The Journal of Student Affairs in Africa (JSAA) is an independent, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary, open-access academic journal that publishes scholarly research and reflective discussions about the theory and practice of student affairs in Africa. JSAA aims to contribute to the professionalization of student affairs in African higher education. It strives to be the foremost academic journal dealing with the theory and practice of the student affairs domain in universities on the African continent, and an indispensable resource for the executive leadership of universities and colleges dealing with student affairs, deans of students and other senior student affairs professionals, as well as institutional researchers and academics and students focused on the field of higher education studies and student affairs. JSAA is published twice a year by the JSAA Editors in collaboration with the University of Pretoria and the ESI Press. The editorial and peer review policy adheres to the Code of Best Practice in Scholarly Journal Publishing, Editing and Peer Review (Academy of Sciences of SA Council/ASSAf, 2018). JSAA is published online. Authors publish free of charge; there are no processing or page fees. Since 2017, JSAA is DHET-accredited in South Africa by the national Department of Higher Education and Training (SA-journals list and DOAJ list). Since 2023, JSAA is proudly included in the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), which is South Africa’s premier open-access, full-text journal database managed by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). JSAA is indexed and co-hosted by AJOL, DOAJ, ERIC, and SciELO, and indexed in ASCI Database, BASE, InfoBase Index, WorldCat Libraries, Sherpa/Romeo, and Google Scholar. Scopus and other indexing service subscriptions are currently being pursued. IBI Factor 2019 for the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa is 2.2. Please register on the website for alerts about new issues and opportunities. Please note: Due to a high volume of manuscripts under review and migration of the journal to UCT, JSAA is currently not accepting any open submissions. JSAA will re-open for open submissions in the course of 2027. Submissions in response to specific calls for papers (for guest-edited, themed issues) are welcome but they mus be made directly to the corresponding editor of that call. Consult past JSAA issues, JSAA announcements and the JSAA LinkedIn page for calls for papers. JSAA Editorial Team, 15 July 2026
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See: The Effect of Open Access).
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Co-constructing Academic Advising and shaping a framework for Student Affairs in South Africa
Copyright (c) 2026 Birgit Schreiber, Teboho Moja, Thierry Luescher https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Call for papers for a special issue of JSAA
Sharing practices to co-construct the profession of academic advising
Copyright (c) 2026 Gugu Khanye, François Strydom https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Embedding equity-centred, proactive academic advising in first-year orientation: A case study of the College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal
The transition from high school to university presents significant challenges, particularly for students from historically marginalised communities and under-resourced schools, heightening risks of attrition and delayed progression. This affirms the value of integrated, intentional, equity-focused proactive early support, which the University of KwaZulu- Natal’s (UKZN) Academic Monitoring and Support (AMS) Policy promotes. This study examines first-year students’ experiences of equity-focused academic advising within orientation at the College of Humanities (CHUM), which enrols up to 60% of first-year students from quintile one to three schools. The article contributes to scholarship in two ways. First, through a case-study approach, it demonstrates how proactive academic advising promotes social justice. Second, it draws on two complementary frameworks – Nancy Fraser’s social justice framework assesses whether interventions address recognition, representation, and redistribution. Alf Lizzio’s Five Senses of Student Success frames students’ experiences across the domains of successful transition (capability, connectedness, purpose, resourcefulness, and academic culture). Data were collected from the student feedback survey, with 531 of the approximately 1,000 first-year students who participated in the intervention in 2025 responding. Findings indicate students’ enhanced sense of capability, resourcefulness, connectedness, purpose, and engagement with academic culture. Challenges with digital literacy, connectivity, and timing of data rollout contributed to low participation, highlighting barriers to achieving participatory parity. Implications for academic advising practice and approaches are discussed, and areas for further research are proposed.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ruth Geraldine Melonie Hoskins, Sharmla Rama https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Advancing the profession of academic advising for impactful practice
The Academic Advising Professional Development (AAPD) short learning programme is the only intervention that currently contributes to the professionalisation of academic advising in South Africa. To effectively and efficiently support student growth, development, and success, academic advisors need to develop a set of professional skills, knowledge, and behaviours. Only in combining continuous formal and informal professional training, development, and learning opportunities can students and institutions attain success. The AAPD is a contextualised formal training; it has borrowed from international literature and practice to assist academic advisors in acquiring the prerequisite knowledge and skills to develop intentional and responsive academic advising programmes, while refining their own advising values and philosophies. This article builds on and contributes to both international and national work in the field of academic advising as a practice and a profession. Additionally, it draws from Habley’s (1995) and McClellan’s (2007) conceptualisations of academic advising, which identify five core components that contribute to the professionalisation of advising. The application of these conceptual frameworks to map the content of the AAPD against key findings, has shown that while the AAPD provides a comprehensive introduction to the components of academic advising contextualised for the South African higher education landscape, early career participants still have a disjuncture in their understanding of the components. Therefore, the results of the study demonstrate that the AAPD framework does not only create opportunities to strengthen the existing components, but also reinforces additional components such as career advising, to advance the academic advising profession and practice within the South African context.
