Increasing equity and compensating historically academically disadvantaged students at a tertiary level: benefits of a Science Foundation Programme as a way of access

Abstract

An approach to remedy the scarcity of Black students within the sciences at southern African universities has been the development of access programmes. There has been little acknowledgement of the contribution of these access programmes in increasing the quantity and quality of graduates. The contribution made by the Science Foundation Programme (SFP) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Pietermaritzburg campus, South Africa, was assessed for the years 1991–2003. Participation in the programme did not guarantee access to faculty. Of the 1533 SFP students, 1101 subsequently registered for tertiary study at UKZN and 479 students graduated. Of these, 317 students completed a science degree, 25 completed engineering, 28 completed medicine and 109 completed a degree in the humanities or commerce. Numbers of students were still in progress for the respective degrees. In addition, a number have continued with postgraduate study. These results highlight the valuable role played by the SFP in terms of equity redress and providing a route for historically disadvantaged students to achieve tertiary education success.

Keywords:

• tertiary access
• foundation programme
• disadvantaged students
• equity redress
• tertiary success

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Kirsten Wimberger, Andrea Wellmann and Nolleen Chidzawo for their assistance in retrieving and checking data. In addition, Florence Ajulu-Southway, Yougan Aungamuthu, Shelley Barnsley, Yvette Chetty, Nolleen Chidzawo, Ron Webber, Dave Ward and Paddy Ewer are thanked for discussion of ideas. I would like to thank and commend those that initiated SFP on Pietermaritzburg campus, UKZN, and those that have implemented it.