Students make use of photos to tell their individual
stories.
Photo: Supplied

The Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development (CRHED), in collaboration with a group of eleven undergraduate students, recently held a Photovoiceexhibition on the South Campus. These students began their journey at the University of the Free State (UFS) through the extended programme and the UPP programme (now called the University Access Programme: UAP), offered at the South Campus.

Getting to know them through images

This project aims to understand how students from disadvantaged backgrounds decide to go to university, what and who influences their decision, what challenges and opportunities they face, and how they cope once they are at university. Each student selects six photographs from the photographs they have taken, provide a title for their photo-essay, as well as a caption for each. 

Prof Melanie Walker: Director of CRHED, says, “We wanted young people from backgrounds that are not particularly well-off, to tell their stories as to how they got access to higher education.” She says they wanted to understand from the students’ voices rather than from the assumptions researchers might make.

Access to higher education through self-determination

Psychology student Mandisa Mnyakama’s first photo depicts her high school days when she was just a teen and on top of that, pregnant as well. “The next photo, titled ‘Pregnant’ narrates a time when I felt isolated, unsure, and worried. This is a time when I no longer had friends and felt so unsure about my future,” she says. She says the determination to create a better future for herself and her child pushed her to go to university.

Prof Walker says, “We wanted a participatory research project, so we wanted young researchers to develop their skills, knowledge, and empowering themselves as part of the academic community, and to be able to share their experiences.”