Enhancing student engagement support through advising learning communities: A multi-campus experience
Student engagement includes both the actions of students and the practices of institutions. Learning communities (LCs) are educational programmes that combine both curricular and co-curricular experiences for students and serve as a way to increase participation in high-impact practices to boost engagement and help students transition into university. This reflective case study offers a framework to enhance student engagement by providing targeted support strategies through the Central Academic Advising Learning Communities (CAALC) project at the University of the Free State (UFS). The article shows how themes of student engagement, supported by Astin’s Student Involvement Theory (SIT), were used to develop the said project for undergraduate students. Between 2022 and 2023, a total of 2,129 students from the residential communities and 927 students from the curricular and student-type communities participated in all the project initiatives. Residential communities are on-campus housing arrangements, where students enrolled in two or more shared programmes reside closely together. In contrast, curricular and student-type communities are tailored for specific groups, such as students who are co-enrolled in multiple courses (often from different fields) unified by a common theme, such as students with disabilities, commuter students, probationary students, and so forth. In the first two years of the project’s implementation, participation trends and feedback were collected at the end of each year, with the students’ voices informing the strategy for the following year. The results indicated that student behaviour, sense of belonging and peer support, learning outcomes, and institutional support influence students’ level of engagement in learning. The study recommends a framework that potentially enhances institutional perspectives on student engagement and could be used to support the creation of environments more conducive to learning and fostering a sense of belonging through intentionally designed initiatives and the sharing of effective, evidence-based practices.
Copyright (c) 2026 Keitumetse Poen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Developing advising pedagogy through self-study: An innovative approach to professional growth
In this study, we explored the potential of self-study methodology in facilitating academic advisor professional growth. Despite its extensive use in teacher education, to our knowledge, self-study is yet to be applied to academic advising. An academic advisor documented her advising experiences over a twelve-year period. Guided by the tenets of self-study, the academic advisor in collaboration with a critical friend, critically examined her experiences. The self-study methodology created space for intentional and systematic examination of the advisor’s practice, a process that has led to the emergence of innovations in her practice. These innovations included deeper engagement with students’ curricular structures, their sociocultural contexts, and individual learning habits. The advisor’s practice evolved from a generic, one-size-fits-all model to a more contextualised and relational pedagogy grounded in pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study highlights how intentional reflection on disorienting dilemmas and practitioner knowledge enabled the academic advisor to personalise support and foster student agency. It further illustrates the value of relationality in advising, where learning is co-constructed rather than prescribed. Ultimately, this research confirms the transformative potential of self-study in academic advisor professional development.
