Resilience: solution to learning challenges amongst rural African undergraduates

Abstract

The study explored the learning challenges experienced by undergraduates in selected rural universities. Quantitative and qualitative methods were adopted for data collection. Questionnaires were administered to 934 undergraduates while interviews were conducted for 8 lecturers across 8 faculties in the selected institutions. The previous results of the students in the selected institutions were observed in order to know the performance of students in the institutions prior to the time of this research. The findings of the study show that students in the two selected institutions experience similar challenges, though in varying degrees, and there were significant disparities in the results. However, while one institution seems to clamour for the decolonization of its curriculum, the other considers the application of resilience as solution to learning challenges experienced by the students. The paper therefore recommends that rather than encourage decolonization which tends to limit students and hinder them from competing and being relevant globally, education stakeholders should motivate and guide them towards believing in themselves and being resilient in their pursuit of academic success.

Keywords: resilience; decolonization; glocalization; learning challenges; rural university students