Ludolph Botha and Antoinette van der Merwe hlb@sun.ac.za and advdm@sun.ac.za

1. Establishing a First-year Academy at Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa: A comprehensive and strategic institutional project Ludolph Botha and Antoinette van der Merwe hlb@sun.ac.za and advdm@sun.ac.za Stellenbosch University

3. Stellenbosch University (SU) - Quick Facts • Research-based University • 22 569 students (2006) • Undergraduate: 15 149 • Graduate: 7 420 • 2 352 permanent staff members • Ten Faculties (Colleges/Schools) • Four Campuses • University town • One third in University housing (residences) • One third in town (private housing) • One third commuting

4. Overview • Some statistics • National • Stellenbosch University • Conceptualisation of First-year Academy in 2006 • Brief and process • Outcomes and recommendations • Implementation: Some notable developments in 2007: • Establishment of TLC; Use of technology; Early assessment; Awareness raising; Welcoming programme; Prediction model; Activities in progress • Lessons learnt • Closing remarks

5. National Statistics: Progress of 2000 Cohort of First-time Entering Undergraduates Source: Higher Education Management Information System, Dept of Education

6. SU First-year Students – Some Facts • Almost 70% of SU’s 4000 first-year students of 2006 obtained an A or B aggregate in final school year • SU performs detailed cohort analyses in terms of retention, throughput rates and graduation rates • Average drop in academic achievements from final school year to first year: 27% • Drop can be attributed to school grade inflation • Students from previously disadvantaged schools experience greater drops in performance at university level than students from advantaged schools

7. Retention Rates of First-year Students* * First-time entering

8. Conceptualisation of First-year Academy: Brief and Process in 2006 • Brief • Obtain complete picture of existing support for first-year students • Conceptualize new and creative interventions/plans to improve student success • Determine how to structurally handle/position FYA • WHO? • Role-players: senior academics from faculties and academic support units • HOW? • Coordinating Committee that reports to the VR(Teaching) • Working groups: (1) Prediction model and use of technology; (2) Top students and improving the culture of learning; (3) New foundation programmes and access issues; (4) Early warning system, class attendance, dealing with large classes and involving parents; and (5) Research (including literature overview), practices at other universities and report

9. Brief and Process in 2006 (cont.) • Points of departure: Vision 2012; Optimizing all students’ potential; Systemic/holistic approach; Take cognizance of good practices at other universities; Research-based; Total institution ownership; Take existing initiatives into consideration; Improving excellence without compromising standards • Continued consultation and communication • WHAT? • Continue BAU • Conduct institutional survey of existing initiatives • Conduct research – literature overview, external and internal research initiatives • Working groups focus on new and creative initiatives • Conceptualize report

10. Outcomes and Recommendations • Report with clustered recommendations • School preparation, admission, bridging • Alternative access routes, foundation/extended degree programmes, tutor/mentor programmes • Curriculum and programme implications (including e-Learning) • Technology to support initiative, including prediction model, tracking, early warning • Provision for top students and learning culture improvement • Structural issues - creative and collaborative model

11. Implementation: Establishment of TLCs in Faculties • Develop joint ownership for First-year Academy among faculties, Academic Support and students

12. Implementation: Using Technology to Support the Student Lifecycle mymaties.com Potential Prospective student Prospective student First year student Senior student Postgrad student matiesalumni.net Alumnus maties.com Alpha-baseline survey E-Mentor system First-year Academy Early e-test Extended Degree Programme (EDP) Alpha progress survey Early Support Questionnaire PACE Academic offering: e-Calendar Prospectus Brochures Admissions formula: Self test Marketing survey Test against profile of successful student Financial advice Housing advice Career Mentorship Careers website Omega survey Career mentor Employer in the Careers website E-Application E-Assessment Career readiness survey Psychological e-consultations E-Registration E-Bursaries Tracking system

13. Implementation: Early Support Questionnaire

14. Implementation: Early Assessment • Rationale: Get to them before it’s too late (early warning) • A mark loaded for all 1st year modules after six weeks • Marks available via student and staff portals (online step-by-step user guide) • Letters to postal address (parents) • Discussion of marks in Teaching and Learning Coordination points (TLC) • Campus-wide awareness and wide variety of new and innovative interventions

15. Early Assessment Menu Available to lecturers and academic management Available to academic management

16. 1 4 5 2 3 6 Programme Context

17. Faculty / Programme Summary

18. Problem Module Summary

19. Implementation: Awareness Raising • Articles in Campus newspaper and Electronic Bulletin • Presentations to Council, RMT and Senate exec • Meetings with deans, wardens, student leaders • Targeted communication: Staff and student portals • FYA webpage on Centre for Teaching and Learning’s website • Booklet for first generation parents and prospective students • FYA theme at annual in-house Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching

20. Implementation: Welcoming Programme • Ten years in existence • Seven day programme • Common goal of 2007 Programme: Academic matters as focus in context of FYA • Buy-in from student leadership, management, academic and support staff • FYA multimedia presentation for both students and parents at Official Welcoming Function

21. Implementation: Study Skills Programme on Intranet

22. Implementation: Prediction Model • Final school mark plays a role in first-year success, BUT: • Final school mark only explains 35.92% variance in first-year performance • Variance increases with addition of morevariables (qualitative as well as quantitative) • Alpha Baseline Questionnaire (completed by all first-year students) provides valuable qualitative data • Prediction model utilizes ten qualitative variables combined with seven quantitative variables • 7.47% increase in prediction value of 2006 cohort to 43.39%

23. Implementation: Further Activities in Progress • Restructuring of Mentor-tutor Programme • ResEd • Exciting new initiatives in University housing to promote learning culture • Revisiting curricula and programme outcomes – especially for first-years (including integration of generic skills) • Special faculty initiatives aimed at first-year lecturers • Further research • Large first-year classes, class attendance, changing school curriculum and impact on first-year curricula

24. Lessons Learnt • “Nothing new under the sun!” • Bottom line: teaching and learning central to 1st years’ success • Multitude of interdependent variables impacting on student learning that requires: • systemic/holistic approach • continued research • prediction model to determine success variables • early warning • continuous tracking and feedback

25. Lessons Learnt (cont.) • Function before structure: • existing structures and budgets for sustainability and buy-in • in line with existing policies • But, it’s a process ... • Value of correlating results of own research initiatives with national and international literature • Institutional engagement on process level: • communication • management • representation • consultation • working groups (creativity and value of sharing) • readiness institutionally

26. Concluding remarks • World-wide concern about first-years’ performance – Stellenbosch decided to take focused action • Early impact • Raised awareness of first-year needs • More actions taken within faculties to support first-years • More cooperation between faculty members and academic support staff • Early assessment leading to scrutiny of assessment practices in general • Critical success factors include: • Sustained management support needed • Establishment of TLC’s in faculties • For further discussion: • EA marks: reliability of marks taking into account that it’s low stakes assessment and not intended for streaming of students • Getting to them before it’s too late vs learned helplessness

27. Any questions?