Copyright (c) 2026 Constance Khupe, Eunice Nyamupangedengu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
The professionalisation of academic advising practices in South Africa: A competency framework for professional academic advisors
Owing to the high attrition rates faced by South African higher education institutions, academic advising has become a crucial strategy for enhancing student success and retention. Institutions committed to improving student learning, persistence and graduation must ensure that academic advisors receive targeted training and professional development. Such initiatives should focus on building competencies tailored to the South African higher education context and its unique challenges. However, existing literature on advising competencies in South Africa remains limited and some still regard the field as being in the early stages of development. This qualitative study aims to propose a competency framework for academic advisors in South Africa, highlighting the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours associated with professional advising from a developmental perspective. The researcher used the six steps outlined by Dalton to draft a competency framework for advisors at the University of the Free State. Dalton’s steps included a literature review of existing advising frameworks, a job analysis of advisors in various roles, and a qualitative content analysis of the data. As the primary outcome of this competency modelling process, the article presents a contextually relevant competency framework for academic advisors at a South African institution.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ninette Aucamp https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Early success indicators at a South African university: A data-centric approach to understanding and promoting student success behaviours
Over the past two decades, the field of analytics for student success has evolved significantly, especially with the emergence of learning analytics as a formal research domain, pioneered by Siemens and colleagues in 2013. However, the use of data to inform decision-making concerning planning, intervention, and teaching and learning practices is not a new concept. Despite this, many institutional strategies to support student success remain siloed and often narrowly focused on specific barriers, rather than adopting a holistic view. This article introduces the concept of ‘early success indicators’ – a framework designed to integrate the diverse elements of institutional support into a cohesive, data-informed model. Unlike traditional approaches that emphasize deficit-oriented terminology such as ‘at-risk indicators’ or ‘early warning systems’, this approach adopts a strengths-based perspective. We ask, “What conditions must be in place for students to reach their full potential?” To answer this, we map key moments across the student lifecycle – from pre-registration through to final assessments – identifying relevant data points and support mechanisms. This work is grounded in the insights of Academic Success Coaches (also known as Faculty Student Advisors), institutional leaders, and data scientists, enabling a multi-stakeholder, interdisciplinary approach to student success. Our findings underscore the importance of institutional collaboration, a culture of data transparency, responsive support systems, and timely, targeted interventions. This conceptual article contributes to the shift from reactive to proactive student success support strategies, aiming to enhance throughput rates and overall student outcomes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Philokuhle Majozi, Kgadi Mathabathe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Prescriptive or developmental advising? A situational approach to first-year students in a mathematics course at a South African university
Owing to the history of South Africa, the challenges associated with new students entering institutions of higher learning each year are well established in the academic discourse and civil society circles. The quality of mathematics education is a particular cause for concern. South Africa, considered as a developing country, requires a student population with skills relevant to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In this article, we draw from personal experience by challenging the implicit assumption that ‘at risk’ students fall in line and seek available support for their benefit. Based on personal experience, we argue that students do not arrive at university tabula rasa; they draw on their worldviews and personal experiences as frames of reference. Therefore, they sometimes reject what they perceive as ‘intruding’ university interventions. It is to address this challenge that student advisors and all other stakeholders dedicated to student support must find creative and innovative approaches. Drawing on the Dunning-Kruger effect, we demonstrate that, at times, students suffer from inflated self-images. This is a metacognitive deficit that accounts for inflated self-appraisals and, as such, necessitates the interchangeable use of prescriptive and developmental advising.
