue: Vol.5 No.7 Issue Article 14 pp.1238-1249
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20245714 | Published online 12th July, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This research paper discussed the adjustment dynamics of first-year students to university life. Registering for the first time at the university seems to impose various challenges on newcomers. Most first-year students experience adjustment challenges in university life, which seem to lead to poor academic performance. Their performance stimulated the need to find the challenges and find ways to enhance adjustments and challenges to improve academic performance. The theory underlying this paper was Critical Emancipatory Research Theory. Participatory action research was employed in this study to collect data and a thematic approach was used to analyse data. A WhatsApp group was created to facilitate group conversations for data collection. The paper responds to two research questions: What adjustment challenges are experienced by first-year university students? In which ways can adjustment challenges be overcome? Participants in the study were ten first-year university students from two faculties. The study found that the factors contributing to difficulties in adjustment were a university workload, lack of residential accommodation, and lack of financial support. In light of the findings, the study recommends support strategies and programs that promote interaction with and among those who are newcomers at the university and the building of more residences for students. This paper contributes to the continued discussion about how newcomers can be supported to ensure they are settled in a conducive academic environment.
Keywords: Workload, Residential Accommodation, Academic Adjustment, Social Adjustment.
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Dr. Matsolo Mokhampanyane is an Accounting Education Doctor and Senior Lecturer in a faculty of Humanities within the Department of Language and Social Science Education at Central University of Technology, Free State (Welkom Campus), South Africa in the Department of Accounting and Business Management Studies. Her research focused more on Pedagogical content knowledge of Accounting, Transformative pedagogy, and accounting knowledge.
Mokhampanyane, Matsolo. “Adjustment Dynamics of First-Year Students to University Life at a Rural University in South Africa,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.7 (2024): 1238-1249. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20245714
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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