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What does student success look like for an institution? Identifying the need to tackle this question and to personalise it for its own campus, the Qwaqwa Campus Student Success Work Group was established on the Qwaqwa Campus to constantly reflect on the success of students’ academic journeys.

Established in 2019, the team of staff members from different corners of the campus – faculties, Student Academic Services, the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and Campus Management – came together to create a community that completes projects in order to determine what is going well, and what still needs to be improved when considering Qwaqwa Campus students and their success.

Evidence-based approach

Speaking to us about the team, Dr Eleanor Bernard, Assistant Director of CTL on the Qwaqwa Campus and coordinator of the group, says the team meets at the beginning of each year to decide on projects for the year, which follow an evidence-based approach as a way of using data to identify and gauge the issue at hand, to come up with necessary interventions, and use data to also measure the success of the project.  

“In 2020, we completed three projects. Firstly, the CLASSE (classroom survey of student engagement) was implemented with two lecturers and their modules, where data were collected and analysed on student engagement and how lecturers can improve in certain modules.

Qualitatively, as part of the larger institutional journey mapping project, we added a Qwaqwa-specific component, where focus-group interviews were held with more than 50 students to understand their experiences, starting from applying to study at the UFS, registration, and all the way to graduation, and what we as a campus community can do to support them. This data was included in the Journey Mapping report. We also create one or two infographics per year to share – for example Blackboard access data and success rates – in an accessible way with academics, so as to empower them with knowledge around their students’ struggles,” she says.

Student learning on a higher level

The CLASSE project was carried into 2021, and a new project related to the creation of multiple-choice question banks for student learning on a higher level was implemented this year. Two modules were involved, and data around the lecturers’ and students’ experiences to adjust the project will be used to deliver the project to more modules in 2022.