Copyright (c) 2026 Mpho Mmadi, Baphumelele Nxala https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Retrospective analysis of selection tools in the School of Therapeutic Sciences at a leading South African university
The Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand uses the National Senior Certificate (NSC) and the National Benchmark Test (NBT) to select and place students for academic programmes. The NBT assesses students’ skills in three domains: (1) mathematics, (2) academic literacy, and (3) quantitative literacy. While selection tests are often criticised for restricting access to education, they help assess preparedness and identify students in need of support. This study examined the predictive value of NBT domains and four NSC subjects on first-year performance among Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, and Physiotherapy students (2012-2018). The NBT domains and the four NSC subjects accounted for 15% and 12% of the variance in first-year academic performance. Hierarchical regression showed that these variables explained 28% of the variance R² = 0.278, F(7, 922) = 50.638, p < 0.001. ANOVA revealed significant performance differences based on NBT domains, emphasizing their role in identifying students at risk. These findings highlight the NBT’s value in guiding academic interventions and supporting students with lower preparedness levels to improve their success.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sfiso Mabizela https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Postgraduate retention strategies at higher education institutions: A systematic review
Postgraduate retention is key for ensuring postgraduate success and the capacitation of the higher education sector. Retention is a complex and multifaceted issue, requiring interventions at various levels and stages in the postgraduate lifecycle. A systematic review was conducted to synthesise evidence of postgraduate retention strategies used in higher education institutions internationally. The review followed the PRISMA framework, including identification, screening, eligibility and appraisal, ensuring methodological rigour and transparency of reporting. A total of 1,719 peer-reviewed, published articles were identified, and after screening and appraisal, 32 were included in the synthesis. Various retention and success strategies were reported. The findings identified supervision as a key area of support for retention, noting the importance of supervisor selection, mentorship within the supervisory relationship, and collaborative supervisory approaches in supporting postgraduate success. Various supplementary support initiatives were noted, targeting academic and socio-emotional development, such as academic coaching, writing camps, peer mentorship and counselling. It is recommended that institutions consider implementing multiple interventions, embedded within institutional practices, targeting the needs and stages of the postgraduate lifecycle, to ensure that postgraduate students are well supported. Interventions are also needed for stakeholders providing key support, specifically supervisors, to ensure that the support provided is effective and aligned with best practice evidence.
Copyright (c) 2026 Casey Botha, Janine S. Senekal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
From primary agents to corporate actors: A morphogenetic analysis of student becoming through a university residential education and support programme during the COVID-19 pandemic
This article explores how the educational becoming of first-generation students was catalysed through their participation in a residential education and support programme (RESP) at Stellenbosch University during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic theory, the article traces students’ transformation from primary agents to corporate actors, mapping their evolving identities through structural conditioning, sociocultural interaction, and agentic elaboration. Based on a longitudinal ethnographic case study of six students who remained in residence during lockdown, the research examines how the RESP, rooted in dialogical engagement, care ethics, and humanising pedagogy, functioned as a generative space for collective reflexivity, relational learning, and the activation of student agency. The findings demonstrate that the RESP enabled students to reconfigure their sense of self, assume leadership roles, and reshape institutional spaces from the margins. This study contributes to scholarship on intentional residential education practices, student subjectivity, pedagogies of care, and higher education transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. It offers insights into how inclusive and relational educational practices can foster student agency and social transformation, particularly for the historically marginalised within higher education.
