New Issue: JSAA publishes Vol. 12(1) "Supportive Contexts for Student Success"

Student affairs and services practitioners in African higher education are challenged to provide transformative student development and support to a very diverse body of students, and they often do so without the level of resources – human, financial, and infrastructure – that their counterparts in other world regions can draw on. For African student affairs practitioners, drawing from the ubuntu philosophy and their African collectivist practices, their strategy is often to design supportive contexts for success and collective approaches to support, rather than individual support interventions, to maximize their reach despite limited resources. This is an acknowledgement of the social articulation of student success, an articulation that communicates success from personal development to academic achievement and real-life outcomes, and a relation between notions of success within higher education and beyond to the world of work and achievement of sustainable livelihoods. The resource constraints facing African student affairs practitioners are not only of a human, financial and infrastructural resource nature; context-relevant knowledge resources are also a constraint to supporting student success.   The Journal of Student Affairs in Africa (JSAA)has sought to address the latter gap with its mission “to contribute to the professionalization of student affairs in African higher education”. Since 2013, JSAA has been publishing original articles dealing with the theory and practice of student affairs in universities in Africa and related relevant contexts.   This issue of JSAA,entitled ‘Supportive contexts for student success’, delves into the multifaceted dimensions of student support across different contexts – from the campus environment to the classroom, from residence life to life online, and from psychological well-being to collective student organization. The articles investigate not only the traditional forms of direct support, but also the broader contextual conditions that either facilitate or hinder student achievement. The first article, ‘Hauntological engagements: Visual redress at Stellenbosch University’ by Elmarie Costandius,† Gera de Villers, and Leslie van Rooi, sets the tone for this theme. It investigates how visual and cultural redress at Stellenbosch University impacts student experience and institutional transformation.   Following this, ‘Cyberbullying in Kenyan universities: Lessons and insights from personal experiences of deans of students’ by Angella Kogos, Tom Kwanya, Lucy Kibe, Erick Ogolla, and Claudia Onsare, provides a critical examination of the challenges posed by cyberbullying and the strategies employed by university administration to mitigate these issues.   Mpho P. Jama and Pulane Malefane contribute with ‘Reflective perspectives of residence heads’ experiences and responses during COVID-19 at a Free State university’, offering a detailed look at how residence life practitioners navigated the complexities brought on by the global health crisis.   In ‘Student motives, expectations, and preparedness for higher education: A gender-based study’, Jade Jansen, Badrunessa Williams, and Azmatullah Latief present insights into how gender influences student motivations and readiness for higher education.   The mental health and coping mechanisms of postgraduate psychology students during the COVID-19 pandemic are examined by Tasneem Hassem, Victor de Andrade, Sumaya Laher, Nabeelah Bemath, and Katherine Bain in their article, providing valuable lessons learned from this unprecedented period.   Naadhira Seedat and Rishen Roopchund explore ‘The role of the Muslim Student Association at a South African university in promoting a sense of belonging, community service, and a student-centred environment’, highlighting the significance of faith-based student organizations in fostering a supportive campus climate.   Nina Rossouw’s study, ‘“Did ‘Step-Up’ help in stepping up?” Transition programmes as a factor to improve student academic performance’, evaluates the effectiveness of transition programmes designed to aid students’ academic progress.   Linda Meyer and Birgit Schreiber shed light on the unique challenges faced by first-generation students at private universities in South Africa and the opportunities these institutions have to address these challenges in their article on ‘South African private universities: The unique challenges of private university first-generation students – The unique opportunity for private higher education institutions’.   The procedures and practices in providing student support services at a nursing college in South Africa are scrutinized by Thembekile P. Skakane-Masango, Ntombifikile G. Mtshali, and Sandiso Ngcobo, who offer a comprehensive look at the state of student support in nursing education.   Jessica Versfeld and Caitlin Vinson delve into ‘Exploring first-year engineering student perceptions of peer-led study groups in a Global South context’, presenting a study on the role and impact of study groups on student performance in demanding environments.   Bernadette Johnson’s ‘Disturbed: Doing deep transformative work – Reflections on social justice work in South African higher education’ provides a reflective account on the progress and challenges of social justice initiatives within higher education institutions with a focus on Wits University, discussing their unique approach to institutional transformation.   In keeping with our striving to bridge the gap between Anglophone and Francophone African higher education and contribute to the decolonisation and African academic language development in African higher education, last year, JSAA started to translate all the abstracts of its research and reflective practitioner articles into a second African official language. In this issue we are proud to have eight French abstracts, one Afrikaans and one isiXhosa abstract translation. We thank our translation editors for their sterling work.   Added to the eleven research and reflective practice articles, we publish in this issue a report on the 7th Global Summit of the International Association of Student Affairs and Services (IASAS). In this report, David Newman offers insights into the global discourse on student affairs and services. Two renowned keynote speakers, Professors Jouhaina Gherib from Tunisia and Birgit Phillips from Austria enriched the participants of this 7th Global Summit held in Korea in May 2024.Finally, Jia Zheng reviews the special issue ‘Towards professionalization of student affairs across the globe’, edited by Lisa Bardill Moscaritolo and Birgit Schreiber, providing a critical analysis of this seminal work published by New Directions for Student Servicesin Fall 2023