Towards a matrix for the advancement of black working class students in South Africa’s historically privileged universities

Abstract

As a result of educational reform, historically privileged white universities are experiencing an influx of black students, whose ‘underpreparedness’ is evidenced in low throughput rates. My research question is: How should black students’ views on key factors in their learning be incorporated in a historically privileged South African university’s student support measures? Utilizing the model on student development by Chickering and Reisser (1993) which propose seven vectors that represent the main aspects of student development, the empirical data contributed towards the development of a matrix for the advancement of black working class (BWC) students in South Africa’s historically privileged universities.