Student engagement in South Africa: A key to success, quality and development

Abstract

This discussion of the South African Survey of Student Engagement (SASSE) begins by examining the South African higher education landscape and post-apartheid challenges. It is argued that student engagement data and research can be used to improve the quality of teaching and learning, especially for undergraduates, and to create conditions that are more conducive to student success. The discussion turns to the development of a suite of South African institutional-level measures for students, lecturers, beginning students as well as class-level measures. Broad trends in the results are summarised, and the chapter concludes with discussion of applications of the survey data for quality improvement, research and capacity development.