residential education and support programme (RESP)
Copyright (c) 2026 Joy Petersen, Aslam Fataar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2025 JSAA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Reframing student success: Well‑Being as an ecological imperative for student affairs in Africa
Copyright (c) 2025 Henry Mason https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Redesigning student affairs in Africa with a care-centred approach to student well-being
Copyright (c) 2025 Birgit Schreiber, Thierry Luescher, Teboho Moja https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Leadership dynamics and the use of ICT in the 2015 #FeesMustFallprotests: A comparative analysis of the #WitsFeesMustFall and #UPrising movements
The #FeesMustFall movement is often portrayed as having been a singular movement. However, drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews, online sources and documents, this article undertakes a comparative analysis between two #FeesMustFall formations: #WitsFeesMustFall at the University of the Witwatersrand and #UPrising at the University of Pretoria. It contends that the 2015 #FeesMustFall protests emerged and functioned through multiple campus-specific hashtags that reflected localised institutional concerns. The article reveals similarities and differences within the two movements through two broad perspectives, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and organisational leadership dynamics. Drawing from the Resource Mobilisation Theory (RMT), the article reveals the centrality of ICT tools, Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, in mobilising material and human resources. Furthermore, through an analysis of leadership dynamics, it illustrates how the movements formed, implemented their mandates, fragmented and ultimately dissolved.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sandla Nomvete, Nonkululeko Mabaso , John Mashayamombe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Disorienting dilemmas, self-efficacy and well-being: Exploring student teachers’ perceptions of unpreparedness to teach English
The transition from student to teacher can be a challenging journey. This article explores how perceived unpreparedness – experienced as a disorienting dilemma – influences final-year student teachers’ self-efficacy and overall well-being. Using an interpretive paradigm and a qualitative approach, data were generated through questionnaires, visual representations, and focus group discussions with twelve student teachers at a South African higher education institution. A conceptual framework is developed by merging Mezirow’s transformative learning theory and Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. The case study reveals that while most student teachers initially felt prepared to teach English, self-examination of their preparedness based on teaching practice experiences exposed feelings of anxiety, low self-confidence, and self-doubt, impacting their self-efficacy. The findings reveal that enhancing student teachers’ self-efficacy is essential for their well-being, as higher self-efficacy promotes resilience, confidence, and preparedness for teaching. Emotional health and psychological support are critical for fostering student teachers’ sense of hope, resilience and self-efficacy. Addressing these challenges can help higher education institutions foster self-efficacy development, ensuring that student teachers transition from uncertainty to confidence. This article advocates for a holistic approach to teacher preparation, highlighting the role of higher education institutions, student affairs, and counselling services in strengthening self-efficacy and reducing anxiety through targeted support.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jennifer Sheokarah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Relational experiences of meaning making as a pathway to academic adjustment among African international university students in South Africa
Relationships constitute a core aspect of psychological wellbeing models. More so, research from different sociocultural contexts has shown that relational experiences provide a form and shape for an individual’s worldview. By applying meaning-making models, this study aimed to explore relational experiences of meaning making that contribute to academic adjustment among African international students at a university in South Africa. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 undergraduate and postgraduate students. Meaning making through relational experiences among African international students was underscored by their concern for the wellbeing of close family members and in cross-cultural social interactions that imposed a coherent worldview on the students’ lives. Such worldviews provided direction and motivation to forge ahead in their educational pursuits, while acknowledging the importance of intrapersonal connections in this process. Additionally, their social contributions enabled them to establish connections with the broader community. In terms of theoretical contributions, our study showed how relational experiences of meaning making enable international students to forge a sense of identity and purpose, all of which are essential for academic adjustment. Our findings also have implications for wellbeing interventions at higher education institutions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Shingairai Chigeza, Angelina Wilson Fadiji https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Impact of homeowner behaviours on the academic performance of university students: The case of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana
The demand for housing among university students has increased in proportion to the global surge in university enrolment. Students heavily depend on private housing alternatives since university-provided housing facilities cannot accommodate the increasing student population. There is a lack of research on how homeowner behaviours affect the academic outcomes of university students. This case study examines the impacts of homeowner behaviours on the academic performance of students at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana. A single case study was chosen, and four main communities were purposively selected, namely: Kwapro, Amamoma, Apewosika, and Duakor. Focus group discussions were organised in each of the selected communities for data collection. The data were analysed thematically. The study’s results showed that the academic performance of students at the University of Cape, Ghana is impacted by the following five homeowner behaviours: (1) regular rent increases; (2) delays in maintenance; (3) room overcrowding; (4) stringent gate locking; and (5) frequent noise-making. These behaviours seem to have a psychological impact, cause financial burden, interrupt learning, and decrease study periods. The study recommends collaboration among key stakeholders (UCC Student representatives, homeowners, rent control regulators, and the Office of Student Affairs, UCC) to establish frameworks to provide conducive housing options that centre the wellbeing of university students.
Copyright (c) 2026 Starford Osabutey https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2025 Editorial Team https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Rethinking higher education: Public and private synergies for student success in Africa