Rural Transitions to Higher Education: Stories of spaces, misrecognition and
improvisations from South Africa
(opens in a new window)Dr Sue Timmis, Associate Professor in Education, University of Bristol, UK
Dr Sue Timmis is Associate Professor in Education at the School of Education, University of Bristol, UK. She has researched and published widely on students’ lived experiences of higher education, particularly in relation to inequalities, decoloniality, digital cultures, pedagogies and social justice. She was principal investigator (with Thea de Wet) of the ESRC/Newton funded SARiHE project on rurality and transitions to higher education in South Africa from 2016 -2019.
Webinar Details
Global inequalities are increasingly manifested spatially, particularly for those in the global South, such as South Africa. Whilst there is a significant amount of research on equity of access globally, students from rural communities remain under-represented and to some extent, a forgotten group in higher education (UNESCO,2020). This seminar draws on an international multi-site research study conducted by the ESRC and Newton funded Southern African Rurality in Higher Education (SARiHE) project into the experiences of undergraduate students from rural backgrounds in South Africa (Timmis et al. 2021). South Africa is not a low income country, nevertheless, it remains the most unequal country in the world, according to the (opens in a new window)Gini inequality index. Although data was collected before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, many of the spatial inequalities uncovered mirror and/or uncover the particular challenges for those living in rural areas trying to access and participate in higher education over last 2 to 3 years (Czerniewicz, et al. 2020).
The research highlights the hurdles and hidden issues for higher education students coming from a rural background and is set against the historical backdrop of apartheid and the continuing colonial structures that have entrenched spatial inequalities. Detailed narratives created by 72 student co-researchers chart early experiences in rural communities, negotiations of transitions to university and, in many cases, to urban life and students’ subsequent journeys through higher education spaces and curricula. Narrative accounts show the immense assets that students from rural areas bring into higher education, how they improvise and negotiate challenges and the importance of local and indigenous knowledges to the future of higher education. I discuss the ways in which decoloniality and social justice framed the research and how these findings can help universities to respond better to under-represented groups of students, especially those experiencing historical and spatial inequalities and in the light of increasing inequalities brought about since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, l explore Boughey and McKenna ‘s (2016) contention that universities tend to see students as ‘decontextualised learners’, the effects of this on students’ lives and, how this could be and should be addressed as part of decolonial university futures both in South Africa and more widely.
This webinar took place on Tuesday 30th May at 1pm.
A recording of the webinar is below and also available at this link - (opens in a new window)https://bit.ly/CSHEW12V
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